BBC has released new images of four early human species from the upcoming new five-part series Human, due to start on Monday 14 July on BBC Two and iPlayer.
In Human, a BBC Studios Science Unit production with NOVA and GBH, paleoanthropologist Ella Al-Shamahi reveals our incredible story across 300,000 years of human evolution and how we went from being just one of many types of human to the dominant form of life on the planet.
The series features four accurate 3D models of human species: Homo floresiensis – also known as ‘The Hobbit’ after the characters in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings books because of their tiny size – Homo erectus, Homo neanderthalensis or Neanderthals, and the earliest known Homo sapiens.
Homo erectus: Lived between approximately 1.89 million – 110,000 years ago, initially in Africa, then later across large parts of Asia and possibly to the fringes of Europe. They were the first humans to exclusively walk upright like we do today, becoming the first humans to leave Africa and possibly the first humans to control fire.
Homo floresiensis: A tiny species of human that lived between approximately 700,000 – 50,000 years ago. Fossil remains found exclusively on the island of Flores in Indonesia. They were only about a metre (3 and a half feet) tall and had long feet compared to their legs, which earned them the nickname ‘The Hobbit’. They also had small brains, around 1/3rd the size of ours – not much larger than that of a chimpanzee.
Homo neanderthalensis: Also known as the Neanderthals. Fossil evidence of this species dates between 430,000 – 40,000 years old. They lived across a large swathe of the Middle East and Central Asia, and throughout Europe, and were physiologically adapted to survive in colder weather, including wider noses for breathing cold, dry air.
Earliest known Homo sapiens: The oldest fossils that are recognisably our species, Homo sapiens, come from Jebel Irhoud in Morocco, North Africa and date back to around 300,000 years ago, 100,000 years earlier than scientists had long thought Homo sapiens first emerged. There are differences between the Jebel Irhoud fossils and modern human skeletons – for example, heavier brows and elongated skulls – so they are seen as evidence of humans evolving into some of the earliest Homo sapiens.
Combining cutting-edge photogrammetry techniques and the latest available fossil data, the series captures the anatomical features of each of these human species and these models show what these early human species might have looked like many tens thousands of years ago.
Talking about these 3D models, Ella Al-Shamahi, says: “These are the most scientifically accurate collection of hyper-real 3D models of human species ever put on TV that we know of. They haven’t been seen in the flesh for hundreds of thousands of years and no TV show has ever brought this many human species to life quite like this.”
When Homo sapiens emerged in Africa we were not alone: there were at least six other human species alive at the time. Now, following breakthroughs in DNA technology and remarkable fossil evidence, Ella Al-Shamahi is able to tell us this extraordinary story, spanning many millennia, in startling detail: from the discoveries in Africa revolutionising our understanding of how our species began, to the caves in the Americas where we hunted ferocious ten foot tall prehistoric bears, and the stories of the other human species – like Neanderthals – and the role we played in their demise. And she draws on the latest scientific evidence to learn how the lives of our ancestors shaped who we are today.
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