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What makes us human?

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Where do we come from?

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Ever since Darwin
put forward the idea

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that we evolved from apes,

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scientists have wondered
about those first creatures

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that left the ape world
and crossed into ours.

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In the last 50 years,

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fossil finds have filled in
some of the many blanks

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in the story of our evolution.

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But the bones of our ancestors
are few and far between,

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allowing only glimpses
of how we slowly changed

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over millions of years...

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from ape...

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to human.

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Now, in South Africa,

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in caves dangerously deep
underground,

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two new species of hominin,
our human ancestors,

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have been found.

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There it was,

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right there:

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one of the most spectacular
early hominins ever discovered

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lying on the surface of a cave.

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And not just a few
bone fragments.

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It's everywhere.

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Here, there are thousands.

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It's just absolutely incredible

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the amount of bone
that's coming up.

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Oh, beautiful!

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The first thing that
came through my mind

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was Howard Carter's anecdote

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about opening
Tutankhamen's tomb.

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It was Lord Carnarvon in the
back saying, "What do you see?"

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And Carter says,
"Things, wonderful things."

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Yes!

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We have found
a most remarkable creature

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and a most unexpected one.

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So we need a new kind
of language to talk about this.

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These bones could finally bring
our past into focus.

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What story will they tell
about how we became human?

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A new light shines
at the "Dawn of Humanity,"

41
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<i>right now on this National
Geographic special.</i>

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<i>Major funding for
is provided by the following:</i>

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♪

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The high plains to the northwest
of Johannesburg

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have been called
the Cradle of Humankind.

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In the 1930s and '40s,
fossil finds here gave us

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the first important glimpses
of our earliest ancestors.

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Then, for decades,

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the discoveries
seemed to dry up.

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It looked like
the Cradle of Humankind

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had little left to offer.

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Go get 'em, good luck.

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Happy hunting.

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But now, from deep caves
in the Cradle

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come two new discoveries

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that could reshape
the understanding

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of our ancient past.

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What is it?

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It has teeth.

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It's so solid!

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There aren't just
hundreds of bones;

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there are thousands of bones.

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I had never seen or dreamed

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of anything like the richness
of this site.

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Bones that may end up
illuminating

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a critical million-year period
in our evolution

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that has long been a mystery.

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There's a big gap
in the fossil record

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with only a few
little fragments.

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The fossil record suggests that

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in that gap
lies the dawn of humanity:

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the birth of the genus Homo.

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It's perhaps
the least understood

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and most important episode
in our evolution.

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Before it was the world
of Australopithecus,

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an ape-like creature
with a tiny brain.

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Lucy is the poster child
for the Australopiths.

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She walked upright, but belonged
to the world of the apes.

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If I were to see
an Australopithecus

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at the end of a football field,

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I would probably call the zoo
and say,

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"Hey, an ape has escaped."

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The upper part of the body

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in Australopithecus is,
in general way, ape-ish.

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Go down, look at the pelvis,
very human-like.

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An Australopithecus
is sort of like a bipedal ape.

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If you went back in time

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and saw them
walking around the savannah,

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you would see animals that
stood up and walked like we do,

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but they would've been smaller
in body size.

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Their brains
wouldn't have been as big,

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so their heads
would've looked smaller.

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Their jaws and teeth
were very large.

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The fossil record suggests that

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somewhere between two
and three million years ago,

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these ape-like Australopiths

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evolved into the first
recognizably human species:

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<i>Homo erectus.</i>

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They have big brains
and small faces,

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adaptations for using tools.

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<i>If I were to see, say,
Homo erectus</i>

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at the other end
of a football field,

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I would probably call 911
and say,

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"Oh, there's a wild man
over here,

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and you know somebody should
put some clothes on him."

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So what went on
in the transition

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<i>from Australopithecus
to Homo erectus?</i>

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For years, the only species
that filled that gap

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<i>was a creature called
Homo habilis.</i>

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But so little of it
has ever been found,

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the origins of the genus Homo
have remained an enigma.

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The greatest mystery
facing paleoanthropology today

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is to try to understand how,
when, where the transition

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from Australopithecus to Homo
occurred.

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And what we don't know
is what happened

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between Australopithecus
and early Homo.

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That's one of the big mysteries
right now we're trying to solve.

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The prize would be to discover
fossil remains

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that could tell us about
that mysterious transition.

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And now,
they may have found some.

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There you can see two foot bones
in articulation.

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Emerging from ancient caves
in South Africa

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are fossil finds
of astonishing richness,

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and not just fragments,

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but virtually complete
skeletons.

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From the very first block
that we had,

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we had a portion
of the mandible, the lower jaw,

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and we had a collarbone

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and one of the bones
of the forearm.

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So that was really,
really exciting.

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She's in there.

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We have a skull,
we have a mandible,

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we have a complete scapula,
we have a complete clavicle,

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we have a complete arm,
a complete hand,

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and half of the pelvis,
which we can,

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with reconstruction,
make into a whole pelvis.

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Will these skeletons
live up to their promise,

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offering us a new understanding
of the dawn of humanity?

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In August 2013, South African
Pedro Boshoff was out of work.

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He had been a soldier,
a prospector, an adventurer,

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and even a part-time student
of human origins.

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Now he wondered
if he could earn some money

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fossil hunting.

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Towards the end of August,

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I approached
Professor Lee Berger,

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asking if there would be
the possibility

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of a position at faculty
with him.

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Pedro Boshoff
came into my office

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and said, you know,
"I really need work,

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"and I have
the same belief as you

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that there is more out there."

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Lee Berger started exploring
the area of South Africa

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known as the Cradle of Humankind
in the early 1990s.

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After 18 years of searching,

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he had found only a few
isolated fossils.

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That's not unusual in the field
of paleoanthropology.

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These early human fossils

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are probably the rarest
sought-after objects on earth.

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We in paleoanthropology
sit in one of the few fields

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that probably have more
scientists studying objects

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than there are objects to study.

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In fact, the vast majority
of people who do what I do

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will never find a single piece
of one of these early humans.

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And if they do, it's going to be
an isolated tooth.

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Probably 80 to 90% of our record

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are just little bits
of isolated teeth.

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Just to the northwest
of Johannesburg,

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the Cradle of Humankind
is riddled with limestone caves.

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Some have already yielded
fragmentary fossils

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of our remote ancestors.

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Lee was convinced there were
re discoveries to be made.

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I had known Pedro for 20 years
and I said, you know,

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"Go out there,
enlist your caving buddies,

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get underground, and see
if you can find something."

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And so I bought Pedro
a motorcycle

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so he could move around
out here.

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Basically what he wanted me
to do

178
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is to go through
the Cradle area,

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locating and finding fossils.

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So I sat as I often do on a rock

181
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and I contemplated
how I'm going to approach this,

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I'm part of a caving society,

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having caved in this area
for years.

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And in there,
I found Rick and Steven.

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I asked them to systematically

186
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work their way
through caves and holes

187
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towards the east of the Cradle

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while I was busy working
in the west.

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We often don't look

190
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in the places
that are most familiar to us

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because we think
we know them well.

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I call it backyard syndrome.

193
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And so I said, you know,
"Start right under our noses.

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Go to the most
well-known places."

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On September the 13th, 2013,
Rick and Steve decided

196
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to look into a cave system
they thought they knew well.

197
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It's called Rising Star.

198
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It's an amazing cave.

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It's got a bit of everything.

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There's tight squeezes,

201
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some great climbs,
beautiful formations.

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Rick and Steve headed
deep underground.

203
00:12:15,848 --> 00:12:18,914
I wanted to show Rick
a great climb in the cave

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called the Dragon's Back.

205
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We climbed up there.

206
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And in the process
of taking some video

207
00:12:26,315 --> 00:12:28,514
of the formations
at the top of it,

208
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Rick wanted to get past me.

209
00:12:32,815 --> 00:12:35,914
So I went down
a small little crevice

210
00:12:35,915 --> 00:12:38,781
basically so that Rick
could crawl over me.

211
00:12:38,782 --> 00:12:41,814
I was just getting
out of his way,

212
00:12:41,815 --> 00:12:43,514
and as I went into it,

213
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I noticed that there's still
a little bit continuing down.

214
00:12:53,715 --> 00:12:56,381
Once in the crevice,

215
00:12:56,382 --> 00:12:59,982
Steve realized there was nothing
below his feet.

216
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He squeezed himself
further down.

217
00:13:15,582 --> 00:13:18,414
Every time you go down,
it just goes a bit further

218
00:13:18,415 --> 00:13:20,981
and a bit further
and a bit further down.

219
00:13:20,982 --> 00:13:23,147
You squeeze your body in
so that you don't slip

220
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and you feel around for a grip.

221
00:13:44,282 --> 00:13:46,781
So my legs were dangling down
this last little bit

222
00:13:46,782 --> 00:13:49,447
and you don't feel anything
below you.

223
00:13:49,448 --> 00:13:51,314
And the only way to climb down

224
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is actually to lower yourself
as far as possible,

225
00:13:54,315 --> 00:13:56,914
just keep on lowering yourself
until you're literally...

226
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your arms are almost
fully stretched out,

227
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and then you start to feel
a couple of rocks

228
00:14:01,582 --> 00:14:03,648
that you can actually
put your feet on.

229
00:14:10,948 --> 00:14:13,915
He emerged
into an hidden chamber.

230
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He called for Rick
to come down and join him.

231
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They could see massive rock
formations above their heads.

232
00:14:34,648 --> 00:14:37,615
But the real discovery
was beneath their feet.

233
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The floor of the cave
was littered with small bones.

234
00:14:48,748 --> 00:14:52,181
We saw at first one bone
lying around.

235
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We looked around a bit more
and, well, another bone.

236
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We actually spotted teeth
in the rocks

237
00:15:00,182 --> 00:15:03,214
and realized
we actually had found something.

238
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Followed by a skull
in the ground.

239
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And finally,
one of the most interesting ones

240
00:15:10,782 --> 00:15:13,982
was a mandible
with four teeth in it.

241
00:15:17,448 --> 00:15:19,814
Rick and Steve had no idea

242
00:15:19,815 --> 00:15:21,781
what type of bones
they were looking at,

243
00:15:21,782 --> 00:15:24,115
but they seemed intriguing.

244
00:15:25,548 --> 00:15:29,681
They took pictures and decided
to show them to Pedro.

245
00:15:29,682 --> 00:15:31,914
And I will never, never forget

246
00:15:31,915 --> 00:15:33,714
when he came to me
with his photos,

247
00:15:33,715 --> 00:15:35,347
put it on the computer,

248
00:15:35,348 --> 00:15:38,981
and the first thing I noticed
was the jaw with the teeth.

249
00:15:38,982 --> 00:15:42,114
And I realized
this is definitely a hominin.

250
00:15:42,115 --> 00:15:44,781
So needless to say,
I called Professor Berger.

251
00:15:44,782 --> 00:15:47,714
He didn't answer his phone,
and we decided

252
00:15:47,715 --> 00:15:50,014
we're going to drive
to his house

253
00:15:50,015 --> 00:15:52,781
because now we're all excited,
bubbling, of course.

254
00:15:52,782 --> 00:15:54,614
Arriving at his home,
I rung the bell

255
00:15:54,615 --> 00:15:57,147
and when he answered,
my words to him was,

256
00:15:57,148 --> 00:15:59,982
"Lee, you really want
to talk to us!"

257
00:16:01,582 --> 00:16:07,314
Pedro says, "You're really
gonna want to let me in."

258
00:16:07,315 --> 00:16:12,414
And, you know,
9:30 at night, and it's dark,

259
00:16:12,415 --> 00:16:15,447
but I could hear that emotion
in his voice.

260
00:16:15,448 --> 00:16:20,847
They flipped open a computer,
and I saw something

261
00:16:20,848 --> 00:16:25,281
I don't think I ever dreamed
I would see

262
00:16:25,282 --> 00:16:26,481
on a computer screen.

263
00:16:26,482 --> 00:16:28,182
A lot of swearing at first.

264
00:16:30,215 --> 00:16:33,314
Apparently that's his reaction
when he sees fossils.

265
00:16:33,315 --> 00:16:36,481
But yeah, he immediately
identified it as a hominid.

266
00:16:36,482 --> 00:16:39,414
That was a mandible

267
00:16:39,415 --> 00:16:42,581
of what was clearly
an early hominin,

268
00:16:42,582 --> 00:16:45,081
the teeth just perfect.

269
00:16:45,082 --> 00:16:48,247
The next picture
had a skull in it of a hominin.

270
00:16:48,248 --> 00:16:50,747
I could see it in outline.

271
00:16:50,748 --> 00:16:53,681
There were bones everywhere.

272
00:16:53,682 --> 00:16:54,781
They'd take...

273
00:16:54,782 --> 00:16:57,381
Every one of them
I could see in the image

274
00:16:57,382 --> 00:17:00,614
were hominin.

275
00:17:00,615 --> 00:17:04,081
I was a bit in shock

276
00:17:04,082 --> 00:17:06,781
because it all went like
a car crash for me, you know?

277
00:17:06,782 --> 00:17:08,381
It really did, black and white,

278
00:17:08,382 --> 00:17:09,915
and I have only visual,
not audio.

279
00:17:16,315 --> 00:17:20,714
Hominins are all creatures
in the human evolutionary line,

280
00:17:20,715 --> 00:17:26,015
<i>including Australopiths,
Homo erectus, and us.</i>

281
00:17:31,115 --> 00:17:34,747
When his shock faded,
Lee immediately turned his mind

282
00:17:34,748 --> 00:17:38,182
to the question of what type
of hominin this might be.

283
00:17:43,648 --> 00:17:45,114
From what he could see,

284
00:17:45,115 --> 00:17:48,947
Lee thought it was
a single individual,

285
00:17:48,948 --> 00:17:51,614
probably one of those
Australopiths

286
00:17:51,615 --> 00:17:54,715
that came on the scene
some four million years ago.

287
00:18:03,382 --> 00:18:06,448
The photos were hard
to make out.

288
00:18:09,248 --> 00:18:13,347
Lee wanted to know if the bones
in the Rising Star cave

289
00:18:13,348 --> 00:18:17,682
were similar to fossils he had
discovered five years earlier.

290
00:18:20,915 --> 00:18:25,447
That was in a different cave
just ten miles away,

291
00:18:25,448 --> 00:18:29,015
also in the Cradle of Humankind.

292
00:18:32,448 --> 00:18:35,082
It was Lee's first big find.

293
00:18:38,282 --> 00:18:41,714
The story all began
on August the 1st, 2008,

294
00:18:41,715 --> 00:18:45,547
when I came into this valley
following targets,

295
00:18:45,548 --> 00:18:47,781
which were these trees
above my head

296
00:18:47,782 --> 00:18:49,114
that I could see
on Google Earth.

297
00:18:49,115 --> 00:18:52,181
I walked up that old
lime miners' track way,

298
00:18:52,182 --> 00:18:54,081
which wasn't quite as clear
as it is today,

299
00:18:54,082 --> 00:18:55,547
mostly overgrown,

300
00:18:55,548 --> 00:18:59,148
and I came into this grove
and found this little hole.

301
00:19:01,882 --> 00:19:05,547
The little valley
was called Malapa.

302
00:19:05,548 --> 00:19:07,882
Lee thought he knew it well.

303
00:19:11,715 --> 00:19:13,614
It was a Friday.

304
00:19:13,615 --> 00:19:17,515
Lee's nine-year-old son Matthew
and his dog Tau were with him.

305
00:19:21,515 --> 00:19:24,381
I stood at the edge of this pit
and I said, "Go find fossils."

306
00:19:24,382 --> 00:19:28,614
With that, Matthew raced off
into the bush here.

307
00:19:28,615 --> 00:19:30,314
I thought he was going
to go chase giraffe or zebra

308
00:19:30,315 --> 00:19:32,247
or something like that
with Tau in tow,

309
00:19:32,248 --> 00:19:34,247
and a minute and a half later,

310
00:19:34,248 --> 00:19:37,014
he shouted,
"Dad, I found a fossil."

311
00:19:37,015 --> 00:19:39,881
Sitting right over
by that lightning-struck tree,

312
00:19:39,882 --> 00:19:42,547
he had stopped and found
a little rock,

313
00:19:42,548 --> 00:19:44,314
and I almost didn't go and look

314
00:19:44,315 --> 00:19:46,047
because I knew he had found
an antelope fossil

315
00:19:46,048 --> 00:19:47,714
because that's pretty much
all we ever find.

316
00:19:47,715 --> 00:19:50,747
I saw a fossil.

317
00:19:50,748 --> 00:19:52,247
I didn't think it was a hominin.

318
00:19:52,248 --> 00:19:53,747
I just thought
it was an antelope

319
00:19:53,748 --> 00:19:55,814
because we find
thousands of those.

320
00:19:55,815 --> 00:19:59,047
I started walking
towards him though

321
00:19:59,048 --> 00:20:01,714
because I had to see
what he had found,

322
00:20:01,715 --> 00:20:04,647
and five meters away,
I realized that

323
00:20:04,648 --> 00:20:07,181
sticking out of that rock
was a hominin clavicle.

324
00:20:07,182 --> 00:20:09,048
I couldn't believe it.

325
00:20:12,982 --> 00:20:15,547
I took the rock in my hand
and I was turning it,

326
00:20:15,548 --> 00:20:17,514
trying to think
what else this could be.

327
00:20:17,515 --> 00:20:20,214
And as I turned
the back of it over,

328
00:20:20,215 --> 00:20:23,181
there sticking out of the back
was a mandible and a canine.

329
00:20:23,182 --> 00:20:24,814
That's when I realized

330
00:20:24,815 --> 00:20:26,914
that an extraordinary thing
had taken place.

331
00:20:26,915 --> 00:20:30,347
After almost 20 years

332
00:20:30,348 --> 00:20:33,081
of searching
in the Cradle of Humankind,

333
00:20:33,082 --> 00:20:36,415
Lee finally had
a major discovery.

334
00:20:39,115 --> 00:20:43,614
He had his son to thank,
but also a crew of Welsh miners

335
00:20:43,615 --> 00:20:47,214
who had come through the valley
a hundred years ago.

336
00:20:47,215 --> 00:20:49,114
And they'd come through
this area

337
00:20:49,115 --> 00:20:51,081
looking for limestone
to build Johannesburg,

338
00:20:51,082 --> 00:20:53,814
and they would blast
these caves apart

339
00:20:53,815 --> 00:20:56,381
looking for that rich, white,
pure limestone,

340
00:20:56,382 --> 00:20:58,714
and they'd burn it
and make cement out of it.

341
00:20:58,715 --> 00:21:04,214
In the 1880s Johannesburg
was a gold rush town,

342
00:21:04,215 --> 00:21:07,114
little more than a collection
of shacks.

