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In Search of Human Origins, Part III
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Program Overview
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Although stereotypically cast as stupid, brutish, and subhuman, the
Neanderthals were a highly successful species, surviving several ice
ages and existing for over 200,000 years. Modern humans may reject
any relationship with the Neanderthals, but the question of their
relationship to us continues to mystify scientists. Were they our
ancestors? If they weren't, what happened to them?
In this final episode, Johanson and his colleagues gather new
evidence that may begin to explain the demise of the Neanderthals
and the origins of modern humans. While physical similarities
between some contemporary humans and Neanderthals seem to indicate
an evolutionary link, fossil evidence and mitochondrial DNA testing
suggest that all of us evolved from a single species of Homo sapiens
that migrated out of Africa 200,000 years ago.
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