Disclaimer: This is a review, and as such will contain opinions, spoilers and (often) general shit talking. (If you talk about what you don’t like about a work, you learn a lot. When you think through a work with the stakes presented to you by the creator, by the context of the work, you learn a lot. I review things, not because I love to dislike things, but because dislike contains rich and vital information for the process of experiencing something, but I cannot access it without interrogating it.) So, if you don’t want to have this thing spoiled for you, or don’t know how to behave when a person on the internet, that you don’t know, has opinions that don’t line up with yours, this review is not for you. It’s also not for the author/creator of the work. Please and thank you.
If you know me at all, you know I love a good prehistoric documentary.
The first book that got me into romance as a genre was the Earth’s Children series, which isn’t a romance novel, but had a romance arc that was significant part of the story (and didn’t skimp on the details).
The thing that I loved the most about those books is that it was like a journey into the past. And the extensive research that went into the historical accuracy only made it better.
Reading those books was an incredibly immersive experience that only added to my love of well-made documentaries on the topic.
When I was growing up, documentaries were more to the point.
Don’t get me wrong, there was storytelling in documentaries, but the ones including re-enactment of scenes or situations were often a bit dry and stilted – nothing like the beautiful documentaries we see today.
Unknown: Cave of Bones
In Unknown: Cave of Bones we follow paleo-anthropologist Lee Berger who has found the world’s oldest graveyard. And it isn’t human.
Berger and his team excavate the Rising Star cave system in Bloubank River valley, which is a part of the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site in South Africa.
If they can prove that the small, ape-like creature known as Homo naledi practised complex burial rituals, it’ll change everything known about hominid evolution.
Following the team into the narrow, sometimes almost impossible-to-traverse shafts, to get a glimpse at this site is an emotional journey that throws into question what it is to be human, what defines being human, and what our relationship with our own humanity is.
They had to recruit small-bodied excavators for the project, precisely because some of the shafts are incredibly narrow – Homo naledi was a lot smaller than we are – and impassable to many.
This led to the excavation team setting up a camera system, so that those who could not go down into the deepest parts of the caves could still follow, monitor and manage the excavation.
The cave system is absolutely littered with archaeological finds, no less than 1,500 individual bones. This is a huge find, especially for prehistoric hominids, whose remains don’t tend to survive the passage of time.
Going into the caves is both physically and mentally challenging, as you have to navigate tight corners and sheer drop in the quiet, tomb-like darkness of the cave system.
And we, modern humans, are doing it with the help of advanced climbing gear and electric lights.
Homo naledi made this trek with nothing but fire, carrying torches and lighting small fires along the long path to prevent them from being trapped in the dark, all while hauling a dead body.
That they would have undertaken this kind of dangerous and difficult journey in order to bury their dead, says something about these hominids. It says a lot about these hominids.
They had empathy, they formed deep bonds that lasted even beyond death. Did they believe in a life after death?
The beautiful animations help bring these ancient hominids to life, without being condescending or falling into stereotypes, but still maintaining a certain air of mystery around them. So, we get a glimpse of them, get to be a little bit of a fly on the wall, but not too much as most of that information has been lost to time.
Unknown: Cave of Bones is a fascinating journey of uncovering what it meant for Homo naledi to have chosen to repeatedly practise such complex burials, explained at every step of the way by the experts who are passionate about solving this ancient mystery.
Secrets of the Neanderthals
This documentary, narrated by Sir Patrick Stewart, looks into our own past and aims to shed light on how much more in common we have with Neanderthals than we realise.
The term “Neanderthal” itself comes from the Neander Valley in Germany, where the first Neanderthal fossils were discovered in 1856.
Initially, they were thought to be an ancient and distinct species from Homo sapiens, characterised by a stockier build and other physical differences.
The documentary addresses the fact that the stereotype of the Neanderthals has been established as brutish, aggressive, and often male.
And this stereotype of Neanderthals as primitive persists in popular culture.
The expression “you’re such a Neanderthal” is used to describe someone who is perceived as primitive, uncivilised, or lacking in intelligence.
When the first Neanderthal fossils were discovered in the 19th century, the interpretation that they belonged to an inferior and archaic species of human, was influenced by prevailing notions of human evolution at the time.
These often depicted a linear progression from more primitive to more advanced forms of humanity. Today, we use the analogy of the human family tree to illustrate that evolution is neither linear nor simple.
Early reconstructions of Neanderthals based on fossil evidence often portrayed them as ape-like and brutish, reinforcing the stereotype.
These reconstructions, coupled with the limited understanding of Neanderthal culture and behaviour, contributed to Neanderthals being seen as primitive and less evolved than modern humans.
Throughout history, various groups have been dehumanised or portrayed as “other” to justify mistreatment or discrimination.
Neanderthals, as an extinct species, were an easy target for such stereotyping, especially given the lack of direct descendants to challenge these portrayals.
But this primitive view of Neanderthals is far from the truth.
They were so much more than the caveman archetype we’ve simplified them into.
As the documentary shows, they didn’t survive 300,000 years without empathy, cooperation, sophisticated tools, some form of language, or symbolic behaviour.
They even had many peaceable encounters with Homo sapiens, since all of us today have a little bit of Neanderthal DNA in us.
The Secrets of the Neanderthals looks at several sites where Neanderthal fossils have been discovered, and some where more are still emerging.
It sheds light on the minds and hearts of the Neanderthals through the discoveries, some of them quite extraordinary, that allow us a small glimpse into their lives and habits.
It’s a beautiful narrative that aims to help us connect to our ancient cousins with empathy and compassion, rather than the outdated view we’ve held for so long.
I warmly recommend both documentaries.
Want to get more out of reading books?
Grab this FREE guide on how to start a reading journal, complete with review templates, reading trackers and bingo sheets.
Understand yourself better as a reader, engage more with the books you read & make space for creative self-expression. Get it now!
“When Sasha Barrett gets bitten by a snake on a mission, her squad captain’s quick actions not only save her life, but also make her realise something she may have known all along…“
