Everyone on this earth has an ancestor that goes far enough back to Africa, where the human species had its start. Since there were no other people around to record any of the things that happened in that era, we have to rely on, mainly, the physical evidence, that may have been left behind by those people to find our history. There are various areas in which the African people had to adapt to in order to find valuable nutrition to stay alive. There were many different climates they had to fit into, and geography. At first these people were hunters, and then soon after, they started to begin agricultural work, when they figured it out that is. But primarily, the way that most of them would get their food is from hunting, and the area in which they were located played a major role in this. Especially if they lived in the tropical rain forest, there were few to no available nutritional sources for the people here. On the other hand the savannas were a perfect place for these people. It came with a rich supply of food and great climate. And in this area is where we find most about our ancestors. By finding certain weapons like a bow, or an axe, we can safely assume that the African people thrived here, because of its perfect location. Also there was another form of evidence, hieroglyphics, they had painted images onto the caves that they stayed in, and there were stories of whatever must have been important to the people at the time, whether it be an important event that unfolded or just random drawings, they are essential to finding out more about these ancient relatives. After years, the people of Africa started to create a language, and they started to become the Bantu people. They all split up and left to go around Africa to find the best places to live, some went to the Sahara and some went to the Forests. But they all came from one southern area. As they diverted they created different slangs in their language and became totally different people, along with their geography that helped. They started to become interested in agriculture and began making food for their people and others who came by; with this there became a sort of mixing with cultures and people. They also were making art, and trading it with others, they had pottery and their weapons and tools were influenced as well.
Australopithecus afarensis who existed 3.5 million years ago and a 4.4 million year old skeleton of an Ardipithecus ramidus are the closest science has come to discovering the human lineage. Shattered Ancestry an article written by Katherine Harmon discusses the remains of two hominids found within Ethiopia. These skeletal remains have created a huge controversy within the topic of evolution questioning many assumptions that have been made referencing the human lineage. The skeleton of the Australopithecus afarensis was named Lucy and was discovered in 1974. The evidence of her walking upright on her two feet essentially guaranteed her a spot in the human lineage line. Lucy was a chimplike ape that was said to walk upright making scientists believe the human ancestry was simple. The complete skeleton found in Ethiopia of an Ardipithecus ramidus named Ardi completely changed all assumptions made from scientists about the complexity of the human lineage. These remains have encouraged researches that the human line is not the only lineage to have evolved but the chimpanzee line has undergone drastic changes as well. There are many traits that researchers have always directly linked to the human lineage however since these discoveries occurred researchers are reconsidering. The recent discoveries that have shattered what has always suggested what linked a species to the human lineage have changed the certainty of whether it is possible to confidently identify the human’s last common ancestor. Majority of scientist had forgotten that there would have been many hominid species living together at one time. New theories have been suggested since scientists revealed that the foot of a hominid found called the Burtele site was found ju...
Three incomplete skulls of Homo sapiens were discovered in 1997. Bruce Bower’s article “African Legacy: Fossils plug gap in human origins” discusses the fossils. These findings are important because according to the discoverers, they are the oldest known fossils of modern people. The skulls were found in Herto, Ethiopian located in eastern Africa. The fossils are dated between 154,000 and 160,000 years ago.i[1] The fossils were dated radioisotopically.ii[2] Since the fossils are the oldest known fossils of modern people, it is probable that these hominids represent the immediate ancestors of humans that are anatomically modern. Tim D. White’s (et al) article “Pleistocene Homo sapiens from Middle Awash, Ethiopia” describes the discovery of the Herto fossils and the research of the artifacts in great detail.
There is evidence to suggest that Homo neanderthalensis and Homo sapiens had coexisted for approximately 35-40,000 years, (Fagan 2010) from around 60,000 years ago to 25,000 years ago when they finally went extinct (Gibbon 2001). Anthropologists are still uncertain what the cause of their extinction was. This paper will analyze three main theories of Neanderthal extinction. The first theory is the competition theory, which claims that the Homo sapiens and Neanderthals had to compete for resources, ultimately leading to their demise. The second theory I will discuss is the climate change theory, which claims that Homo sapiens lived while Neanderthals died because they were better adapted to the climate. The last theory I will discuss is the possible “extinction through absorption” theory which claims the Neanderthal interbred with the Homo sapiens and became one species. In this paper I will also be comparing the technologies, and diets of both species. In addition, I will look at the anatomic relation between the Neanderthals and Homo sapiens, how their body shape and size differed, and if this gave any advantage to one side or the other. My thesis for this paper will state that Homo sapiens and Homo neanderthalensis had co-existed but the disappearance of the Neanderthal in Eurasia is due to the appearance of the more culturally advanced and genetically superior Homo sapiens and the failure of the Neanderthal to adapt in an evolving climate.
