1
00:00:03,640 --> 00:00:05,720
For thousands of years,


2
00:00:05,720 --> 00:00:10,000
the Ayoreo tribe have lived
in the forests of South America.


3
00:00:11,280 --> 00:00:16,000
They're still leading much
the same hunter-gatherer lifestyle


4
00:00:16,000 --> 00:00:18,840
as the very first humans on Earth.


5
00:00:21,600 --> 00:00:27,680
But in June 1998, they came
face to face with the 20th century.


6
00:00:40,760 --> 00:00:43,040
KNOCKING


7
00:00:49,000 --> 00:00:54,040
This was a chance encounter
between two worlds,


8
00:00:54,040 --> 00:00:58,480
both equally human
but completely divided by history.


9
00:01:00,760 --> 00:01:03,560
In this series,
I'm going to tell the story


10
00:01:03,560 --> 00:01:07,560
of the adventures and events
that divided them...


11
00:01:09,720 --> 00:01:13,800
Thousands of years
of explosive change.


12
00:01:18,400 --> 00:01:22,080
70,000 years of human history -


13
00:01:22,080 --> 00:01:27,560
stories that we thought we knew
and others we were never told.


14
00:01:31,360 --> 00:01:34,320
None of us can hope to know
all of the human story


15
00:01:34,320 --> 00:01:36,600
but it does help to have
the big picture


16
00:01:36,600 --> 00:01:40,360
because it's really the story
of who we are now,


17
00:01:40,360 --> 00:01:44,280
our own ancestors' long walk,


18
00:01:44,280 --> 00:01:47,320
the tiny things
that changed the world...


19
00:01:47,320 --> 00:01:48,800
EXPLOSION


20
00:01:48,800 --> 00:01:50,160
..nature biting back,


21
00:01:50,160 --> 00:01:52,720
old glories,


22
00:01:52,720 --> 00:01:56,720
winners...and losers,


23
00:01:56,720 --> 00:02:00,720
truth seekers
and astonishing discoveries...


24
00:02:00,720 --> 00:02:02,160
GUILLOTINE FALLS


25
00:02:02,160 --> 00:02:04,720
..revolutions in blood
and in iron...


26
00:02:06,800 --> 00:02:08,360
EXPLOSION


27
00:02:08,360 --> 00:02:14,040
..modern madness
and the wonders of the digital age.


28
00:02:14,040 --> 00:02:19,560
We have been brilliantly clever
at reshaping the world around us -


29
00:02:19,560 --> 00:02:25,120
almost as clever as we think we are,
though not perhaps as wise.


30
00:02:26,240 --> 00:02:31,920
There will be challenges,
triumphs and surprises,


31
00:02:31,920 --> 00:02:35,320
all the essentials of the story -


32
00:02:35,320 --> 00:02:40,080
except, of course, how it ends.


33
00:03:01,200 --> 00:03:05,560
Africa,
around 70,000 years ago.


34
00:03:06,640 --> 00:03:11,400
These people are fully developed
modern humans, just like us,


35
00:03:11,400 --> 00:03:16,800
Homo sapiens -
it means "wise man".


36
00:03:17,920 --> 00:03:23,800
As hunter-gatherers we were
driven by familiar basic needs -


37
00:03:23,800 --> 00:03:26,680
food, water, shelter.


38
00:03:26,680 --> 00:03:31,880
And for over 100,000 years,
we'd been changing, adapting


39
00:03:31,880 --> 00:03:35,080
and struggling to survive.


40
00:03:38,000 --> 00:03:40,320
Climate was a big part of this -


41
00:03:40,320 --> 00:03:43,720
the Earth shivered its way
through ice ages,


42
00:03:43,720 --> 00:03:47,760
the skies were darkened
by vast volcanic eruptions,


43
00:03:47,760 --> 00:03:52,240
the planet grew hotter and drier,
and then colder and wetter again,


44
00:03:52,240 --> 00:03:58,960
and each change challenged mankind
to find new ways to survive.


45
00:03:58,960 --> 00:04:00,720
Those who did survive


46
00:04:00,720 --> 00:04:04,840
emerged tougher, cleverer
and better organised.


47
00:04:10,360 --> 00:04:14,360
And in this particular tribe,
there was someone special.


48
00:04:14,360 --> 00:04:16,480
She was part of one small group


49
00:04:16,480 --> 00:04:19,440
of probably fewer than
a thousand people,


50
00:04:19,440 --> 00:04:23,560
slowly moving towards
the north-east coast of Africa.


51
00:04:40,960 --> 00:04:43,880
For early people,
life really was a journey.


52
00:04:43,880 --> 00:04:49,440
It was an endless trek
after game and fruit and seeds.


53
00:04:49,440 --> 00:04:55,520
Settle down, call anywhere home,
and you would starve to death.


54
00:05:23,320 --> 00:05:26,680
Criss-crossing Africa over
tens of thousands of years,


55
00:05:26,680 --> 00:05:28,600
dealing with the changing climate


56
00:05:28,600 --> 00:05:31,880
and animals rather bigger and faster
than they were,


57
00:05:31,880 --> 00:05:35,880
people learned the essentials
of survival -


58
00:05:35,880 --> 00:05:38,760
language, clothing
and cooked food...


59
00:05:40,040 --> 00:05:44,680
..and, above all,
working together to stay alive.


60
00:05:50,400 --> 00:05:53,400
Africa nourished us,


61
00:05:53,400 --> 00:05:57,640
but she was always difficult
and always dangerous.


62
00:06:07,400 --> 00:06:08,920
WIND HOWLS


63
00:06:45,720 --> 00:06:47,640
SHE BREATHES HEAVILY


64
00:07:39,080 --> 00:07:41,120
Over tens of thousands of years,


65
00:07:41,120 --> 00:07:43,720
there's evidence that other tribes


66
00:07:43,720 --> 00:07:47,160
made the same dangerous journey
out of Africa.


67
00:07:55,080 --> 00:07:59,120
But after studying
the evolution of human DNA,


68
00:07:59,120 --> 00:08:03,160
scientists have concluded
that only one tribe lasted


69
00:08:03,160 --> 00:08:08,040
long enough outside Africa
to leave a lasting legacy.


70
00:08:09,960 --> 00:08:12,400
This is the tribe that made it.


71
00:08:12,400 --> 00:08:13,800
HE YELLS


72
00:08:13,800 --> 00:08:16,320
They probably hopped
from island to island,


73
00:08:16,320 --> 00:08:19,720
across what is now the Red Sea,


74
00:08:19,720 --> 00:08:25,040
arriving in today's Arabia
around 65,000 years ago,


75
00:08:25,040 --> 00:08:28,560
and, amazing as it sounds,


76
00:08:28,560 --> 00:08:34,240
almost all of us alive today are
related to one woman in this tribe.


77
00:08:38,480 --> 00:08:43,520
Of course, we don't know her name
but she was a survivor,


78
00:08:43,520 --> 00:08:46,680
and we could call her simply
"Mother",


79
00:08:46,680 --> 00:08:49,600
because there is
a tiny genetic mutation


80
00:08:49,600 --> 00:08:54,680
in every single person alive today
who isn't from Sub-Saharan Africa,


81
00:08:54,680 --> 00:08:58,240
and scientists have tracked it back


82
00:08:58,240 --> 00:09:00,720
to one migration out of Africa,


83
00:09:00,720 --> 00:09:03,520
one tribe, one woman.


