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00:00www.homo sapiens.org
00:30Learning to survive
00:33Many other species of human walked the earth alongside us
00:43But one by one, we supplanted them
00:47Until only we remained
00:54For most of our history, our population was tiny and fragile
01:03Every aspect of our lives determined by the natural world
01:11And yet
01:15Everything would change
01:20Today there are about 8 billion of us
01:29Most of us living in cities like this one
01:33Able to connect in an instant with people across the planet
01:38And you might think it was inevitable
01:40The result of progress over time
01:43But surely our story so far, if it teaches us anything
01:47Is that none of this was a foregone conclusion
01:51So how did we get here?
01:56How did humanity transform from scattered groups of nomads
02:02Into our modern, interconnected world?
02:09What happened in that final chapter of our story
02:13That took us on a path to this place?
02:17What happened in that final chapter of our story
02:47On a remote hilltop in the far east of Turkey
02:49Stands a prehistoric monument steeped in mystery
02:57It is so hard to stand here
03:19And not have goosebumps
03:20This is the oldest temple unearthed anywhere on this planet
03:32It was built 11,500 years ago by hunter-gatherers
03:41That's 6,000 years earlier than Stonehenge
03:47And yet somehow
03:48Our ancestors were capable of making this
03:52This is Gobekli Tepe
03:59There are these incredible T-shaped pillars
04:11Which would have been holding up a huge roof
04:15And then if we look at them
04:17They're covered in these engravings
04:22So this is a fox
04:24There's vultures here
04:25There's bear
04:26There's wild boar
04:27And here
04:28This one just has to be my favourite
04:32It's a leopard hunting one of those wild boars
04:37So notice these holes here
04:39This was dressed with furs
04:42And they were also painted
04:43So you get the impression of this place
04:47As being beautifully coloured and textured
04:51And yet this incredible feat of architecture
04:57Is not the most revolutionary thing about this place
05:02Gobekli Tepe is not simply a temple
05:07It is a marker of a species on the cusp of change
05:12In many ways
05:24These prehistoric builders
05:26Lived as their ancestors had
05:28For thousands of years
05:30Their days spent foraging
05:33And hunting to feed their families
05:42But they'd made one fundamental change
06:01After generations spent as nomads following the herds
06:11Here at Gobekli Tepe
06:13They stopped moving
06:15And settled down
06:24The evidence for which lies not in the temple itself
06:30But in the rubble surrounding it
06:32Now this might not look like much compared to that
06:42But this small square building
06:45Is actually the remains
06:47Of one of the first permanent houses ever built
06:50That there is a storage vessel
06:58This is a grinding stone for wild wheat
07:02And this floor of plaster and stone
07:05This was somebody's home
07:07This is one of the first villages
07:16Archaeologists believe
07:24Maybe a few hundred people were living here permanently
07:27And calling it home
07:31For 300,000 years
07:37Homo sapiens roamed freely
07:40But now they were gathering together
07:44To have put down roots
07:46And so the question is
07:48Why?
07:50And why now?
07:52This was a world of plenty
08:09Warm and abundant
08:13But the planet had not always been this way
08:18Only a few generations earlier
08:22Homo sapiens had been fighting for survival
08:25Through the brutal peak of the last ice age
08:30Now that local areas could provide plenty of food
08:37People could spend longer in one place
08:41And when large groups came together
08:44To share their bounty
08:45A feature of our brain had an opportunity to flourish
08:50Like never before
08:51Our almost limitless capacity to learn
08:58An ability with roots that can be traced way back
09:08Right to the beginning
09:09Right to the beginning of the human story
09:11As the distant ancestors of our species were gradually evolving
09:21They had begun developing larger brains
09:28But as their brains grew
09:36The way they were organized was evolving too
09:39Becoming increasingly adaptable
09:45And more able to change in response to stimulation
09:48From the outside world
09:50Until they became us
09:56A species brilliant at learning
10:00Both from our experiences
10:02And other people
10:04The major thing that marks our species as different
10:13Isn't just the size of our brain
10:15It's also the way they're organized
10:18And their extraordinary flexibility
10:21Now we call this flexibility neuroplasticity
