Episode
NOVA: Becoming Human: Birth of Humanity
Overview
In gripping forensic detail, the second program in “Becoming Human” investigates the first skeleton that really looks like us — “Turkana Boy” — an astonishingly complete specimen of Homo erectus found by the famous Leakey team in Kenya.
Details
- Series
- NOVA
- Season
- Season 37
- Episode
- Episode 5
- Air date
- 2009-11-10
- Runtime
- 55 min
Episode context
Becoming Human: Birth of Humanity is Episode 5 in Season 37 of NOVA. It aired on 2009-11-10. The runtime is 55 min.
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Episode 4: Becoming Human: First Steps
The first hour examines the factors that caused the split from the apes. The film explores the fossil of “Selam,” also known as “Lucy’s Child” — an amazing, nearly complete child fossil that helps shed light on our ancestors’ early development and how we began to depart from that of chimps.
Episode 6: Becoming Human: Last Human Standing
The final program examines the roots of our own species, Homo sapiens, which new evidence pinpoints to southern Africa some 200,000 years ago. New discoveries are upending old ideas and suggesting that our exodus from Africa was far earlier than previously thought.
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This two-hour scripted drama tells the remarkable story behind the unveiling of the most influential scientific theory of all time, Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection. The program is a special presentation from NOVA and National Geographic Television, written by acclaimed British screenwriter John Goldsmith and directed by John Bradshaw.
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