Latest news with #EllaAlShamahi
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Science
- Daily Mail
CHRISTOPHER STEVENS reviews last night's TV: Are your neighbours Neanderthals? They really were 300,000 years ago
Before the wheel, before language and art, before farming or anything else that made us civilised, mankind invented the Neighbours From Hell. Ella Al-Shamahi, tracing the development of Homo sapiens across 300,000 years of prehistory in the first of a five-part series, Human, discovered two caves on the side of Mount Carmel in Israel. In one, called Skhul cave, the remains of early modern humans similar to ourselves have been found. In the other, known as Tabun cave, Neanderthal fossils have been uncovered. 'We don't know if they interacted,' Dr Al-Shamahi said. 'But we do know that while Neanderthals remained in the region, all traces of this group of Homo sapiens vanished.' It's pretty obvious the two families didn't get on. I'm guessing the Neanderthals left all kinds of rubbish strewn around their cave — half-eaten antelopes, bits of rubble, general detritus. Their kids probably ran around without any furs on, and on Saturday night, their teenagers stayed up till all hours banging rocks together. This nightmare must have dragged on for years. The Homo sapiens tribe put their cave on the market, but no one was buying... so in the end, they gave up and left. I'm speculating, of course, but that's the fun of ancient anthropology. Dr Al-Shamahi indulged in some guesswork herself, at another cave in Botswana, where a hoard of stone tools was discovered next to a rocky outcrop that resembled, in some lights, a snake. The flints, she suggested, could have been 'offerings' — implying the snake was worshipped as a god. It seems perfectly feasible: no doubt, families of Homo sapiens across half the planet were praying, 'Dear Lord Snake, please smite the Neanderthals next-door, or at least get them to stop banging those bloody rocks together.' Inevitably, much of the evidence about human evolution is based on fragments, with scientists building their theories from scattered finds and the odd bone. A handful of tiny shells with traces of red ochre was proof enough for Dr Al-Shamahi to suggest that people were wearing beads as jewellery, up to 70,000 years ago. To help us envisage this, soft-focus scenes of our nomadic ancestors were shot against gorgeous sunsets and wild African landscapes. Much of this photography was absolutely sumptuous, with the human figures picked out in blurred silhouettes. It was hard to see exactly what was going on, but the end credits listed an 'intimacy co-ordinator', so perhaps we should be grateful for the soft-focus. BBC science shows can sometimes become overloaded with information, but this was well-paced, giving us a chance to enjoy the stunning pictures while mulling over what we'd just learned. Though she has presented documentaries before, on the ancient Egyptians and other lost civilisations, this is Ella Al-Shamahi's first landmark series, and she handled it confidently: informative without being didactic, awed without being pretentious.
The Guardian
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Human review – history at its most irresistibly infectious
'I can't help it,' says Ella Al-Shamahi. 'It reminds me of The Lord of the Rings!' It's not easy to make prehistory accessible, but a Tolkien comparison works for the time before Homo sapiens ruled the world. Al-Shamahi's five-part documentary traces the rise of humanity, beginning with the era when Homo neanderthalensis, Homo floresiensis and Homo erectus each staked a claim in their own ragged domain. Before written history, when our story was 'written in our bones and DNA', some early humans were in Europe and Asia and had adapted to the cold. Some were learning to harness the power of fire. Some were only about 3ft 6in (1 metre) tall. Others wore hard hats and polo shirts – wait, no, that is one of the archaeologists on a dig in Morocco, where a skull named Jebel Irhoud 1 holds many secrets about our early ancestors. It's the start of a journey that will, in an illuminating first episode, take Al-Shamahi to spectacular locations across Africa and the Middle East. At the risk of repeating what some critics said seven years ago when Al-Shamahi fronted Neanderthals – Meet Your Ancestors on BBC Two (she has popped up in the odd thing since then), it feels as if a presenting star is being born here. An explorer, paleoanthropologist and standup comedian, she passes all the tests that the job of helming a major science or history series throws up. Her bits to camera borrow the old Kevin McCloud trick of pretending to come up with big thoughts on the fly and being delighted by them: she will break eye contact, look away to gather something fascinating, then meet our gaze again to emphasise the key point. It's theatre, but it helps to achieve her main goal, which is to transmit the wonder she experiences as a learned expert to us, the keen but ignorant at home. The urgent whisper she employs in her voiceover – where a less adept presenter would reveal any weaknesses in their intonation – has the same effect. So we are in the company of the best teacher most of us never had, one who joyfully shares knowledge that is too interesting to be intimidating and who trusts us to keep up. Al-Shamahi is unafraid to toss in arcane paleoanthropological terms if the viewer can draw meaning from context – 'gracile' and 'prognathic' are about to slide into your vocabulary – or to converse with Moroccan scientists in Arabic. Her best work here has her cradling the Jebel Irhoud skull and