© 2025 Michigan State University Board of Trustees
Public Media from Michigan State University
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Decoding Neanderthals

Season 40 Episode 2 | 53m 10s

Over 60,000 years ago, the first modern humans—people physically identical to us today—left 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.

Aired: 01/08/13 | Expires: 12/15/15
National Corporate funding for NOVA is provided by Carlisle Companies and Viking Cruises. Major funding for NOVA is provided by the NOVA Science Trust, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and PBS viewers.
Extras
Find out why deadly flash floods are on the rise and how we can protect ourselves from them.
Explore mysterious 9,000-year-old Stone Age megastructures found in the Arabian Desert.
What is speech, really? Neuroscientist Erich Jarvis explores the science behind how we speak.
Discover how two revolutionary ancient inventions changed the course of humanity forever.
Follow ancient humans’ journey into an icy and perilous new land.
Your brain does all kinds of strange things. Neuroscientist Heather Berlin explains how it works.
Discover how Homo sapiens outlasted Neanderthals – and how they helped make us who we are today.
Follow Homo sapiens as they venture out of Africa and spread farther than any other human species.
Has science been missing a fundamental law of nature for centuries?
NASA’s Perseverance rover may have found the clearest signs of ancient life on Mars yet.