Plot Synopsis

THE GREAT HUMAN RACE is a one-hour series that follows two experts -- experimental archaeologist Bill Schindler and survival instructor Cat Bigney -- as they trek across the planet, enduring miles of treacherous terrain along one of the paths of the first footsteps of the earliest humans. In each episode, Schindler and Bigney take on a different chapter of evolutionary history, while being limited to only the tools and technologies from that time. They live and survive as the ancient humans did. The journey takes them to nine different countries, starting from the heart of Africa, through the Middle East, the Siberian tundra and Alaska, and finally into what is now the continental United States. Not only are Schindler and Bigney forced to tough it out in the world's most inhospitable locations, but their tools evolve and their skills improve along the way. In the series opener, Schindler and Bigney journey into the jungles of Uganda to follow in the footsteps of one our earliest ancestors: Homo erectus, the species that changed our evolution forever, because of their ability to control fire. Then, in the next episode, Schindler and Bigney traverse the mountains of Ethiopia, where Homo sapiens first walked the Earth and became the dominant species by going from hunted to hunter.