News Sport Weather iPlayer Sounds Bitesize CBeebies CBBC Food

Lower than the Angels

The Ascent of Man

Episode 1 of 13

Jacob Bronowski opens the first programme at man's birthplace, the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, and traces the evolution of man's unique gifts - foresight and imagination. He follows man from Africa through desert and Ice Age.

Available now

49 minutes

Last on

Tue 25 Jul 2023 00:20

BBC Four

More episodes

You are at the first episode

The Harvest of the Seasons

See all episodes from The Ascent of Man

Role	Contributor
Presenter	Jacob Bronowski

Sat 5 May 1973 21:00

BBC Two England
Sun 23 Jul 2023 21:25

BBC Four
Tue 25 Jul 2023 00:20

BBC Four

Uncover Ancient History

Exploring from the beginning to now.
Iconically BBC Two

Landmark shows from the home of innovative, boundary-pushing TV.
Back to the Beginning...

Where did it all begin and why are we here?

Similar programmes

By genre:

Factual > History
Factual > Science & Nature

By format:

Documentaries

window.bbc.isUKCombined().then(function(e){var t;e&&(e="https://static.files.bbci.co.uk/orbit/6ac54073cd036fe07db1b6e8b4b521b1/js/edr.js",(t=document.createElement("script")).type="text/javascript",t.src=e,t.async=!0,document.getElementsByTagName("body")[0].appendChild(t))})<img src="https://sb.scorecardresearch.com/p?c1=2&c2=17986528&cs_ucfr=0&cv=2.0&cj=1">