using her own head to illustrate how this ancient creature is different from us, yet almost the same. Someone like Homo sapiens, the upright, tool-and-weapon-using primate that became us, existed as far back as 350,000 years ago, much earlier than was once thought. From there we trace the little breakthroughs that, put together across many millennia, constitute our evolution. Al-Shamahi visits the Great Rift valley in eastern Africa to explain how, 200,000 years ago, climate crises (it was humid in the east and arid in the west, then vice versa) forced communities to move around and mingle, sharing fresh discoveries and their best genes. In Israel, however, we find evidence of one of countless false starts, when Homo sapiens tried to live in the cave next door to neanderthals – a nightmare-neighbour scenario so bad that this branch of Homo sapiens didn't survive it. But we persevered. Al-Shamahi highlights the surprising details of how we gained hegemony. In the Tsodilo Hills of Botswana, there are stone tools that, 100,000 years ago, their owners broke. Why? Because they were offerings to a god, made by primates who were starting to 'see beyond the tangible' and were developing ceremonies and rituals nourished by abstract thought. In the words of Al-Shamahi, who can turn a lyrical phrase when it's warranted, we were 'venturing into the unknown and into the unseen'. This expansion of the brain delivered practical benefits when, only 30 or so millennia later, curiosity about 'the power held in wood and string' saw us move on from axes and spears to the bow and arrow. The programme's landscape shots are frequently stunning. On a perfectly unspoiled, dune-flanked African beach, even the tiniest seashells hold a narrative: about 70,000 years ago we started turning them into necklaces decorated with red ochre, a sign that cultural exchanges were under way. Al-Shamahi's delight in this revelation is irresistibly infectious. In Human, the leap of imagination necessary to understand our very distant past is no distance at all. Human airs on BBC Two and is available on BBC iPlayer
Times
4 days ago
- Science
- Times
Where are the right-wing scientists? Everyone's on the left like me
Trust in science has been eroded because the field is so dominated by left-wing academics, a leading evolutionary biologist has warned. Ella Al-Shamahi, presenter of the BBC's science series Human, which starts tomorrow night, said people who lean towards the right, or have strong religious beliefs, feel alienated by mainstream science. 'We do have to be a little bit honest and say that, to many, it seems like left-leaning atheists have a monopoly on science,' she said. The dominance of a single school of political thought in science is an important context to President Trump's withdrawal of funding from universities in America, she said. 'If you can't demonstrate that scientists and research labs don't belong to just one tribe, then suddenly it doesn't become a priority to fund them.'
Daily Mail
07-07-2025
- Science
- Daily Mail
Revealed: The most scientifically accurate faces of ancient human species – including one known as ‘The Hobbit'
Homo sapiens might have been the dominant species on the planet for millennia, but it wasn't always that way. When the first Homo sapiens emerged around 300,000 years ago, our ancestors were just one of six human species on the planet. Now, scientists have revealed the most scientifically accurate reconstructions of what those ancient humans would have looked like. This includes the face of an elusive ancient species known as 'The Hobbit'. As part of the upcoming BBC documentary, 'Human', scientists have combined cutting-edge digital modelling techniques with the latest fossil evidence. The result is our best look at Homo erectus, Homo floresiensis, Neanderthals, and the very earliest members of Homo sapiens ever discovered. Paleoanthropologist and presenter of the show Ella Al-Shamahi says: 'These are the most scientifically accurate collection of hyper-real 3D models of human species ever put on TV that we know of. Human begins on Monday 14 July, 9 pm, on BBC Two and all five episodes will be available on BBC iPlayer from this date. Homo erectus Home erectus was the first human species to exclusively walk upright on two legs like humans do today. Anthropologists believe they lived between 1.89 million and 110,000 years ago. They lived in an area which initially covered Africa but later spread across large parts of Asia and even to the edges of Europe. This was the first time a hominin, a primate closely related to humans, had ventured outside of Africa. It would be a further two million years before Homo sapiens would be able to replicate this daring migration. They were taller than previous hominins, with long legs that made them efficient walkers. Their upright posture also freed up the use of their hands, which allowed big-brained Homo erectus to develop tools and become the first hominin to master fire. Home erectus (pictured) was the first human species to exclusively walk upright on two legs like humans do today. Anthropologists believe they lived between 1.89 million and 110,000 years ago Our ancient human relatives Homo erectus This species lived between 1.89 million and 110,000 years ago. They were the first human species to walk upright the entire time. Homo floresiensis A tiny species which lived between 700,000 and 50,000 years ago. Due to insular dwarfism, Homo floresiensis were only three and half feet tall. Homo neanderthalensis Lived 430,000 and 40,000 years ago and overlapped with modern humans. Otherwise known as Neanderthals, these are our