First Peoples

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.

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

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, 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.

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.

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.

200,000 years ago, a new species, Homo sapiens, appeared on the African landscape. While scientists have long imagined eastern Africa as a real-life Garden of Eden, the latest research suggests humans evolved in many places across the continent at the same time.

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

Eva of Naharon was discovered by archaeologists on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. Her remains, which are far older than any others found in the Americas, have changed what we know about the arrival of the first people on the double continent.