84
00:09:03,520 --> 00:09:05,280
WOMAN CRIES OUT


85
00:09:14,360 --> 00:09:16,200
It seems impossible,


86
00:09:16,200 --> 00:09:20,200
but whether you're from Aberdeen
or Islamabad, Tokyo or New York,


87
00:09:20,200 --> 00:09:23,560
Scandinavia or the Pacific Islands,


88
00:09:23,560 --> 00:09:28,360
she is your universal
African mother.


89
00:09:32,480 --> 00:09:34,160
BABY CRIES


90
00:09:37,600 --> 00:09:43,520
And the journey didn't end in Arabia
because her tribe kept on moving.


91
00:09:43,520 --> 00:09:49,080
Step by step, mile by mile,
generation by generation,


92
00:09:49,080 --> 00:09:53,480
modern humans spread out and slowly
colonised the rest of the planet.


93
00:10:09,760 --> 00:10:15,080
First, we travelled east along the
coast towards India and East Asia.


94
00:10:15,080 --> 00:10:18,080
It's reckoned that some of us
may have reached Australia


95
00:10:18,080 --> 00:10:19,760
50,000 years ago.


96
00:10:22,000 --> 00:10:25,880
The land bridge that then connected
Asia and America wasn't crossed


97
00:10:25,880 --> 00:10:28,280
until around 15,000 years ago,


98
00:10:28,280 --> 00:10:32,400
but then quickly people spread
right down through the Americas


99
00:10:32,400 --> 00:10:33,560
to the far south.


100
00:10:34,800 --> 00:10:38,800
All these journeys were slowed
or accelerated by cold or heat


101
00:10:38,800 --> 00:10:41,840
or climate change.


102
00:10:41,840 --> 00:10:45,960
From the Middle East, another
branch of humans headed north-west,


103
00:10:45,960 --> 00:10:49,520
arriving in Europe
around 45,000 years ago.


104
00:10:58,360 --> 00:11:03,240
By the time we arrived in Europe
we were already deeply tribal,


105
00:11:03,240 --> 00:11:06,960
living and co-operating together in
groups much larger than families,


106
00:11:06,960 --> 00:11:10,400
which was very important
to our success as hunters,


107
00:11:10,400 --> 00:11:12,040
but it had another side.


108
00:11:12,040 --> 00:11:18,240
Our tribal loyalties meant we had an
ingrained hostility to outsiders -


109
00:11:18,240 --> 00:11:21,400
anyone who looked a little
different, spoke differently,


110
00:11:21,400 --> 00:11:25,720
dressed differently or perhaps
even smelt differently.


111
00:11:25,720 --> 00:11:31,960
Truer still of people
who really WERE different


112
00:11:31,960 --> 00:11:36,560
because when we got to Europe, we
discovered that we were not alone.


113
00:11:43,600 --> 00:11:46,880
Another variety of human
had been living here


114
00:11:46,880 --> 00:11:50,440
for an almost unimaginable
period of time...


115
00:11:52,280 --> 00:11:54,120
The Neanderthals.


116
00:11:55,480 --> 00:11:56,800
Stocky and tough,


117
00:11:56,800 --> 00:12:01,880
they'd survived ice-age conditions
we can barely comprehend


118
00:12:01,880 --> 00:12:07,280
and now they faced a rather more
dangerous challenge - us.


119
00:12:07,280 --> 00:12:09,840
TWIG SNAPS
SHOUTING


120
00:12:24,360 --> 00:12:26,800
Scientists argue about this


121
00:12:26,800 --> 00:12:29,800
but we probably co-existed
with the Neanderthals in Europe


122
00:12:29,800 --> 00:12:33,280
for between 5,000 and 10,000 years,


123
00:12:33,280 --> 00:12:34,400
and during that time


124
00:12:34,400 --> 00:12:38,040
the Neanderthals went into
rapid decline.


125
00:12:48,160 --> 00:12:49,920
NEANDERTHAL CRIES OUT


126
00:12:55,080 --> 00:12:57,720
Nobody knows for sure
what happened to them.


127
00:12:57,720 --> 00:12:59,440
They were tough survivors


128
00:12:59,440 --> 00:13:03,560
who had been around
for at least 250,000 years -


129
00:13:03,560 --> 00:13:05,760
rather longer than we've managed.


130
00:13:07,440 --> 00:13:12,280
It's probable that we pushed them
out of their hunting grounds.


131
00:13:12,280 --> 00:13:17,440
It's also possible, I regret to
report, that we liked to eat them.


132
00:13:24,400 --> 00:13:26,320
HE CRIES OUT


133
00:13:29,560 --> 00:13:31,240
HE YELLS


134
00:13:38,680 --> 00:13:40,440
NEANDERTHAL YELLS


135
00:13:55,320 --> 00:14:00,000
30,000 years ago
the Neanderthals became extinct,


136
00:14:00,000 --> 00:14:05,760
and modern humans - clever,
clannish and remarkably violent -


137
00:14:05,760 --> 00:14:08,160
were ready to rule the planet.


138
00:14:14,960 --> 00:14:18,040
Except that now
our ruthless determination


139
00:14:18,040 --> 00:14:21,200
came up against something
rather more formidable


140
00:14:21,200 --> 00:14:23,200
than the Neanderthals.


141
00:14:25,240 --> 00:14:32,320
Around 20,000 years ago,
temperatures plunged even further.


142
00:14:34,800 --> 00:14:38,680
We were forced once again
to adapt or die.


143
00:14:40,040 --> 00:14:42,760
Adversity favours the versatile,


144
00:14:42,760 --> 00:14:47,760
and this time a very homely piece
of technology


145
00:14:47,760 --> 00:14:50,120
would make all the difference.


146
00:14:55,160 --> 00:14:59,400
This is a needle, made out of bone.


147
00:15:00,440 --> 00:15:03,960
This is the real thing.


148
00:15:03,960 --> 00:15:08,400
It's about 17,000 years old.


149
00:15:08,400 --> 00:15:10,920
It's got a beautifully made
little eye in it,


150
00:15:10,920 --> 00:15:14,480
very similar to the needles
you may have at home,


151
00:15:14,480 --> 00:15:17,320
and what a needle allows you to do


152
00:15:17,320 --> 00:15:22,680
is to wear not animal skins,
but clothes that actually fit.


153
00:15:27,440 --> 00:15:32,360
The invention of the needle would
help revolutionise human life.


154
00:15:32,360 --> 00:15:35,640
Wearing sewn clothing in layers,


155
00:15:35,640 --> 00:15:39,680
we could huddle and judder our way
through the harsh ice-age winters.


156
00:15:44,760 --> 00:15:50,920
We could be out, tracking animals
further, hunting for longer -


157
00:15:50,920 --> 00:15:53,480
better predators.


158
00:15:53,480 --> 00:15:57,240
We had arrows, yes,
and spears of course,


159
00:15:57,240 --> 00:16:00,480
but the needle was
the great, unexpected


160
00:16:00,480 --> 00:16:02,520
life-or-death breakthrough.


161
00:16:11,320 --> 00:16:13,920
Modern humans were proving to be


162
00:16:13,920 --> 00:16:17,800
one of the most resilient
species on the planet,


163
00:16:17,800 --> 00:16:20,160
something new under the sun.