10:24Because it's like our brains are plastic
10:27They adapt, they alter, and they change
10:31It has some profound effects
10:34Humans have a natural affinity
10:49For observing and copying each other
10:51Giving homo sapiens the ability
10:56To have a shared understanding of the world
10:59At Gobekli Tepe
11:05The symbols of their shared experiences and beliefs
11:09Are carved into the stone
11:11And these indicate a bigger shift in our species
11:16The odd thing about being human
11:20Is that we are constantly surrounded
11:22By a bunch of things that are so all-encompassing
11:26And yet we never really think about where they started
11:29Or where they come from
11:31I'm talking here about culture
11:34Ritual, custom, language, art
11:41Stories and ideas
11:44That have been passed down orally through generations
11:48And have now found physical form
11:50Places like Gobekli Tepe
11:58Became so rich in meaning
12:00That our ancestors never wanted to leave
12:04And culture flourished
12:07Cooperating and building connections
12:14Are what our brains are actually set up to do
12:18Wherever humans settle down
12:23An explosion in creativity followed
12:26Launching an era of extraordinary innovation
12:30We can see the results of this shift
12:33In the archaeological record
12:35Which begins to seethe
12:38With the debris
12:39Of new technology
12:41Our ancestors couldn't have foreseen it
12:49But one innovation from around this time
12:52Was to have consequences far greater
12:54Than they could possibly have imagined
12:56We start to see the first sparks of something
13:07That would come to shape the way we live today
13:10Wherever there were humans
13:14There was a dramatic rise
13:16In the bones of goats and sheep
13:19Far outstripping
13:25The remains of the species they hunted
13:27These changes reveal a key point in the human story
13:47The moment we began to farm livestock
13:52The people had found a safe, reliable way to feed themselves
14:08They'd stopped chasing their food
14:12And started rearing it
14:13Providing a regular supply
14:17Of milk, cheese and yoghurt
14:20And later
14:25Textiles like wool
14:27The farming of animals marked a watershed moment
14:44The result of this
14:48I don't think could have been predicted
14:51This altered relationship
14:54That they had with animals
14:56Altered them
14:57Because not long after they learnt how to do this
15:00Something fascinating happened
15:03Their population started to boom
15:16Now we're not really sure why this happened
15:19But the strongest theory
15:20Is that people staying in one place
15:23And not moving as much
15:24But also having more food
15:26Having more calories
15:27Basically led to
15:29Mums having more energy
15:31For reproduction
15:32As our numbers rose
15:41Settlements began springing up
15:43Scattered across an area
15:48Which we now call
15:49The Fertile Crescent
15:51As their populations grew
16:01Villages transformed into towns
16:06And the largest of the towns
16:26Of the Fertile Crescent
16:27Was Chattel Hoyuk
16:29An early prototype
16:39Of urban living
16:40Wow
16:44Every single one of these
16:49Is a house
16:49That's right
16:50And you have to imagine
16:51Of course
16:51That each of these houses
16:52Is a box
16:53With a roof
16:55But there's no space
16:57Really between them
16:58Like a beehive
16:58The fact that they're all tightly
17:00Up against each other
17:02Means that
17:03The whole thing
17:04Is much more structurally sound
17:06There's literally no gap
17:08The only way you can get in the house
17:11Is to move along the roofs
17:13And go down
17:14Through a hole into the house
17:15Because there's no streets
17:16Each dwelling was small
17:28And had its door
17:30In the ceiling
17:30The inhabitants lived
17:36Much of their lives
17:37Up on the roofs
17:38Grinding grain
17:42Trading
17:43And feasting
17:44In the bright sunlight
17:46Above their homes
17:47In this honeycomb
17:53Their animals
17:54Were kept in pens
17:55Right next to their living quarters
17:57Here you can see
18:00Bits of animal bone
18:01These are the sheep bones
18:03From feasting
18:03And so on
18:04But also
18:05There are lots of droppings
18:07And so this is telling us
18:09That as well as people
18:11Living in the village
18:12They also brought in
18:13Domesticated animals
18:15And these farmers
18:21Left behind intriguing signs
18:23That they were here to stay
18:25What are those holes over there
18:29These are the ancestors
18:31Who are buried beneath the floors
18:33In some houses
18:34There are up to 62 people
18:36Buried in them
18:37I mean Ian
18:3860 odd people being buried
18:40That's a graveyard in a home