closest human relatives. Physically, they were somewhat similar to modern-day humans but a little shorter, around five feet tall on average. They had similar head sizes compared to a modern human, but had flatter faces and a more prominent brow ridge. Homo floresiensis This species was found on the island of Flores, Indonesia and lived between 700,000 and 50,000 years ago. Nicknamed 'The Hobbit' after J.R.R Tolkien's fictional creatures, Homo floresiensis was exceptionally small compared to modern humans. The average homo floresiensis stands at just three and a half feet tall (one metre), with very long legs compared to their body size. Much like Tolkien's Hobbits, Homo floresiensis also had large, flat feet. They also had very small skulls, with brains about one-third the size of modern humans - similar to that of a chimpanzee. In addition to their smaller heads, Homo floresiensis likely had a more pronounced brow and no prominent chin. Scientists believe that Homo floresiensis became so small due to an effect called insular dwarfism. This reflects the fact that large animals on islands evolve to become smaller to deal with limited resources. At the same time, smaller animals typically become larger due to a lack of predators. This meant Homo floresiensis shared its island with elephants that were the size of cows, giant brown rats and meat-eating storks which stood up to two metres tall. Homo neanderthalensis More commonly known as the Neanderthal, Homo neanderthalensis are our closest human relatives. This species lived across a huge swathe of the Middle East, Central Asia, and Europe between 430,000 and 40,000 years ago. Neanderthals were physiologically adapted to colder weather, with wide noses and nostrils adapted for breathing cold, dry air. They had large front teeth, which they used as a 'third hand' while preparing food, but did not have a pronounced chin like a modern human. Their bodies were stocky and well-muscled, with longer arms and shorter legs than modern humans. Adults stood about five feet (1.5 metres) tall but could weigh between 64 and 82kg. Scientists think their proportions would have minimised their surface area to help preserve body heat during Earth's colder periods. Neanderthals also overlapped with Homo sapiens for thousands of years and the two species often mingled and interbred. Every current human outside of Africa has some Neanderthal DNA, with some people getting up to four per cent of their genes from this ancient species. Homo sapiens The first Homo sapiens (pictured) were found in Jebel Irhoud in Morocco, North Africa, and scientists think they date back to around 300,000 years ago. These ancient Homo sapiens had slightly more pronounced brows and elongated heads This reconstruction shows the oldest known Homo sapiens, the species of all modern humans. These fossils come from a place called Jebel Irhoud in Morocco, North Africa, and scientists think they date back to around 300,000 years ago. This puts the emergences of Homo sapiens some 100,000 years earlier than scientists had previously thought. Although they were part of the same species, these very early Homo sapiens had a few minor differences to modern humans. Most obviously, these individuals had heavier brows and elongated skulls. Some scientists see this as evidence of earlier humans evolving into the very first Homo sapiens. After emerging in Africa, a small group of around 10,000 Homo sapiens crossed into Europe around 60,000 years ago and managed to establish a population. Everyone outside of Africa is descended from those first few thousand humans, which is why Africa has a much higher level of genetic diversity. A close relative of modern humans, Neanderthals went extinct 40,000 years ago The Neanderthals were a close human ancestor that mysteriously died out around 40,000 years ago. The species lived in Africa with early humans for millennia before moving across to Europe around 300,000 years ago. They were later joined by humans, who entered Eurasia around 48,000 years ago. These were the original 'cavemen', historically thought to be dim-witted and brutish compared to modern humans. In recent years though, and especially over the last decade, it has become increasingly apparent we've been selling Neanderthals short. A growing body of evidence points to a more sophisticated and multi-talented kind of 'caveman' than anyone thought possible. It now seems likely that Neanderthals had told, buried their dead, painted and even interbred with humans. They used body art such as pigments and beads, and they were the very first artists, with Neanderthal cave art (and symbolism) in Spain apparently predating the earliest modern human art by some 20,000 years. They are thought to have hunted on land and done some fishing. However, they went extinct around 40,000 years ago following the success of Homo sapiens in Europe.
RNZ News
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- RNZ News
MOTAT wins International Exhibition of the Year
Simon Gould, Head of Exhibitions accepting MOTAT'S award from MC and BBC host Ella Al-Shamahi. Photo: SUPPLIED/Hayley Bray It's been described as the 'Oscars of the Museum world' and our very own MOTAT - Auckland Tamaki Makaurau's Museum of Transport and Technology has won big. Earlier this month it took out the International Exhibition of the Year at the Museums and Heritage Awards for its Te Puawananga Science and Technology Centre. Simon Gould is Head of Exhibitions at MOTAT and joined Jesse to tell him all about it. Learning about energy and matter at MOTAT's award winning Te Puawānanga Science and Technology Centre. Photo: SUPPLIED/MOTAT