In class we watch a clip called “Journey of Man” and basically the all over view of this movie was about a man named Spencer Wells and his team of scientist researching for approximately 15 years of investigating to find out our family history. They believe that they have discover some life changing information. They had this discovery for a while now but that needed time to gather up all of the facts from their research. This information that they have could transform our view on the world. They have revealed some type of time machine that has allow them to see back in ancient history. For that past ten years this man and his team have been using this time machine to gather all types of different information about the past history. This information came for just once source, blood. Many people views it as and gift from the past, but to scientist it carries the past and has a unique story behind it. A time machine hidden within us.
Anthropology is the study of humanity. One of the questions the discipline has striven to answer from it's very conception is the question of what it is that ultimately makes us human. Where is that unique distinction that takes us from being just another creature populating the world and the fossil record and pushes us that next step to something more?
There are two major theories that encompass how modern humans may have evolved from the various groups of hominids that existed in the Old World. These two theories are the Multiregional origin theory and the “Out of Africa” origin theory. I will first introduce the background and logic behind the two theories, and then I will argue, with supporting genetic evidence, why the “Out of Africa” theory is currently the most widely accepted in the field.
Researchers have found that African people were the home of the first human beings. They have found fossils and archaeological findings that support thus evidence and by genetic research. These findings date back to 4.4 million years ago in Ethiopia. Actually human beings date back to 40 thousand years, these people were discovered also in Ethiopia.
If they had only recessive genes, there would be no dark eyed, haired or skinned people. This leads to the conclusion that all people have a black ancestor. This is backed up by the well-accepted idea that Africa was the starting place of humanity. As African species travelled north to Europe they made the previous inhabitants extinct.
Evolutionist and creationists have and are still arguing on the origins of human life. Even though evolution is a real thing and is seen in many different species including humans. This can be seen in the many discoveries made by paleoanthropologist and others in the scientific community such as the fossils of early human ancestors. Humans have slowly evolved from early ancestors over millions of years into what makes you and me human. There are many physical and genetic similarities seen between modern human and our early ancestors. This leads me to believe that humans have evolved and will provide supporting evidence on this subject.
One of the most hotly debated issues in Anthropology focuses on the origins of modern humans. There are two theories about the origin of modern human, one being that modern humans originated in Africa and the second being that pre-modern humans migrated from Africa to become modern humans in other parts of the world. While both theories originate in Africa, most evidence points to the first theory, the Out of Africa Model. The amount of fossils of modern-like humans that are found in Africa, DNA studies suggesting a founding population in Africa, and stone tools and other artifacts are just some of the evidence that supports the Out of Africa Model.
In his lecture, primatologist Robert Sapolsky explains the uniqueness of humans as well as our similarities to other primates. In doing so, he broke it down into six points of interest: aggression, theory of mind, the golden rule, empathy, pleasure in anticipation and gratification postponement, and lastly, culture. Professor Sapolsky approaches each point with interesting fact-based examples thus allowing me to gain insight on humans and other primates. Sapolsky’s knowledge of primates along with his scientific background allows him to make a clear argument that one cannot simply ignore.
After wisdom is turned on, a lot of people start thinking about human origins. Many great people have tried to explain the origin of human, they also proposed a variety of unusual ideas and explains, but most people are not accepted their idea. However, the first part of the Bible have a good explanation of the origin of human. There are two different theory about the origins of humanity in the Bible. God according to his own image to create a human, designed to allow humans to communicate with him, to respond to his love, and to serve as managing the affairs responsibilities.
Humans have long been evolving physically and mentally in order to survive on earth. They have evolved their physical attributes as well as their intelligence to properly prepare them for the changing environments on earth. Since the Old Stone age, human intelligence has allowed them to continue to adapt to various tasks that were commonly performed by the Old Stone age people. These common behaviors and lifestyles of the prehistoric times would eventually help the human communities to survive in this dangerous world as a successful species. Most of our everyday activities and common behaviors such as living in homes, having a nutritional diet, inventing new innovations, and particularly surviving as a group, are derived from the lifestyles of the Paleolithic people. Although there may be some differences between the aspects of life from the prehistoric and modern times, much of the features of how people lived back then have played a significant role in securing the survival of humanity today.
The modern human has only been around for mere 200,000 years. Considering the world is 4.5 billion years old, that’s not that long. Modern humans are known as homo sapiens, or homo sapien sapien, which means “wise man” and “wise, wise man”. Homo sapien sapien is different due to the brain size, which is where rapid development becomes possible. Homo sapiens, as far as we know, originated from Africa.
As everyone knows, the history of human evolution originated from more than five million years ago (Pickrell, 2006). Human is the most intellective living being on the Earth, even in the developed universe. With the development of human being, the beginning of human started to be discovered. This essay will focus on the evolution history of human being. It will explain three most significant time slices of human evolution.