343
00:21:07,115 --> 00:21:11,081
But it sat on some
of the richest gold seams

344
00:21:11,082 --> 00:21:12,914
ever discovered.

345
00:21:12,915 --> 00:21:19,514
As the gold kept coming,
so did the gold prospectors.

346
00:21:19,515 --> 00:21:21,681
The town grew

347
00:21:21,682 --> 00:21:26,181
and construction crews
were desperate for limestone,

348
00:21:26,182 --> 00:21:28,148
essential for cement
and gold processing.

349
00:21:36,915 --> 00:21:41,947
Lime miners combed
the high veld outside the town

350
00:21:41,948 --> 00:21:45,648
looking for seams of limestone.

351
00:21:52,982 --> 00:21:55,747
Although they likely
didn't know it,

352
00:21:55,748 --> 00:22:01,347
these seams concealed remnants
of ancient cave systems

353
00:22:01,348 --> 00:22:05,715
and were full of fossils.

354
00:22:09,415 --> 00:22:13,547
When they found
the limestone seam at Malapa,

355
00:22:13,548 --> 00:22:16,282
they laid their charges
as usual.

356
00:22:27,248 --> 00:22:29,847
They came in here
and put in three,

357
00:22:29,848 --> 00:22:32,281
at the most four, blasts.

358
00:22:32,282 --> 00:22:35,781
One right below me here,
one over on the side,

359
00:22:35,782 --> 00:22:37,782
one over there that I can see.

360
00:23:02,248 --> 00:23:04,481
Then, for some reason,

361
00:23:04,482 --> 00:23:07,714
the miners never collected
the blocks of lime

362
00:23:07,715 --> 00:23:11,747
and left the blast hole
largely untouched.

363
00:23:11,748 --> 00:23:13,647
I'm not sure why they did that,

364
00:23:13,648 --> 00:23:16,381
but what they did do
in that process

365
00:23:16,382 --> 00:23:21,281
was expose just the edge
of these remarkable skeletons.

366
00:23:21,282 --> 00:23:24,447
They damaged it just enough
so we could find this site

367
00:23:24,448 --> 00:23:27,014
and could make these
fossil discoveries,

368
00:23:27,015 --> 00:23:28,747
but not too much that
they destroyed the evidence.

369
00:23:28,748 --> 00:23:30,314
It really is a miracle.

370
00:23:30,315 --> 00:23:34,147
It was in one of the rocks
scattered by the blast

371
00:23:34,148 --> 00:23:39,347
that Matthew found
the collarbone of a child.

372
00:23:39,348 --> 00:23:42,647
But that was just the beginning.

373
00:23:42,648 --> 00:23:45,581
The hole where the miners
planted the dynamite

374
00:23:45,582 --> 00:23:49,015
would soon yield so much more.

375
00:23:51,115 --> 00:23:52,947
It was only once
I had the permit

376
00:23:52,948 --> 00:23:54,681
and we came back on September 4,
a whole bunch of us.

377
00:23:54,682 --> 00:23:56,681
That we spent all morning
looking here

378
00:23:56,682 --> 00:23:59,214
and we found nothing.

379
00:23:59,215 --> 00:24:00,547
We were even thinking of leaving

380
00:24:00,548 --> 00:24:02,081
because we thought
there wasn't anything here.

381
00:24:02,082 --> 00:24:04,314
I stood over on the other side
of this pit,

382
00:24:04,315 --> 00:24:06,581
looking down into that pit,

383
00:24:06,582 --> 00:24:08,982
and I saw something sticking out
of the rock right down here.

384
00:24:11,182 --> 00:24:13,414
And what I saw stunned me.

385
00:24:13,415 --> 00:24:18,014
And I climbed down the pit
and looked right over here,

386
00:24:18,015 --> 00:24:20,547
and there
sticking out of the wall

387
00:24:20,548 --> 00:24:22,547
was the proximal humerus
of a hominin.

388
00:24:22,548 --> 00:24:24,581
I couldn't believe it...
I did my PhD on this.

389
00:24:24,582 --> 00:24:27,314
I climbed closer,
and as I got closer,

390
00:24:27,315 --> 00:24:30,447
I realized there was a scapula
of the shoulder blade in place,

391
00:24:30,448 --> 00:24:33,814
and I came even closer

392
00:24:33,815 --> 00:24:36,481
and put my hand on the wall,
right here,

393
00:24:36,482 --> 00:24:39,481
and two hominid teeth
fell into my hand.

394
00:24:39,482 --> 00:24:41,514
Then I said something,

395
00:24:41,515 --> 00:24:45,414
and that started the second part
of this remarkable story.

396
00:24:45,415 --> 00:24:47,014
Everyone piled down in here,

397
00:24:47,015 --> 00:24:49,647
at my feet was a proximal femur
in a block here

398
00:24:49,648 --> 00:24:51,347
that clearly belonged
to the child.

399
00:24:51,348 --> 00:24:55,147
What was amazing was
it never crossed my mind

400
00:24:55,148 --> 00:24:58,247
that this wasn't the child
that Matthew had found.

401
00:24:58,248 --> 00:25:01,214
How could you find two skeletons
in a site like this?

402
00:25:01,215 --> 00:25:02,981
What it would turn out to be,
of course,

403
00:25:02,982 --> 00:25:05,414
was a second skeleton,
the female skeleton.

404
00:25:05,415 --> 00:25:08,081
The child would be laying
right here,

405
00:25:08,082 --> 00:25:10,747
just lying in position here,

406
00:25:10,748 --> 00:25:12,381
and it would turn out that
there were other skeletons here.

407
00:25:12,382 --> 00:25:13,847
There's one sitting over there.

408
00:25:13,848 --> 00:25:15,814
There's a baby
just above me here,

409
00:25:15,815 --> 00:25:18,147
and who knows how many
are in front of me here.

410
00:25:18,148 --> 00:25:22,282
It really is a treasure trove
of paleoanthropology.

411
00:25:25,382 --> 00:25:27,814
One by one,
they took out blocks of stone

412
00:25:27,815 --> 00:25:30,947
they thought might have
hominin fossils in them,

413
00:25:30,948 --> 00:25:33,847
remnants of our ancient
human family.

414
00:25:33,848 --> 00:25:36,614
The blocks were all taken back

415
00:25:36,615 --> 00:25:39,648
to the University
of the Witwatersrand.

416
00:25:43,148 --> 00:25:44,681
At the medical school,

417
00:25:44,682 --> 00:25:47,381
Lee's wife, Jackie,
a radiologist,

418
00:25:47,382 --> 00:25:50,247
ran the blocks
through a CT scanner,

419
00:25:50,248 --> 00:25:55,481
allowing the scientists
to peer inside.

420
00:25:55,482 --> 00:26:00,815
There you go, okay, that's good.

421
00:26:04,082 --> 00:26:09,415
What one of those blocks
revealed was stunning.

422
00:26:12,848 --> 00:26:14,447
A slice came through,

423
00:26:14,448 --> 00:26:17,247
and you could see
an entire skull.

424
00:26:17,248 --> 00:26:19,081
I was dumbfounded.

425
00:26:19,082 --> 00:26:23,481
I could not in my wildest dreams
believe an entire skull

426
00:26:23,482 --> 00:26:26,348
could be sitting
in this little rock.

427
00:26:29,282 --> 00:26:31,347
Then began the painstaking job

428
00:26:31,348 --> 00:26:33,914
of freeing the skull
from the rock

429
00:26:33,915 --> 00:26:37,981
that had encased it
for possibly millions of years.

430
00:26:37,982 --> 00:26:41,482
It took me three months
to get it out.

431
00:26:45,515 --> 00:26:48,881
I was the first one
that saw this.

432
00:26:48,882 --> 00:26:50,581
And you can't describe it
to anybody.

433
00:26:50,582 --> 00:26:51,647
It's beautiful.

434
00:26:51,648 --> 00:26:52,881
I mean, it's been in the ground

435
00:26:52,882 --> 00:26:55,214
for 1.9 million years,

436
00:26:55,215 --> 00:26:58,314
and you're the first person
to see that.

437
00:26:58,315 --> 00:27:01,382
I thought,
"Well, you're beautiful."

438
00:27:02,715 --> 00:27:04,948
I basically brought this boy
back to life.

439
00:27:08,015 --> 00:27:11,482
Finally, the skull was free.

440
00:27:20,015 --> 00:27:22,881
Its small brain
and forward-projecting face

441
00:27:22,882 --> 00:27:26,314
made it clear that
it was an Australopith.

442
00:27:26,315 --> 00:27:29,714
But details of the teeth
and other parts of the skeleton

443
00:27:29,715 --> 00:27:33,681
made it unlike any found before.

444
00:27:33,682 --> 00:27:38,147
Many types of Australopithecus
once walked the earth

445
00:27:38,148 --> 00:27:42,882
between about two
and four million years ago.

446
00:27:45,115 --> 00:27:49,848
<i>Lucy is known as afarensis.</i>

447
00:27:53,148 --> 00:27:57,848
<i>There's also
Australopithecus africanus.</i>

448
00:28:00,748 --> 00:28:05,881
This appeared to be
an entirely new species.

449
00:28:05,882 --> 00:28:10,414
<i>Lee called it
Australopithecus sediba</i>

450
00:28:10,415 --> 00:28:12,347
after the waterhole
near which it was found.

451
00:28:12,348 --> 00:28:18,847
In the local language Sotho,
"sediba" means "wellspring."

452
00:28:18,848 --> 00:28:23,647
The team was able
to radioactively date

453
00:28:23,648 --> 00:28:28,714
the limestone layers in the cave
with great precision.

454
00:28:28,715 --> 00:28:32,514
The layer containing
the sediba skeletons

455
00:28:32,515 --> 00:28:37,514
was 1.97 million years old.

456
00:28:37,515 --> 00:28:41,647
That makes these creatures
among the last of their kind,

457
00:28:41,648 --> 00:28:44,647
living right at the end
of the fossil gap

458
00:28:44,648 --> 00:28:48,182
<i>between Australopiths
and Homo erectus.</i>

459
00:28:50,215 --> 00:28:53,714
Here at last was a creature

460
00:28:53,715 --> 00:28:57,547
that could tell us something
about that transition.

461
00:28:57,548 --> 00:29:01,814
And the bones
were not just fragments.

462
00:29:01,815 --> 00:29:05,681
Here were two remarkably
complete skeletons,

463
00:29:05,682 --> 00:29:09,581
a female and a child.

464
00:29:09,582 --> 00:29:13,647
Still encased
in the rock at Malapa

465
00:29:13,648 --> 00:29:15,647
are fragments
of at least three more,

466
00:29:15,648 --> 00:29:18,414
waiting to be excavated.

467
00:29:18,415 --> 00:29:24,147
This made sediba the most
complete evidence ever found

468
00:29:24,148 --> 00:29:28,447
for what was going on
at the dawn of humanity.

469
00:29:28,448 --> 00:29:31,547
<i>The Australopithecus
sediba fossils</i>

470
00:29:31,548 --> 00:29:33,781
are some of the most
spectacular skeletons known

471
00:29:33,782 --> 00:29:35,147
for early hominids.

472
00:29:35,148 --> 00:29:36,281
They're absolutely amazing.

473
00:29:36,282 --> 00:29:37,914
We don't get two bones

474
00:29:37,915 --> 00:29:39,647
associated with one another
very often,

475
00:29:39,648 --> 00:29:42,947
much less several bones,
much less partial skeletons.

476
00:29:42,948 --> 00:29:46,747
So that makes these fossils
really special.

477
00:29:46,748 --> 00:29:48,714
Sediba was exciting
from the get-go.

478
00:29:48,715 --> 00:29:51,681
Right away, we knew that
we had parts of the skeleton

479
00:29:51,682 --> 00:29:54,814
and we had parts of the cranium,

480
00:29:54,815 --> 00:29:57,847
which helps us figure out
who this animal is.

481
00:29:57,848 --> 00:29:59,514
So that was really,
really exciting,

482
00:29:59,515 --> 00:30:03,647
and initially, these upper limb
bones looked very primitive,

483
00:30:03,648 --> 00:30:05,781
so we knew we were dealing
with something

484
00:30:05,782 --> 00:30:07,781
that looked like it would be
a good climber,

485
00:30:07,782 --> 00:30:11,148
kind of an ape-like creature.

486
00:30:15,948 --> 00:30:20,447
Peter Schmid's job is to
reconstruct sediba's skeleton.

487
00:30:20,448 --> 00:30:22,147
Unlike past fossil finds,

488
00:30:22,148 --> 00:30:25,514
here, the skeletons
are so complete,

489
00:30:25,515 --> 00:30:29,147
there doesn't have to be
much guesswork.

490
00:30:29,148 --> 00:30:32,247
By scanning and mirror imaging,

491
00:30:32,248 --> 00:30:36,381
Peter can fill in any missing
bones with great accuracy.

492
00:30:36,382 --> 00:30:41,681
From the CT, we've got
a few thousand slices now,

493
00:30:41,682 --> 00:30:45,281
and Aurore has to put everything
together to form a 3D model.

494
00:30:45,282 --> 00:30:49,647
And then we have to cut
the model

495
00:30:49,648 --> 00:30:51,981
because the pelvis
we already casted,

496
00:30:51,982 --> 00:30:54,314
so we only need the rib cage.

497
00:30:54,315 --> 00:30:57,647
But the right rib cage
we have already,

498
00:30:57,648 --> 00:31:00,347
but we need now
the mirror image of that,

499
00:31:00,348 --> 00:31:05,582
and the computer helps us to do
the mirror image in a second.

500
00:31:08,715 --> 00:31:10,947
Layer by layer,

501
00:31:10,948 --> 00:31:16,415
a 3D printer then slowly prints
the rib cage in fine plaster.

502
00:31:29,048 --> 00:31:31,647
Beautiful.

503
00:31:31,648 --> 00:31:37,548
Finally, Peter has assembled
a complete skeleton.

504
00:31:41,415 --> 00:31:45,347
It's highly unusual.

505
00:31:45,348 --> 00:31:49,214
All Australopiths are a mix
of ape and human,

506
00:31:49,215 --> 00:31:52,547
but sediba has a unique
mosaic of features

507
00:31:52,548 --> 00:31:57,614
scientists have never seen
before in the same creature.

508
00:31:57,615 --> 00:32:00,247
The arm is very long,
like in a chimpanzee,

509
00:32:00,248 --> 00:32:04,214
but the hand
is with short fingers

510
00:32:04,215 --> 00:32:05,981
and a very long thumb,
like a human hand

511
00:32:05,982 --> 00:32:08,447
which was never found until now

512
00:32:08,448 --> 00:32:10,647
because this is the most
complete hand ever found

513
00:32:10,648 --> 00:32:12,081
in this period.

514
00:32:12,082 --> 00:32:16,114
Job Kibii,
who was with Lee and Matthew

515
00:32:16,115 --> 00:32:17,947
when they discovered
the skeletons,

516
00:32:17,948 --> 00:32:21,114
has been working
on the sediba hand.

517
00:32:21,115 --> 00:32:23,681
He's found
an unusual combination

518
00:32:23,682 --> 00:32:26,281
of ape and human features
here too.

519
00:32:26,282 --> 00:32:30,381
What's special
about sediba's arm and hand

520
00:32:30,382 --> 00:32:34,814
is that we know sediba
has a very long thumb,

521
00:32:34,815 --> 00:32:37,881
which is more chimp-like,

522
00:32:37,882 --> 00:32:43,281
but sediba has
a very human-like hand.

523
00:32:43,282 --> 00:32:46,047
For example, sediba has a thumb

524
00:32:46,048 --> 00:32:50,847
which is longer
relative to the other fingers,

525
00:32:50,848 --> 00:32:53,947
which indicates
a human-like condition.

526
00:32:53,948 --> 00:32:57,881
Sediba's hand, with its
opposable thumb

527
00:32:57,882 --> 00:32:59,347
and forefingers,

528
00:32:59,348 --> 00:33:02,981
is so human that
it could've been a tool user.

529
00:33:02,982 --> 00:33:05,514
But since no tools were found,

530
00:33:05,515 --> 00:33:10,015
that remains only
an intriguing possibility.

531
00:33:14,415 --> 00:33:18,214
From the reconstructed skeleton,
paleoartist Viktor Deak

532
00:33:18,215 --> 00:33:22,847
can start to create
a lifelike digital painting.

533
00:33:22,848 --> 00:33:25,681
By virtually applying
tissue thickness markers

534
00:33:25,682 --> 00:33:27,547
carefully calculated

535
00:33:27,548 --> 00:33:31,214
from the known facial tissues
of living primates,

536
00:33:31,215 --> 00:33:37,214
he can build up a realistic
impression of sediba's face.

537
00:33:37,215 --> 00:33:39,414
Once that was all done,

538
00:33:39,415 --> 00:33:45,514
I have now gone ahead
and created a body for it,

539
00:33:45,515 --> 00:33:47,547
and if you want to see,

540
00:33:47,548 --> 00:33:50,414
we can check all that
by going transparent

541
00:33:50,415 --> 00:33:53,947
and seeing, making sure that
the bones and everything line up

542
00:33:53,948 --> 00:33:58,347
in the proper spaces.

543
00:33:58,348 --> 00:34:02,314
So here we have
a concept reconstruction

544
00:34:02,315 --> 00:34:06,747
of how sediba
potentially could look like.

545
00:34:06,748 --> 00:34:11,447
The step from there
to a lifelike digital painting

546
00:34:11,448 --> 00:34:12,882
is a short one.

547
00:34:15,248 --> 00:34:20,014
Finally, for the first time
in almost two million years,

548
00:34:20,015 --> 00:34:23,947
<i>the face of
Australopithecus sediba</i>

549
00:34:23,948 --> 00:34:26,815
looks out on the world
once again.

550
00:34:42,115 --> 00:34:47,781
But the true revelations will
come from the bones themselves.

551
00:34:47,782 --> 00:34:50,681
Because they are
so well preserved,

552
00:34:50,682 --> 00:34:53,714
these fossils
will give scientists

553
00:34:53,715 --> 00:34:55,514
unprecedented insights

554
00:34:55,515 --> 00:34:59,281
into the lives
of these ancient creatures...

555
00:34:59,282 --> 00:35:05,481
Everything from what they ate
to how they died.

556
00:35:05,482 --> 00:35:10,514
Such details might help explain
the Australopiths' transition

557
00:35:10,515 --> 00:35:11,015
Homo.

558
00:35:14,748 --> 00:35:18,881
They might also prove
or disprove

559
00:35:18,882 --> 00:35:22,848
a highly influential theory
about the dawn of humanity...

560
00:35:26,248 --> 00:35:29,014
A theory inspired
by the very first discovery

561
00:35:29,015 --> 00:35:31,215
of an Australopith fossil.

562
00:35:38,982 --> 00:35:41,282
The year is 1924.

