 This episode centers on the caves and rock shelters of the Dordogne region of France, where Alan Alda witnesses the spectacular paintings and carvings that date back some 30,000 years. Archaeologists once thought this artwork to be the first record of people with minds like our own. When this art was created, Europe had already been peopled for hundreds of thousands of years by Neanderthals. The people who painted the caves, our ancestors, were strikingly different, possessed of the Human Spark. Where and when did the Human Spark ignite? In these caves, or at a much earlier time? This program is full of vigorously argued controversy, and of course the inimitable curiosity and humor of Alan Alda. Distributed by PBS Distribution. Part of the series The Human Spark. (60 minutes)
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