The Incredible Human Journey

Episode 1: Out of Africa
Alice Roberts travels to Africa to search for the birthplace of the first human beings.

As her quest to follow the colonizing path of early humans begins, Alice Roberts travels to Africa in search of the birthplace of the first people. They were so few in number and so vulnerable that today they would probably be considered an endangered species. So how did they survive at all? And by what route, did humans make it out of Africa? Alice goes searching for clues in the Arabian Desert.

Episode 2: Asia
Alice Roberts investigates how early hunter-gatherers survived in the punishing Arctic.

Alice Roberts continues her quest to follow in the footprints of our ancient ancestors. She travels into Asia to discover how early hunter-gatherers managed to survive in one of the most inhospitable places on earth, the Arctic region of northern Siberia. Alice then meets the nomadic Evenki people and discovers that their survival techniques have been passed down through generations.

Episode 3: Europe
Alice investigates how our species coped with rival Neanderthals and the brutal Ice Age.

When our species first arrived in Europe, the peak of the Ice Age was approaching, and the continent was already crawling with a rival. So how did the European pioneers survive Neanderthals and then the deep freeze? Alice Roberts reconstructs the head of the ‘first European’ to come face to face with one of our ancestors and she discovers how art became crucial for survival.

Episode 4: Australia
How did our ancient ancestors make the seemingly impossible journey to Australia?

Alice Roberts looks at our ancestors seemingly impossible journey to Australia. Miraculously preserved footprints and very old human fossils buried in the outback suggest a mystery: that humans reached Australia almost before anywhere else. How could they have travelled so far from Africa, crossing the open sea on the way, and do it thousands of years before they made it to Europe?

Episode 5: The Americas
Alice Roberts investigates how early humans may have reached North and South America.

For Stone Age people, reaching North and South America seemed impossible. So how did the first Americans get there? Dr. Alice Roberts discovers evidence for an ancient corridor through the Canadian ice sheet that may have allowed those first people through. But there are problems. In particular, some very ancient finds in southern Chile seems to suggest a very different way to the Americas.