18:42We've dug up hundreds of burials here
18:44And what's fascinating
18:45Is that people were sleeping
18:47Just a few centimetres
18:49From the bones of their ancestors
18:51Between the dead
19:09The living
19:10And their animals
19:11This thriving town
19:14Was densely packed
19:15At its height
19:21Some people think
19:22There were 8,000 people
19:23Living at Chattel Hoyurg
19:25So that's one of the largest
19:27Settlements on the planet
19:29At this point
19:30And so it's so easy
19:31To imagine this straight line
19:33From this population boom
19:36To our own
19:37Huge population of humans
19:40On this planet
19:40And yet that straight line
19:43Was severely interrupted
19:44Because the formula for success
19:47That was playing out here
19:48Also turned out to be
19:51A bit of a disaster
19:52Our pioneering farmer ancestors
19:58Couldn't have known it
20:00But they had opened Pandora's box
20:04Amongst the many burials
20:12Of Chattel Hoyurg
20:13Were skull after skull
20:17With clear signs
20:19Of violent impact
20:20And it's something
20:25Not only seen
20:26At Chattel Hoyurg
20:27In many early farming settlements
20:34We start to see
20:36The unmistakable signs
20:38Of violence
20:39Suggesting the two
20:43Are connected
20:44Choosing to live like this
20:52In such close proximity
20:54With your neighbours
20:56With the animals
20:57Which you're breeding
20:58With your rubbish
21:01In a way that has
21:03Never been seen before
21:04Leads to this
21:05Cascade
21:07The densely populated towns
21:11Had become exposed
21:12To new dangers
21:14Living with their animals
21:16Spread disease
21:17Their dependence on crops
21:19Made them vulnerable
21:20To failed harvests
21:22And with ever-growing competition
21:27For the land near the settlement
21:28People were no longer
21:31Just battling nature
21:32They were battling
21:34Each other
21:34Suddenly
21:38It must have seemed
21:39Like this perfect world
21:40Had created
21:42Was cursed
21:43Faced with all these challenges
21:55These towns
21:57Didn't survive
21:58Or grow
21:58Into great metropolises
22:00Instead
22:01Growth was followed
22:03By collapse
22:04And exodus
22:05And as the early town dwellers
22:15Left their homes
22:16And farms in droves
22:17They faced a choice
22:19To start again
22:22And risk failing
22:23Or rejoin
22:25The vast majority
22:26Of humans
22:27Across the globe
22:28Still living
22:29Nomadic lives
22:30For me
22:45This is one of the
22:46Biggest mysteries
22:47In the history
22:49Of our species
22:50Because for the very
22:52First settlers
22:53It was a disaster
22:55They were facing
22:56Disease
22:57And famine
22:58And yet
22:59At the very same time
23:01Across the planet
23:03Hunter-gatherers
23:04Were thriving
23:05And that
23:06Way of life
23:08We know works
23:09Because today
23:10Millions of people
23:12Live like that
23:13They have made it
23:14To the 21st century
23:15Just like the rest of us
23:17And yet
23:18We know how this story ends
23:20Most of us
23:22Live in huge cities
23:24Like this
23:25And so what is it
23:39That turned
23:40A disaster
23:41Into a success
23:43Our early attempts
24:07To live together
24:08In large numbers
24:09Had ended
24:10In failure
24:11And strife
24:12To make it work
24:17Our species
24:18Would have to find
24:19Another way
24:20An answer would lie
24:38Along a great river
24:44Along a great river
24:44There are bits of our story
24:54Where geography just
24:56Does not feel like a fluke
24:58Where if it was gonna happen
25:00It was always gonna happen here
25:03Because beyond the thin strips
25:08Of green
25:09That cut through
25:10This arid landscape
25:11There is very little
25:13But sand and death
25:15This narrow strip
25:27Of habitable land
25:28Was the only place
25:29To grow food
25:30And rear animals
25:31But to produce enough
25:34They had to control
25:36This natural resource
25:37That people needed to direct
25:40To direct the water
25:41Onto their fields
25:42And harvest en masse
25:44Once a year
25:46And so
25:48They had no choice
25:50But to work together
25:51Put enough effort in
25:56And more and more of this
25:58Becomes productive farmland
26:00Giving these guys
26:01A massive food surplus
26:04That would be collected
26:05In huge grain stores
26:08Attracting more and more people
26:10To come and settle here
26:12And join this growing revolution
26:15The people flooded
26:23Into the Nile Valley
26:24Jostling for space
26:26But now
26:34Instead of abandoning
26:36Their communities
26:36When the towns
26:37Became overcrowded
26:38They restructured them
26:43When you live in a small group
26:51You've all got to be good
26:53Or at least competent
26:54At everything to survive
