This January, PBS presents The Human Spark, a three-part documentary series examining what makes us human, what makes us different from every other animal on the planet. The first video, "Becoming Us", covers the amazing range of archaeological and paleontological research over the past decade that has led science to reconsider the roots of our humanity.
Alan Alda (right) with Svante Paabo, whose group at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany has sequenced the Neanderthal genome. Photo ©Larry Engel 2008 for The Human Spark
Produced by WNET and presented by the amiable actor Alan Alda, "Becoming Us" is an engaging presentation of the complex issues reexamined by scholars just this past decade. Contributing researchers include Alison Brooks, John Shea and Randall White, with appearances by Ian Tattersall, Svante Paabo, Daniel Lieberman, Shannon McPherron, Veronica Waweru, Michael Richards, Tanya Smith, Harold Dibble, Adrian Briggs, and Dennis Sandgathe. Archaeological investigations featured in the program include Olorgesailie (Kenya); Cap Blanc, Roc de Marsal and Abri Castanet (France); Skuhl Cave (Israel); and the Bodo Cranium (Ethiopia), as well as many others referred to but not specifically named, most likely Pinnacle Point in South Africa, Grotte des Pigeons in Morocco and Gorham's Cave in Gibraltar, the last refuge of the Neanderthals.
The program does an excellent job of presenting information about the recent discoveries concerning redefining what 20th century scholars called the 'creative explosion'. As Svante Paabo remarks in the program, one of the "fundamental" questions of evolutionary science has been at what point did hominins became, well, human. Alda asks it this way: at what point in time would it be that a baby would have been born with enough intelligence that it could have been brought up in a modern household, sent to college and gotten a job? That's an interesting question, don't you think? What the last decade or so of research has shown is that that "creative explosion" occurred perhaps some 150,000 years ago, 100,000 or more years earlier than was believed as recently as the late 20th century.
Chipped Stone Tools and Language
Alan Alda gets an up-close view of hominid skeletons with Ian Tattersall of the American Museum of Natural History. Photo by ©Larry Engel 2008 for The Human Spark
Featured in the documentary is archaeologist John Shea making several Acheulean handaxes and a soapstone bead for the camera—and of course, Alan Alda tries his hand at making a chipped stone tool, under close direction. It's a useful scene, underlining the point that language, the ability for Shea to lean over and teach Alda how to make a chipped stone tool, is one of the characteristics that humankind had, that Neanderthals apparently did not.
The documentary includes a fairly detailed discussion of archaeological evidence for the use of stone projectile points, as long ago as 150,000 years, with a focus on the recent research of Veronica Waweru. Also appearing are some pretty amazing findings at Olorgesailie, which I admit I hadn't heard about. Alison Brooks has discovered obsidian in a 300,000 year-old deposit at the site that had been imported from some 50 kilometers away. Brooks suggests it is evidence for trade—if she's right, that's human complexity exhibited in a Homo erectus, which would be quite, quite astonishing.
The Human Spark Website
The Human Spark website has gobs of additional information, including an interesting 5.5 minute video clip from Roc de Marsal that didn't make it into the final cut. In the clip, Harold Dibble, Shannon McPherron and Dennis Sandgathe discuss how archaeologists recognize an intentional burial; and why they believe a Neanderthal child skeleton recovered from Roc de Marsal was not likely a purposeful interment.
Alan Alda, Harold Dibble, Shannon McPherron and Dennis Sandgathe visit Roc de Marsal, a 40,000-year-old Neanderthal cave in southwestern France. Photo ©Larry Engel 2008 for The Human Spark
Bottom Line
Written by Graham Chedd with contributions from Shea, Brooks and White, "Becoming Us" is a wonderful presentation, with strong intelligible explanations from many current scholars in the field, brought into focus by an approachable host asking reasonable questions. Don't miss it.
The Human Spark will be shown on PBS on three succeeding Wednesdays, beginning January 6. Check local listings for time; as is usual with PBS, the videos will be available for viewing on the PBS website after they've aired. You can also purchase a copy of the series for a darned reasonable price; I suspect it would be very useful for the classroom.
- The Human Spark, home page on PBS
- January 6: Becoming Us
- January 13: So Human, So Chimp
- January 20: Brain Matters
More on Complexity
- Middle Stone Age Complexity, one of the Top Ten Archaeology News Stories of the Decade
- Creative Explosion and how scholars are changing their minds about it
- Skhul Cave, anatomically modern human Mousterian site in Israel
- Olorgesailie, Lower Paleolithic site in Kenya
- Bodo Cranium, H. heidelbergensis site in Ethiopia
- Pinnacle Point, Middle Stone Age in South Africa
- Grotte des Pigeons, Aterian site in Morocco
- Gorham's Cave Neanderthal site in Gibraltar
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