Dawn of Humanity | |
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DVD cover
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Genre | Documentary film |
Directed by | Graham Townsley |
Narrated by | Jay O. Sanders |
Theme music composer | Robert Neufeld |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language(s) | English |
No. of episodes | One episode of two hours |
Production | |
Producer(s) | Graham Townsley |
Editor(s) | Emmanuel Mairesse |
Running time | 2 h (120 min) |
Production company(s) | National Geographic Studios |
Distributor | Public Broadcasting Service |
Release | |
Original network | PBS |
Original release | Posted online September 10, 2015; first broadcast nationwide on September 16, 2015 |
External links | |
Website |
Dawn of Humanity is a 2015 American documentary film that was released online on September 10, 2015, and aired nationwide in the United States on September 16, 2015. The PBS NOVA National Geographic film, in one episode of two hours, was directed and produced by Graham Townsley. The film describes the 2013 discovery, and later excavation, of the fossil remains of Homo naledi, an extinct species of hominin assigned to the genus Homo, found within the Dinaledi Chamber of the Rising Star Cave system, located in the Cradle of Humankind, South Africa. Additionally, the National Geographic Society has multiple videos on its website covering different phases of the discovery and excavation of the fossils during a two-year period. As of September 2015[update], fossils of at least fifteen individuals, amounting to 1550 specimens, have been excavated from the cave.
The documentary film is narrated by Jay O. Sanders and includes the following participants (alphabetized by last name):
Neil Genzlinger of The New York Times notes that, "Documentaries about prehistory and paleoanthropology are usually interesting, sometimes even thought-provoking. But you don’t often encounter one that’s thrilling. Yet that is a fitting adjective for “Dawn of Humanity,” a program ... that brings an aura of breaking news to a field that can often seem musty." Brooke Cain of the Charlotte Observer reports that the documentary features "exclusive footage of the hair-raising descent deep into a nearly inaccessible cave to retrieve more than 1,500 hominid fossils."