26:56But living in a large group
26:59You can suddenly specialise
27:01Some of you might become
27:03Really good at a particular
27:04Kind of textile making
27:06Others might become
27:07Stone makers
27:08Butchers
27:08Bakers
27:09Probably not candlestick makers
27:11Yet
27:12All cogs
27:14In a huge machine
27:15At a scale
27:17That had never been seen before
27:19The people of these busy settlements
27:27Were increasingly collaborating
27:29Becoming part of a social group
27:34With hundreds or thousands
27:36Of strangers
27:37And in the process
27:40Laying the foundation
27:41For something brand new
27:43I know archaeologists
27:54Are constantly pointing at walls
27:56And trying to convince people
27:57Of how important they are
27:58But this absolutely massive wall
28:01Is pretty much all that's left
28:04Of the original city of Abydos
28:06Abydos being one of the very first cities
28:08In the whole world
28:10But walls like these
28:12But walls like these
28:13Also indicate a momentous shift
28:15In the way humans lived together
28:17Because to be on this side of the wall
28:21Meant protection and access to the grain stores
28:24That to be on that side of the wall
28:26Meant to literally be without
28:28Now humans have always been tribal
28:31We've always been able to act
28:33And think as part of a group
28:35But what places like this prove
28:38Is that tribalism was scalable
28:41To the size of a city
28:44All along the great rivers
28:49Of the ancient world
28:51Huge cities began to appear
28:54As our ancestors cracked the secret
28:58To living at scale
28:59A change which would propel us forward
29:06At an astonishing rate
29:08As these newly emerging cities grew
29:16And their communities became more complex
29:18They started to change
29:24Leaving evidence
29:30Which can still be seen here in Abydos
29:32Not in the city of the living
29:36But in the city of the dead
29:38This is Shunet of the Vib
29:51And it's so vast, really
29:54That it was actually originally mistaken
29:58For a fort
29:59But it's a temple dedicated
30:02To a human
30:04A man called Kasikemwe
30:05Who's actually buried in a cemetery over there
30:07Not everybody got one of these
30:10Which means
30:12That around here
30:14There were now at least
30:15Two classes of people
30:17There was something about cities
30:21That was the perfect breeding ground
30:23For producing not just the haves
30:25But the have-a-lots
30:27We may never know why
30:33Some people became wealthier
30:35And more powerful than others
30:36One theory
30:40Is that those in control of the water
30:42Could also be in control of the food supply
30:46But so long as they shared enough to feed the cities
30:51The cities thrived
30:53Their newly specialized populations
30:58Invented, made
31:00And traded
31:02An unprecedented number of objects
31:05And in the process
31:10Created a tool
31:12Unassuming at first glance
31:14That would become
31:16A powerful instrument
31:17I know they don't look like much
31:23They look like
31:24Just
31:25Square pieces of bone
31:28They were found
31:29In Abydos
31:30In a tomb
31:31Thought to be that
31:33Of a king
31:34Known as the Scorpion King
31:36From about 5,300 years ago
31:39Now some of these symbols
31:40Are very recognizable
31:42That's obviously a bird
31:44This is a plant
31:47Of some kind
31:48And notice the holes in them
31:51These are effectively
31:53Labels or tags
31:55These tags were thought to have been attached
31:58To offerings buried in the tomb
32:00But what they reveal
32:01Is something happening
32:03In the world of the living
32:04And these symbols
32:08Represented the provenance
32:10Where the item
32:11That they were attached to
32:12Came from
32:13Perhaps
32:14They have a quantity
32:15As well
32:16Attached to them
32:17And then
32:18Someone had this
32:19Absolutely
32:19Revolutionary idea
32:21What if
32:22They strung them together
32:24With local agreement
32:39On their meaning
32:40Symbols
32:41Became words
32:42Gradually
32:46The rows of images
32:47Became more complex
32:50Until
32:54We stopped labeling
32:59And started writing
33:01Detailed knowledge
33:07And culture
33:08That had previously been passed down
33:10Generation to generation to generation
33:13Was now able to be preserved
33:15In a completely different way
33:17And the thing with writing
33:19Is that like so many
33:22Of the giant leaps forward
33:23That we have made
33:24As a species
33:25I'm thinking here
33:26About the invention of agriculture
33:27And metalworks
33:29And the wheel
33:29Writing does seem like an idea
33:32Whose time had come
33:35Because it doesn't just happen
33:38In Egypt
33:39Again and again
