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Out of Europe - A New Story of Human Evolution [eVideo]

2020

Online Video

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Summary

Does the history of early human evolution have to be rewritten? For decades, most experts have been convinced that Africa is the cradle of mankind. Many fossil finds from Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania, South Africa and Chad seemed to prove this beyond doubt. But in recent years, researchers have come across more and more finds that cast doubt on this well-established theory. For the last hundred years, the development of modern mankind was primarily explained through the so-called Out of Africa theory, claiming that the development of humans and apes happened primarily in Africa. But in recent years bone finds, much older than the earliest finds from Africa, have challenged that belief. 7.2-million-year-old remains of a prehistoric human, Graecopithecus freybergi, and 6-million-year-old human-like footprints were found in Greece and presented in 2017. In November 2019, palaeontologist Madelaine Böhme revealed to the world fossils of a newly discovered 11.6-million-year-old ancient ape in a clay pit in Southern Germany. The scientists argue that this new species called Danuvius guggenmosi, or "Udo", is a common ancestor of humans and chimpanzees-a missing link sought for decades by scientists worldwide. Together, these fossil finds challenge the fundamental idea of human evolution that two-legged walking only evolved in Africa much later. Is the birthplace of humanity actually located in Europe? Through high-quality first-hand coverage, state-of-the-art graphics, atmospheric re-enactments, fascinating wildlife images and interviews with experts from Germany, the U.S., Canada, Sweden and Bulgaria, this film tells the story of a paradigm shift regarding our idea of human evolution.