Commissions

Greenlit: First Humans: The Cave Discovery, PBS / Channel 4

First Humans: The Cave Discovery (1 x 60′) – A documentary following an astounding archaeological investigation that has discovered the remains of an entirely new species of human ancestor. It follows an expedition by an international team of experts, led by Professor Lee Berger from the University of Witwatersrand, as they recover bone fragments from a deep and nearly inaccessible cave in South Africa.

The remains were first discovered by two cavers in 2013. After the fossils were excavated, a huge challenge in itself, scientists conducted extensive analysis of the more than 1,500 bone fragments recovered from the cave. They discovered evidence of a new human ancestor that they have named Homo naledi. The programme documents what may be one of the greatest fossil finds of our time, filling in a mysterious gap in the fossil record of our evolution – the crucial transition from the ape-like Australopithecus to the first members of our own genus, Homo, the first humans.

Channel: PBS / Channel 4

Producer: National Geographic

TX: 16th (PBS) / 27th September (Ch4)  2015

Source: Channel 4 press release