33:44Across the earth
33:45We invented forms of writing
33:48Giving our facts
33:56Stories and ideas
33:58Lasting form
33:59And we still have
34:08No conclusive evidence
34:09As to how
34:10Or even whether
34:11These events
34:12Influenced each other
34:14Or whether
34:15Whether they happened organically
34:16As a result of
34:17Needing to keep track
34:18Of things
34:19At that scale
34:20But however it happened
34:21Once writing was a thing
34:23Once it was out there
34:25In the world
34:25Then nothing
34:27Would be the same
34:28Ever again
34:29Now laws
34:36Customs and beliefs
34:37Could be recorded
34:39Permanently in ink
34:40But with over 700 symbols
34:50This technology
34:51Required years of study
34:53To master
34:53And so was the sole preserve
34:56And so was the sole preserve
34:56Of those trained
34:58To use it
34:59Scribes working
35:01For the ruling class
35:02And the ability to send out
35:09Detailed instructions
35:10To people across the land
35:12Gave the rulers
35:14Enormous power
35:15To influence
35:16Instruct
35:17And build
35:18In 2013
35:23A team of archaeologists
35:26Were excavating
35:27A cave
35:27On the Red Sea coast
35:28When hidden inside
35:32They found
35:34Ancient fragments
35:35Of inscribed papyrus
35:37Preserved there
35:44For over
35:454,000 years
35:46It's believed to be
35:51The oldest ever found
35:53And a time capsule
36:00From the reign
36:01Of an iconic ruler
36:02So this is
36:05This is your actual
36:06Excavation notebook
36:07From the time
36:08Yeah yeah
36:09Every day
36:09I was recording
36:10The papyri
36:12And we were surprised
36:13To find
36:13Most of them
36:14Had the name
36:15Of a king
36:16And this pharaoh
36:17Is Khufu
36:18The builder
36:19Of the great pyramids
36:20Not a small pharaoh
36:21All the material
36:22Is giving information
36:23About this very reign
36:25Which is the very beginning
36:26Of the Egyptian state
36:28In fact
36:28Khufu ruled Egypt
36:32For almost a quarter
36:33Of a century
36:34And one of the world's
36:37Most familiar structures
36:38Was built to honour him
36:40The first of the great pyramids
36:42The first of the great pyramids
36:44Of Giza
36:45We had to wait
36:49Till the very end
36:50Of the excavation
36:51To have the best preserved papyri
36:54We only had a small pit
36:56Left untouched
36:57And all the papyri
36:59Were thrown inside
37:00Into that one spot
37:01That was the very last spot
37:03That you decided
37:04To look at
37:04Yeah
37:04The team discovered
37:07Around a thousand pieces
37:08Of papyrus
37:09Revealing a vastly complex
37:11Construction project
37:13Wow
37:14Yeah
37:15It belongs to a kind of elite
37:17At that time
37:17Because we don't think
37:18That more than one percent
37:20Of the population
37:21Was able to read and write
37:23It's a log book
37:24And I can see
37:25In the small boxes
37:26Number of the day
37:27Of the month
37:28And for each day
37:29This official
37:30Is giving information
37:31About what he has done
37:33For example here
37:34On the first day of the month
37:36They are sending a boat
37:38To Heliopolis
37:38To fetch the food
37:39For the workers
37:40And when it arrives
37:41It's written in red
37:42Because it's much more
37:44Important for them
37:45Than everything else
37:46About forty days
37:48You have a precise record
37:50Of what he is doing
37:52Egyptian extracted
37:54Fine limestone blocks
37:56That were used
37:57For the building
37:58Of the outer casing
38:00Of the pyramids
38:01So
38:01What it is all about
38:03Is that they were
38:04Bringing stones
38:05From the Tura quarries
38:07To the pyramid of Hufu
38:09At the end of the reign
38:10Of this king
38:11So this is
38:12This is telling us
38:15How they built
38:16The pyramids
38:17Basically
38:18This is the administration
38:19Behind it all
38:20That
38:21That's absolutely incredible
38:22So this is a
38:24Snapshot in time
38:27Of the building
38:29Of the great pyramid
38:30And you found it
38:32Without all those records
38:38I think the pyramid
38:39Would not have been possible
38:40You can't really overstate
38:50The significance
38:51Of finding a document
38:52Like that
38:53One from such
38:54A pivotal moment
38:56In history
38:58And when you read
38:59The translation
38:59You definitely do get
39:01A sense
39:02Of what a logistical
39:04Feat it was
39:06Building these things
39:08But
39:09You also
39:11Get a real sense
39:12Of how mundane
39:14And bureaucratic
39:15It all was
39:16Just kind of
39:17Ordinary humans
39:18Doing ordinary human things
39:20Between the invention
39:22Of writing
39:23And the building
39:24Of the pyramids
39:26There were no major
39:27Technological advancements