563
00:35:45,048 --> 00:35:47,481
Anatomist Raymond Dart

564
00:35:47,482 --> 00:35:52,181
teaches at the University of the
Witswatersrand in Johannesburg.

565
00:35:52,182 --> 00:35:55,881
His hobby is fossil hunting,

566
00:35:55,882 --> 00:36:00,881
but he never imagines
he will find a human ancestor.

567
00:36:00,882 --> 00:36:05,514
Nobody at the time believes
we had evolved in Africa.

568
00:36:05,515 --> 00:36:08,581
Well, in the late 19th century,

569
00:36:08,582 --> 00:36:13,547
fossils were found in Europe
with the Neanderthals.

570
00:36:13,548 --> 00:36:15,714
They were found in Asia

571
00:36:15,715 --> 00:36:20,047
<i>with the earliest known examples
of Homo erectus.</i>

572
00:36:20,048 --> 00:36:21,814
No one really had a sense

573
00:36:21,815 --> 00:36:23,714
that anything interesting
occurred in Africa.

574
00:36:23,715 --> 00:36:28,147
Darwin and Huxley
predicted that our origins

575
00:36:28,148 --> 00:36:30,581
would be in Africa
based on comparative anatomy.

576
00:36:30,582 --> 00:36:32,447
You know, they looked
at the skeletons

577
00:36:32,448 --> 00:36:33,914
of chimps and gorillas,

578
00:36:33,915 --> 00:36:34,981
and they looked at ours
and they went,

579
00:36:34,982 --> 00:36:36,714
"Well, they're so close to us

580
00:36:36,715 --> 00:36:38,447
"and they're more close
than anything else,

581
00:36:38,448 --> 00:36:40,314
so it must have been in Africa."

582
00:36:40,315 --> 00:36:42,314
And then the sort of
second generation

583
00:36:42,315 --> 00:36:44,381
of evolutionary biologists
shied away from that.

584
00:36:44,382 --> 00:36:46,314
They started to find fossils
in Europe.

585
00:36:46,315 --> 00:36:48,181
They started to find fossils
in Asia.

586
00:36:48,182 --> 00:36:49,914
And, of course,
that tied in very nicely

587
00:36:49,915 --> 00:36:51,281
with sort of racist,
imperialistic thoughts

588
00:36:51,282 --> 00:36:52,647
of the day.

589
00:36:52,648 --> 00:36:54,882
They couldn't abide the thought
of it being in Africa.

590
00:36:57,282 --> 00:37:03,247
In late 1924, Raymond Dart
receives a package.

591
00:37:03,248 --> 00:37:06,047
He sees it's
from the mining town of Taung

592
00:37:06,048 --> 00:37:09,847
in South Africa's
Northwest Province.

593
00:37:09,848 --> 00:37:13,047
And in that box is a fossil,

594
00:37:13,048 --> 00:37:15,082
and this is a game-changing
fossil.

595
00:37:20,482 --> 00:37:22,647
It's been sent to him by miners

596
00:37:22,648 --> 00:37:24,947
who noticed what looks like
the skull of a small ape

597
00:37:24,948 --> 00:37:27,315
encased in the rock.

598
00:37:31,448 --> 00:37:33,648
Dart is fascinated.

599
00:37:38,315 --> 00:37:40,914
He begins the long,
laborious process

600
00:37:40,915 --> 00:37:43,515
of revealing
the mysterious skull.

601
00:37:46,382 --> 00:37:49,681
He can see that
it is the skull of a child,

602
00:37:49,682 --> 00:37:52,782
but like no child
he has ever seen before.

603
00:37:55,948 --> 00:38:01,514
It has ape-like characteristics,
but also some very human ones.

604
00:38:01,515 --> 00:38:05,347
And so as he cleaned this fossil

605
00:38:05,348 --> 00:38:07,747
and he saw the hole
in the bottom of the skull

606
00:38:07,748 --> 00:38:10,514
where the spinal cord enters
the brain underneath

607
00:38:10,515 --> 00:38:15,081
that he had something like a
two-legged walker on his hands.

608
00:38:15,082 --> 00:38:18,781
<i>And this he named
Australopithecus africanus,</i>

609
00:38:18,782 --> 00:38:23,215
and what that means is
"southern human of Africa."

610
00:38:26,482 --> 00:38:30,014
Dart rushed into print
with his find.

611
00:38:30,015 --> 00:38:34,047
He claimed it is proof
that we evolved in Africa,

612
00:38:34,048 --> 00:38:37,514
just as Darwin had predicted.

613
00:38:37,515 --> 00:38:42,981
He was unprepared for the
firestorm his theory unleashed.

614
00:38:42,982 --> 00:38:46,514
The Taung child sparked
an incredible revolution.

615
00:38:46,515 --> 00:38:48,347
Up to that point,
everybody said,

616
00:38:48,348 --> 00:38:50,381
"Let's look to Europe
for our ancestors."

617
00:38:50,382 --> 00:38:52,914
It was unthinkable that
anything as important

618
00:38:52,915 --> 00:38:55,947
as the emergence of humans
could have happened in Africa.

619
00:38:55,948 --> 00:38:58,681
Raymond Dart was a feisty guy,

620
00:38:58,682 --> 00:39:03,681
and when he was pushed back
by the British intelligentsia,

621
00:39:03,682 --> 00:39:07,547
he became feistier,
more aggressive

622
00:39:07,548 --> 00:39:11,081
in terms of his defending
of his views.

623
00:39:11,082 --> 00:39:13,781
Most scientists
disagreed with him.

624
00:39:13,782 --> 00:39:15,581
He really was seen
as an outsider,

625
00:39:15,582 --> 00:39:18,214
but it absolutely
set the ball rolling

626
00:39:18,215 --> 00:39:22,214
for, one, paleoanthropology
as a field in Africa,

627
00:39:22,215 --> 00:39:25,381
and, two, vindication
of what Darwin and Huxley

628
00:39:25,382 --> 00:39:28,147
had predicted
with actual fossil evidence.

629
00:39:28,148 --> 00:39:31,247
It showed once and for all
that our origins were in Africa

630
00:39:31,248 --> 00:39:32,847
and only in Africa,
and that's huge.

631
00:39:32,848 --> 00:39:34,314
It totally changed the field.

632
00:39:34,315 --> 00:39:38,514
Dart was sure he had discovered
the missing link

633
00:39:38,515 --> 00:39:40,881
between apes and humans.

634
00:39:40,882 --> 00:39:46,281
But it wasn't enough
to know what they looked like.

635
00:39:46,282 --> 00:39:49,981
He wanted to know
how they behaved.

636
00:39:49,982 --> 00:39:53,147
What sort of creatures
were they?

637
00:39:53,148 --> 00:39:56,681
He understood that these great
questions about our ancestors

638
00:39:56,682 --> 00:40:02,081
were also questions
about ourselves.

639
00:40:02,082 --> 00:40:05,047
The reason we are interested
in our own ancestry, I think,

640
00:40:05,048 --> 00:40:07,981
is the reason that
you or I want to know

641
00:40:07,982 --> 00:40:10,347
who our parents were
and who our grandparents were

642
00:40:10,348 --> 00:40:12,447
or great-grandparents were,
because somewhere in us,

643
00:40:12,448 --> 00:40:15,547
we realize that there's
a little bit of them in us,

644
00:40:15,548 --> 00:40:19,314
so to understand
the quirks of our own behavior

645
00:40:19,315 --> 00:40:21,114
and why we do things,

646
00:40:21,115 --> 00:40:23,114
if not just why we look
the way we do,

647
00:40:23,115 --> 00:40:24,714
comes from that ancestry.

648
00:40:24,715 --> 00:40:27,114
Paleoanthropology is just that
in deep time.

649
00:40:27,115 --> 00:40:30,114
We're looking way back.

650
00:40:30,115 --> 00:40:32,847
And so we're looking
at the things,

651
00:40:32,848 --> 00:40:35,281
the sort of little bits
and pieces

652
00:40:35,282 --> 00:40:38,448
that drive why humanity
is like it is today.

653
00:40:41,448 --> 00:40:44,181
Raymond Dart
was building a theory

654
00:40:44,182 --> 00:40:48,014
about how the Australopiths,
our ape-like ancestors,

655
00:40:48,015 --> 00:40:51,181
became human.

656
00:40:51,182 --> 00:40:56,047
His ideas about the dawn
of humanity were the touchstone

657
00:40:56,048 --> 00:41:00,047
for thinking about our origins
for generations.

658
00:41:00,048 --> 00:41:03,014
In the 1940s,

659
00:41:03,015 --> 00:41:05,014
more examples
of Australopithecus

660
00:41:05,015 --> 00:41:06,514
began to be found.

661
00:41:06,515 --> 00:41:11,047
And a key site not only had
fragments of Australopithecus,

662
00:41:11,048 --> 00:41:14,281
but also the bones
of many other fossil animals.

663
00:41:14,282 --> 00:41:19,947
And Dart noted that these bones
were broken in a special way.

664
00:41:19,948 --> 00:41:24,314
Dart became convinced
they were weapons

665
00:41:24,315 --> 00:41:27,514
made by our primitive ancestors.

666
00:41:27,515 --> 00:41:33,182
Was this the key
to what first made us human?

667
00:41:35,282 --> 00:41:39,081
Dart had been a young medic
in World War I.

668
00:41:39,082 --> 00:41:42,614
He had seen firsthand

669
00:41:42,615 --> 00:41:44,881
the barbarity
humans are capable of.

670
00:41:44,882 --> 00:41:49,181
It made sense to him
that the origins of humanity

671
00:41:49,182 --> 00:41:52,181
were steeped in blood.

672
00:41:52,182 --> 00:41:55,614
Raymond Dart's experience
in the World War

673
00:41:55,615 --> 00:41:57,747
may have colored
his interpretation

674
00:41:57,748 --> 00:41:59,881
of what these bones
and teeth meant.

675
00:41:59,882 --> 00:42:01,714
You know, it gave him a view

676
00:42:01,715 --> 00:42:05,147
of the dark side of humanity
and the violence of humanity,

677
00:42:05,148 --> 00:42:08,647
and he came up with this idea
that Australopithecus

678
00:42:08,648 --> 00:42:12,681
had figured out that bones
and teeth were hard

679
00:42:12,682 --> 00:42:15,081
and could be used as weapons
to kill other animals,

680
00:42:15,082 --> 00:42:17,947
the sort of killer ape theory
of early humans.

681
00:42:17,948 --> 00:42:21,881
Dart believed that
the more aggressive

682
00:42:21,882 --> 00:42:24,281
and adventurous
of our ape-like ancestors

683
00:42:24,282 --> 00:42:26,847
abandoned their forest
environments

684
00:42:26,848 --> 00:42:30,947
and moved into savannahs.

685
00:42:30,948 --> 00:42:35,548
There, they became hunters
and predators.

686
00:42:38,882 --> 00:42:42,581
His theory that
this violent transformation

687
00:42:42,582 --> 00:42:46,081
gave rise to humanity
soon found an audience

688
00:42:46,082 --> 00:42:50,481
far beyond the small world
of paleoanthropology.

689
00:42:50,482 --> 00:42:54,281
In the 1950s,
there was a drama critic

690
00:42:54,282 --> 00:42:57,147
and playwright
named Robert Ardrey

691
00:42:57,148 --> 00:43:00,347
who became very interested
in human origins,

692
00:43:00,348 --> 00:43:03,514
and he went to Africa
and spoke with Raymond Dart.

693
00:43:03,515 --> 00:43:05,747
And Robert Ardrey,
being a dramatist,

694
00:43:05,748 --> 00:43:09,147
could write like anything,
and he wrote this amazing book

695
00:43:09,148 --> 00:43:12,982
<i>published in 1961
called African Genesis.</i>

696
00:43:16,248 --> 00:43:19,447
<i>African Genesis
became a pop science</i>

697
00:43:19,448 --> 00:43:21,448
publishing sensation
of the early 1960s.

698
00:43:24,515 --> 00:43:28,381
Ardrey's ideas, building
on those of Raymond Dart,

699
00:43:28,382 --> 00:43:31,681
helped frame public debate
about the dawn of humanity

700
00:43:31,682 --> 00:43:33,648
for the next 20 years.

701
00:43:36,448 --> 00:43:39,681
The very first sentence
in that book,

702
00:43:39,682 --> 00:43:42,014
I remember it
because I read it as a teenager

703
00:43:42,015 --> 00:43:44,014
and was enthralled by it:

704
00:43:44,015 --> 00:43:48,447
"Not in innocence and not
in Asia was mankind born."

705
00:43:48,448 --> 00:43:50,314
And in that one sentence,

706
00:43:50,315 --> 00:43:52,881
he encapsulated
Raymond Dart's ideas

707
00:43:52,882 --> 00:43:57,014
that it was an African genesis,
and that where we came from

708
00:43:57,015 --> 00:44:00,714
was not
from an innocent creature

709
00:44:00,715 --> 00:44:03,882
but from the most violent
of killer apes.

710
00:44:05,648 --> 00:44:09,114
One of Robert Ardrey's
greatest fans

711
00:44:09,115 --> 00:44:11,114
was the filmmaker
Stanley Kubrick.

712
00:44:11,115 --> 00:44:16,014
At the time,
he was planning a film

713
00:44:16,015 --> 00:44:19,247
<i>based on the science fiction
novel A Space Odyssey.</i>

714
00:44:19,248 --> 00:44:25,182
It was to be a meditation
on human technology run wild.

715
00:44:29,048 --> 00:44:31,347
On a mission to Jupiter,

716
00:44:31,348 --> 00:44:34,482
the spacecraft's computer turns
on the crew.

717
00:44:42,915 --> 00:44:45,614
At the beginning of the film,

718
00:44:45,615 --> 00:44:50,747
our ancestors discover
the first technology:

719
00:44:50,748 --> 00:44:53,248
weapons.

720
00:45:15,882 --> 00:45:20,182
Eventually, they will use them
on each other.

721
00:45:24,515 --> 00:45:31,214
This was the "dawn of humanity"
imagined by Dart and Ardrey.

722
00:45:31,215 --> 00:45:34,214
And so this sets up then
for Kubrick

723
00:45:34,215 --> 00:45:37,114
the same conflict
that Dart felt.

724
00:45:37,115 --> 00:45:39,747
For Dart, that first weapon

725
00:45:39,748 --> 00:45:43,347
explained the emergence
of human beings,

726
00:45:43,348 --> 00:45:44,881
while at the same time,

727
00:45:44,882 --> 00:45:48,282
it explained the atrocities
of the 20th century.

728
00:45:50,848 --> 00:45:56,747
Are we killer apes at heart?

729
00:45:56,748 --> 00:46:00,114
Is this what we will discover
about our ancestors

730
00:46:00,115 --> 00:46:02,048
at the dawn of humanity?

731
00:46:06,215 --> 00:46:09,347
The discoveries at Malapa
may finally provide evidence

732
00:46:09,348 --> 00:46:13,214
to support or refute
Raymond Dart's theory.

733
00:46:13,215 --> 00:46:18,047
The sediba skeletons
are so well preserved,

734
00:46:18,048 --> 00:46:21,582
they give the scientists a
unique glimpse into their lives.

735
00:46:24,448 --> 00:46:26,014
And that's the story

736
00:46:26,015 --> 00:46:28,747
how did these individuals
really live

737
00:46:28,748 --> 00:46:30,181
out there in the environment?

738
00:46:30,182 --> 00:46:31,747
What did they do
on a daily basis?

739
00:46:31,748 --> 00:46:36,547
Whether they were so-called
"killer apes" or not

740
00:46:36,548 --> 00:46:39,382
can be seen in what they ate.

741
00:46:41,448 --> 00:46:46,681
The first direct evidence
comes from their teeth.

742
00:46:46,682 --> 00:46:51,681
At the Max Planck Institute
in Leipzig,

743
00:46:51,682 --> 00:46:55,881
Amanda Henry is analyzing
calculus, or tartar,

744
00:46:55,882 --> 00:47:00,881
fossilized
along with sediba's teeth.

745
00:47:00,882 --> 00:47:06,714
Calculus is what happens
when the bacteria in your mouth

746
00:47:06,715 --> 00:47:08,914
form a film on your teeth.

747
00:47:08,915 --> 00:47:11,447
So it's this very thick,
layered,

748
00:47:11,448 --> 00:47:16,747
heavily mineralized material
that forms around your gum line

749
00:47:16,748 --> 00:47:19,747
and on all sorts of surfaces
of your teeth.

750
00:47:19,748 --> 00:47:23,214
And as it forms,
it traps bacteria and proteins

751
00:47:23,215 --> 00:47:27,147
and remnants
of your food inside.

752
00:47:27,148 --> 00:47:31,347
Just like the tartar dentists
remove from our teeth,

753
00:47:31,348 --> 00:47:33,214
the calculus from sediba's teeth

754
00:47:33,215 --> 00:47:36,381
provides a snapshot
of what they were eating.

755
00:47:36,382 --> 00:47:40,647
So once I have the calculus here
in this little powdered form,

756
00:47:40,648 --> 00:47:42,914
I'm going to dissolve it
in a little bit of a weak acid,

757
00:47:42,915 --> 00:47:46,114
and then we're gonna rinse
that acid off,

758
00:47:46,115 --> 00:47:48,381
and hopefully
what we'll be left with

759
00:47:48,382 --> 00:47:52,247
is micro-remains with
this mineral matrix removed,

760
00:47:52,248 --> 00:47:54,581
and then we'll look at that
under a microscope

761
00:47:54,582 --> 00:47:57,782
and see if we can identify
what was in the calculus.

762
00:48:00,782 --> 00:48:03,314
Amanda can see
what sediba was eating

763
00:48:03,315 --> 00:48:05,381
when she discovers phytoliths,

764
00:48:05,382 --> 00:48:09,014
the microscopic
remains of plants.

765
00:48:09,015 --> 00:48:12,281
Well, this is a phytolith
that we recovered

766
00:48:12,282 --> 00:48:15,347
from the calculus
of the sediba individuals,

767
00:48:15,348 --> 00:48:17,047
and we have a couple
of examples here

768
00:48:17,048 --> 00:48:19,281
all from different plants
that this individual ate.

769
00:48:19,282 --> 00:48:22,414
Here at last is evidence

770
00:48:22,415 --> 00:48:25,947
that will help support
or disprove Dart's theory.

771
00:48:25,948 --> 00:48:28,914
Well, this is the first time
that we've had direct evidence

772
00:48:28,915 --> 00:48:33,647
of the kinds of foods
that any Australopith ate.

773
00:48:33,648 --> 00:48:35,814
We've had proxy information
before,

774
00:48:35,815 --> 00:48:37,914
we've had sort of
vague categories

775
00:48:37,915 --> 00:48:39,881
where the food's harder
or tougher,

776
00:48:39,882 --> 00:48:41,247
but this is direct evidence.

