Human review: Explore the ancient origins of humanity in a new fantastic BBC documentary

Human
BBC Iplayer (United Kingdom); PBS, United States (September 17)

According to my experience, scientific documentaries tend to fall into two camps that are more like French and Italian cuisine. (Listen to me before judging my analogy.) The first type is more elaborate, using sophisticated techniques to make the best experience – whether it is a well -designed soufflé or bells and whistles of animation and virtual reality. The second is simpler and tends to let the ingredients speak for themselves.

The two types of documentaries can give fabulous, although different results. HumanA series of BBC in five parts on the origins of our genre, Homo, is firmly of this last genre. He combines a great story, beautiful visuals and a fantastic presenter in the Ella Al-Shamahi paleoanthropologist, then lets you enjoy a generous journey of 6 million years through the past of humanity. No bells and whistles required.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7dnkjbe0i4

The first episode is framed by a thorny question: when, exactly, has our species emerged? And there are many possible answers, from your point of view. Was it 300,000 years ago, when humans with facial features similar to ours started to emerge? Was it when our skulls became gracile and globular (fundamentally, thinner and more in the form of a globe), as Al-Shamahi says-with the proportional effects on brain power? Or, more romantically, was it when we won our most extraordinary features: the capacity of complex language, abstract thought and cooperation?

It is a great episode, exceeded that by the moments when attention moves to other extinguished human species. When Al-Shamahi goes to Indonesia, in episode 2, we meet Homo FloresiensisA hominin 1 meter high adapted to life on the island of Flores. The discovery of remains of these “hobbits” in the cave of Liang Bua 20 years ago rewritten our understanding of ancient human biology: their tiny brain denied their use of stone tools, and their long arms and their short stature are not observed in any other human species.

Episode 3 classifies the disappearance of Neanderthals, our most famous cousins, which were much more sophisticated than we thought. Having reached Europe and Asia in front of us, they were adapted to colder climates, but that did not save them from the extinction.

Throughout, Al-Shamahi presents surprising discoveries from the last decades of paleoanthropology (which you may have read at New Scientist). For example, the iridescent feathers of birds such as red courses were particularly popular with Neanderthals, while the perikymata – the growth lines of dental enamel which reveal the age also as the rings of trees – suggest that H. Sapiens had a longer childhood, so we could learn to use our big brain.

In only five episodes, Human I can’t tell us everything we want to know. But that clearly indicates that H. Sapiens is a kind of reaction. We were molded in response to the climate, because he wasolated us and forced us to adapt; animals and plants that have given us subsistence; to other human species that we live alongside; And to each other, as nomadic groups, skills, knowledge and DNA have shared that allow us to survive long enough to start building cities.

This aspect of H. Sapiens Can get lost in the stories of us as ultimate, superior and propagant humans and conquer the land. Human Allows her counterattack to speak of herself, with a simple narration and a reverence for all our former parents, not only our own species.

Trace human evolution
Go behind the scenes of the new BBC series Human With Ella Al-shamahi Newscientist.com/video

Bethan also recommends …

The fascinating (and dangerous) places of scientists do not explore
Ted Talk, 2019

In Ella Al-Shamahi, intriguing and moving to talk about her trip to the Yemeni island of Socotra Biodiverse, she argued that we did not make first line science in places deemed too hostile for Western researchers. Take the discovery of a Neanderthal skeleton with serious handicaps in what is now Iraq, which meant that it would have needed community support to survive. This is only one of the discoveries that we lack.

Bethan Ackerley is a new scientist supporter. She loves science fiction, sitcoms and everything that is scary. Follow it on x @ ‌inkerley

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