39:29That we know of
39:30In Egypt
39:30And so
39:33For 4,500 years
39:35People have looked
39:36At these
39:37And just
39:39Had their breath
39:40Taken away
39:41And wondered
39:43How on earth
39:45Were they built
39:45And perhaps the answer
39:47Is just the simple
39:49Writing
39:51Built the pyramids
39:52And even though
39:57They were originally
39:58Built for the elites
39:59They actually became
40:01Symbols of national
40:03Identity
40:04Which bind
40:05Huge groups of people
40:07Together on an
40:08Unconscious level
40:09The unit of human
40:14Cooperation
40:15Had grown
40:16From tribe
40:17To village
40:18To town
40:19To city
40:21And now
40:25To nation
40:26But alongside
40:36The emergence
40:37Of these nation states
40:38Was a more sinister
40:40Development
40:41What had once been
40:43Tribal skirmishes
40:45Became state warfare
40:48Recorded by the victors
40:53In art
40:53And writing
40:54The emerging superpowers
40:58Began launching
40:59Military campaigns
41:00Against their neighbours
41:01For land
41:03Resources
41:05And manpower
41:07Bringing thousands
41:10Of captives back
41:11As slaves
41:12Many of the early
41:20Civilisations
41:21Follow this pattern
41:23Of growth
41:24Innovation
41:25Writing
41:26And an ever more
41:27Stratified society
41:29By 4,000 years ago
41:35We'd clearly made
41:36Some massive strides
41:37To the modern world
41:38With the rise
41:39Of these civilisations
41:41That were supporting
41:42So many more people
41:43And about
41:4470 million of us
41:46Walking this planet
41:47But
41:49The disparity
41:52In the human condition
41:54Had never been
41:56So wide
41:57Some people
41:58Were living gods
42:00And they would go on
42:01To build monuments
42:02Like these
42:03To themselves
42:04For centuries
42:06But many more
42:08Were slaves
42:09Who were forced
42:10To live
42:10In the shadows
42:11Of the splendour
42:13That they'd
42:13Helped to create
42:15And humankind's
42:18Powerful new tool
42:19Writing
42:20Still remained
42:22In the hands
42:23Of just a tiny number
42:24If we were going
42:27To get to the future
42:28The here and now
42:29As you and I know it
42:30It was going to require
42:32A spark
42:33From somewhere else
42:45Almost 4,000 years ago
42:55A small group
42:57Of our ancestors
42:57Were forced
42:59To make a journey
43:00To one of the most
43:02Inhospitable places
43:03On earth
43:04Through the baking
43:07Barren waste
43:08Of the Sinai desert
43:11But here
43:15In this desolate
43:16Landscape
43:17They would change
43:18The world
43:19This place is stunning
43:25And yet
43:27A complete
43:28And utter
43:29Death trap
43:30It was of very
43:32Little interest
43:33To the Egyptian elites
43:35That is
43:36Until someone
43:37Found something
43:38In these
43:39Mountains
43:40Lots
43:41Lots
43:42And lots
43:43Of copper
43:44And this stuff
43:47Turquoise
43:48Raw materials
43:50That could be
43:51Transformed
43:52Into jewels
43:54And ornaments
43:54Of great value
43:56If you could prize them
44:06From this harsh
44:07Landscape
44:08Far to the north
44:13Was the tiny land
44:15Of Rhet Genu
44:16When Egypt
44:18Demanded laborers
44:19For this treacherous
44:20Mining mission
44:21It was the unfortunate
44:24People
44:24Of this small
44:26Powerless state
44:27Who had no choice
44:28But to answer
44:29The call
44:30I can't imagine
44:45What it would have been like
44:46To be dragged here
44:48To work in the turquoise mines
44:49In the blazing heat
44:52In the middle of nowhere
44:54It must have been like
44:59Being dropped
45:00Onto the surface
45:00Of a different planet
45:01And even
45:10The Egyptians
45:11Probably wondered
45:12If they would make it
45:14Back home
45:14The Egyptians
45:24Turned to their gods
45:25For protection
45:26And here
45:28High up
45:29On a desolate plateau
45:30At the furthest edge
45:33Of their world
45:34They built a temple
45:35To ask for it
45:37A monument
45:44Which has survived
45:45Remarkably unscathed
45:47For almost
45:484,000 years
45:50Frozen in time
45:54By the bone dry desert
45:56This temple
46:08Is dedicated
46:09To the goddess
46:10Hathor
46:10Who is the goddess
46:11Of turquoise and miners
46:12And they were
46:13Documenting
46:14And celebrating
46:15Their presence
46:16And worshipping
46:16Their gods
46:17And each one
46:19Of these
46:19Pillars
46:20Represents
46:22One of the missions
46:23And they are hierarchical
46:24So you've got
46:25The pharaoh
46:26At the top
46:27And it goes
46:29Through the ranks
46:30You've got
46:31Stonemasons
46:32Et cetera
46:33Et cetera
46:33Et cetera
46:33Until
46:34This is the brother
46:35Of the prince
46:36Of Ret Genu
46:37Ret Genu
46:38Is where the miners
