Dr Alice Roberts is a great find for the BBC - 'thetvreviewguy' has been a big fan of hers for years and she shines in the latest BBC2 Science venture, 'Prehistoric Autopsy', on five nights this week. Last night, together with Dr George McGavin and a team of scientists, specialists and other technicians, Roberts reconstructed a Neanderthal Man. It was a fascinating look at pre-history. Neanderthals, it turns out, shared many characteristics of Homo Sapiens, its one time rivals in the Human Race race. 'Ned' (as 'thetvreviewguy' is going to call him, without checking a search engine to see that this has been done before), enjoyed painting, both cave and primitive jewellery, probably used a basic form of language and also formed book clubs and met once a month for discussion (one of these statements isn't true). We know that 'Ned' may have had red hair and was an accomplished hunter, stabbing at the knees of large game to obtain food and skins for clothing. He was around only about 30,000 years ago which, in geological time, is a mere blink of an eye and it is both comforting and discomforting to think how close we are to are pre-historic ancestors. Drs Roberts and McGavin ably steered the viewer on this entertaining journey into the past, showing how serious television can be both an education and a joy to watch.
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