The Neanderthals: Tracking Our Ancestors

The Neanderthals: Tracking Our Ancestors delves into unexplained Neanderthal mysteries using the latest research and archaeological methods to explore the development and decline of the earliest human species.

The documentary is led by renowned researchers and paleoanthropologists Chris Stringer and Ludovic Slimak, who explore archaeological sites throughout northern France, Belgium, the Channel Islands, and southern England. When the last ice age occurred, the frozen North Sea was connected to the English Channel by little more than a tiny river that could be traversed on foot.

At archaeological sites in northern France, southern England, and on the island of Jersey, Stringer and Slimak discover artefacts and use the latest research to uncover the mysteries surrounding how the Neanderthals once survived and flourished, living in harmony within their ever-changing environment.

Exploring the footsteps of the earliest humans provokes new thinking about the Neanderthals’ cognitive abilities and intelligence. This film unearths the past and discovers what their lives were like, and whether they existed within a society that had culture and language.