Up Next
Back to Show
First Peoples
An Impossible Task
Scientists from the Max Planck Institute, a leader in the study of ancient DNA, were the first to crack the genetic code of a Neanderthal. On First Peoples: Europe, Swedish geneticist Svante Paabo describes the challenges faced in reconstructing DNA from millions of degraded genome fragments found in a Neanderthal bone.
Support Provided By
Unlock with PBS Passport
54:40
Find out why Neanderthals, with whom early humans in Europe interbred, went extinct.
Unlock with PBS Passport
54:40
Learn how Homo sapiens, new in Australia and truly alone, managed to survive and flourish.
Unlock with PBS Passport
54:40
Discover a type of ancient human whose genes helped us face down extinction.
Unlock with PBS Passport
54:40
Examine research that suggests we humans are patchwork species of hybrids.
Unlock with PBS Passport
54:40
Learn why a discovery in Mexico may rewrite the story of early migration to the Americas.