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CASE FILE: Search for the First Human
THE SCENE: Tugen Hills, Kenya; Paris, France
LEAD DETECTIVES: Drs. Martin Pickford and Brigitte Senut
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Ancient hominid fossils ignite controversy over the origins of humankind.
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SEARCH FOR THE FIRST HUMAN explores the scientific mystery of human genesis through a close investigation of thirteen fossils found in October of 2000. While examining a geological formation of volcanic rock dating back around six million years, Martin Pickford and Brigitte Senut, paleontologists working outside of Nairobi, Kenya, discovered bones from what appears to be parts of a skeleton belonging to an upright-walking, hominid creature. Given the scientific name Orrorin tugenensis, which means "original man" in the local Tugen dialect, the bones are the oldest hominid remains ever discovered -- so old that they come from the time when the divergence of man and ape is thought to have occurred. In fact, they could be the blueprint for the first generation of the species that ultimately evolved into modern humans.
Orrorin's age and bipedal characteristics are a boon for Pickford and Senut, who have formulated a radical new theory that bipedalism actually developed in the trees, not in the open savannah as has been previously postulated. It is a theory that is gaining support from other paleontologists, robotics experts and primatologists around the world, but Orrorin provides crucial, direct evidence to support this claim. Throughout, SEARCH FOR THE FIRST HUMAN showcases groundbreaking science happening right before the viewer's eyes.
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