The Incredible Human Journey
bbc select

The Incredible Human Journey

Season 1
Dr Alice Roberts travels the globe to discover the incredible story of how humans left Africa to colonize the world, overcoming hostile terrain, extreme weather and other species of human. In this groundbreaking documentary, she pieces together precious fragments of bone, stone and new DNA evidence and discovers how this journey changed these African ancestors into the people of today.
20095 episodesTV-14
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Episodes

  1. S1 E1 - Out of Africa

    May 8, 2009
    59min
    16+
    As her quest to follow the colonizing path of early humans begins, Alice Roberts travels to Africa in search of the birthplace of the first people. They were so few in number and so vulnerable that today they would probably be considered an endangered species. So how did they survive at all? And by what route, did humans make it out of Africa? Alice goes searching for clues in the Arabian Desert.
    Free trial of BBC Select
  2. S1 E2 - Asia

    May 8, 2009
    60min
    TV-14
    Alice Roberts continues her quest to follow in the footprints of our ancient ancestors. She travels into Asia to discover how early hunter-gatherers managed to survive in one of the most inhospitable places on earth, the Arctic region of northern Siberia. Alice then meets the nomadic Evenki people and discovers that their survival techniques have been passed down through generations.
    Free trial of BBC Select
  3. S1 E3 - Europe

    May 8, 2009
    58min
    16+
    When our species first arrived in Europe, the peak of the Ice Age was approaching, and the continent was already crawling with a rival. So how did the European pioneers survive Neanderthals and then the deep freeze? Alice Roberts reconstructs the head of the 'first European' to come face to face with one of our ancestors and she discovers how art became crucial for survival.
    Free trial of BBC Select
  4. S1 E4 - Australia

    May 8, 2009
    59min
    16+
    Alice Roberts looks at our ancestors seemingly impossible journey to Australia. Miraculously preserved footprints and very old human fossils buried in the outback suggest a mystery: that humans reached Australia almost before anywhere else. How could they have travelled so far from Africa, crossing the open sea on the way, and do it thousands of years before they made it to Europe?
    Free trial of BBC Select
  5. S1 E5 - The Americas

    May 8, 2009
    59min
    16+
    For Stone Age people, reaching North and South America seemed impossible. So how did the first Americans get there? Dr Alice Roberts discovers evidence for an ancient corridor through the Canadian ice sheet that may have allowed those first people through. But there are problems. In particular, some very ancient finds in southern Chile seems to suggest a very different way to the Americas.
    Free trial of BBC Select