"Human": Powerful New Images Mark The Most Scientifically Accurate “Hyper-Real 3D Models Of Human Species Ever”

Do you ever get that thing where you bump into a relative you haven’t seen for a while and don’t immediately recognize them? Maybe it’s little Timmy who you haven’t seen since he was yay-high, or perhaps Jennifer with the new hair. Or maybe it’s Homo floresiensis, "the hobbit" of Homos that went extinct around 50,000 years ago who just got a new face.

Yes, our ancestors have had a digital makeover thanks to a new set of images of four early human species released by the BBC ahead of a new five-part documentary series, Human. Presented by palaeoanthropologist Ella Al-Shamahi, it reveals the story of us, exploring 300,000 years of human evolution that led Homo sapiens from just one of the many Homos to becoming the most influential species on the planet. 

I got to finally see the actual real-life hybrid of a Neanderthal and a Homo sapiens in Romania.

Ella Al-Shamahi

It’s one hell of a story and it took Al-Shamahi to some seriously cool places.

“I finally got to see the tiny humans sometimes referred to as the hobbits, like after Lord Of The Rings,” she told IFLScience. “I got to finally see the actual real-life hybrid of a Neanderthal and a Homo sapiens in Romania. I got to see one of the earliest human fossils ever in a museum in Ethiopia. Oh, and I got to see one of the sites of the earliest ritual. I mean, the list goes on…”

Across multiple important fossil sites with teams of experts in human origins, the series will take you by the hand on a guided tour of our path to existence. As we know, Homo sapiens were last to the party. When we emerged in Africa, there were already at least six other human species walking the Earth. You can already meet a few of these long lost relatives thanks to newly imagined images of their faces, including Homo floresiensis, Homo erectus, Homo neanderthalensis, and, of course, us – Homo sapiens.

The images were created by combining cutting-edge photogrammetry techniques and the latest available fossil data to build the anatomical features of these human species. It’s a powerful glimpse into our past, and the best representation of it to date.

"These are the most scientifically accurate collection of hyper-real 3D models of human species ever put on TV that we know of,” said Al-Shamahi in a release. “They haven’t been seen in the flesh for hundreds of thousands of years and no TV show has ever brought this many human species to life quite like this.”

As well as imagining how they looked, we’ll learn more about their behavior, too, thanks to important sites across the globe like the caves in the Americas, where evidence suggests we hunted ferocious 3-meter-tall (10-foot) prehistoric bears.

They were absolutely incredible, the other species, and yet somehow we’re the only ones left

Ella Al-Shamahi

“I think people will come to realise that we should be a bit more humble,” said Al-Shamahi to IFLScience. “We should also be more impressed, at the same time, with how spectacular our story is because we could’ve easily become extinct like the others.”

“We could’ve easily fallen by the wayside well before the others did, because they were pretty impressive. Much more impressive than us in so many ways when we first turned up on the scene. They were absolutely incredible, the other species, and yet somehow we’re the only ones left.”

The five-part series Human is due to start on Monday, July 14, 9 pm, on BBC Two and iPlayer. Launching on PBS Nova on September 17.