Pleistocene: A Killer Comet and 7 Human Species on Earth
74,000 years ago, the Toba supervolcano nearly wiped humanity off the face of the Earth. Only 3,000-10,000 pairs survived. This documentary is about a time when we weren't alone—when several human species roamed the planet. Neanderthals, Denisovans, Flores hobbits, and us.
Learn about the catastrophe 12,800 years ago, when a comet wiped out 75% of all large animals in the Americas. About the mammoth steppe—a ghost ecosystem that fed millions of giants. About the last mammoths of Wrangel Island, which died while the pyramids were being built in Egypt. About the footprints of a mother and child in New Mexico, frozen for 23,000 years.
This isn't just a story about Ice Age dinosaurs. This is our story—about how a fragile species of primates survived fire, ice, and cosmic catastrophes to remain the only humans on the planet.
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN:
How the Toba eruption reduced humanity to a critical minimum
Why the mammoth steppe was 100 times more productive than the African savanna
What evidence of a comet impact are scientists around the world finding
How Neanderthals and Denisovans left their mark on our DNA
What happened to the last mammoths on Wrangel Island
How footprints in ancient mud rewrote the history of the settlement of America
TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 Introduction: When We Were Not Alone
00:55 Mammoth Steppe: A Vanished World
06:58 Toba Supervolcano: The Day the Sun Went Out
12:01 Ghosts in Our Blood
18:27 How Wolves Became Dogs
22:01 The Birth of Language and Music
26:38 Princes of the Ice World
29:01 Permafrost: Capsules time
34:00 War in the Stone Age and the Hobbits of Flores
42:18 Killer Comet: The End of the Pleistocene
47:23 The Last Mammoths of Wrangel Island
49:12 Epilogue: Heirs of the Ice