The Link

Monday August 2, 2010 at 10 pm ET/PT on CBC News Network

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The Link

Watch the full story online.
Note: this film is only available for one month after last broadcast.

43:15 min

 

In the year that Charles Darwin is being celebrated, have scientists finally unravelled our family tree and discovered the 'missing link?' Shot in HD, The Link, a CSI-style documentary investigation, reveals an astonishing new discovery that changes everything we thought we knew about mankind's origins.

Dr Jens Lorenz Franzen studying "Ida"
Photo Credit: Sam Peach

Narrated by renowned British natural history filmmaker David Attenborough, The Link introduces viewers to Ida, a three-foot long fossil including tail, 94 per cent intact, and the most complete fossil ever found with links to the origins of man. Originally found in the Messel Pit near Frankfurt, Germany, the team of scientists studying Ida have likened finding her to an asteroid hitting the Earth, discovering the Lost Ark, or even uncovering the Rosetta Stone.

So much of what we understand about evolution comes from partial fossils and even single bones, but Ida's fossilization offers much more than that, from the outline of her fur to her very last meal contained in her stomach. The Link gives viewers exclusive access to the first scientists to study her, and tells the history of Ida and her place in the world. This cutting-edge scientific detective story follows her discovery, opens a stunningly evocative window into our past and changes what we know about primate evolution and, ultimately, our own.

The Link is an Atlantic Productions film in association with BBC, ZDF and NRK. The executive producer is Anthony Geffen.