164
00:16:22,160 --> 00:16:25,720
But it's in the French Pyrenees
we find evidence


165
00:16:25,720 --> 00:16:31,400
that Homo sapiens might live up
to the boastful "wise man" label,


166
00:16:31,400 --> 00:16:34,440
and hope for something more
than survival.


167
00:16:34,440 --> 00:16:39,040
We are already trying
to mark ourselves out,


168
00:16:39,040 --> 00:16:42,640
to understand our place
in the world.


169
00:16:42,640 --> 00:16:47,400
Here at the Gargas caves
in the South of France,


170
00:16:47,400 --> 00:16:52,080
we can see our ancestors'
determination to leave a record.


171
00:16:58,320 --> 00:17:04,760
What's down here isn't exactly art
and it's not graffiti.


172
00:17:04,760 --> 00:17:08,200
It's something more personal


173
00:17:08,200 --> 00:17:12,400
and, I think, more emotional.


174
00:17:42,840 --> 00:17:47,720
These marks were made
by people like us


175
00:17:47,720 --> 00:17:51,880
27,000 years ago.


176
00:17:51,880 --> 00:17:56,200
Mouth and hand - it doesn't get
more personal than that.


177
00:18:08,160 --> 00:18:11,560
There is something so common,


178
00:18:11,560 --> 00:18:15,680
so ordinary about
making a hand print -


179
00:18:15,680 --> 00:18:18,880
children in primary schools
all over the world still do it -


180
00:18:18,880 --> 00:18:22,120
that you can't help


181
00:18:22,120 --> 00:18:26,320
but feel oddly connected
to these people


182
00:18:26,320 --> 00:18:31,400
who were standing here at the very
beginning of the human story.


183
00:18:37,840 --> 00:18:43,160
These hand prints are some of the
oldest human markings in the world.


184
00:18:43,160 --> 00:18:45,240
Similar prints have been discovered


185
00:18:45,240 --> 00:18:49,360
in South Africa, Australia,
North America and Argentina.


186
00:18:49,360 --> 00:18:54,320
It's the first example of what
you might call recorded history -


187
00:18:54,320 --> 00:18:59,080
a universal statement saying,
"We are here."


188
00:19:12,560 --> 00:19:15,720
Around 16,000 years ago,


189
00:19:15,720 --> 00:19:18,720
the northern hemisphere
began to warm up.


190
00:19:19,720 --> 00:19:23,480
After tens of thousands of years
living as hunter-gatherers


191
00:19:23,480 --> 00:19:25,600
at the mercy of nature,


192
00:19:25,600 --> 00:19:28,440
this transformation
of the world's climate


193
00:19:28,440 --> 00:19:32,960
helped our ancestors to do
something radically new.


194
00:19:35,080 --> 00:19:40,560
The river Tigris, Eastern Turkey,
in the Fertile Crescent.


195
00:19:40,560 --> 00:19:45,000
Humans can eat
56 kinds of wild grass,


196
00:19:45,000 --> 00:19:47,640
and 32 of them grew here,


197
00:19:47,640 --> 00:19:53,360
compared, for instance,
to just four in America.


198
00:19:53,360 --> 00:19:55,480
Fertile indeed.


199
00:19:57,720 --> 00:19:59,440
This is where


200
00:19:59,440 --> 00:20:04,560
the single biggest change that
humans have ever made to the planet,


201
00:20:04,560 --> 00:20:07,880
even in our age of science
and great cities...


202
00:20:07,880 --> 00:20:12,360
The one thing that has changed Earth
more than any other,


203
00:20:12,360 --> 00:20:16,080
started here
in the "land of the rivers".


204
00:20:20,320 --> 00:20:25,240
The people who lived in this
blessed place ate wild plants,


205
00:20:25,240 --> 00:20:28,120
kept a few tame animals, and hunted,


206
00:20:28,120 --> 00:20:33,400
but they were also lazy enough to
not to want to keep walking further


207
00:20:33,400 --> 00:20:35,920
to find more tasty seeds to eat.


208
00:20:37,240 --> 00:20:41,320
Laziness turns out to be
an underestimated force


209
00:20:41,320 --> 00:20:42,840
in human history.


210
00:20:47,520 --> 00:20:51,360
So, if you don't want to go
to find your food,


211
00:20:51,360 --> 00:20:56,080
you can hardly make your food
come to you. Or can you?


212
00:21:08,360 --> 00:21:13,120
These are the great
anonymous inventors,


213
00:21:13,120 --> 00:21:16,600
and it's from this breakthrough
that everything follows.


214
00:21:16,600 --> 00:21:21,600
It's a crucial moment in shifting
the balance between humankind


215
00:21:21,600 --> 00:21:23,120
and the rest of nature.


216
00:21:29,120 --> 00:21:32,960
THEY CONVERSE IN NATIVE LANGUAGE


217
00:22:12,920 --> 00:22:15,240
It's not an obvious thing to do.


218
00:22:15,240 --> 00:22:19,920
You gather the grains -
the food that you're hungry for


219
00:22:19,920 --> 00:22:22,160
and your family is hungry for -


220
00:22:22,160 --> 00:22:26,280
but instead of eating it,
you keep some of it back...


221
00:22:28,680 --> 00:22:32,880
..and you take it and you plant it
back into the dirt.


222
00:22:36,600 --> 00:22:39,840
And then you wait.


223
00:22:59,440 --> 00:23:01,720
WIND HOWLS


224
00:23:05,680 --> 00:23:07,920
THUNDER CLAPS


225
00:23:09,960 --> 00:23:13,520
To take a seed and plant it
seems such an obvious idea now


226
00:23:13,520 --> 00:23:17,240
but 13,000 years ago
it really was a gamble.


227
00:23:20,680 --> 00:23:23,440
It shows thinking ahead,


228
00:23:23,440 --> 00:23:25,560
it shows planning,


229
00:23:25,560 --> 00:23:28,080
it shows a certain faith.


230
00:23:28,080 --> 00:23:30,960
But by making that simple change,


231
00:23:30,960 --> 00:23:34,680
foragers who live
throughout the landscape


232
00:23:34,680 --> 00:23:36,880
picking things up all over the place


233
00:23:36,880 --> 00:23:39,360
are starting to become farmers


234
00:23:39,360 --> 00:23:43,400
who have an investment
in ONE piece of earth.


235
00:23:58,000 --> 00:24:01,560
And by choosing
the biggest seeds to grow,


236
00:24:01,560 --> 00:24:05,000
people reshaped the plants, as well.


237
00:24:05,000 --> 00:24:09,200
Bigger seeds and, eventually,
bigger everything.


238
00:24:12,840 --> 00:24:14,240
Later on,


239
00:24:14,240 --> 00:24:16,440
people in China, India
and South America


240
00:24:16,440 --> 00:24:18,560
would invent farming for themselves.


241
00:24:20,360 --> 00:24:26,240
Three grasses triumphed in ancient
times - wheat, rice and corn.


242
00:24:27,440 --> 00:24:32,680
12,000 years on, and they are still
the bedrock of the human diet.


243
00:24:40,360 --> 00:24:45,640
Farming was the great leap forward,
but progress came at a price.


244
00:24:45,640 --> 00:24:50,800
When people settled down to farm,
life got harder.


245
00:24:52,480 --> 00:24:55,320
The archaeologists are clear.