46:40Came from
46:41And yet
46:41The miners
46:42Are not here
46:43On this pillar
46:44But they would have
46:46Come through here
46:46They would have seen
46:47This grandeur
46:48This splendor
46:49Seeing these
46:51Impenetrable
46:52Egyptian hieroglyphics
46:53The foreign workers
46:56Also wanted
46:57To immortalize
46:58Their presence
46:59Here
46:59But there was
47:03A problem
47:04They weren't
47:04Part of the elites
47:05And so they
47:06Couldn't write
47:07So the illiterate miners
47:13Did what we humans
47:14Have always done
47:15They copied
47:19What they'd seen
47:20And made it their own
47:23This is one of the tech boys minds
47:38And if you look
47:39All over the walls
47:40There are these scratches
47:41From where the workers
47:43Pickaxes
47:44Have been
47:45But here
47:47Something else
47:48Is going on
47:49There are about
47:5130 or 40 of them
47:52All over this place
47:54Some of these
47:56Have been copied
47:56From hieroglyphics
47:57But some are
47:58Completely new
47:59And here's how
47:59The system works
48:00You take
48:01The symbol
48:02And you say
48:04The name
48:04But you only
48:06Take the first sound
48:07And you discard
48:08The rest
48:09So for example
48:10This here
48:11This is an ox
48:13You can see
48:13The horns
48:14And the head here
48:15To the miners
48:16This would be
48:17Aleph
48:18Now Aleph
48:19Just take the first sound
48:21A
48:21Discard the rest
48:23This is another symbol
48:24This is a symbol
48:25For house
48:26To them
48:26It would be
48:27Bait
48:27So you just
48:28Take the
48:29Bait sound
48:30At the beginning
48:31And if you put
48:32These two together
48:33You start understanding
48:35What you're
48:35Actually looking at here
48:37This is the birthplace
48:39Of the alphabet
48:41This new script
48:46Was simpler to learn
48:47Than hieroglyphics
48:48Because the alphabet
48:50Did not represent
48:51Complete words
48:52But spoken sounds
48:54It was able to convey
48:59Any thought
48:59With only 20 to 30 symbols
49:02These miners
49:07Are the ones
49:08Who gave birth
49:09To this
49:09And their legacy
49:10Is still with us today
49:11And is so important
49:13In the centuries
49:20And millennia
49:21That followed
49:21Nearly all
49:25The early written languages
49:26Fell into obscurity
49:28As those civilizations
49:30Waned
49:31But the alphabet
49:34Would only grow
49:36Spreading across the planet
49:38Reshaping and branching
49:40Into many different forms
49:42Eventually becoming
49:46The most widely used
49:49Writing system
49:50In the world
49:51Allowing millions
49:59And then billions
50:01Of ordinary humans
50:02To access knowledge
50:04To communicate
50:05And to document
50:06Their thoughts
50:07And their existence
50:09In every corner
50:11Of the globe
50:12For me
50:16This is one of the
50:17Most powerful moments
50:19In the human story
50:20Because unbeknownst
50:22To the underdog
50:23They had changed
50:24The world
50:25One of civilization's
50:27Most profound
50:28And revolutionary ideas
50:30Didn't come from
50:31An educated elite
50:33It came
50:34From inside these
50:35Dark and miserable minds
50:37Through the copying
50:39And innovating
50:40Of lowly migrant workers
50:42The invention of writing
51:07Marks an ending
51:08And a beginning
51:09Because prehistory
51:13So the period
51:14Before writing
51:15We could only really
51:16Piece together
51:17Using fragments
51:19And artifacts
51:19And now
51:21Recorded time
51:22History
51:23Had begun
51:23And what we see
51:26Is that as
51:27Writing spreads
51:29The pace
51:30Of human innovation
51:31Accelerates
51:33Because that
51:38Is the power
51:39Of being able
51:39To document
51:40And lay down
51:41Knowledge
51:42Generation
51:53After generation
51:55Building on the last
51:56Retaining
51:58And accumulating
51:59Knowledge
51:59Stone
52:03Became bronze
52:04Iron
52:05Became silicon
52:06And gradually
52:09We built
52:10The future
52:11This
52:14Is the very
52:16Final bone
52:16Of our series
52:18This is actually
52:19One of the
52:20Three ear bones
52:22And just like
52:23Every human bone
52:25We've encountered
52:26Whether homo sapiens
52:27Or otherwise
52:28It represents
52:30A person
52:31This individual
52:33Had a family
52:34Parents
52:35Perhaps children
52:37Friends
52:37But what's
52:39Particularly remarkable
52:41Is how much
52:42We now know
52:43About these
52:44Ancient ancestors
52:45Of ours
52:46Thanks to
52:47Modern temples
52:48Of knowledge
52:49Like this one
52:50The scientists
52:51Here
52:52Are able to
52:53Extract DNA
52:54From an individual
52:55Who in this case
52:56Lived about
52:571600 years ago
52:58From a piece
52:59Of bone
52:59That is so tiny
53:00Delicate
53:01And precious
53:02And they're able
53:04To ask
53:04Questions
53:05Like whether
53:06Industrialization
53:08And agriculture
53:09Actually affected
53:11Our DNA
53:11Whether we're
53:13Still evolving
53:14And to think
53:17That our knowledge
53:19Has got to the point
53:21Where we're even
53:22Able to entertain
53:24Such huge questions
53:25From something
53:28So tiny
53:29For me
53:32There's a poetry
53:33In that
53:33We can look back
53:43On when nature
53:44And luck
53:45Were on our side
53:46And when they weren't
53:48Where we made
53:50The right decisions
53:51And where
53:54We went wrong
53:55But what underpins
53:58Our story
53:59And makes it unique
54:00Is far more
54:03Than just our will
54:04To survive
54:05It's our cultural drive
54:08To come together
54:09To learn from
54:11And inspire each other
54:12To go further
54:14Than what has gone before
54:16We are the very last
54:21Species of human
54:22To walk this earth
54:24And the most
54:25Fascinating thing
54:26About our
54:27300,000 year long story
54:29Is that we have
54:31No idea
54:32How much is left
54:33Is this
54:35Basically the whole
54:36Of our story
54:37Or
54:38Are we on the first
54:40Act or even
54:41Prologue
54:41With a long future
54:42Ahead of us
54:43We have no idea
54:45But we are
54:47One species
54:48With one future
54:50Now you could never
54:51Have predicted
54:52How we got here
54:54And where we go next
54:56Is up to all of us
55:13In this episode
55:30We filmed at
55:31Sarabid al-Khadim
55:32A 4,000 year old
55:34Mining complex
55:35On the Sinai peninsula
55:37Where ancient messages
55:40Were scrawled
55:41On the walls
55:41Of the mines
55:42The archaeologists
55:46Who discovered
55:47This mystery script
55:48In 1905
55:49Called it
55:50Proto-Sinaitic
55:51But they had no idea
55:53What it said
55:54And until they could
55:56Read it
55:56They were ignorant
55:57Of its true significance
55:59A remarkable artifact
56:04Now in the British Museum
56:06Would be the vital clue
56:07To cracking
56:08The ancient code
56:10This amazing object
56:12Was discovered
56:13In the Hathor temple
56:15In Sarabid al-Khadim
56:16Close to the turquoise mines
56:18Is a so-called sphinx
56:20And dates roughly
56:21About 4,000 years old
56:23Linguists already knew
56:27How to read
56:28Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics
56:30What the sphinx gave them
56:32Was a key to decipher
56:34The script
56:34They couldn't read
56:35So if you look at the piece
56:41We have inscription
56:42On both sides
56:44And I'll show you
56:44This side first
56:45Where we only have
56:46The proto-Sinaitic script
56:48And then if I turn
56:51The sphinx
56:51This is the most important
56:53And most fascinating side
56:54Because here we have
56:56Two different scripts
56:57On the bottom
56:58Proto-Sinaitic
57:00And then you see
57:00The hieroglyphic
57:01Right on top
57:02The message in hieroglyphics
57:07At the top
57:07Was a dedication
57:08To the goddess Hathor
57:10Linguists deduced
57:12That the script below
57:13In proto-Sinaitic
57:14Was saying the same thing
57:16We can start
57:20With the hieroglyphs
57:21Which reads
57:22Beloved of Hathor
57:23So we have now
57:24The Egyptian goddess Hathor
57:25Then we have a second part
57:27Which allowed us
57:29To decipher
57:30The proto-Sinaitic language
57:31Because we know
57:32It was the same message
57:33So we were very lucky
57:35We found this amazing object
57:36This is the
57:37Kind of lottery win
57:39For the linguists
57:40These short corresponding phrases
57:43Were the key
57:44To decoding
57:45The miner's writing
57:46The probably most important aspect
57:50Of proto-Sinaitic
57:52Is that it's an alphabetic script
57:53And if you look at these signs
57:55You probably will not recognize
57:57Any alphabetic signs
57:58We use today
57:59But the cow head
58:01That you see here
58:02Becomes our A
58:04Proto-Sinaitic gave birth
58:10To the modern alphabet
58:12And unlocked the origins
58:14Of the most widespread form
58:16Of writing
58:16In the world
58:18Good work
58:20I found this
58:20To the modern alphabet
58:20Into the or Justice
58:21To the nearly whole
58:23Of the world
58:23That you will identify
58:24The first sort of thing
58:25That you might indeed
58:26Are here
58:29The two of the last
58:31Weasel
58:32One by the first
58:33Last걸
58:33One by the next
58:34Two or surprise
58:35One by the end
58:35One by the time
58:36Another by the chwilistas
58:36One by who
58:37Thanh
58:38One by the host
58:38And what does it
58:39?
58:41Uh-oh
58:42One by the last
58:43A
58:44Two by the last
58:45deep
58:45Gracias por ver el video.
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