‘Digging’ looks at Neanderthals
The intrepid series “Digging for the Truth” (9 p.m., History) returns for a fourth season with two new hosts, adventurer Zay Harding and former Navy pilot Hunter Ellis.
As you can surmise from the title, “Digging” puts great emphasis on archaeology.
The season kicks off with “Neanderthal!” a revisionist look at the ancient primate relatives of modern man who lived in Europe for more than 300,000 years before being displaced by our human ancestors, the Cro-Magnons.
Harding consults DNA experts to determine just how close we are to Neanderthals, as well as forensics experts who create three-dimensional, virtual-reality models of Neanderthal skulls. He also goes on a comparative hunting expedition using Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon weapons to learn and demonstrate the different skill sets and mentalities of the two groups.
We don’t discover how the Neanderthals disappeared, but we get to speculate how and where the last few spent their days. And we find an ancient Neanderthal cave off Gibraltar, now located hundreds of feet under ocean water.
Over the course of the season, “Digging” will look for secrets of the Great Wall of China, King Midas, buried religious treasure and Stone Age royalty.
The documentary “Inside America’s Empire,” a segment of the “America at a Crossroads” series (10 p.m., KSPS) examines the global reach of the U.S. military.
Other highlights
Mike Rowe works overtime on a “Dirty Jobs” (9 a.m., Discovery) marathon running all day and prime time until midnight.
Catch up with the first five episodes of the engaging legal thriller “Damages” (3 p.m., FX, TV-14), starring Glenn Close and Ted Danson.
U.S. Open Tennis coverage (4 p.m., USA).
“History Detectives” (9 p.m., KSPS) looks at items that may be linked to Bill Pickett, President William McKinley and Adolf Hitler.
Kyle, Jessi and the Tragers search for answers on the season finale of “Kyle XY” (8 p.m., Family).
Held hostage on “Heroes” (9 p.m., NBC).
Brenda must testify on “The Closer” (9 p.m., TNT).
Justin Timberlake performs in concert (9 p.m., HBO).
Scheduled on “Dateline” (10 p.m., NBC): Wild Bill Stanton.
Anthony Bourdain visits Hong Kong on “No Reservations” (10 p.m., Travel).