PBS Nova - Decoding Neanderthals (2013)


Over 60,000 years ago, the first modern humansΓÇöpeople physically identical to us todayΓÇöleft their African homeland and entered Europe, then a bleak and inhospitable continent in the grip of the Ice Age. But when they arrived, they were not alone: the stocky, powerfully built Neanderthals had already been living there for hundred of thousands of years. So what happened when the first modern humans encountered the Neanderthals? Did we make love or war? That question has tantalized generations of scholars and seized the popular imagination. Then, in 2010, a team led by geneticist Svante Paabo announced stunning news. Not only had they reconstructed much of the Neanderthal genomeΓÇöan extraordinary technical feat that would have seemed impossible only a decade agoΓÇöbut their analysis showed that "we" modern humans had interbred with Neanderthals, leaving a small but consistent signature of Neanderthal genes behind in everyone outside Africa today. In "Decoding Neanderthals," NOVA explores the implications of this exciting discovery. In the traditional view, Neanderthals differed from "us" in behavior and capabilities as well as anatomy. But were they really mentally inferior, as inexpressive and clumsy as the cartoon caveman they inspired? NOVA explores a range of intriguing new evidence for Neanderthal self-expression and language, all pointing to the fact that we may have seriously underestimated our mysterious, long-vanished human cousins.



Technical Specs
Video Codec: x264 CABAC High@L3.1
Video Bitrate: CRF 22
Video Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Video Resolution: 848x480
Audio Codec: AAC-LC (Nero)
Audio Bitrate: 128 Kbps ABR 48KHz
Audio Channels: 2
Run-Time: 54mn 9s
Framerate: 29.805 fps (Variable Frame Rate)
Number of Parts: 1
Part Size: 471 MiB