246
00:24:55,320 --> 00:25:00,560
Farmers became smaller and they died
younger than hunter-gatherers.


247
00:25:00,560 --> 00:25:05,880
Labour in the fields led to joints
inflamed by arthritis,


248
00:25:05,880 --> 00:25:07,840
and the diet of sticky porridge


249
00:25:07,840 --> 00:25:10,800
brought tooth decay
for the first time.


250
00:25:11,880 --> 00:25:16,960
So why would people farm when the
world was still teeming with game?


251
00:25:16,960 --> 00:25:19,440
More to the point,
why would they carry on farming?


252
00:25:19,440 --> 00:25:23,160
Well, part of the reason
is that they got trapped


253
00:25:23,160 --> 00:25:25,960
by their own population explosion.


254
00:25:25,960 --> 00:25:29,800
Once people were
settled down with more food,


255
00:25:29,800 --> 00:25:32,280
the numbers in the families grew.


256
00:25:32,280 --> 00:25:35,320
Hunter-gatherers had to limit
the number of children


257
00:25:35,320 --> 00:25:39,080
to those who could be carried
with them, but farmers didn't.


258
00:25:42,120 --> 00:25:45,880
As human numbers rose,
and people started to work together,


259
00:25:45,880 --> 00:25:50,960
farmers began settling down
in larger groups.


260
00:25:54,200 --> 00:25:58,440
Scattered across the plains
of Anatolia in Turkey


261
00:25:58,440 --> 00:26:00,920
are mysterious mounds.


262
00:26:00,920 --> 00:26:06,960
Hidden inside them is the earliest
evidence of that next big step -


263
00:26:06,960 --> 00:26:08,360
towns.


264
00:26:10,960 --> 00:26:13,720
HE CHANTS


265
00:26:18,760 --> 00:26:21,080
9,000 years ago, a community,


266
00:26:21,080 --> 00:26:25,440
a small town of up to 8,000 people,


267
00:26:25,440 --> 00:26:27,800
lived here at Catalhoyuk.


268
00:26:29,080 --> 00:26:33,240
And it's here that we meet
one of the first individuals


269
00:26:33,240 --> 00:26:35,800
to emerge from our early history.


270
00:26:41,320 --> 00:26:45,480
Her skeleton was excavated in 2004.


271
00:26:45,480 --> 00:26:46,960
She was only in her twenties


272
00:26:46,960 --> 00:26:50,640
when she was buried underneath
the floor of her home.


273
00:26:52,520 --> 00:26:58,320
She was found curled up,
tightly holding a skull,


274
00:26:58,320 --> 00:27:00,640
forehead to forehead like this.


275
00:27:03,960 --> 00:27:05,640
The skull had been plastered


276
00:27:05,640 --> 00:27:10,840
and, in fact, it had been plastered
and re-plastered quite a few times,


277
00:27:10,840 --> 00:27:13,840
suggesting that it had been used
for one burial and then another,


278
00:27:13,840 --> 00:27:16,960
buried again and dug up
and used again.


279
00:27:19,360 --> 00:27:24,600
It was almost certainly an ancestor,
somebody who mattered to her family.


280
00:27:29,920 --> 00:27:34,640
What we seem to be seeing here
is ancestor worship -


281
00:27:34,640 --> 00:27:40,880
worship of the ground that you stand
in and the people you come from.


282
00:27:45,200 --> 00:27:50,640
The young woman was buried wearing
a rare leopard-claw necklace.


283
00:27:52,480 --> 00:27:59,360
What's going on here is the opening
up of another human frontier.


284
00:27:59,360 --> 00:28:03,960
As a town, Catalhoyuk is a little
conquest of physical space,


285
00:28:03,960 --> 00:28:06,600
the here and now,


286
00:28:06,600 --> 00:28:08,720
but the leopard lady's grave


287
00:28:08,720 --> 00:28:13,120
is an attempt to take control
of time, too,


288
00:28:13,120 --> 00:28:19,080
to link the dead, the living
and those still to be born.


289
00:28:25,000 --> 00:28:29,920
These were people who, if asked,
"Who do you think you are?"


290
00:28:29,920 --> 00:28:31,680
could give a very clear answer.


291
00:28:33,040 --> 00:28:38,360
Their town was a compact network
of mud-brick houses,


292
00:28:38,360 --> 00:28:40,800
almost like a human beehive,


293
00:28:40,800 --> 00:28:46,040
and not so different from modern
shanty towns in today's world.


294
00:28:46,040 --> 00:28:48,800
People walked across the town
on flat roofs


295
00:28:48,800 --> 00:28:53,720
and they entered their homes
via ladders through the rooftops.


296
00:28:53,720 --> 00:28:57,880
First of all,
it is recognisably a house,


297
00:28:57,880 --> 00:29:00,600
not so different
in the way it's laid out


298
00:29:00,600 --> 00:29:05,280
to innumerable flats and apartments
and homes today.


299
00:29:05,280 --> 00:29:08,240
Through here is, if you like,
the pantry


300
00:29:08,240 --> 00:29:10,920
with great big clay
buckets originally,


301
00:29:10,920 --> 00:29:13,960
where they kept
all kinds of grains and seeds.


302
00:29:13,960 --> 00:29:18,280
Through here there is what was
probably some kind of bedroom.


303
00:29:18,280 --> 00:29:21,720
Five to ten people probably
lived in this place,


304
00:29:21,720 --> 00:29:24,240
so a familiar design.
But the second thing about it


305
00:29:24,240 --> 00:29:28,120
is that the people who lived here
were scrupulously clean


306
00:29:28,120 --> 00:29:30,280
and they couldn't wash the floors
and walls


307
00:29:30,280 --> 00:29:31,840
because they were made of earth


308
00:29:31,840 --> 00:29:34,720
but what they did was
they whitewashed them, endlessly.


309
00:29:34,720 --> 00:29:37,800
Over here you can see
these little lines


310
00:29:37,800 --> 00:29:42,840
and that was layer upon layer
of whitewashing,


311
00:29:42,840 --> 00:29:45,800
and this wall,
archaeologists tell us,


312
00:29:45,800 --> 00:29:50,320
was whitewashed more than 400 times.


313
00:29:50,320 --> 00:29:55,360
So here we are, right
at the beginning of human society,


314
00:29:55,360 --> 00:30:00,240
in a place and surrounded
by the ghosts of people


315
00:30:00,240 --> 00:30:03,080
that we already recognise.


316
00:30:06,000 --> 00:30:10,840
The Leopard Lady grew up in
a well-ordered and stable community


317
00:30:10,840 --> 00:30:14,080
where men and women
were equally well fed


318
00:30:14,080 --> 00:30:16,960
and enjoyed the same social status.


319
00:30:16,960 --> 00:30:22,480
This seems to have been a peaceful
place with no defensive walls


320
00:30:22,480 --> 00:30:25,240
and no signs of social division
or conflict.


321
00:30:28,360 --> 00:30:32,840
There are no temples,
there's no palace,


322
00:30:32,840 --> 00:30:37,640
there are no warriors' areas
or special women's quarters -


323
00:30:37,640 --> 00:30:42,920
just families living alongside
one another and co-operating,


324
00:30:42,920 --> 00:30:46,400
almost like
the modern anarchists' fantasy


325
00:30:46,400 --> 00:30:50,600
of a world without rulers,
a society without bosses,


326
00:30:50,600 --> 00:30:52,840
and the problem, of course,
with that


327
00:30:52,840 --> 00:30:57,000
is that these kinds of arrangements
always fall apart very quickly.


