First Peoples

Find out why Neanderthals, with whom early humans in Europe interbred, went extinct.

Deep inside a Romanian cave, archaeologist Joao Zilhao and his team uncover a modern human, amongst the bones of prehistoric bears. On First Peoples: Europe, Zilhao describes the "extreme archeaology" needed to examine the cave.

When Homo sapiens turned up in prehistoric Europe, they ran into the Neanderthals. The two types of human were similar enough – intellectually and culturally - to interbreed.

Scientists from the Max Planck Institute, a leader in the study of ancient DNA, were the first to crack the genetic code of a Neanderthal. On First Peoples: Europe, Swedish geneticist Svante Paabo describes the challenges faced in reconstructing DNA from millions of degraded genome fragments found in a Neanderthal bone.

There is a close cultural and genetic link between early Australians and modern-day Aborigines; here the ancient and modern story intersect as nowhere else.

Learn how Homo sapiens, new in Australia and truly alone, managed to survive and flourish.

On First Peoples: Asia, scientists explore Homo sapien migration out of Africa and into Asia. Much like modern humans, it was curiosity that drove them to explore new river valleys and make their way into a new continent.

On First Peoples: Asia, geneticist Svante Paabo uncovers a new branch of the human family tree; the Denisovans. Named after the Siberian cave where the single finger bone was found, these early humans were previously undiscovered.

Discover a type of ancient human whose genes helped us face down extinction.

Witness the dangers of genetic isolation exemplified by the duck-billed platypus.

Examine research that suggests we humans are patchwork species of hybrids.

Omo-1 died while still in his twenties, but he is the oldest member of our species found anywhere in the world. His remains are 195,000 years old, yet he looked like a modern human.