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First Peoples
Americas
Season 1
Episode 1
As early humans spread out across the world, their toughest challenge was colonizing the Americas because a huge ice sheet blocked the route. It has long been thought that the first Americans were Clovis people, who arrived 13,000 years ago. But an underwater discovery in Mexico suggests people arrived earlier — coming by boat, not on foot.
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54:40
Find out why Neanderthals, with whom early humans in Europe interbred, went extinct.
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54:40
Learn how Homo sapiens, new in Australia and truly alone, managed to survive and flourish.
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54:40
Discover a type of ancient human whose genes helped us face down extinction.
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54:40
Examine research that suggests we humans are patchwork species of hybrids.