328
00:30:57,000 --> 00:31:02,800
The people of Catalhoyuk could
only manage it for 1,400 years.


329
00:31:05,720 --> 00:31:07,560
SHE TUTS


330
00:31:07,560 --> 00:31:11,920
But this was no Garden of Eden.


331
00:31:11,920 --> 00:31:15,520
Like farming,
living in towns brought new dangers.


332
00:31:15,520 --> 00:31:19,080
Thousands of people
and goats, cows and ducks


333
00:31:19,080 --> 00:31:21,920
living in close quarters


334
00:31:21,920 --> 00:31:25,080
created perfect conditions
for diseases to spread,


335
00:31:25,080 --> 00:31:26,520
and there's evidence that


336
00:31:26,520 --> 00:31:32,480
tuberculosis passed from cattle
to humans at about this time.


337
00:31:38,640 --> 00:31:40,640
THUNDER CLAPS


338
00:31:50,600 --> 00:31:54,400
Most of the worst threats
to human health -


339
00:31:54,400 --> 00:32:01,200
smallpox, measles, flu -
came first from farm animals.


340
00:32:02,960 --> 00:32:06,720
Maybe that's why the Leopard Lady
died an early death,


341
00:32:06,720 --> 00:32:09,480
before being buried
beneath the floor of her home,


342
00:32:09,480 --> 00:32:11,640
like her ancestors.


343
00:32:16,440 --> 00:32:20,520
Farming and town-living
had both brought new dangers


344
00:32:20,520 --> 00:32:21,920
but the trap had closed.


345
00:32:21,920 --> 00:32:24,520
There was no going back.


346
00:32:24,520 --> 00:32:28,120
Across the world, many of
our ancestors were now living


347
00:32:28,120 --> 00:32:30,680
in independent settled communities.


348
00:32:30,680 --> 00:32:35,960
But what would possibly bring them
together into bigger groups?


349
00:32:35,960 --> 00:32:41,400
Again, we have to look to nature -
not simply its opportunities


350
00:32:41,400 --> 00:32:43,680
but also its threats.


351
00:32:45,080 --> 00:32:49,600
All around the world people have
told stories about a great flood,


352
00:32:49,600 --> 00:32:53,400
and it really does seem
that something happened


353
00:32:53,400 --> 00:32:55,160
about 4,000 years ago


354
00:32:55,160 --> 00:33:00,240
which caused devastation
to many of the first civilisations,


355
00:33:00,240 --> 00:33:01,760
including China.


356
00:33:01,760 --> 00:33:03,800
But what makes China different


357
00:33:03,800 --> 00:33:07,120
is that they still tell stories,


358
00:33:07,120 --> 00:33:11,480
part myth
but part, probably, history, too.


359
00:33:13,920 --> 00:33:18,520
In China, it really does
all start with the Flood.


360
00:33:18,520 --> 00:33:20,200
THUNDER


361
00:33:24,200 --> 00:33:26,640
WIND HOWLS


362
00:33:28,120 --> 00:33:33,560
According to the ancient chronicles,
there were nine years of heavy rain,


363
00:33:33,560 --> 00:33:38,360
causing the Yellow River to change
its course with devastating effects.


364
00:33:38,360 --> 00:33:40,760
WIND HOWLS


365
00:33:40,760 --> 00:33:42,200
SHE CRIES OUT


366
00:33:43,800 --> 00:33:48,840
The Yellow River is also known
as "China's Great Sorrow".


367
00:33:48,840 --> 00:33:52,960
For thousands of years it regularly
burst its banks,


368
00:33:52,960 --> 00:33:56,720
wiping out entire villages,
destroying everything in its path.


369
00:33:56,720 --> 00:33:58,960
THUNDER
SHE CRIES OUT


370
00:34:12,200 --> 00:34:14,280
The 3,000-mile-long river


371
00:34:14,280 --> 00:34:18,560
flooded an area greater than
the entire United Kingdom.


372
00:34:23,920 --> 00:34:27,200
The old legends say
that one of the clan leaders


373
00:34:27,200 --> 00:34:31,680
appointed a man named Gun
to devise a way to tame the river.


374
00:34:39,840 --> 00:34:42,720
The stakes were rather high.


375
00:34:42,720 --> 00:34:45,960
If Gun succeeded,
he'd be richly rewarded.


376
00:34:45,960 --> 00:34:49,120
If he failed,
he'd pay with his life.


377
00:35:00,480 --> 00:35:03,080
He built huge earth dams.


378
00:35:10,480 --> 00:35:14,880
But time and again, they were
brushed aside by the floodwaters.


379
00:35:14,880 --> 00:35:19,480
Gun was unable to save his people...


380
00:35:19,480 --> 00:35:21,160
or himself.


381
00:35:22,440 --> 00:35:27,040
The father's burden would now fall
upon his son, Yu.


382
00:35:43,360 --> 00:35:44,840
After Gun's execution,


383
00:35:44,840 --> 00:35:48,440
the clan leader ordered Yu
to come up with a new idea


384
00:35:48,440 --> 00:35:50,720
about how to control the floods,


385
00:35:50,720 --> 00:35:53,320
and Yu dedicated his life
to the job.


386
00:35:53,320 --> 00:35:56,320
According to old Chinese legends,


387
00:35:56,320 --> 00:35:58,600
he said he wouldn't return
to his pregnant wife


388
00:35:58,600 --> 00:36:01,120
until the river was tamed.


389
00:36:08,840 --> 00:36:12,840
The ancient chronicles say
that Yu decided to begin


390
00:36:12,840 --> 00:36:16,320
by surveying the entire length
of the river.


391
00:36:20,800 --> 00:36:25,360
On this epic trek he came up with
a radically different plan.


392
00:36:27,480 --> 00:36:30,880
No more confrontations with nature,
no more dams.


393
00:36:34,440 --> 00:36:39,080
Instead of trying to confront
the raging waters like his father,


394
00:36:39,080 --> 00:36:41,200
he would divide them.


395
00:36:50,480 --> 00:36:53,760
Yu planned to create
a vast network of channels.


396
00:36:54,800 --> 00:36:56,480
During the flood season,


397
00:36:56,480 --> 00:36:59,400
they would divert the full force
of the river


398
00:36:59,400 --> 00:37:02,440
and reduce its destructive flow,


399
00:37:02,440 --> 00:37:06,560
but that meant a colossal work
of engineering...


400
00:37:12,800 --> 00:37:18,640
..and a huge diplomatic challenge -
because in order to succeed,


401
00:37:18,640 --> 00:37:21,600
he'd have to convince
hundreds of rival clans


402
00:37:21,600 --> 00:37:24,080
to set aside centuries of hostility.


403
00:37:31,400 --> 00:37:36,520
We're going back to the old strength
of pre-historic humanity, tribalism,


404
00:37:36,520 --> 00:37:39,360
which was now becoming a weakness,


405
00:37:39,360 --> 00:37:42,000
because only by working together


406
00:37:42,000 --> 00:37:48,960
could the clans possibly solve
the problem of the Yellow River.


