Documentary Film Analysis: The Journey of Man by Dr. Spencer Wells - Essay Example

This essay will expound on this thesis. In this most compelling story of natural history, the pivotal moment was the great Ice Age that set in 50 thousand years ago. Up until this point, the entire human population (technically of the species Homo sapiens) was confined to just the African continent. This is understandable, for most of the early hominids evolved in this landmass, with the evolution of our species being a natural progression. With the onset of the Ice Age, the rich and diverse ecology of central and southern Africa began to change.

With the substantial drop in temperatures, the erstwhile green and fertile regions began to dry up. The early human populations that depended on this ecosystem for survival faced drought-like conditions. To illustrate the depth of the problem, the seashore caves of South Africa, which were used as shelter by primitive people, became ever more distant from the shoreline – nearly 40 kilometers at the peak of the Ice Age. Such radical changes to the ecology forced people to move toward the north-east of the continent, where the climate was somewhat more temperate.

And this crisis for survival is perhaps the most important event in anthropology. For, without it, Homo sapiens might not have ever left Africa. In consequence, the richness, diversity, and reach of the human species might have been limited. There are many interesting subplots within the epic narrative of Journey of Man. What each of these subplots tells us is that there is a shared sense of adventure and enterprise inherent in our species. To begin with, the population of the Australian continent was a tantalizing story of adventure and chance.

Scientists were first confounded by the 6000 miles of the ocean that separated the East African coast from the nearest shore in Australia. Later it came to light that the radically new geological conditions created by the Ice Age provided an easy passage wherever the sea had receded. In geological timescales, usual populations within a species only gradually expand their habitat. But the speed with which our species moved out of Africa was unprecedented in the history of evolution. This is underscored by the astounding fact that in Australia there was not even a single primate species when humans arrived there.

Likewise, the crossing of the arctic inhabiting Chikchu people into the New World is another historical achievement of our species. The Americans who are newly native to this expansive continent nearly covered its entire breadth and width in less than a millennium of its advent. Instances such as this highlight how all groups within our species shared the same spirit of adventure and tenacity for survival. It is these qualities that unite us as humans and make us the most intelligent and successful species on the planet.

Another interesting piece of information presented in the documentary is how modern Europeans took a complex migratory route to arrive in Western Europe. The lore of the Cro-Magnon man is very prescient to the mind as they conquered the temperate and cold climes of Europe with a physiology that was ill-suited to these conditions. In other words, the early inhabitants of Europe were dark-skinned people, who quickly acquired a paler complexion.