777
00:48:41,248 --> 00:48:42,981
That's exciting.

778
00:48:42,982 --> 00:48:47,047
What Amanda can see
trapped in sediba's tartar

779
00:48:47,048 --> 00:48:52,514
are microscopic remains
of many different plants.

780
00:48:52,515 --> 00:48:55,414
We have phytoliths from grasses,

781
00:48:55,415 --> 00:49:00,581
we have phytoliths from the bark
or woody tissue of plants,

782
00:49:00,582 --> 00:49:03,514
and we have phytoliths
possibly from fruits,

783
00:49:03,515 --> 00:49:05,881
so all the evidence
suggests that

784
00:49:05,882 --> 00:49:08,281
the foods that this individual
was eating

785
00:49:08,282 --> 00:49:11,581
was coming from closed
forested regions,

786
00:49:11,582 --> 00:49:15,114
so eating fruits,
maybe chewing on stems,

787
00:49:15,115 --> 00:49:17,248
eating the grasses
that are growing in that area.

788
00:49:19,782 --> 00:49:22,714
The tooth evidence from sediba

789
00:49:22,715 --> 00:49:25,982
indicates a diet very similar
to today's chimpanzees.

790
00:49:29,215 --> 00:49:31,347
While they may have eaten
some meat,

791
00:49:31,348 --> 00:49:34,214
there's little to back up
Raymond Dart's theory

792
00:49:34,215 --> 00:49:35,815
that they were killer apes.

793
00:49:42,615 --> 00:49:45,314
So later scientists came
and looked at the evidence

794
00:49:45,315 --> 00:49:48,414
and found that
there were tooth marks

795
00:49:48,415 --> 00:49:50,914
in the skull of
an Australopithecus individual,

796
00:49:50,915 --> 00:49:52,981
and that was just really
compelling evidence

797
00:49:52,982 --> 00:49:55,314
that Australopithecus maybe,
instead of being the predator,

798
00:49:55,315 --> 00:49:58,214
was the prey.

799
00:49:58,215 --> 00:50:04,114
So our ancestors, or the early
hominin in South Africa,

800
00:50:04,115 --> 00:50:09,081
were the victims,
rather than being the carnivores

801
00:50:09,082 --> 00:50:12,247
that Raymond Dart
wanted them to be.

802
00:50:12,248 --> 00:50:15,247
The caves
in which he was finding

803
00:50:15,248 --> 00:50:18,014
not only the remains
of human ancestors,

804
00:50:18,015 --> 00:50:20,881
but the remains of many,
many, many other animals,

805
00:50:20,882 --> 00:50:23,747
which he thought
were being consumed

806
00:50:23,748 --> 00:50:26,081
and devoured by our ancestors,

807
00:50:26,082 --> 00:50:30,147
were actually all the victims
of predators and carnivores

808
00:50:30,148 --> 00:50:33,648
who were pulling all of those
animals into the cave.

809
00:50:38,348 --> 00:50:40,781
It seems Raymond Dart's vision
of our ancestors

810
00:50:40,782 --> 00:50:43,314
as the first killer apes,

811
00:50:43,315 --> 00:50:48,682
so famously portrayed
by Stanley Kubrick, was wrong.

812
00:50:53,548 --> 00:50:56,514
The sediba skeletons
are so well preserved,

813
00:50:56,515 --> 00:50:59,014
they offer the team
a chance to investigate

814
00:50:59,015 --> 00:51:00,714
not just the lives,

815
00:51:00,715 --> 00:51:02,882
but the deaths
of these individuals.

816
00:51:06,715 --> 00:51:09,314
They can analyze the
two-million-year-old death scene

817
00:51:09,315 --> 00:51:13,947
almost as if it were
a forensic case.

818
00:51:13,948 --> 00:51:16,847
I mean, we're looking
at the preservation

819
00:51:16,848 --> 00:51:18,681
of organic material here.

820
00:51:18,682 --> 00:51:22,381
These animals are articulated
the way they died.

821
00:51:22,382 --> 00:51:25,247
The breakage patterns
may often be a result

822
00:51:25,248 --> 00:51:28,081
of the moments before
or shortly after their death.

823
00:51:28,082 --> 00:51:32,947
So far, the team has excavated
the skeletons

824
00:51:32,948 --> 00:51:36,614
of a female adult and a child.

825
00:51:36,615 --> 00:51:39,281
So the female was this one.

826
00:51:39,282 --> 00:51:44,347
And the juvenile
is all the bones in blue,

827
00:51:44,348 --> 00:51:46,181
all of these.

828
00:51:46,182 --> 00:51:47,847
They were found very close
to each other.

829
00:51:47,848 --> 00:51:53,181
Aurore Val has been creating
a virtual reconstruction

830
00:51:53,182 --> 00:51:57,347
of the scene
at the bottom of the cave.

831
00:51:57,348 --> 00:52:00,381
Besides the sediba skeletons,

832
00:52:00,382 --> 00:52:05,547
there are the skeletons
of many other animals too.

833
00:52:05,548 --> 00:52:10,648
How did they all get there?

834
00:52:16,848 --> 00:52:21,347
Two million years ago,
Malapa was a much deeper cave.

835
00:52:21,348 --> 00:52:23,381
Landscape erosion has reduced it

836
00:52:23,382 --> 00:52:25,047
to a small depression
in the ground.

837
00:52:25,048 --> 00:52:29,047
<i>But when Australopithecus
sediba was around,</i>

838
00:52:29,048 --> 00:52:32,882
it was a cave system
about 90 feet deep.

839
00:52:35,182 --> 00:52:37,281
Imagine a vertical shaft
going up.

840
00:52:37,282 --> 00:52:40,381
There's probably water dripping
down, roots hanging down.

841
00:52:40,382 --> 00:52:43,247
Right here is the curled-up body
of the female,

842
00:52:43,248 --> 00:52:46,947
lying right there
is a child's body,

843
00:52:46,948 --> 00:52:49,314
the 13-year-old boy.

844
00:52:49,315 --> 00:52:51,647
There are other animals,
all being eaten by bugs

845
00:52:51,648 --> 00:52:54,848
and going through
the usual process of decay.

846
00:52:58,215 --> 00:53:01,147
This reconstruction shows
the sediba death scene

847
00:53:01,148 --> 00:53:04,181
in great detail.

848
00:53:04,182 --> 00:53:10,514
Now the team want to know
how all these creatures died.

849
00:53:10,515 --> 00:53:15,847
Were they dragged in
by predators, or did they fall?

850
00:53:15,848 --> 00:53:20,547
The man to answer that question
is Patrick Randolph-Quinney.

851
00:53:20,548 --> 00:53:25,047
He's an eminent
forensic anthropologist

852
00:53:25,048 --> 00:53:30,347
more accustomed to working
on murder cases and mass graves.

853
00:53:30,348 --> 00:53:33,381
I'm involved
in looking at homicides

854
00:53:33,382 --> 00:53:35,014
and involved in looking

855
00:53:35,015 --> 00:53:36,414
at the forensic
identification process,

856
00:53:36,415 --> 00:53:37,881
So, unknown remains,

857
00:53:37,882 --> 00:53:39,314
giving them back their identity
and their name,

858
00:53:39,315 --> 00:53:40,615
that's what I do for a living.

859
00:53:42,648 --> 00:53:46,681
The skull of the child
is the first piece of evidence.

860
00:53:46,682 --> 00:53:48,514
This is this fracture here,

861
00:53:48,515 --> 00:53:50,881
and it's a fracture
that's actually separated

862
00:53:50,882 --> 00:53:52,681
part of the body of the jaw,

863
00:53:52,682 --> 00:53:55,214
and it runs up
through the tooth.

864
00:53:55,215 --> 00:53:56,747
And basically,
if you're in an impact,

865
00:53:56,748 --> 00:53:58,214
you jar your teeth together

866
00:53:58,215 --> 00:53:59,947
and you create compression
on the tooth row,

867
00:53:59,948 --> 00:54:03,214
and that provides force,
or generates force,

868
00:54:03,215 --> 00:54:04,714
which goes down
to the tooth roots.

869
00:54:04,715 --> 00:54:06,214
And what this has done

870
00:54:06,215 --> 00:54:08,147
is actually split
part of the corpus apart.

871
00:54:08,148 --> 00:54:09,581
So it's actually damage

872
00:54:09,582 --> 00:54:12,181
consistent with effectively
an impact on the jaw,

873
00:54:12,182 --> 00:54:14,147
and the energy has come
from the teeth

874
00:54:14,148 --> 00:54:15,881
out into the bone around it.

875
00:54:15,882 --> 00:54:18,414
And that only happens
mechanically with fresh bone,

876
00:54:18,415 --> 00:54:21,181
so this individual
was still functioning skeletally

877
00:54:21,182 --> 00:54:22,681
when this happened.

878
00:54:22,682 --> 00:54:27,081
The mandible fracture
is a green fracture

879
00:54:27,082 --> 00:54:30,848
that happened when the bone
was fresh, at or around death.

880
00:54:33,948 --> 00:54:39,281
It would be consistent
with a fatal fall.

881
00:54:39,282 --> 00:54:44,314
The fractures to the forearms
are even more telling.

882
00:54:44,315 --> 00:54:46,547
And if you look at MH2,

883
00:54:46,548 --> 00:54:50,714
she's got a fracture that runs
through the body of this joint,

884
00:54:50,715 --> 00:54:54,614
where it articulates
in the elbow with the humerus,

885
00:54:54,615 --> 00:54:56,514
the bone of the upper arm.

886
00:54:56,515 --> 00:54:58,681
There are also other fractures
associated with the wrist,

887
00:54:58,682 --> 00:55:03,614
in this portion of the ulna
and this portion of the radius.

888
00:55:03,615 --> 00:55:05,714
And we've actually got fractures

889
00:55:05,715 --> 00:55:08,714
in the scaphoid and triquetral
bone in the wrist as well.

890
00:55:08,715 --> 00:55:10,614
And what this appears
to indicate

891
00:55:10,615 --> 00:55:12,781
is putting your hand out
to stop yourself.

892
00:55:12,782 --> 00:55:15,947
This seems to be good evidence

893
00:55:15,948 --> 00:55:20,547
the individual was alive
when she fell.

894
00:55:20,548 --> 00:55:25,682
The cave at Malapa
was probably a death trap.

895
00:55:31,215 --> 00:55:35,248
Were they searching for water
and lost their grip?

896
00:55:37,615 --> 00:55:39,714
Perhaps they were trying
to escape in terror

897
00:55:39,715 --> 00:55:41,914
from some predator.

898
00:55:41,915 --> 00:55:45,047
Whatever the reason,
they fell and died

899
00:55:45,048 --> 00:55:47,615
either immediately on impact
or soon after.

900
00:55:55,915 --> 00:55:58,747
It appears that mud
then buried the bodies,

901
00:55:58,748 --> 00:56:03,914
and as it hardened,
kept them from disintegrating.

902
00:56:03,915 --> 00:56:07,914
This is why they were
so well preserved.

903
00:56:07,915 --> 00:56:13,847
Then began the long,
slow process of fossilization

904
00:56:13,848 --> 00:56:16,714
in which all organic material
in the bone

905
00:56:16,715 --> 00:56:18,748
was replaced by minerals.

906
00:56:21,848 --> 00:56:25,947
Today, the sediba fossils
are still yielding insights

907
00:56:25,948 --> 00:56:29,681
into the Australopith world
of almost two million years ago.

908
00:56:29,682 --> 00:56:32,914
But the most tantalizing
question of all

909
00:56:32,915 --> 00:56:35,514
is still unanswered.

910
00:56:35,515 --> 00:56:38,481
How did these primitive
creatures evolve

911
00:56:38,482 --> 00:56:41,714
into more advanced
human ancestors?

912
00:56:41,715 --> 00:56:44,681
To find out,
scientists need to find

913
00:56:44,682 --> 00:56:48,781
perhaps the most elusive
fossils of all:

914
00:56:48,782 --> 00:56:51,281
the first members
of our genus Homo.

915
00:56:51,282 --> 00:56:55,181
For decades, the only fossils
that came close

916
00:56:55,182 --> 00:57:00,614
<i>were the fragmentary remains of
a creature called Homo habilis:</i>

917
00:57:00,615 --> 00:57:03,547
handyman.

918
00:57:03,548 --> 00:57:06,914
In the early 1960s,
fossils discovered

919
00:57:06,915 --> 00:57:11,047
from Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania
by the Leakeys

920
00:57:11,048 --> 00:57:14,747
led to the definition
of a new fossil species

921
00:57:14,748 --> 00:57:18,114
<i>Homo habilis...
Handyman.</i>

922
00:57:18,115 --> 00:57:20,714
And what was significant
about that

923
00:57:20,715 --> 00:57:23,214
is that stone tools
were connected

924
00:57:23,215 --> 00:57:26,547
with what Leakey proposed
as the first human,

925
00:57:26,548 --> 00:57:30,215
a member of our lineage,
the genus Homo.

926
00:57:32,382 --> 00:57:34,047
Like most scientists
at the time,

927
00:57:34,048 --> 00:57:36,581
Louis Leakey thought
our evolution

928
00:57:36,582 --> 00:57:39,347
was probably a gradual,
linear process:

929
00:57:39,348 --> 00:57:41,481
a single chain of species

930
00:57:41,482 --> 00:57:43,382
becoming progressively
more human.

931
00:57:46,415 --> 00:57:48,381
He decided the key event

932
00:57:48,382 --> 00:57:52,647
that made our ancestors cross
the threshold to humanity

933
00:57:52,648 --> 00:57:55,047
was not the invention
of weapons,

934
00:57:55,048 --> 00:57:58,082
as Raymond Dart believed,
but tools.

935
00:58:02,115 --> 00:58:05,547
<i>Since Homo habilis seemed
to be the first toolmaker,</i>

936
00:58:05,548 --> 00:58:10,715
he declared it the first member
Homo.

937
00:58:11,948 --> 00:58:13,881
Here at last was the link

938
00:58:13,882 --> 00:58:16,947
between the ape-world
of the Australopiths

939
00:58:16,948 --> 00:58:19,115
<i>and the human world
of Homo erectus.</i>

940
00:58:20,882 --> 00:58:23,981
So there was always this gap
between Australopithecus

941
00:58:23,982 --> 00:58:25,881
and later members
of the genus Homo,

942
00:58:25,882 --> 00:58:27,647
<i>like Homo erectus
and Neanderthals,</i>

943
00:58:27,648 --> 00:58:28,947
and we didn't really know

944
00:58:28,948 --> 00:58:30,714
what species in that gap
would have looked like,

945
00:58:30,715 --> 00:58:34,481
<i>and then along in the 1960s,
along comes along Homo habilis,</i>

946
00:58:34,482 --> 00:58:36,347
and it's slightly
bigger brained,

947
00:58:36,348 --> 00:58:37,781
it's probably
a bit more bipedal,

948
00:58:37,782 --> 00:58:39,581
and of course it had these stone
tools associated with it,

949
00:58:39,582 --> 00:58:42,647
and it was argued very strongly
to be a contender

950
00:58:42,648 --> 00:58:46,447
for early Homo, and it was
instantly controversial

951
00:58:46,448 --> 00:58:48,747
and it's still controversial
to some people today.

952
00:58:48,748 --> 00:58:50,181
It's a bit of a mess.

953
00:58:50,182 --> 00:58:55,481
Because it became clear
probably in the 1990s

954
00:58:55,482 --> 00:58:58,514
and moving
into the early 21st century

955
00:58:58,515 --> 00:59:02,282
<i>that Homo habilis, we really
didn't know what that was.</i>

956
00:59:04,515 --> 00:59:08,181
One of the main reasons
for classifying it as human

957
00:59:08,182 --> 00:59:10,081
was that it was found
with tools.

958
00:59:10,082 --> 00:59:15,114
But that is now looking less
like a defining characteristic

959
00:59:15,115 --> 00:59:18,414
of the genus Homo.

960
00:59:18,415 --> 00:59:22,847
We now know that even the more
primitive Australopiths

961
00:59:22,848 --> 00:59:26,081
had the capacity to use
stone tools.

962
00:59:26,082 --> 00:59:29,214
Zeresenay Alemseged,
who discovered

963
00:59:29,215 --> 00:59:31,214
a three-million-year-old
Australopith

964
00:59:31,215 --> 00:59:35,414
called Dikika child, has found
what he believes to be evidence

965
00:59:35,415 --> 00:59:40,747
of stone tool use
in the same period.

966
00:59:40,748 --> 00:59:44,014
<i>If you were defining Homo
habilis as a toolmaker,</i>

967
00:59:44,015 --> 00:59:48,247
tool user,
then what do you make of it

968
00:59:48,248 --> 00:59:49,981
when you see
that Australopithecus

969
00:59:49,982 --> 00:59:51,781
was doing the same thing?

970
00:59:51,782 --> 00:59:54,914
We know that there is
rudimentary stone tool use...

971
00:59:54,915 --> 00:59:58,682
Not stone tool but stone use...
Among living chimpanzees.

972
01:00:01,048 --> 01:00:05,281
<i>The confusion surrounding
Homo habilis has grown.</i>

973
01:00:05,282 --> 01:00:06,647
It has been compounded

974
01:00:06,648 --> 01:00:10,082
by the fact that so little
of it has ever been found.

975
01:00:12,915 --> 01:00:17,847
Colleagues have said, you know,
if you had a shoebox,

976
01:00:17,848 --> 01:00:21,947
you could put all those fossils
that might be early members

977
01:00:21,948 --> 01:00:23,314
of the genus Homo into it

978
01:00:23,315 --> 01:00:25,315
and still have room
for a good pair of shoes.

979
01:00:26,682 --> 01:00:29,414
With so few fossils to go on,

980
01:00:29,415 --> 01:00:32,281
scientists had little
they could say for sure

981
01:00:32,282 --> 01:00:34,615
about the first members
of our genus, Homo.

982
01:00:37,482 --> 01:00:38,981
This was the situation

983
01:00:38,982 --> 01:00:42,247
when the two young cavers,
Rick Hunter and Steven Tucker,

984
01:00:42,248 --> 01:00:46,348
made their discoveries
in the Rising Star cave.

985
01:00:51,215 --> 01:00:54,047
When Lee saw the photos
from the fossil chamber,

986
01:00:54,048 --> 01:00:57,715
he could only hope they would
clear up the confusion.

987
01:01:00,348 --> 01:01:05,048
<i>Was it another sediba or
was it even Homo habilis?</i>

988
01:01:08,782 --> 01:01:13,782
The only way to find out
was to bring up the fossils.

989
01:01:15,482 --> 01:01:18,781
Lee knew there was
no time to waste.