407
00:37:54,440 --> 00:37:57,680
Yu's epic engineering project began.


408
00:38:04,800 --> 00:38:10,040
Myth or not, there were major
river-taming projects at this time.


409
00:38:20,120 --> 00:38:22,880
The story goes that
over the next 13 years,


410
00:38:22,880 --> 00:38:25,320
Yu passed his home three times,


411
00:38:25,320 --> 00:38:29,480
but he remained true
to his vow of self-sacrifice


412
00:38:29,480 --> 00:38:31,440
and never went inside.


413
00:38:58,840 --> 00:39:03,640
Finally, his vast
network of channels was complete.


414
00:39:15,480 --> 00:39:17,800
THUNDER


415
00:39:22,880 --> 00:39:25,400
And the rains came again.


416
00:39:25,400 --> 00:39:28,840
Yu's great feat of engineering
would be put to the test.


417
00:39:48,800 --> 00:39:51,360
But the channels calmed the floods.


418
00:39:53,480 --> 00:39:57,280
Yu's story tells us
an important historical truth


419
00:39:57,280 --> 00:39:59,360
about how natural challenges


420
00:39:59,360 --> 00:40:02,400
brought river-dwelling people
together.


421
00:40:12,680 --> 00:40:18,920
Da Yu had united the clans of the
Yellow River for the first time


422
00:40:18,920 --> 00:40:23,640
because only by coming together,
under a single authority,


423
00:40:23,640 --> 00:40:25,520
could they solve this problem.


424
00:40:27,840 --> 00:40:30,760
As a reward,
the clan leader made Yu his heir.


425
00:40:32,320 --> 00:40:36,640
Some people argue he founded
the first Chinese dynasty,


426
00:40:36,640 --> 00:40:41,960
and certainly Chinese history begins
on the banks of the Yellow River.


427
00:40:43,960 --> 00:40:48,000
Yu is known to this day as Da Yu -
the Great Yu -


428
00:40:48,000 --> 00:40:52,520
and it's interesting
that the first Chinese hero


429
00:40:52,520 --> 00:40:56,280
was a civil engineer
and a civil servant.


430
00:40:59,960 --> 00:41:01,360
All around the world,


431
00:41:01,360 --> 00:41:06,880
history is shaped by the desire
to shape nature to suit us.


432
00:41:08,080 --> 00:41:10,040
BABY CRIES


433
00:41:10,040 --> 00:41:12,960
That means working together,


434
00:41:12,960 --> 00:41:17,040
but it's also competitive
and violent.


435
00:41:20,280 --> 00:41:25,640
Each move forward
brings fresh problems.


436
00:41:25,640 --> 00:41:31,960
Farming brings more people,
but it brings more disease,


437
00:41:31,960 --> 00:41:37,440
and in more complex societies,
leaders and priests will emerge.


438
00:41:39,360 --> 00:41:43,880
It's all a shaggy-dog story
of unexpected consequences.


439
00:41:45,280 --> 00:41:49,440
From the sweat and success
of the first farmers,


440
00:41:49,440 --> 00:41:51,280
all the world's hierarchies,


441
00:41:51,280 --> 00:41:54,280
from landlords and popes
to emperors would grow,


442
00:41:54,280 --> 00:41:58,200
and they only thought they were
planting next year's porridge


443
00:41:58,200 --> 00:42:00,880
or trying to keep dry.


444
00:42:10,880 --> 00:42:15,200
Egypt, 3,200 years ago.


445
00:42:15,200 --> 00:42:18,320
The Nile is the longest river
in the world.


446
00:42:18,320 --> 00:42:21,920
It flows from south to north,


447
00:42:21,920 --> 00:42:24,960
but the prevailing winds
go the other way,


448
00:42:24,960 --> 00:42:27,560
making it a wonderful
two-way transport system


449
00:42:27,560 --> 00:42:30,320
and a lush green corridor.


450
00:42:39,160 --> 00:42:41,120
So it's not so surprising


451
00:42:41,120 --> 00:42:45,600
that the world's first great
civilisation started here,


452
00:42:45,600 --> 00:42:48,520
with its temples, writing, priests,


453
00:42:48,520 --> 00:42:50,840
its awesome rulers.


454
00:43:01,240 --> 00:43:06,800
The pharaohs thought that
their stony, river civilisation


455
00:43:06,800 --> 00:43:09,840
would last for eternity,


456
00:43:09,840 --> 00:43:12,840
and, of course, all of this
is only possible


457
00:43:12,840 --> 00:43:17,320
because of the huge numbers of
people planting, and cursing,


458
00:43:17,320 --> 00:43:20,120
and lifting and cutting -


459
00:43:20,120 --> 00:43:26,080
all the workers on whose backs
these great edifices were raised


460
00:43:26,080 --> 00:43:28,920
and you never hear about them.


461
00:43:28,920 --> 00:43:31,320
You never know what
THEY thought of it all.


462
00:43:32,360 --> 00:43:35,960
Well, except sometimes, you do hear.


463
00:43:35,960 --> 00:43:38,480
FAINT SHOUTS


464
00:43:46,960 --> 00:43:50,480
Thanks to one remarkable invention,


465
00:43:50,480 --> 00:43:54,760
we know exactly what life was like
for ordinary Egyptians.


466
00:44:07,800 --> 00:44:13,360
This was once the town
of Set Ma'at, "the Place of Truth".


467
00:44:13,360 --> 00:44:17,720
The stonemasons and carpenters
who built the pharaohs' tombs


468
00:44:17,720 --> 00:44:20,840
in the nearby Valley of the Kings
lived here.


469
00:44:27,800 --> 00:44:33,120
22,000 years after we splashed our
hand prints onto the walls of caves,


470
00:44:33,120 --> 00:44:36,880
our enthusiasm for leaving our marks
on the world


471
00:44:36,880 --> 00:44:39,800
had reached a new level.


472
00:44:39,800 --> 00:44:44,640
Writing had developed in Egypt
around 5,000 years ago,


473
00:44:44,640 --> 00:44:49,360
and at first it would have been
the preserve of specialist scribes


474
00:44:49,360 --> 00:44:50,800
but the people of Set Ma'at


475
00:44:50,800 --> 00:44:57,400
are among the first working people
in the world to learn how to write.


476
00:45:02,560 --> 00:45:05,640
The ordinary villagers
sent letters and messages,


477
00:45:05,640 --> 00:45:07,960
rather as we fire off
texts and e-mails today,


478
00:45:07,960 --> 00:45:12,320
but they wrote them down
on little pieces of limestone


479
00:45:12,320 --> 00:45:14,880
or on broken pieces of pottery.


480
00:45:14,880 --> 00:45:16,760
They're called ostraca.


481
00:45:16,760 --> 00:45:19,200
And they were discovered
in their thousands


482
00:45:19,200 --> 00:45:22,040
where they'd just been chucked away,


483
00:45:22,040 --> 00:45:27,560
so that we can eavesdrop on village
life from more than 3,000 years ago.


484
00:45:33,040 --> 00:45:34,920
SHE SIGHS


485
00:45:41,880 --> 00:45:43,120
SHE SIGHS


486
00:45:43,120 --> 00:45:49,120
One of the voices we hear is
from an old woman called Naunakthe.


