The Ascent of Man: Lower Than The Angels (Part 1)

Jacob Bronowski’s classic 1973 opener to The Ascent of Man traces our journey from early hominids on the African savanna to tool‑making, hunting, and symbolic imagination in the caves of prehistoric Europe, asking what truly makes us human beyond mere animal instinct. It’s a sweeping meditation on evolution, cooperation, language, and the birth of science, filmed on location from Olduvai Gorge to Paleolithic cave art, and still one of the most eloquent explorations of human origins ever put on television.