990
01:01:18,782 --> 01:01:21,047
I had to make a decision,

991
01:01:21,048 --> 01:01:23,981
and about, oh,
just before 1:00 a.m.,

992
01:01:23,982 --> 01:01:29,947
I decided that history
would never forgive me

993
01:01:29,948 --> 01:01:31,715
if I did not act right then.

994
01:01:35,148 --> 01:01:36,547
Just five weeks later,

995
01:01:36,548 --> 01:01:40,547
the Rising Star excavation
was beginning to take shape.

996
01:01:40,548 --> 01:01:44,581
Its planning had taken
some ingenuity.

997
01:01:44,582 --> 01:01:47,314
Lee knew he would never be able

998
01:01:47,315 --> 01:01:49,347
to get down to the fossil
chamber himself.

999
01:01:49,348 --> 01:01:52,314
In places, the chamber entrance

1000
01:01:52,315 --> 01:01:54,948
was less than seven inches wide.

1001
01:01:56,648 --> 01:02:00,447
I put a call out
on Facebook saying,

1002
01:02:00,448 --> 01:02:04,747
"I need skinny scientists

1003
01:02:04,748 --> 01:02:09,181
"who are not claustrophobic,
who are cooperative,

1004
01:02:09,182 --> 01:02:10,314
"who can work together

1005
01:02:10,315 --> 01:02:12,481
"in a dangerous
and difficult environment.

1006
01:02:12,482 --> 01:02:17,082
And I need you available
by the first of November."

1007
01:02:19,848 --> 01:02:24,181
I saw Lee's Facebook post,
actually,

1008
01:02:24,182 --> 01:02:28,414
and on a whim I applied for it,
and then the next thing I know

1009
01:02:28,415 --> 01:02:31,681
I got asked to interview
and from there,

1010
01:02:31,682 --> 01:02:33,847
just things started happening
really quickly.

1011
01:02:33,848 --> 01:02:36,647
I saw a call that came out
on Facebook from Lee

1012
01:02:36,648 --> 01:02:39,314
that was looking
for skinny scientists,

1013
01:02:39,315 --> 01:02:40,914
skinny paleoanthropologists,

1014
01:02:40,915 --> 01:02:44,581
that weren't claustrophobic
and that would be able to fit

1015
01:02:44,582 --> 01:02:48,681
into a slot that was
about 18 centimeters,

1016
01:02:48,682 --> 01:02:51,414
and that was very intriguing.

1017
01:02:51,415 --> 01:02:53,947
I didn't say what
had been discovered.

1018
01:02:53,948 --> 01:02:57,747
I didn't say anything
about what I thought it was.

1019
01:02:57,748 --> 01:03:01,081
They only knew it was me
in South Africa

1020
01:03:01,082 --> 01:03:05,181
and it was clearly underground.

1021
01:03:05,182 --> 01:03:09,847
I thought I'd get three, four,
five applicants, I really did.

1022
01:03:09,848 --> 01:03:12,414
I mean, how many people
in the world could be qualified

1023
01:03:12,415 --> 01:03:13,682
and fit that criteria?

1024
01:03:17,015 --> 01:03:21,347
Within ten days I had
57 qualified applicants

1025
01:03:21,348 --> 01:03:25,147
from all over the world,
most of them women.

1026
01:03:25,148 --> 01:03:27,747
One morning I woke up
and there was a call

1027
01:03:27,748 --> 01:03:31,914
for tiny, experienced
archaeologists from Lee Berger

1028
01:03:31,915 --> 01:03:34,914
and I thought, "That's me."

1029
01:03:34,915 --> 01:03:36,347
I received the Facebook post

1030
01:03:36,348 --> 01:03:38,914
via a friend who saw that it was
an ad for a small archaeologist

1031
01:03:38,915 --> 01:03:39,947
with caving
and climbing experience

1032
01:03:39,948 --> 01:03:41,414
and she said, "That's you!"

1033
01:03:41,415 --> 01:03:45,814
I'm almost finishing a Ph.D.
in physical anthropology,

1034
01:03:45,815 --> 01:03:47,947
osteology, so this is my area.

1035
01:03:47,948 --> 01:03:49,147
I'm an archaeologist,

1036
01:03:49,148 --> 01:03:52,681
so I can study up quick
on the paleo stuff.

1037
01:03:52,682 --> 01:03:53,881
I'm a Ph.D. candidate

1038
01:03:53,882 --> 01:03:55,981
specializing in evolutionary
biomechanics,

1039
01:03:55,982 --> 01:03:58,614
so more on the paleo-
anthropological side of things.

1040
01:03:58,615 --> 01:04:00,481
It really seemed perfect,
in fact.

1041
01:04:00,482 --> 01:04:03,547
When I read the callout
to my husband, he said,

1042
01:04:03,548 --> 01:04:05,747
"Well, they might as well have
just meant, you know,

1043
01:04:05,748 --> 01:04:07,981
'Marina is wanted
over here.'"

1044
01:04:07,982 --> 01:04:09,447
So...

1045
01:04:09,448 --> 01:04:12,314
The Rising Star expedition

1046
01:04:12,315 --> 01:04:15,681
was to be a new kind
of paleoanthropology

1047
01:04:15,682 --> 01:04:20,114
tailor-made for the age of
social media and the Internet.

1048
01:04:20,115 --> 01:04:26,547
I held Skype interviews, and
I did a few things in that,

1049
01:04:26,548 --> 01:04:28,614
with the 11 people
I'd short-listed

1050
01:04:28,615 --> 01:04:30,781
out of this spectacular list
of applicants.

1051
01:04:30,782 --> 01:04:33,481
Lee explained a little bit
about how the cave was found

1052
01:04:33,482 --> 01:04:36,114
and shared with us
some video footage

1053
01:04:36,115 --> 01:04:39,714
and the initial photographs
that Steve and Rick took.

1054
01:04:39,715 --> 01:04:42,847
And he told us about
the conditions of traveling

1055
01:04:42,848 --> 01:04:44,581
into the cave.

1056
01:04:44,582 --> 01:04:47,481
So, you know, he wanted to make
sure that we really knew

1057
01:04:47,482 --> 01:04:48,981
what we were getting into.

1058
01:04:48,982 --> 01:04:50,481
It was mysterious.

1059
01:04:50,482 --> 01:04:52,314
It was very enticing
for that reason.

1060
01:04:52,315 --> 01:04:55,647
You know, sort of wondering what
sort of circumstances there were

1061
01:04:55,648 --> 01:04:59,181
that necessitated asking
for small people

1062
01:04:59,182 --> 01:05:01,214
with excellent
paleontological skills.

1063
01:05:01,215 --> 01:05:02,481
In the Skype interviews,

1064
01:05:02,482 --> 01:05:04,214
I wanted to see these people
face-to-face,

1065
01:05:04,215 --> 01:05:05,781
but I also wanted to test
some things.

1066
01:05:05,782 --> 01:05:07,981
I needed to know that
if I shut the cameras off,

1067
01:05:07,982 --> 01:05:10,081
which I did for many of them,

1068
01:05:10,082 --> 01:05:12,014
I want to hear
if they could respond to me.

1069
01:05:12,015 --> 01:05:13,547
Because I had already
designed by then

1070
01:05:13,548 --> 01:05:15,547
this system of communication,
I knew.

1071
01:05:15,548 --> 01:05:17,781
I knew I was never going to...

1072
01:05:17,782 --> 01:05:19,714
I will never set foot
in that chamber.

1073
01:05:19,715 --> 01:05:24,814
Then maybe a day after that,
I was told I was a go.

1074
01:05:24,815 --> 01:05:27,281
It was so fast, so fast.

1075
01:05:27,282 --> 01:05:29,381
And I sent off emails saying,

1076
01:05:29,382 --> 01:05:32,281
"Congratulations,
pack your bags.

1077
01:05:32,282 --> 01:05:36,947
Expect to be here
in the first week of November."

1078
01:05:36,948 --> 01:05:41,647
Then I got the email
that said that I... I got it

1079
01:05:41,648 --> 01:05:46,347
and then characteristically
I bust out crying,

1080
01:05:46,348 --> 01:05:50,047
and just kept reloading
my email to make sure,

1081
01:05:50,048 --> 01:05:52,747
refreshing it, just like,
really, it's really there,

1082
01:05:52,748 --> 01:05:55,681
it's really there,
and I screamed so loud.

1083
01:05:55,682 --> 01:05:58,081
It was a very quick process.

1084
01:05:58,082 --> 01:05:59,747
The ad went up

1085
01:05:59,748 --> 01:06:01,981
and then the interviews
happened the next week,

1086
01:06:01,982 --> 01:06:03,447
and then I learned a day later

1087
01:06:03,448 --> 01:06:05,614
that I was accepted
to the project.

1088
01:06:05,615 --> 01:06:08,214
All of a sudden I was
rearranging my schedule

1089
01:06:08,215 --> 01:06:10,781
and waiting for the plane
tickets and packing up

1090
01:06:10,782 --> 01:06:17,047
and reading quickly everything
that I needed to know and...

1091
01:06:17,048 --> 01:06:19,981
so it was fast and furious
getting ready for this.

1092
01:06:19,982 --> 01:06:22,147
My brain was just like a flurry,

1093
01:06:22,148 --> 01:06:25,647
like an explosion of glitter
and confetti.

1094
01:06:25,648 --> 01:06:27,281
Just...

1095
01:06:27,282 --> 01:06:31,614
It's everything, it's like every
best birthday and Christmas

1096
01:06:31,615 --> 01:06:34,747
and Hanukah and Kwanzaa and
it's everything, all at once.

1097
01:06:34,748 --> 01:06:36,581
I figured if he thought
I could do it,

1098
01:06:36,582 --> 01:06:38,647
if Lee thought I could do it,
then I could do it.

1099
01:06:38,648 --> 01:06:41,747
I had no illusions that
this was going to be easy.

1100
01:06:41,748 --> 01:06:44,081
Nothing like this
had ever been done,

1101
01:06:44,082 --> 01:06:48,614
certainly in the African context
I knew, perhaps ever,

1102
01:06:48,615 --> 01:06:51,914
anywhere, and I knew
I had to have everything

1103
01:06:51,915 --> 01:06:55,714
from medical support
to safety support to the design

1104
01:06:55,715 --> 01:06:58,681
of the infrastructure
underground and above ground

1105
01:06:58,682 --> 01:07:02,015
and all the things that go on
with a scientific expedition.

1106
01:07:09,048 --> 01:07:11,547
Yeah, let's get a bag.

1107
01:07:11,548 --> 01:07:16,014
As the camp was set up, Pedro,
Rick and Steve readied the cave

1108
01:07:16,015 --> 01:07:18,548
for the excavators.

1109
01:07:25,415 --> 01:07:30,448
Safety lines, lights, cables
and cameras were installed.

1110
01:07:34,015 --> 01:07:38,647
The possibility for accidents
was ever present.

1111
01:07:38,648 --> 01:07:42,181
Lee rehearsed safety procedures
over and over again.

1112
01:07:42,182 --> 01:07:44,382
Critical issue is, no one panic.

1113
01:07:45,648 --> 01:07:48,281
Yeah, yes, we see you.

1114
01:07:48,282 --> 01:07:51,914
A command post was set up
from which he could watch

1115
01:07:51,915 --> 01:07:54,481
virtually every part
of the cave.

1116
01:07:54,482 --> 01:07:56,681
I really began to get a feel

1117
01:07:56,682 --> 01:08:00,547
for what I was putting
these young women into

1118
01:08:00,548 --> 01:08:04,081
as the cavers who were laying
over two kilometers of cable.

1119
01:08:04,082 --> 01:08:07,947
And I think they were terrified
and I was terrified,

1120
01:08:07,948 --> 01:08:09,381
They were still untested.

1121
01:08:09,382 --> 01:08:12,481
We took them through the caves
testing their capabilities

1122
01:08:12,482 --> 01:08:15,714
in this system.

1123
01:08:15,715 --> 01:08:17,514
And so we reached the 10th,

1124
01:08:17,515 --> 01:08:20,314
which was my intended day
of going in

1125
01:08:20,315 --> 01:08:25,547
and we tested systems,
everything worked.

1126
01:08:25,548 --> 01:08:28,614
It was a little sloppy
but it worked.

1127
01:08:28,615 --> 01:08:31,447
We tested safety, it all worked,

1128
01:08:31,448 --> 01:08:35,314
and by the early afternoon
we were ready.

1129
01:08:35,315 --> 01:08:39,915
You'd be surprised, I'm actually
a person of gentle soul.

1130
01:08:42,082 --> 01:08:44,748
Is it weeping in the corner
like a Gollum?

1131
01:08:47,182 --> 01:08:52,015
Marina, Becca, and Hannah have
been chosen to go down first.

1132
01:08:53,382 --> 01:08:57,681
Still, nobody knows
exactly what they will find.

1133
01:08:57,682 --> 01:09:01,081
I've seen a skull,
I've seen the other pieces.

1134
01:09:01,082 --> 01:09:05,214
I am pretty sure that we have
got quite a lot of a skeleton

1135
01:09:05,215 --> 01:09:06,447
of at least one hominin.

1136
01:09:06,448 --> 01:09:08,681
That of course waits to be seen,

1137
01:09:08,682 --> 01:09:10,747
and it's going to happen
pretty fast now

1138
01:09:10,748 --> 01:09:13,315
over the next several hours.

1139
01:09:26,781 --> 01:09:30,681
Anxiously watched by Lee and
the team in the command post,

1140
01:09:30,682 --> 01:09:34,581
Marina, Becca and Hannah
make their way

1141
01:09:34,582 --> 01:09:37,815
deeper and deeper underground.

1142
01:09:39,448 --> 01:09:40,780
The descent is difficult.

1143
01:09:40,781 --> 01:09:44,780
And as I looked down there
I thought, oh, you know,

1144
01:09:44,781 --> 01:09:47,014
I don't know if I'm...
if I can do this,

1145
01:09:47,015 --> 01:09:50,081
but then once I was committed
to go down, it was actually

1146
01:09:50,082 --> 01:09:52,981
much, much easier
than I was dreading.

1147
01:09:52,982 --> 01:09:55,747
Just trying
to also slow it down a bit

1148
01:09:55,748 --> 01:10:00,114
because I've got
the GoPro running.

1149
01:10:00,115 --> 01:10:05,247
It was just an amazing,
an amazing feeling to realize

1150
01:10:05,248 --> 01:10:08,581
how far away you are
from everyone up top

1151
01:10:08,582 --> 01:10:11,781
in the command center,
and to just fully realize

1152
01:10:11,782 --> 01:10:14,681
what you are down there to do.

1153
01:10:14,682 --> 01:10:16,414
I became a little bit
overwhelmed,

1154
01:10:16,415 --> 01:10:18,981
but you also have to turn
that off in some sense

1155
01:10:18,982 --> 01:10:21,347
because you're only down there
for a limited amount of time

1156
01:10:21,348 --> 01:10:24,381
and you have a job to do,
a very important job to do.

1157
01:10:24,382 --> 01:10:27,247
Going down the chute
for the first time was...

1158
01:10:27,248 --> 01:10:31,081
honestly it wasn't as bad as I
thought it was going to be.

1159
01:10:31,082 --> 01:10:34,114
And then you come
into a landing zone

1160
01:10:34,115 --> 01:10:36,447
and there's a hallway
to pass through.

1161
01:10:36,448 --> 01:10:37,747
It's not really a squeeze,

1162
01:10:37,748 --> 01:10:40,414
but it's a narrow passage
to pass through

1163
01:10:40,415 --> 01:10:43,082
and then the chamber
opens up again.

1164
01:10:49,382 --> 01:10:52,214
This is the entrance
to the cave here.

1165
01:10:52,215 --> 01:10:54,781
So you start by descending down,
you know,

1166
01:10:54,782 --> 01:10:57,781
a fairly narrow shaft
and some tunnels.

1167
01:10:57,782 --> 01:11:00,847
You get down into an area here.

1168
01:11:00,848 --> 01:11:02,514
This is what we call
the Superman crawl,

1169
01:11:02,515 --> 01:11:05,014
which is a very narrow crawl.

1170
01:11:05,015 --> 01:11:07,447
You have to crawl on your
stomach for about three meters.

1171
01:11:07,448 --> 01:11:09,581
Then you enter
into another chamber.

1172
01:11:09,582 --> 01:11:11,514
This is what we call
the Dragon's Back,

1173
01:11:11,515 --> 01:11:13,247
so that's the ridge climb

1174
01:11:13,248 --> 01:11:16,247
with the sort of four- or five-
meter drop on either side.

1175
01:11:16,248 --> 01:11:19,214
You get up to the top
of Dragon's Back and you end up

1176
01:11:19,215 --> 01:11:20,647
at the top of the chute,

1177
01:11:20,648 --> 01:11:23,481
which is another sort
of tunnel access

1178
01:11:23,482 --> 01:11:26,614
that then you start the 12-meter
descent into the chamber,

1179
01:11:26,615 --> 01:11:28,514
so that's this area here.

1180
01:11:28,515 --> 01:11:29,847
Once you drop into the chamber,

1181
01:11:29,848 --> 01:11:31,614
you're actually just
in a landing zone.

1182
01:11:31,615 --> 01:11:33,414
It's another sort
of antechamber.

1183
01:11:33,415 --> 01:11:35,047
You then go through
another passageway

1184
01:11:35,048 --> 01:11:36,414
into the main chamber,

1185
01:11:36,415 --> 01:11:39,615
which we call UW-101,
or the fossil chamber.

1186
01:11:42,115 --> 01:11:46,514
Marina is the first
to enter the chamber.

1187
01:11:46,515 --> 01:11:50,347
There was a little bit of
trepidation, I have to confess,

1188
01:11:50,348 --> 01:11:52,214
and a lot of excitement

1189
01:11:52,215 --> 01:11:56,814
to be the first of the advance
scientists to go into the cave.

1190
01:11:56,815 --> 01:11:58,547
The first thing that came
through my mind

1191
01:11:58,548 --> 01:12:01,214
when I went through
the final slot

1192
01:12:01,215 --> 01:12:05,614
into the actual final chamber
was Howard Carter's anecdote

1193
01:12:05,615 --> 01:12:08,414
about opening
Tutankhamen's tomb.

1194
01:12:08,415 --> 01:12:11,581
I think it was Lord Carnarvon
in the back saying, you know,

1195
01:12:11,582 --> 01:12:13,114
"What do you see?"

1196
01:12:13,115 --> 01:12:17,781
And Carter says,
"Things, wonderful things."

1197
01:12:17,782 --> 01:12:19,314
And it was that feeling.

1198
01:12:19,315 --> 01:12:21,015
God, this place is beautiful.