487
00:45:49,120 --> 00:45:50,600
As we hear her speak,


488
00:45:50,600 --> 00:45:53,920
a civilisation that seemed
distant and alien


489
00:45:53,920 --> 00:45:57,080
suddenly becomes
surprisingly familiar.


490
00:45:58,720 --> 00:46:02,520
'I have raised eight children
and brought them up well,


491
00:46:02,520 --> 00:46:04,240
'given them everything they need.


492
00:46:05,400 --> 00:46:09,520
'Now look, I have become old
and they don't care for me.


493
00:46:09,520 --> 00:46:13,960
'The ones who put their hands in mine
and looked after me,


494
00:46:13,960 --> 00:46:16,360
'I will leave them my property.


495
00:46:16,360 --> 00:46:20,000
'But as for the others,
they will get nothing.'


496
00:46:26,080 --> 00:46:29,320
The records are packed
with all human life -


497
00:46:29,320 --> 00:46:33,080
children's homework, laundry lists,
a remedy for piles -


498
00:46:33,080 --> 00:46:36,520
green beans, salt,
goose fat and honey


499
00:46:36,520 --> 00:46:39,280
on the backside for four days.


500
00:46:39,280 --> 00:46:42,160
Oh, yes, and the story of Paneb,


501
00:46:42,160 --> 00:46:46,080
a married man
with a son and two daughters.


502
00:46:50,000 --> 00:46:52,760
A builder with a sideline -


503
00:46:52,760 --> 00:46:56,720
because Paneb was also
a tomb raider.


504
00:47:11,480 --> 00:47:17,400
His story is told in the court
records of a scandalous trial.


505
00:47:17,400 --> 00:47:20,160
HE SPEAKS THE LOCAL LANGUAGE


506
00:47:21,560 --> 00:47:24,520
Paneb was the talk of the village.


507
00:47:24,520 --> 00:47:28,320
He was accused of
"plundering the tomb of the Pharaoh


508
00:47:28,320 --> 00:47:30,840
and stealing burial goods".


509
00:47:30,840 --> 00:47:34,800
The judge also charged him with
drunk and disorderly behaviour...


510
00:47:34,800 --> 00:47:37,360
HE SPEAKS THE LOCAL LANGUAGE


511
00:47:40,960 --> 00:47:45,560
..and with a violent assault
against his stepfather.


512
00:47:45,560 --> 00:47:47,280
HE YELLS


513
00:47:59,520 --> 00:48:05,280
Bad enough - Paneb, thief
and hooligan - but there was more.


514
00:48:07,880 --> 00:48:09,760
Paneb...


515
00:48:09,760 --> 00:48:13,520
He'd slept with the wife
of his fellow builder Kenna,


516
00:48:13,520 --> 00:48:17,680
and, no, it didn't stop there.


517
00:48:22,280 --> 00:48:24,480
To make matters worse,


518
00:48:24,480 --> 00:48:28,120
Paneb then went on to sleep
with Kenna's daughter.


519
00:48:29,240 --> 00:48:31,040
THEY GASP


520
00:48:31,040 --> 00:48:32,320
THEY GIGGLE


521
00:48:39,880 --> 00:48:44,000
It's beginning to sound
like an early draft of EastEnders.


522
00:48:45,400 --> 00:48:48,680
An outbreak
of wild Nile naughtiness.


523
00:48:51,720 --> 00:48:56,360
But what's really interesting
is the court itself.


524
00:48:57,480 --> 00:48:59,400
Each Egyptian community had one.


525
00:49:05,000 --> 00:49:08,200
What's happening here
is another major development


526
00:49:08,200 --> 00:49:10,840
in early human history.


527
00:49:10,840 --> 00:49:14,760
They're trying to impose order
on society.


528
00:49:15,760 --> 00:49:21,400
In villages and towns, the instinct
for fairness is producing law.


529
00:49:23,360 --> 00:49:26,760
This is good news
for human civilisation,


530
00:49:26,760 --> 00:49:31,040
although, on the whole,
pretty bad news for Paneb.


531
00:49:31,040 --> 00:49:35,120
Tough on crime,
tough on the causes of crime.


532
00:49:35,120 --> 00:49:38,280
Life wasn't easy
for ordinary Egyptians,


533
00:49:38,280 --> 00:49:41,600
but order was infinitely better
than disorder.


534
00:49:41,600 --> 00:49:43,720
We all remember the pyramids
and pharaohs,


535
00:49:43,720 --> 00:49:47,880
but advances which were, in
the long term, just as significant


536
00:49:47,880 --> 00:49:50,560
were being made
behind humbler walls.


537
00:49:51,800 --> 00:49:55,640
But it wasn't just ancient Egypt.
All around the Mediterranean,


538
00:49:55,640 --> 00:49:59,160
you start to see people
learning to read and write.


539
00:49:59,160 --> 00:50:03,120
They trade little luxuries.
They eat better food.


540
00:50:03,120 --> 00:50:05,760
They consume spices and herbs.


541
00:50:05,760 --> 00:50:07,800
They drink beer and they drink wine.


542
00:50:07,800 --> 00:50:11,520
And things are just going
to get better and better.


543
00:50:13,280 --> 00:50:15,000
Or maybe not.


544
00:50:18,400 --> 00:50:22,360
Writing helped speed up
the spread of ideas.


545
00:50:22,360 --> 00:50:25,680
Trade accelerated
the growth of towns and cities,


546
00:50:25,680 --> 00:50:28,720
and civilisation was spreading.


547
00:50:28,720 --> 00:50:31,240
But the battle with nature
never stopped.


548
00:50:37,960 --> 00:50:40,800
The Greek island of Crete
sits in an area


549
00:50:40,800 --> 00:50:44,080
prone to volcanic eruptions
and earthquakes


550
00:50:44,080 --> 00:50:47,440
and this was the home
of what's been described


551
00:50:47,440 --> 00:50:52,200
as Europe's first civilisation -
the Minoans'.


552
00:50:54,400 --> 00:50:57,600
So what does that mean,
"civilisation"?


553
00:50:57,600 --> 00:51:00,600
Literally, "people living
in towns and cities"


554
00:51:00,600 --> 00:51:04,600
but it implies more style,
more polish


555
00:51:04,600 --> 00:51:09,520
and few civilisations have
seemed as stylish as the Minoans'.


556
00:51:20,720 --> 00:51:23,480
3,700 years ago,


557
00:51:23,480 --> 00:51:27,840
the Minoans were pioneers
of international trade.


558
00:51:27,840 --> 00:51:30,840
They shipped wine, olive oil
and timber


559
00:51:30,840 --> 00:51:33,640
throughout
the eastern Mediterranean.


560
00:51:37,200 --> 00:51:39,680
At the heart of
the Minoan civilisation


561
00:51:39,680 --> 00:51:43,120
stood their great Palace of Knossos.


562
00:51:49,600 --> 00:51:51,080
In the early 1900s,


563
00:51:51,080 --> 00:51:55,880
Knossos was excavated by the British
archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans.


564
00:51:56,960 --> 00:51:59,120
He discovered a sophisticated city


565
00:51:59,120 --> 00:52:04,000
that had frescos, aqueducts
and even rudimentary plumbing.


566
00:52:05,760 --> 00:52:10,320
The frescos and figures of women
holding snakes up to the sky


567
00:52:10,320 --> 00:52:15,200
suggest that women held a dominant
position in Minoan culture.


