The Incredible Human Journey

Follow in the footsteps of our ancestors and discover how the first humans became us in this five-part Travel Channel series from the BBC! When Homo Sapiens set out from East Africa on a treacherous journey to populate the world, they weren't the only human species on the planet, but they were the only one, ultimately, that would survive. Why is that? And how did we change, over the course of the greatest ever journey to become the people we are today? This fascinating series undertakes five epic journeys across the globe, tracing the ancient routes of our early ancestors to reveal the extraordinary and brutal challenges they faced. Using the latest genetic and archaeological evidence, it shows how humans gradually adapted, culturally and physiologically, in response to their environment.

Locations Visited
1: Out of Africa
Omo Kibish & Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Tsumkwe District, Namibia
Pinnacle Point & Cape Town, South Africa
Red Sea coast, Djibouti
Dhofar Mountains, Oman
Skhul Cave & Jerusalem, Israel
2: Australia
Mungo National Park & Northern Territories, Australia
Jwalapuram & southern coast, India
Lenggong Valley (Malayan Peninsular) & Niah Cave (Borneo), Malaysia
Java & Lombok, Indonesia
3: Asia
Evenki camp in Siberia (near Olenyek) & St. Petersberg, Russia
Beijing; Zhoukoudian; Shanghai; Guilin; Zhujiatum in China
4: Europe
Gobekli Tepe & Istanbul, Turkey
Bucharest & Oase Cave (near the Danube), Romania
Leipzig & Vogelherd, Germany
Paris & caves of southern France
Gibraltar
Dolne Vestonice, Czech Republic
Exeter, south-west England
5: The Americas
Calgary; Vancouver; Ipsoot Glacier in Canada
Gault (Texas); La Brea Tar Pits (LA); Channel Islands (California) in USA
Rio & Amazon basin, Brazil
Monte Verde, Chile

Where do we come from? Unravel our origins, following the journey taken by the first Homo sapiens as they set out from East Africa on a mission to populate the world, and discover how it changed us in the process. In this fascinating series five epic journeys trace the ancient routes of our early ancestors to reveal the extraordinary and brutal challenges they faced. Using the latest genetic and archaeological evidence, Human Journey shows how humans gradually adapted, culturally and physiologically, in response to their new environments.
Beginning in the dusty heat of the Ethiopian desert, around the birthplace of the human race, the story tracks the journey of our ancestors across the world. The first episode tells the story of the journey to colonise Africa, then out of Africa through the Arabian peninsula. From Ethiopia to the rainforests of Central Africa and the deserts of the Kalahari, the programme discovers that the people of Africa are the most diverse within the human family...
Next up is the story of how Homo sapiens eventually reached Europe and the challenges they faced, first from Neanderthals, then from the plummeting temperatures and glaciers of the Ice Age. Discover how Europeans adapted to the colder climate by developing paler skin and how other physiological changes allowed them to eat dairy produce and drink alcohol. Episode three delves into the story of the Aborigines, searching the coasts of the Indian Ocean and the Malay Peninsula for signs of the route that took humans to Australia. Find out how Aboriginals developed such a refined sense of direction and vision under the influence of their environment.
Then in an exploration of the development of Chinese people, the series follows the evolutionary path from Northern India to China, via Siberia. Finally it reveals the origins of the peoples of America, finding out who the first Americans were and where they came from. Using stunning photography, Human Journey brings these stories of human endeavour and development to life. By the end, the series has trodden in footsteps spanning 70,000 years - and in doing so, reveals a myriad of extraordinary stories about who we are and where we came from. This is a story that illustrates that, whilst we are all very different, so too are we remarkably closely interrelated.
Introduction
How did you get here?
There are 7 billion humans on earth, spread across the whole planet. New scientific evidence suggests that it all started with a tiny group of people who left Africa on an incredible journey. Crossing the world in five epic journeys, this series follows the archaeological and genetic footprints of our ancient ancestors in search of the lost story of how their journeys transformed our species into the humans we are today and how we came to dominate the planet.
How did we go from being a small and vulnerable group in Africa, to colonising every landmass on the planet? Science can now reveal an incredible amount about this murky but extraordinary period of our past. We use the latest scientific evidence to reveal the daunting and brutal challenges our ancestors had to face in their survival and the obstacles to their global migrations: impassable mountains and deserts; vast oceans, freezing wildernesses, terrifying giant beasts and the biggest super-volcano in human experience. And perhaps the most serious threat of all: ‘other' humans. Why was it our species of human that was eventually the only one left?
We explore not only these challenges and how they were overcome, but also how our ancestors changed in response to them. Colour, facial features and diet have all been shaped by the range of environments that our ancestors had to survive. But despite these differences, we also discover how astonishingly closely related we all are.

1: OUT OF AFRIC A
We go in search of the first humans and and try to piece together a picture of how they managed to survive in the dangerous environment of pre-historic Africa around 200,000 years ago. We discover how our species developed technologically and how eventually, a tiny group of them - perhaps a single tribe - left Africa, around 70,000 years ago. The programme also gathers expert opinions on the evidence left by bones, stones and genes to try to work out which route these early people took out of Africa, allowing them to spread and eventually colonise the whole globe, to become the ancestors of all humans outside Africa today.

2: AUSTRALIA
It's a huge puzzle, how our ancient ancestors made it as far as Australia from Africa, a journey that involved at least one sea crossing. But it's even more puzzling that they arrived there long before our species reached the much closer continent of Europe. Why, having survived a supervolcano and fought off other hostile humans (as the evidence suggests), did they risk it all by making a perillous ocean crossing? Apart from some very ancient human remains in Australia that confirm the arrival of our species, there is very little to go on. In this episode, we discover new evidence for this incredible journey.

3: ASIA
We continue the journey into Asia, the world's greatest land mass. How did early hunter-gatherers manage to survive in some of the most inhospitable places on Earth and why did they take this route?
One clue may be found in the lifestyle of the Evenki people of Northern Siberia, whose lives are dictated by reindeer (both wild and domestic), and whose survival techniques appear to have been passed down through many generations. The programme also explores what happened to modern humans on their great journey to bring about the change in their appearance from traditional African features to the facial characteristics associated with east Asia.

4: EUROPE
We examine how early modern humans travelled from Africa into the heart of Europe and what may have happened on this journey to change their skin colour from brown to white. How did these early hunter-gatherers endure the unimaginable conditions of the last Ice Age and how did they come to dominate a land already inhabited by the tough, resilient Neanderthal peoples? Cave paintings, sculptures, tools and music-instrument finds suggest that these early modern humans were much more imaginative, inventive and sophisticated than was previously believed, and perhaps it was these very qualities of ingenuity and resourcefulness that gave them the advantage of their Neanderthal cousins.

5: THE AMERICAS
We look at the evidence as to just how early modern humans came to conquer the Americas, and the perilous route they may have taken to reach this vast land mass, cut off as it is by mountains of ice to the North and oceans to the South. We investigate the various routes these intrepid travellers may have taken and find convincing genetic evidence to suggest that their route from North to South may have followed the Pacific coastline.

SERIES PRODUCER
Paul Bradshaw
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Kim Shillinglaw
A BBC/TRAVEL CHANNEL CO-PRODUCTION IN ASSOCIATION WITH FRANCE 5
EPISODIC PRODUCER/DIRECTORS:
1: Out Of Africa
Mags Lightbody , David Stewart
2: Australia
Naomi Law, Edward Bazalgette
3: Asia
Fiona Cushley , Charles Colville
4: Europe
Finola Lang, Philip Smith
5: The Americas
Clare Duncan, Peter Oxley

"It's an epic tale of colonisation that begins in Africa, where our distant predecessors arose... Perhaps the most remarkable nugget is that all non-Africans are descended from one group who made it out of the continent 70,000 years ago." Guardian

"To turn genetics and anthropology into entertaining television is a remarkable achievement."
David Chater, The Times

"...high-class documentary series ... Pick of the day."
Neville Hawcock, Financial Times

The oldest Homo sapien ever discovered dates to around 200,000 years ago. Unlike in Africa, where darker skin gives protection from the sun, Chinese peoples' skin became thicker to adapt to their climate.