1199
01:12:42,782 --> 01:12:45,181
First of all,
the cave is beautiful,

1200
01:12:45,182 --> 01:12:48,681
just geologically beautiful,
and then you look down

1201
01:12:48,682 --> 01:12:51,681
and it was just a sea of bone

1202
01:12:51,682 --> 01:12:54,948
and it was obviously
just not regular bone.

1203
01:12:56,348 --> 01:12:57,982
So, yeah, it was amazing,
amazing.

1204
01:13:00,715 --> 01:13:04,481
And then I saw them enter
this chamber.

1205
01:13:04,482 --> 01:13:11,314
We got the cameras set up and
you could see their feet moving.

1206
01:13:11,315 --> 01:13:13,782
And it was surreal.

1207
01:13:19,015 --> 01:13:20,115
Fantas...

1208
01:13:23,682 --> 01:13:24,747
Fantastic!

1209
01:13:24,748 --> 01:13:25,814
There we go.

1210
01:13:25,815 --> 01:13:27,781
Skull is being flagged.

1211
01:13:27,782 --> 01:13:29,215
You can see the skull here.

1212
01:13:32,148 --> 01:13:34,148
She's now flagging the mandible.

1213
01:13:36,015 --> 01:13:37,647
And then the process started.

1214
01:13:37,648 --> 01:13:40,014
The process
of doing science began.

1215
01:13:40,015 --> 01:13:42,747
So we'll put pin ♪1
right beside the mandible

1216
01:13:42,748 --> 01:13:45,447
and that's where
we'll concentrate.

1217
01:13:45,448 --> 01:13:46,647
Okay.

1218
01:13:46,648 --> 01:13:48,081
<i>Okay, das ist super.</i>

1219
01:13:48,082 --> 01:13:49,114
Okay, thanks.

1220
01:13:49,115 --> 01:13:50,382
Bye.

1221
01:13:53,415 --> 01:13:54,947
Yeah, that's perfect
right there.

1222
01:13:54,948 --> 01:13:56,047
Okay, going to start scanning.

1223
01:13:56,048 --> 01:13:58,181
Okay, scan.

1224
01:13:58,182 --> 01:14:03,314
The first foray into the fossil
chamber lasts only a few hours,

1225
01:14:03,315 --> 01:14:06,947
enough time to start scanning
and flagging bone fragments

1226
01:14:06,948 --> 01:14:09,547
as well as to test
the safety systems.

1227
01:14:09,548 --> 01:14:10,581
Okay, how didthat go?

1228
01:14:10,582 --> 01:14:11,714
Let's see.

1229
01:14:11,715 --> 01:14:13,647
It's mapping right now.

1230
01:14:13,648 --> 01:14:17,647
Finally it's time to bring up
the first precious fossil,

1231
01:14:17,648 --> 01:14:19,781
the mandible.

1232
01:14:19,782 --> 01:14:21,881
Uh, there, there, coming.

1233
01:14:21,882 --> 01:14:24,447
I see what looks like a mandible
in the middle there.

1234
01:14:24,448 --> 01:14:25,847
On the right.

1235
01:14:25,848 --> 01:14:27,015
That looks fantastic.

1236
01:14:38,082 --> 01:14:41,848
It's Becca who will take care
of it on the ascent.

1237
01:15:18,048 --> 01:15:19,682
All right!

1238
01:15:21,648 --> 01:15:22,947
You got the fossil, huh?

1239
01:15:22,948 --> 01:15:24,714
Yes, I got the fossil.

1240
01:15:24,715 --> 01:15:26,247
Well done.

1241
01:15:26,248 --> 01:15:27,381
Here you go.

1242
01:15:27,382 --> 01:15:28,981
And we have everyone else.

1243
01:15:28,982 --> 01:15:30,447
Everyone's out.
Rick's out safe.

1244
01:15:30,448 --> 01:15:32,547
They're all out.
Well done.

1245
01:15:32,548 --> 01:15:36,181
And so first their safety,
in that they were out

1246
01:15:36,182 --> 01:15:39,181
was just this enormous
emotive relief,

1247
01:15:39,182 --> 01:15:42,381
and then the sense that they had
actually got this thing,

1248
01:15:42,382 --> 01:15:44,314
so now I was going to see
for the first time

1249
01:15:44,315 --> 01:15:45,482
what all of this was about.

1250
01:15:49,482 --> 01:15:53,314
When they opened that little box
and we unwrapped this thing

1251
01:15:53,315 --> 01:15:56,147
that they collected,

1252
01:15:56,148 --> 01:15:59,981
every great idea we had

1253
01:15:59,982 --> 01:16:04,214
went out the window,
gone, you know.

1254
01:16:04,215 --> 01:16:05,782
Suddenly we didn't know
what we had.

1255
01:16:07,348 --> 01:16:09,647
When he had first seen
the jawbone

1256
01:16:09,648 --> 01:16:11,681
in Rick and Steve's photos,

1257
01:16:11,682 --> 01:16:15,981
Lee had decided it probably
belonged to an Australopith.

1258
01:16:15,982 --> 01:16:18,214
One of the most striking
characteristics

1259
01:16:18,215 --> 01:16:24,347
of an Australopith's face is its
large, apelike jaws and teeth.

1260
01:16:24,348 --> 01:16:26,314
As the Australopiths
transitioned

1261
01:16:26,315 --> 01:16:29,781
into the genus Homo,
their faces shrunk.

1262
01:16:29,782 --> 01:16:32,882
Jaws and teeth became smaller.

1263
01:16:34,582 --> 01:16:37,247
When he finally had
the jawbone in his hands,

1264
01:16:37,248 --> 01:16:42,114
Lee saw it was too small
to be an Australopith.

1265
01:16:42,115 --> 01:16:44,615
It seemed quite human.

1266
01:16:46,048 --> 01:16:50,147
<i>Could it be a new specimen
of Homo habilis?</i>

1267
01:16:50,148 --> 01:16:53,514
Or could it be a new
transitional species

1268
01:16:53,515 --> 01:16:56,781
between Australopiths
and early Homo?

1269
01:16:56,782 --> 01:17:00,547
These are the questions on
anatomist Peter Schmidt's mind

1270
01:17:00,548 --> 01:17:04,215
as he studies the mandible
from Rising Star.

1271
01:17:05,482 --> 01:17:07,347
You have this molar teeth

1272
01:17:07,348 --> 01:17:14,981
and the very strange use
of the frontal part here.

1273
01:17:14,982 --> 01:17:17,781
And luckily we got another piece

1274
01:17:17,782 --> 01:17:22,547
so with these two pieces
we have a hemi mandible

1275
01:17:22,548 --> 01:17:26,314
which is complete and then we
can put on the mirror image,

1276
01:17:26,315 --> 01:17:28,847
and we have sort of outline.

1277
01:17:28,848 --> 01:17:33,981
<i>Peter can then compare it to
the mandible of Homo habilis.</i>

1278
01:17:33,982 --> 01:17:36,081
I will take this away

1279
01:17:36,082 --> 01:17:39,214
<i>and you see this is the
tooth row of Homo habilis.</i>

1280
01:17:39,215 --> 01:17:44,714
You see also that these are
massive teeth, but the tooth row

1281
01:17:44,715 --> 01:17:48,382
is straight and we have
a very strong shelf here.

1282
01:17:50,815 --> 01:17:55,215
The mandible from Rising Star
is clearly more curved.

1283
01:17:57,282 --> 01:18:02,647
<i>It's not Homo habilis, and
it's not an Australopith.</i>

1284
01:18:02,648 --> 01:18:04,614
They don't know what it is.

1285
01:18:04,615 --> 01:18:07,781
This is pure confusion.

1286
01:18:07,782 --> 01:18:09,781
We don't know
what to make of it.

1287
01:18:09,782 --> 01:18:12,381
We realize all of our
preconceived notions

1288
01:18:12,382 --> 01:18:14,181
have to be tossed aside.

1289
01:18:14,182 --> 01:18:16,581
We can't go into this thinking
it's going to belong

1290
01:18:16,582 --> 01:18:18,114
in this group
or belong in that group.

1291
01:18:18,115 --> 01:18:21,115
We just have to start
from literally scratch.

1292
01:18:27,748 --> 01:18:32,481
The team hopes that as more
fossils emerge from the cave,

1293
01:18:32,482 --> 01:18:34,281
the confusion will clear up.

1294
01:18:34,282 --> 01:18:35,547
It's so solid.

1295
01:18:35,548 --> 01:18:39,047
There is reason
to be optimistic.

1296
01:18:39,048 --> 01:18:41,914
Each descent reveals more bones.

1297
01:18:41,915 --> 01:18:46,147
Where once they thought there
might be one individual,

1298
01:18:46,148 --> 01:18:50,348
they now see evidence
of a whole lot more.

1299
01:18:52,782 --> 01:18:55,547
It was probably a couple
of hours into the first day

1300
01:18:55,548 --> 01:18:58,781
when we realized
it also wasn't one skeleton.

1301
01:18:58,782 --> 01:19:00,914
Another femur.

1302
01:19:00,915 --> 01:19:02,681
If I remember, right,

1303
01:19:02,682 --> 01:19:07,114
it started with a second femur
from the same side

1304
01:19:07,115 --> 01:19:11,281
and since there has never been
a three-legged hominin,

1305
01:19:11,282 --> 01:19:17,347
we knew there were two,
and then there were three.

1306
01:19:17,348 --> 01:19:20,381
And I think it was by day two,
there were four.

1307
01:19:20,382 --> 01:19:22,814
And we realized we were

1308
01:19:22,815 --> 01:19:25,647
in something
very, very, very special.

1309
01:19:25,648 --> 01:19:28,114
All right, good luck with that,
Becca, we can't wait to see you.

1310
01:19:28,115 --> 01:19:29,847
You've got something
we want to see.

1311
01:19:29,848 --> 01:19:35,014
Every time the scientists in the
cave remove a piece of bone,

1312
01:19:35,015 --> 01:19:37,547
they find more bones beneath it.

1313
01:19:37,548 --> 01:19:39,547
It's everywhere.

1314
01:19:39,548 --> 01:19:41,515
I mean, it's all strewn,
all throughout.

1315
01:19:43,282 --> 01:19:46,714
Not just the chamber, but
the passages leading to it

1316
01:19:46,715 --> 01:19:49,347
are littered
with bone fragments.

1317
01:19:49,348 --> 01:19:53,114
At the landing zone
where they stopped,

1318
01:19:53,115 --> 01:19:55,714
I'd get a call on the intercom.

1319
01:19:55,715 --> 01:19:58,347
"We found another tooth."

1320
01:19:58,348 --> 01:19:59,781
It was just sitting there.

1321
01:19:59,782 --> 01:20:03,014
I was trying to find a nice
place to sit, and there it is.

1322
01:20:03,015 --> 01:20:04,847
It just caught my eye.

1323
01:20:04,848 --> 01:20:08,914
Rick was sitting there
as a safety caver waiting,

1324
01:20:08,915 --> 01:20:13,114
and he kicked the dirt
and hominins fell out.

1325
01:20:13,115 --> 01:20:15,381
You have to pass me up
some flags.

1326
01:20:15,382 --> 01:20:16,515
Do you have enough flags?

1327
01:20:19,015 --> 01:20:22,514
By the afternoon of day 14
in the expedition,

1328
01:20:22,515 --> 01:20:24,681
we were overwhelmed.

1329
01:20:24,682 --> 01:20:27,047
I'd started with one safe
to hold one skeleton,

1330
01:20:27,048 --> 01:20:30,981
day three we had two safes,
day four we had three safes,

1331
01:20:30,982 --> 01:20:34,882
day six, people were going,
"We need more safes."

1332
01:20:38,782 --> 01:20:39,814
Woo-hoo!

1333
01:20:39,815 --> 01:20:41,647
<i>Tooth und more.</i>

1334
01:20:41,648 --> 01:20:43,881
I don't know whether
you should hug me

1335
01:20:43,882 --> 01:20:47,014
for someone finding something
in the other spot.

1336
01:20:47,015 --> 01:20:48,447
Oh, man.

1337
01:20:48,448 --> 01:20:53,914
By day 14, as we would get
fossil after fossil,

1338
01:20:53,915 --> 01:20:57,181
we were getting 40, 50, 60,
70 elements a day,

1339
01:20:57,182 --> 01:21:00,047
all that was flashing through
my mind as I was doing that

1340
01:21:00,048 --> 01:21:06,781
<i>was that famous scene in Jaws
where Roy Scheider is chumming</i>

1341
01:21:06,782 --> 01:21:10,081
and they hadn't yet
seen the shark.

1342
01:21:10,082 --> 01:21:11,714
And he's sitting there chumming

1343
01:21:11,715 --> 01:21:16,347
and all of a sudden
this gigantic shark appears.

1344
01:21:16,348 --> 01:21:20,647
And he goes, "We're going
to need a bigger boat."

1345
01:21:20,648 --> 01:21:22,114
We're gonna need a bigger safe.

1346
01:21:22,115 --> 01:21:25,247
It's extraordinary.

1347
01:21:25,248 --> 01:21:27,181
I think this year at Christmas
I'm just going to hang

1348
01:21:27,182 --> 01:21:28,542
one of these
instead of a stocking.

1349
01:21:32,282 --> 01:21:35,781
As the fossils accumulate
in ever-greater numbers,

1350
01:21:35,782 --> 01:21:39,247
a picture of the creature
of the Rising Star cave

1351
01:21:39,248 --> 01:21:40,947
begins to emerge.

1352
01:21:40,948 --> 01:21:46,547
This is part
of a juvenile pelvis.

1353
01:21:46,548 --> 01:21:51,047
Thigh and hip bones tell them it
was an upright walking biped,

1354
01:21:51,048 --> 01:21:53,382
but its gait was primitive.

1355
01:21:55,348 --> 01:21:59,714
From what they can see of
the exposed skull, it is small,

1356
01:21:59,715 --> 01:22:00,981
not much bigger than a chimp's.

1357
01:22:00,982 --> 01:22:02,914
I'm gonna have to tell
them to leave that alone.

1358
01:22:02,915 --> 01:22:08,348
But the teeth and jaws seem
Homo-like.

1359
01:22:11,315 --> 01:22:14,547
The team's excitement grows.

1360
01:22:14,548 --> 01:22:18,281
It's beginning to look as if
they have found another species

1361
01:22:18,282 --> 01:22:19,681
from the dawn of humanity.

1362
01:22:19,682 --> 01:22:23,581
But on which side
of the Australopith-Homo divide

1363
01:22:23,582 --> 01:22:25,081
will it fall?

1364
01:22:25,082 --> 01:22:30,581
One of the key fossils that will
tell them that is the skull.

1365
01:22:30,582 --> 01:22:33,847
They are saving that until last.

1366
01:22:33,848 --> 01:22:35,314
Distance is perfect.

1367
01:22:35,315 --> 01:22:36,947
And I can see marker two.

1368
01:22:36,948 --> 01:22:38,114
Record.

1369
01:22:38,115 --> 01:22:39,447
Recording.

1370
01:22:39,448 --> 01:22:40,714
In the meantime,

1371
01:22:40,715 --> 01:22:44,614
another extraordinary fact
is becoming evident.

1372
01:22:44,615 --> 01:22:47,981
There are no other animals
in the cave.

1373
01:22:47,982 --> 01:22:52,014
All the fossils
are human ancestors.

1374
01:22:52,015 --> 01:22:53,814
This is unheard of.

1375
01:22:53,815 --> 01:22:57,414
It was pretty surprising

1376
01:22:57,415 --> 01:23:02,914
that something completely normal
to every other excavation

1377
01:23:02,915 --> 01:23:06,514
I have ever been in
on the continent of Africa,

1378
01:23:06,515 --> 01:23:09,781
everyone I have ever heard of
on the continent of Africa,

1379
01:23:09,782 --> 01:23:12,214
wasn't happening here.

1380
01:23:12,215 --> 01:23:18,682
We weren't getting anything else
other than hominins.

1381
01:23:21,615 --> 01:23:24,614
When early hominins are
discovered in caves,

1382
01:23:24,615 --> 01:23:29,181
they are always found along
with the bones of other animals

1383
01:23:29,182 --> 01:23:30,614
that have either
wandered in and died

1384
01:23:30,615 --> 01:23:32,814
or been dragged there
by predators.

1385
01:23:32,815 --> 01:23:37,181
They're mixed with antelopes
generally in huge abundance.

1386
01:23:37,182 --> 01:23:39,447
Then you get, depending
on the circumstance,

1387
01:23:39,448 --> 01:23:42,014
some carnivores and other bits
and pieces, and rodents,

1388
01:23:42,015 --> 01:23:46,447
and the stuff that accumulates
when things die

1389
01:23:46,448 --> 01:23:48,748
and are eaten
and are dragged into caves.

1390
01:23:50,748 --> 01:23:53,647
Apart from the bones
of a solitary owl,

1391
01:23:53,648 --> 01:23:55,847
there's not
a single other animal

1392
01:23:55,848 --> 01:23:59,947
in the Rising Star chamber,
only hominins.

1393
01:23:59,948 --> 01:24:05,482
So how did these creatures
get in there?

1394
01:24:11,215 --> 01:24:13,847
The chamber is
very inaccessible,

1395
01:24:13,848 --> 01:24:17,314
deep in the dark zone of
the cave, with no entrance

1396
01:24:17,315 --> 01:24:20,048
other than the long,
narrow chute.

1397
01:24:25,382 --> 01:24:28,647
The team believes it likely
was just as inaccessible

1398
01:24:28,648 --> 01:24:31,015
two million years ago.

1399
01:24:35,082 --> 01:24:36,781
It is starting to look

1400
01:24:36,782 --> 01:24:42,314
as if the bodies might have been
intentionally placed there.

1401
01:24:42,315 --> 01:24:46,681
Could this possibly be
some sort of burial?

1402
01:24:46,682 --> 01:24:50,181
There has never been evidence
of anything like this

1403
01:24:50,182 --> 01:24:53,714
linked to such
a primitive-looking ancestor.

1404
01:24:53,715 --> 01:24:56,081
So we got that looming
in front of us

1405
01:24:56,082 --> 01:24:57,582
and don't have an answer to it.

1406
01:25:01,448 --> 01:25:04,947
Until now, the earliest
known burials

1407
01:25:04,948 --> 01:25:07,547
are from about 100,000 years ago

1408
01:25:07,548 --> 01:25:10,848
and a much more advanced form
of early human.

1409
01:25:13,282 --> 01:25:15,047
The team doesn't have a date yet

1410
01:25:15,048 --> 01:25:19,214
for the fossils of Rising Star,
but it seems unthinkable

1411
01:25:19,215 --> 01:25:21,714
that such a primitive-looking
creature

1412
01:25:21,715 --> 01:25:24,348
could be disposing of its dead.

1413
01:25:25,548 --> 01:25:28,914
But that's what it looks like.

1414
01:25:28,915 --> 01:25:33,981
And the age ranges of the
individuals are very similar

1415
01:25:33,982 --> 01:25:37,215
to what archaeologists find
in cemeteries.

1416
01:25:39,315 --> 01:25:41,214
At the early stages
of this expedition,

1417
01:25:41,215 --> 01:25:43,014
they look like
a cemetery population:

1418
01:25:43,015 --> 01:25:45,081
very young individuals
and very old individuals

1419
01:25:45,082 --> 01:25:46,881
and nothing
in the middle so far.

1420
01:25:46,882 --> 01:25:48,414
It doesn't mean we're not going
to find it,

1421
01:25:48,415 --> 01:25:50,181
but that's what you see in a
cemetery when you dig it up.

1422
01:25:50,182 --> 01:25:53,747
Right now it looks
a lot like that.

1423
01:25:53,748 --> 01:25:56,247
Will it hold out to be that?

1424
01:25:56,248 --> 01:26:00,581
That will be a mystery
I want to see solved.

1425
01:26:00,582 --> 01:26:03,047
And we're left with
this conundrum of, you know,

1426
01:26:03,048 --> 01:26:06,114
is what we are looking at...

1427
01:26:06,115 --> 01:26:08,415
You almost don't want
to say it out loud.

1428
01:26:11,482 --> 01:26:15,014
It's a mystery with
profound implications,

1429
01:26:15,015 --> 01:26:17,514
but one that will require
further analysis

1430
01:26:17,515 --> 01:26:20,082
before anyone is willing
to back it wholeheartedly.

1431
01:26:26,282 --> 01:26:28,681
The excavation
is now approaching

1432
01:26:28,682 --> 01:26:31,447
its third and final week.

1433
01:26:31,448 --> 01:26:35,214
Perhaps the most important bone

1434
01:26:35,215 --> 01:26:40,414
has been left until the skull.

1435
01:26:40,415 --> 01:26:44,081
Its shape and the size of its
brow ridges will be crucial

1436
01:26:44,082 --> 01:26:46,581
in telling them whether
the creature of Rising Star

1437
01:26:46,582 --> 01:26:50,414
human.

1438
01:26:50,415 --> 01:26:52,881
We're going to go ahead
and bite the bullet

1439
01:26:52,882 --> 01:26:54,347
and take that skull out, okay?

1440
01:26:54,348 --> 01:26:55,647
Yes, yes, yes, yes, good, good.

1441
01:26:55,648 --> 01:26:57,314
If only because it
gets it out of the way.

1442
01:26:57,315 --> 01:26:59,147
Yes, I know.

1443
01:26:59,148 --> 01:27:01,081
Not because you want it out
to see it, right?

1444
01:27:01,082 --> 01:27:02,514
Oh, I want it out!

1445
01:27:02,515 --> 01:27:04,614
A couple of reasons
we want to get it out.

1446
01:27:04,615 --> 01:27:06,447
One, the skull
can tell you a lot.

1447
01:27:06,448 --> 01:27:07,714
It can tell you
cranial capacity,

1448
01:27:07,715 --> 01:27:09,381
start getting an idea
of the shape of the skull.

1449
01:27:09,382 --> 01:27:12,081
Is it Australopith-like
and pinched in the front,

1450
01:27:12,082 --> 01:27:14,314
or is it rounded
more like a human,

1451
01:27:14,315 --> 01:27:15,747
or is it something in between,

1452
01:27:15,748 --> 01:27:16,914
does it have
a sagittal crest neck?

1453
01:27:16,915 --> 01:27:18,581
We want to see that skull.

1454
01:27:18,582 --> 01:27:21,747
And also the skull was probably

1455
01:27:21,748 --> 01:27:26,281
the most complex
initial extraction.

1456
01:27:26,282 --> 01:27:29,781
It is fragile,
it's a thin piece of bone,

1457
01:27:29,782 --> 01:27:31,214
and it could break apart.

1458
01:27:31,215 --> 01:27:34,347
We need to know whether we could
get something like that out.

1459
01:27:34,348 --> 01:27:37,014
And we need to get it out to see
what was underneath it,

1460
01:27:37,015 --> 01:27:39,714
whether this was a skeleton

1461
01:27:39,715 --> 01:27:42,581
or whether there were
lots of individuals

1462
01:27:42,582 --> 01:27:43,981
associated with each other.

1463
01:27:43,982 --> 01:27:46,414
So there was all this tension,

1464
01:27:46,415 --> 01:27:49,614
and it was a lot harder
to extract than we thought.

1465
01:27:49,615 --> 01:27:52,714
Oh, I'm sure you'll find plenty.

1466
01:27:52,715 --> 01:27:55,247
All right, stage on in
after her.

1467
01:27:55,248 --> 01:27:56,381
Good luck, everyone.

1468
01:27:56,382 --> 01:27:57,547
Have a blast, huh?

1469
01:27:57,548 --> 01:27:58,847
Thank you. Will do.
All right.

1470
01:27:58,848 --> 01:28:01,448
Let's get you something here.

1471
01:28:03,348 --> 01:28:04,347
Go get 'em!

1472
01:28:04,348 --> 01:28:05,514
Good luck.

1473
01:28:05,515 --> 01:28:06,647
Happy hunting.
Thank you.

1474
01:28:06,648 --> 01:28:08,448
Enjoy topside.

1475
01:28:29,882 --> 01:28:33,348
The skull is extremely fragile.

1476
01:28:36,215 --> 01:28:40,482
The team carefully scans
the area immediately around it.

1477
01:28:42,348 --> 01:28:45,414
How big?
Yeah, those are perfect.

1478
01:28:45,415 --> 01:28:49,247
Then they begin the laborious
process of removing

1479
01:28:49,248 --> 01:28:52,447
every tiny fragment of bone
surrounding the skull.

1480
01:28:52,448 --> 01:28:56,047
Oh, we've got medium bags now.

1481
01:28:56,048 --> 01:29:01,514
Finally, they delicately scrape
away the dirt to release it.

1482
01:29:01,515 --> 01:29:04,181
We're done this easily.

1483
01:29:04,182 --> 01:29:05,548
Got it.

1484
01:29:13,948 --> 01:29:16,614
Everyone was feeling
all these points of tension

1485
01:29:16,615 --> 01:29:19,614
around the science of the skull,

1486
01:29:19,615 --> 01:29:22,247
when we knew it was imminent
coming out.

1487
01:29:22,248 --> 01:29:25,647
We only had two people
down on the bottom,

1488
01:29:25,648 --> 01:29:29,414
and they were working on it,
Becca and Marina,

1489
01:29:29,415 --> 01:29:32,214
and working and working
and working, and finally

1490
01:29:32,215 --> 01:29:36,147
we kept trying to call them out
and they wouldn't come out,

1491
01:29:36,148 --> 01:29:39,647
because they knew they were
that close to the extraction,

1492
01:29:39,648 --> 01:29:41,081
and eventually it did come out.

1493
01:29:41,082 --> 01:29:43,048
That's it.

1494
01:29:44,915 --> 01:29:47,714
That's it.

1495
01:29:47,715 --> 01:29:49,581
It's so fragile.

1496
01:29:49,582 --> 01:29:52,247
With everyone holding
their breath,

1497
01:29:52,248 --> 01:29:56,314
praying that it doesn't break,
the skull fragment is finally

1498
01:29:56,315 --> 01:29:59,282
lifted and delicately placed
in a box.

1499
01:30:06,248 --> 01:30:07,615
That's it.

1500
01:30:16,982 --> 01:30:20,747
Then it begins its slow ascent,
leaving the cave

1501
01:30:20,748 --> 01:30:26,548
for the first time
in possibly millions of years.

1502
01:30:52,115 --> 01:30:53,381
He's holding the box.

1503
01:30:53,382 --> 01:30:54,914
Yeah, that's right,
he's holding the box,

1504
01:30:54,915 --> 01:30:58,514
so he can't do this, he's gotta
be much more careful than that.

1505
01:30:58,515 --> 01:31:01,548
Yeah, all right,
there it is, all right.

1506
01:31:07,082 --> 01:31:08,081
How fantastic.

1507
01:31:08,082 --> 01:31:09,648
Wow.

1508
01:31:12,848 --> 01:31:16,981
And all of those scientists
piled back in, all of the people

1509
01:31:16,982 --> 01:31:19,681
that spent so much time
and so much energy

1510
01:31:19,682 --> 01:31:23,614
coming to this moment,
went back in there,

1511
01:31:23,615 --> 01:31:27,147
and they lined up
in the most difficult places

1512
01:31:27,148 --> 01:31:29,481
up the Dragon Back to Base 1
and they knew there was a risk

1513
01:31:29,482 --> 01:31:33,914
that it could get damaged, if
dropped it could get destroyed.

1514
01:31:33,915 --> 01:31:38,781
And this huge team effort
occurred as they handed this off

1515
01:31:38,782 --> 01:31:41,314
from one to the other,
as it moved its way

1516
01:31:41,315 --> 01:31:44,947
from this dark recess where it's
been for however long it's been

1517
01:31:44,948 --> 01:31:47,714
to the entrance of the cave
where those of us

1518
01:31:47,715 --> 01:31:50,747
not privileged enough to be able
to get into this system

1519
01:31:50,748 --> 01:31:53,714
had to wait with huge tension,
watching this passage

1520
01:31:53,715 --> 01:31:55,947
on the cameras
until there it was.

1521
01:31:55,948 --> 01:31:57,747
There you go folks,
let's go get it.

1522
01:31:57,748 --> 01:31:59,115
Great moment.

1523
01:32:07,615 --> 01:32:10,247
It's like a Rocky moment.

1524
01:32:10,248 --> 01:32:12,814
There is so much wonder,
no one's bored,

1525
01:32:12,815 --> 01:32:16,347
no one's too academic
to hold it in.

1526
01:32:16,348 --> 01:32:20,281
Everyone is just brimming
with childlike excitement.

1527
01:32:20,282 --> 01:32:22,947
Would you hate me
if I took this before I hug you?

1528
01:32:22,948 --> 01:32:26,347
Please take it.

1529
01:32:26,348 --> 01:32:27,914
Oh, well done.

1530
01:32:27,915 --> 01:32:31,447
I don't even want to hug you
with that thing in your hand.

1531
01:32:31,448 --> 01:32:33,281
I'm going to give this
off to John.

1532
01:32:33,282 --> 01:32:36,581
I'm constantly sitting there
and stopping myself and going,

1533
01:32:36,582 --> 01:32:39,447
"Oh my God, this is like...
It's old.

1534
01:32:39,448 --> 01:32:42,047
"It's probably the first time
this fossil has seen

1535
01:32:42,048 --> 01:32:45,414
the light of the day
in millions of years,"

1536
01:32:45,415 --> 01:32:50,181
and so I'm continually sort of
having to stop and just think

1537
01:32:50,182 --> 01:32:52,348
for a moment and sort of
revel in it.

1538
01:32:54,789 --> 01:32:57,554
It's the moment everyone
has been waiting for.

1539
01:32:57,555 --> 01:33:02,421
They hope the skull fragment
will be the telltale piece

1540
01:33:02,422 --> 01:33:04,854
to identify the creature
of Rising Star

1541
01:33:04,855 --> 01:33:12,254
as either an Australopith
or a member of our own genus.

1542
01:33:12,255 --> 01:33:17,888
Looking at a left frontal,
so it's this part, the orbit,

1543
01:33:17,889 --> 01:33:20,421
and then part of the brain case
behind the orbit.

1544
01:33:20,422 --> 01:33:24,121
And that is
a very important piece.

1545
01:33:24,122 --> 01:33:29,054
Large orbital ridges
with indentations behind them

1546
01:33:29,055 --> 01:33:30,854
would indicate Australopith.

1547
01:33:30,855 --> 01:33:33,121
Smaller brow ridges

1548
01:33:33,122 --> 01:33:38,321
with evidence of a more rounded
skull would say Homo.

1549
01:33:38,322 --> 01:33:40,021
We do have our genus.

1550
01:33:40,022 --> 01:33:41,021
We do?

1551
01:33:41,022 --> 01:33:42,189
We have our genus with that.

1552
01:33:44,589 --> 01:33:45,689
Yes, yes!

1553
01:33:51,422 --> 01:33:55,822
They have a new member
of our genus.

1554
01:33:59,989 --> 01:34:02,121
Did we do good?

1555
01:34:02,122 --> 01:34:03,755
We did good.

1556
01:34:13,555 --> 01:34:17,688
What can it tell them

1557
01:34:17,689 --> 01:34:20,922
about the mysterious
dawn of humanity?

1558
01:34:23,789 --> 01:34:28,154
We are certain that this is in
the genus Homo, our genus,

1559
01:34:28,155 --> 01:34:30,821
and we are certain
it's a new species.

1560
01:34:30,822 --> 01:34:33,521
And that's where we are
right now.

1561
01:34:33,522 --> 01:34:37,688
The idea that we've discovered
a large number of individuals,

1562
01:34:37,689 --> 01:34:42,088
males and females,
young and old, of a new species

1563
01:34:42,089 --> 01:34:44,689
in the genus Homo.

1564
01:34:48,855 --> 01:34:51,854
In the next phase,
they'll have to piece together

1565
01:34:51,855 --> 01:34:54,921
and analyze the rest
of the fossil remains.

1566
01:34:54,922 --> 01:34:59,921
Already they have
almost 2,000 bone fragments

1567
01:34:59,922 --> 01:35:01,889
from more than 12 individuals.

1568
01:35:04,955 --> 01:35:08,588
The Rising Star discovery
is one of the most startling

1569
01:35:08,589 --> 01:35:11,454
and amazing discoveries
in all of hominin evolution.

1570
01:35:11,455 --> 01:35:14,621
To have that many fossils
in one place is unprecedented

1571
01:35:14,622 --> 01:35:16,189
and took everybody by surprise.

1572
01:35:19,989 --> 01:35:23,988
The excavation was planned
as a three-week operation.

1573
01:35:23,989 --> 01:35:27,721
As it nears its end,
the scientists know

1574
01:35:27,722 --> 01:35:32,254
they will have barely scratched
the surface of what Rising Star

1575
01:35:32,255 --> 01:35:35,221
has to offer.

1576
01:35:35,222 --> 01:35:39,988
I had never seen or dreamed
of anything

1577
01:35:39,989 --> 01:35:42,921
like the richness of this site.

1578
01:35:42,922 --> 01:35:45,721
There aren't just hundreds
of bones,

1579
01:35:45,722 --> 01:35:48,821
there are thousands of bones,
it's clear.

1580
01:35:48,822 --> 01:35:51,121
You can't blow on the ground

1581
01:35:51,122 --> 01:35:54,554
and it doesn't uncover
another one.

1582
01:35:54,555 --> 01:35:59,588
They can't gently brush their
hand across it, and teeth,

1583
01:35:59,589 --> 01:36:04,254
and long bones don't fall out,
usually of another individual.

1584
01:36:04,255 --> 01:36:07,589
This is going to take
a long, long, long time.

1585
01:36:11,922 --> 01:36:14,821
As everybody goes home,
the Rising Star fossils are

1586
01:36:14,822 --> 01:36:17,789
carefully transported to the
University of the Witwatersrand.

1587
01:36:21,889 --> 01:36:24,688
It was here, 90 years ago,

1588
01:36:24,689 --> 01:36:28,154
that Raymond Dart sparked
a firestorm

1589
01:36:28,155 --> 01:36:32,321
by declaring that the dawn of
humanity was in Africa.

1590
01:36:32,322 --> 01:36:37,254
It seems fitting that it is here
too that the mysterious

1591
01:36:37,255 --> 01:36:41,755
early humans of Rising Star
will begin to tell their story.

1592
01:36:46,055 --> 01:36:49,488
At a symposium six months
after the excavation,

1593
01:36:49,489 --> 01:36:51,954
researchers meet
for an intensive analysis

1594
01:36:51,955 --> 01:36:54,054
of the fossil material.

1595
01:36:54,055 --> 01:36:55,454
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

1596
01:36:55,455 --> 01:36:58,054
They're in the
analytical phase here,

1597
01:36:58,055 --> 01:37:02,521
they're in the diagnostic phase,
and it's been an experiment

1598
01:37:02,522 --> 01:37:05,188
in, you know, working together,
bringing together some of

1599
01:37:05,189 --> 01:37:08,088
the brightest minds
on the planet with some of

1600
01:37:08,089 --> 01:37:10,021
the most current data sets

1601
01:37:10,022 --> 01:37:14,954
to analyze over 1,700 fossil
hominin remains

1602
01:37:14,955 --> 01:37:16,954
that we recovered
only last November.

1603
01:37:16,955 --> 01:37:20,288
And it's been fantastic
to watch.

1604
01:37:20,289 --> 01:37:23,021
I mean it's this constant energy
of science.

1605
01:37:23,022 --> 01:37:24,988
And you can almost feel it
in the room right now.

1606
01:37:24,989 --> 01:37:28,088
We are total nerds,
it's nerd heaven here,

1607
01:37:28,089 --> 01:37:30,654
but I mean it is an
extraordinary experience.

1608
01:37:30,655 --> 01:37:33,421
There's never been anything
like this before in the field

1609
01:37:33,422 --> 01:37:35,988
of hominin paleontology,
to get a group of young,

1610
01:37:35,989 --> 01:37:39,654
talented scholars together
to bring their new techniques

1611
01:37:39,655 --> 01:37:41,388
and their fresh outlooks
on the record

1612
01:37:41,389 --> 01:37:44,554
to newly discovered
fossil hominin remains.

1613
01:37:44,555 --> 01:37:46,988
This certainly never happened
when I was a Ph.D. student

1614
01:37:46,989 --> 01:37:49,089
and I would have died
to have done this.

1615
01:37:55,255 --> 01:37:59,321
As the analysis goes on, the
bones from the Rising Star cave

1616
01:37:59,322 --> 01:38:04,154
are finally ready
to be presented to the world.

1617
01:38:04,155 --> 01:38:08,688
We've got a new species of
early human in the genus Homo,

1618
01:38:08,689 --> 01:38:10,221
and that's tremendously
exciting.

1619
01:38:10,222 --> 01:38:14,354
We've never had anything
in that transition period

1620
01:38:14,355 --> 01:38:17,154
between the late Australopiths
and the earliest members

1621
01:38:17,155 --> 01:38:19,388
of our genus in any kind
of abundance,

1622
01:38:19,389 --> 01:38:22,422
and boy, we have it
in abundance now.

1623
01:38:26,255 --> 01:38:29,554
To members of the team,
the fossils suggest a creature

1624
01:38:29,555 --> 01:38:34,688
unlike anything ever found
before.

1625
01:38:34,689 --> 01:38:38,088
We're looking at creatures that
are humanlike in their feet,

1626
01:38:38,089 --> 01:38:41,188
humanlike in their hands,
humanlike in their teeth,

1627
01:38:41,189 --> 01:38:44,454
everything that interacts
directly with the environment

1628
01:38:44,455 --> 01:38:46,021
is Homo.

1629
01:38:46,022 --> 01:38:49,021
And everything that is sort of
central... you know, the trunk,

1630
01:38:49,022 --> 01:38:52,554
the architecture of the
vertebral column, the brain...

1631
01:38:52,555 --> 01:38:55,254
Those sorts of things
are more primitive.

1632
01:38:55,255 --> 01:38:59,589
It's like evolution is crafting
us from the outside in.

1633
01:39:02,955 --> 01:39:05,788
<i>We've called the species
Homo naledi and "naledi"</i>

1634
01:39:05,789 --> 01:39:08,854
means "star" in Sotho
and we've called the chamber

1635
01:39:08,855 --> 01:39:13,654
that the fossils come from,
it still has fantastic fossils

1636
01:39:13,655 --> 01:39:15,188
to be found,
the Dinaledi chamber,

1637
01:39:15,189 --> 01:39:16,955
which means the chamber
of stars.

1638
01:39:19,522 --> 01:39:23,788
<i>Homo naledi is a strange
mosaic of ape and human,</i>

1639
01:39:23,789 --> 01:39:28,554
small brained and small bodied
with chimp-like arms,

1640
01:39:28,555 --> 01:39:34,254
but with human hands, teeth,
small brows and long legs,

1641
01:39:34,255 --> 01:39:37,721
probably a long-distance walker.

1642
01:39:37,722 --> 01:39:39,954
Naledi is

1643
01:39:39,955 --> 01:39:43,188
a surprise in very many ways.

1644
01:39:43,189 --> 01:39:45,988
It's got an incredibly tiny
brain,

1645
01:39:45,989 --> 01:39:48,488
a brain that's more than
a third as small

1646
01:39:48,489 --> 01:39:51,088
as a modern human's brain is.

1647
01:39:51,089 --> 01:39:53,421
Yet it's clear when you look
at the cranial shape,

1648
01:39:53,422 --> 01:39:57,354
the dentition, the legs,
particularly the feet

1649
01:39:57,355 --> 01:40:02,222
and even the hands, that this
thing is part of our genus.

1650
01:40:06,022 --> 01:40:09,954
Here are creatures on the cusp
of becoming human,

1651
01:40:09,955 --> 01:40:13,922
but still very close
to the Australopith world.

1652
01:40:18,889 --> 01:40:21,721
It makes the question
of how they got into the cave

1653
01:40:21,722 --> 01:40:24,255
even more intriguing.

1654
01:40:26,455 --> 01:40:33,288
It looks like they got in there
because somebody put them there.

1655
01:40:33,289 --> 01:40:35,588
Now, if we say that,
you have to understand

1656
01:40:35,589 --> 01:40:37,721
that's a very controversial
thing to say.

1657
01:40:37,722 --> 01:40:40,388
And in so we approach it
very conservatively.

1658
01:40:40,389 --> 01:40:43,988
We can show that there's
no signs of predation.

1659
01:40:43,989 --> 01:40:46,954
We can show that there's
no predator that accumulates

1660
01:40:46,955 --> 01:40:49,421
only hominins in this way.

1661
01:40:49,422 --> 01:40:53,221
We can show that they didn't
all get there at once.

1662
01:40:53,222 --> 01:40:56,054
We can show there's not a flow
of material into the chamber,

1663
01:40:56,055 --> 01:40:58,821
and that's where we leave it
scientifically.

1664
01:40:58,822 --> 01:41:02,888
You know, we can say, the best
hypothesis we can come up is

1665
01:41:02,889 --> 01:41:04,255
they were put there.

1666
01:41:06,463 --> 01:41:10,363
If this is true, its
implications are far-reaching.

1667
01:41:11,730 --> 01:41:15,695
They now know that
the Rising Star hominin had

1668
01:41:15,696 --> 01:41:17,795
a brain size in the range

1669
01:41:17,796 --> 01:41:21,396
between 450 and 550 cubic
centimeters.

1670
01:41:23,730 --> 01:41:26,663
That's just slightly larger
than a chimp's.

1671
01:41:29,063 --> 01:41:32,595
So if in fact the Rising Star
hominins are purposefully

1672
01:41:32,596 --> 01:41:35,162
disposing of their dead,
we're talking about

1673
01:41:35,163 --> 01:41:38,029
some small-brained hominins
who are doing this.

1674
01:41:38,030 --> 01:41:40,962
And that begins to change
our thinking about sort of

1675
01:41:40,963 --> 01:41:44,862
the cognitive attributes and the
neural machinery that you need

1676
01:41:44,863 --> 01:41:46,729
to engage in that kind
of behavior.

1677
01:41:46,730 --> 01:41:49,296
And that becomes really
interesting.

1678
01:41:52,863 --> 01:41:56,962
<i>The accumulation of Homo naledi
skeletons in the cave raises</i>

1679
01:41:56,963 --> 01:42:01,695
the type of big question that
Raymond Dart wanted to answer.

1680
01:42:01,696 --> 01:42:05,663
What type of creatures
were our primitive ancestors?

1681
01:42:09,130 --> 01:42:11,295
If the naledi skeletons
have indeed

1682
01:42:11,296 --> 01:42:15,029
been intentionally disposed of,
some sort of burial,

1683
01:42:15,030 --> 01:42:18,996
it would indicate already
quite advanced social behavior.

1684
01:42:21,730 --> 01:42:26,162
This fits with new ways
of thinking about the transition

1685
01:42:26,163 --> 01:42:30,129
from ape to human.

1686
01:42:30,130 --> 01:42:34,262
Many scientists now believe that
a key element of that transition

1687
01:42:34,263 --> 01:42:39,630
was the growth of ever-stronger
cooperation and social bonds.

1688
01:42:42,230 --> 01:42:46,529
Psychologist Michael Tomasello
has spent a lifetime

1689
01:42:46,530 --> 01:42:50,495
comparing the social behavior
and capacities of chimpanzees

1690
01:42:50,496 --> 01:42:53,629
and human children.

1691
01:42:53,630 --> 01:42:55,929
Well, there's social
and there's ultra-social.

1692
01:42:55,930 --> 01:42:58,629
And all mammals are social
to some degree.

1693
01:42:58,630 --> 01:43:02,295
Great apes are especially social
in the sense that they form

1694
01:43:02,296 --> 01:43:04,129
long-term relationships
with others

1695
01:43:04,130 --> 01:43:06,995
and have bonding relationships
with others, and they groom,

1696
01:43:06,996 --> 01:43:08,495
they support each other
in fights.

1697
01:43:08,496 --> 01:43:10,895
So they're very highly social
creatures, but a lot of it

1698
01:43:10,896 --> 01:43:13,895
is organized around competition,
so a lot of it is organized

1699
01:43:13,896 --> 01:43:17,762
around coalitions to fight
over food and so forth.

1700
01:43:17,763 --> 01:43:21,995
And in humans we of course
haven't lost our selfish

1701
01:43:21,996 --> 01:43:23,795
and competitive streak,

1702
01:43:23,796 --> 01:43:26,129
but we have become so much more
cooperative.

1703
01:43:26,130 --> 01:43:28,396
Not perfectly cooperative,
but much more cooperative.

1704
01:43:33,230 --> 01:43:35,995
The fact that we can

1705
01:43:35,996 --> 01:43:37,329
sit in an airplane

1706
01:43:37,330 --> 01:43:40,995
with 300 or 400 individuals
of breeding age

1707
01:43:40,996 --> 01:43:43,562
that we aren't related to
and not rip each other apart

1708
01:43:43,563 --> 01:43:46,929
is a uniquely human character
and it was evolved

1709
01:43:46,930 --> 01:43:49,562
on this landscape behind me.

1710
01:43:49,563 --> 01:43:55,795
Because Africa is a harsh place
and we as early humans had

1711
01:43:55,796 --> 01:43:58,462
to evolve cooperation
in order to survive here.

1712
01:43:58,463 --> 01:44:01,762
We didn't have big canines,
and sharp claws.

1713
01:44:01,763 --> 01:44:03,730
We just had each other.

1714
01:44:06,163 --> 01:44:08,562
Humans are the most highly
social primates

1715
01:44:08,563 --> 01:44:10,995
ever to walk the earth.

1716
01:44:10,996 --> 01:44:16,395
We bond and form relationships
far more complex

1717
01:44:16,396 --> 01:44:18,230
than any other primate.

1718
01:44:20,996 --> 01:44:25,129
So if the Rising Star chamber
is indeed a burial,

1719
01:44:25,130 --> 01:44:29,129
perhaps this would suggest that
here at the dawn of humanity

1720
01:44:29,130 --> 01:44:34,096
those more complex social bonds
had begun to take shape.

1721
01:44:39,230 --> 01:44:42,029
This possibility will generate
fierce debate

1722
01:44:42,030 --> 01:44:44,996
as other scientists weigh in.

1723
01:44:48,230 --> 01:44:52,162
But how do these discoveries
change the narrative

1724
01:44:52,163 --> 01:44:55,195
of human evolution?

1725
01:44:55,196 --> 01:44:59,695
There is an old refrain
in paleoanthropology.

1726
01:44:59,696 --> 01:45:02,729
People always say we need more
fossils, we need more fossils,

1727
01:45:02,730 --> 01:45:04,629
we need more fossils,
but the fact of the matter is

1728
01:45:04,630 --> 01:45:06,930
more fossils just complicate
the picture.

1729
01:45:11,163 --> 01:45:13,829
One compelling question
to be answered is

1730
01:45:13,830 --> 01:45:16,629
where do these new
fossil ancestors fall

1731
01:45:16,630 --> 01:45:20,096
on our family tree?

1732
01:45:25,896 --> 01:45:29,729
Dating the fossils is proving
to be difficult and complex.

1733
01:45:29,730 --> 01:45:32,696
It will take time.

1734
01:45:34,963 --> 01:45:38,262
The thing that's hard about it
is we don't know how old

1735
01:45:38,263 --> 01:45:40,795
those fossils are, and we can
tell what they look like

1736
01:45:40,796 --> 01:45:45,162
because we have so many of them,
but if they're 3,000 years old

1737
01:45:45,163 --> 01:45:46,829
or if they are three million
years old it's going to mean

1738
01:45:46,830 --> 01:45:49,329
a very different thing for how
it changes our understanding

1739
01:45:49,330 --> 01:45:50,396
of human evolution.

1740
01:45:52,530 --> 01:45:55,529
Because we have a date,
things are a little clearer

1741
01:45:55,530 --> 01:45:58,762
with the Malapa finds.

1742
01:45:58,763 --> 01:46:04,095
At 1.97 million years old,
most scientists believe sediba

1743
01:46:04,096 --> 01:46:07,995
is too late to be a
direct ancestor of ours.

1744
01:46:07,996 --> 01:46:11,229
Our genus Homo was already
established by the time

1745
01:46:11,230 --> 01:46:14,930
sediba came along.

1746
01:46:16,763 --> 01:46:20,862
But even if sediba
is not our direct ancestor,

1747
01:46:20,863 --> 01:46:23,629
it does show there were
many different types

1748
01:46:23,630 --> 01:46:27,695
of primitive ancestors living
together at the same time.

1749
01:46:27,696 --> 01:46:30,629
Okay, yeah, yeah, keep pulling.

1750
01:46:30,630 --> 01:46:34,595
Great, great!

1751
01:46:34,596 --> 01:46:36,662
The quality of the material
that Lee is uncovering

1752
01:46:36,663 --> 01:46:38,729
is really phenomenal.

1753
01:46:38,730 --> 01:46:44,095
Sediba shows that we had
more than two or three species

1754
01:46:44,096 --> 01:46:49,529
in South Africa
1.9 million years ago.

1755
01:46:49,530 --> 01:46:51,629
It's a very interesting find.

1756
01:46:51,630 --> 01:46:53,795
It shows that there were
diversity.

1757
01:46:53,796 --> 01:46:59,295
It's a beautiful material,
but I don't think that sediba

1758
01:46:59,296 --> 01:47:01,396
was ancestral to our genus Homo.

1759
01:47:03,963 --> 01:47:06,895
Whether or not they are
our direct ancestors,

1760
01:47:06,896 --> 01:47:11,595
the fossils at Malapa
and Rising Star point us toward

1761
01:47:11,596 --> 01:47:16,362
a new way of thinking
about human evolution.

1762
01:47:16,363 --> 01:47:20,662
We have the strong tendency
to want to draw simple lines

1763
01:47:20,663 --> 01:47:23,029
between species,
and make nice family trees,

1764
01:47:23,030 --> 01:47:25,729
<i>and we have to understand
that that's our need.</i>

1765
01:47:25,730 --> 01:47:27,095
<i>That's our desire.</i>

1766
01:47:27,096 --> 01:47:28,976
That's not necessarily
the way that nature works

1767
01:47:30,763 --> 01:47:33,429
It's very natural to think about
human evolution as a sort of

1768
01:47:33,430 --> 01:47:37,595
family tree in deep time.

1769
01:47:37,596 --> 01:47:41,729
But evolution is much more
complex than that.

1770
01:47:41,730 --> 01:47:44,295
Evolution is bushy,
there are different experiments,

1771
01:47:44,296 --> 01:47:47,162
populations try different
adaptations,

1772
01:47:47,163 --> 01:47:49,763
they try different ways
of being about the world.

1773
01:47:50,386 --> 01:47:54,018
Paleoanthropologists talk about
the bushiness of human evolution

1774
01:47:54,019 --> 01:47:57,685
as a metaphor for the many types
of early hominins

1775
01:47:57,686 --> 01:48:01,385
and the difficulty of knowing
which one led to us,

1776
01:48:01,386 --> 01:48:04,485
but even that metaphor
may not do justice

1777
01:48:04,486 --> 01:48:07,385
to the way evolution works.

1778
01:48:07,386 --> 01:48:08,552
Nature is messy.

1779
01:48:08,553 --> 01:48:10,652
Nature is complicated.

1780
01:48:10,653 --> 01:48:16,618
Nature does not really respect
our desire to put fossils

1781
01:48:16,619 --> 01:48:21,786
into neat bins and to sort of
name nice neat species.

1782
01:48:26,219 --> 01:48:29,918
Both sediba and naledi
have a mosaic of Australopith

1783
01:48:29,919 --> 01:48:32,719
and Homo features.

1784
01:48:36,419 --> 01:48:39,718
They seem to show
that at the dawn of humanity

1785
01:48:39,719 --> 01:48:44,385
there were multiple evolutionary
experiments with small-bodied,

1786
01:48:44,386 --> 01:48:48,919
small-brained,
upright-walking apes.

1787
01:48:53,119 --> 01:48:56,185
Scientists now know some
of these varieties

1788
01:48:56,186 --> 01:48:59,685
of late Australopith
and early Homo lived together

1789
01:48:59,686 --> 01:49:03,418
at the same time.

1790
01:49:03,419 --> 01:49:06,386
And some of them may have been
interbreeding.

1791
01:49:08,219 --> 01:49:10,485
These aren't fully formed
species and there's a lot

1792
01:49:10,486 --> 01:49:12,785
of interbreeding between
these groups.

1793
01:49:12,786 --> 01:49:15,785
Some adaptive features
are evolving in one group,

1794
01:49:15,786 --> 01:49:17,785
other adaptive features
are evolving in other groups,

1795
01:49:17,786 --> 01:49:20,952
and by interbreeding those
are coming together.

1796
01:49:20,953 --> 01:49:23,552
And if that's the case we may
never be able to draw neat lines

1797
01:49:23,553 --> 01:49:26,686
between any of these groups
and later Homo.

1798
01:49:28,553 --> 01:49:32,818
Perhaps now we need
a new metaphor to help us

1799
01:49:32,819 --> 01:49:36,718
understand our evolution,
one that expresses better

1800
01:49:36,719 --> 01:49:39,918
the dynamic and fluid nature
of it.

1801
01:49:39,919 --> 01:49:43,318
Now perhaps the best metaphor
is a braided stream.

1802
01:49:43,319 --> 01:49:46,452
And that's brought on
by discovery of these

1803
01:49:46,453 --> 01:49:50,518
mosaic hominins like naledi,
sediba, and others.

1804
01:49:50,519 --> 01:49:53,486
They're showing us there's
lots of experiments going on.

1805
01:49:55,753 --> 01:49:58,785
Some of these evolutionary
experiments died out,

1806
01:49:58,786 --> 01:50:01,985
others came together
and interbred.

1807
01:50:01,986 --> 01:50:05,118
The ebb and flow of genes
through these groups

1808
01:50:05,119 --> 01:50:08,918
was probably so complex
that we may have to give up hope

1809
01:50:08,919 --> 01:50:11,886
of discovering a simple
linear evolution.

1810
01:50:14,486 --> 01:50:18,852
So imagine in your mind
a glacier in the top of a valley

1811
01:50:18,853 --> 01:50:22,818
and what happens is as it melts,
it creates many, many rivulets

1812
01:50:22,819 --> 01:50:25,452
and some of them are large
and some are small,

1813
01:50:25,453 --> 01:50:27,718
and they all move off
down the valley.

1814
01:50:27,719 --> 01:50:30,252
And almost inevitably at the end
of that valley is going to be

1815
01:50:30,253 --> 01:50:34,985
a lake, of which some,
maybe the majority,

1816
01:50:34,986 --> 01:50:37,185
but not all are contributing to.

1817
01:50:37,186 --> 01:50:40,952
I think we have to begin looking
at these species we're finding

1818
01:50:40,953 --> 01:50:45,885
as almost individual channels
in a braided stream.

1819
01:50:45,886 --> 01:50:48,985
It's clear they have something
to do with the end-population

1820
01:50:48,986 --> 01:50:52,085
and that's us, the billions
of human beings alive today.

1821
01:50:52,086 --> 01:50:55,318
But it's hard to tell
which one's the most responsible

1822
01:50:55,319 --> 01:50:57,119
for us being here.

1823
01:51:00,153 --> 01:51:05,318
The new finds on the plains
of South Africa are adding

1824
01:51:05,319 --> 01:51:09,286
a vital new chapter to the story
of our origins.

1825
01:51:12,753 --> 01:51:15,218
The tantalizing gap
in the fossil record

1826
01:51:15,219 --> 01:51:19,186
at the beginning of our genus
is being slowly filled in.

1827
01:51:25,219 --> 01:51:29,186
Finally, there is light
at the "Dawn of Humanity."

1828
01:52:19,953 --> 01:52:22,618
<i>The investigation continues online
This program is available on DVD.</i>

1829
01:52:22,619 --> 01:52:28,085
To order, visit shopPBS.org
or call 1-800-PLAY-PBS.

1830
01:52:28,086 --> 01:52:30,686
<i>Is also available
for download on iTunes.</i>