568
00:52:16,600 --> 00:52:19,320
Evans was entranced by the Minoans,


569
00:52:19,320 --> 00:52:22,960
and he decided
to reconstruct their city.


570
00:52:26,160 --> 00:52:30,960
There's something interestingly cool
and modern about the Minoan style,


571
00:52:30,960 --> 00:52:34,880
something very 1920s,


572
00:52:34,880 --> 00:52:38,640
and that's because it IS very 1920s.


573
00:52:39,680 --> 00:52:41,600
Reinforced concrete.


574
00:52:41,600 --> 00:52:45,360
The stonework is new and,
as for the world-famous frescos,


575
00:52:45,360 --> 00:52:49,480
well, they're based on fragments
of Minoan art


576
00:52:49,480 --> 00:52:55,160
but they've been
very, very seriously worked up.


577
00:52:55,160 --> 00:52:58,080
The beauties shimmying down
to a beach party


578
00:52:58,080 --> 00:52:59,760
with their flagons of wine


579
00:52:59,760 --> 00:53:03,560
were famously described
by the novelist Evelyn Waugh


580
00:53:03,560 --> 00:53:07,320
as being rather like
the covers of Vogue magazine.


581
00:53:11,640 --> 00:53:14,640
Evans excavated and rebuilt


582
00:53:14,640 --> 00:53:19,640
at a time when Europe was being torn
apart by the First World War,


583
00:53:19,640 --> 00:53:24,120
and he presented the Minoan
civilisation as a peaceful utopia.


584
00:53:35,880 --> 00:53:38,600
Evans imagined the Minoans


585
00:53:38,600 --> 00:53:44,320
ruling over a gentler,
more peaceful Europe,


586
00:53:44,320 --> 00:53:48,080
far from the blood-soaked Europe
of his own time.


587
00:54:00,960 --> 00:54:03,640
The Minoan culture seemed idyllic,


588
00:54:03,640 --> 00:54:07,360
but first impressions
are as dangerous in history


589
00:54:07,360 --> 00:54:08,720
as anywhere else.


590
00:54:09,720 --> 00:54:15,280
In 1979, a darker side
to the Minoans was revealed.


591
00:54:16,600 --> 00:54:19,320
MAN YELLS


592
00:54:19,320 --> 00:54:24,280
And that dark underside was first
uncovered here at a little temple


593
00:54:24,280 --> 00:54:26,680
a few miles inland from Knossos.


594
00:54:26,680 --> 00:54:30,280
It seems a tiny, quiet fragment
of paradise today


595
00:54:30,280 --> 00:54:33,560
but when archaeologists started
digging through the rubble,


596
00:54:33,560 --> 00:54:37,400
they made a satisfyingly
gruesome discovery.


597
00:54:40,920 --> 00:54:43,160
MAN YELLS


598
00:54:49,800 --> 00:54:52,120
SNAKE HISSES


599
00:54:54,960 --> 00:54:58,600
Now, on these stones,
there was some kind of altar


600
00:54:58,600 --> 00:55:02,360
and on that the skeleton of
a young man, about 18 years old,


601
00:55:02,360 --> 00:55:08,280
and across him was lying
a bronze ceremonial dagger.


602
00:55:15,720 --> 00:55:18,960
The bones on the upper part
of his body were white


603
00:55:18,960 --> 00:55:20,760
and on the lower part black,


604
00:55:20,760 --> 00:55:25,440
indicating to archaeologists that
his heart had still been beating


605
00:55:25,440 --> 00:55:28,200
as the blood was draining
from his body.


606
00:55:28,200 --> 00:55:31,800
He'd bled to death.
He was a human sacrifice.


607
00:55:31,800 --> 00:55:34,720
WOMAN CHANTS


608
00:55:36,360 --> 00:55:38,400
Two other bodies were discovered,


609
00:55:38,400 --> 00:55:41,440
here and over here.


610
00:55:41,440 --> 00:55:43,760
One was the body of a woman,


611
00:55:43,760 --> 00:55:48,880
just over five foot high,
of medium build,


612
00:55:48,880 --> 00:55:52,480
and her hands were trying
to protect her face.


613
00:55:52,480 --> 00:55:55,760
Now we know that women had
high status in Minoan society,


614
00:55:55,760 --> 00:56:00,840
and it's possible, even probable,
that she was a priestess.


615
00:56:05,880 --> 00:56:08,360
Minoan society was highly developed,


616
00:56:08,360 --> 00:56:11,760
but they lived in fear of
the natural forces surrounding them,


617
00:56:11,760 --> 00:56:18,080
and their desire to control nature
wasn't matched by their ability.


618
00:56:18,080 --> 00:56:22,040
So they responded with
the ultimate religious ritual


619
00:56:22,040 --> 00:56:24,360
in an attempt to appease the gods


620
00:56:24,360 --> 00:56:27,640
they believed
controlled the natural world.


621
00:56:30,520 --> 00:56:31,920
KNIFE SLASHES


622
00:56:43,240 --> 00:56:45,920
RUMBLING


623
00:56:45,920 --> 00:56:48,760
Around 3,700 years ago,


624
00:56:48,760 --> 00:56:52,040
during this gory sacrifice,


625
00:56:52,040 --> 00:56:54,560
nature struck again.


626
00:56:57,480 --> 00:56:59,040
CRASHING


627
00:57:06,760 --> 00:57:08,240
LOUD RUMBLING


628
00:57:28,480 --> 00:57:34,440
Trying to police nature has always
been the ultimate human challenge.


629
00:57:34,440 --> 00:57:36,320
It still is.


630
00:57:36,320 --> 00:57:40,320
All their attempts to placate
the gods having failed,


631
00:57:40,320 --> 00:57:44,120
the Minoan civilisation
was devastated.


632
00:57:44,120 --> 00:57:47,560
The Minoans will always be
a mysterious people...


633
00:57:48,760 --> 00:57:53,880
..and yet they do remind us
of a fundamental truth,


634
00:57:53,880 --> 00:57:57,960
which is that although the journey
from caves to civilisation


635
00:57:57,960 --> 00:57:59,920
had been awesome,


636
00:57:59,920 --> 00:58:02,720
there would be no final victories -


637
00:58:02,720 --> 00:58:05,520
certainly not over nature,


638
00:58:05,520 --> 00:58:09,280
nor over the darker side
of human nature.


639
00:58:19,040 --> 00:58:21,280
THEY YELL RHYTHMICALLY


640
00:58:21,280 --> 00:58:22,440
In the next episode...


641
00:58:22,440 --> 00:58:23,640
HE YELLS


642
00:58:23,640 --> 00:58:26,840
..the first great Age of Empire...


643
00:58:27,840 --> 00:58:30,960
..bold new ideas in East and West...


644
00:58:32,040 --> 00:58:33,600
..and Alexander the Great.


645
00:58:33,600 --> 00:58:35,160
HE YELLS


646
00:58:36,480 --> 00:58:40,360
If you'd like to know a little bit
more about how the past is revealed,


647
00:58:40,360 --> 00:58:45,280
you can order a free booklet
called How Do They Know That?


648
00:58:45,280 --> 00:58:47,080
Just call...


649
00:58:50,320 --> 00:58:51,920
Or go to...


650
00:58:55,400 --> 00:58:58,240
..and follow the links
to the Open University.


651
00:59:14,040 --> 00:59:17,280
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd