The early hominins of Africa were similar to other hominins in gross anatomical features, however, there were differences between the early hominins of Africa and other hominins, such as those found in Asia and other parts of the world as discovered in fossil remains. Not only were there some differences in the anatomical structures, there were also evidentiary differences in their culture and environmental factors in their lives, especially as the species evolved. Below, I will compare some of the differences of the early African hominins to other hominins as well as discuss how they might have lived day to day and show how the evidence supports these findings.
When looking at Africa, it is believed that the first H. erectus seems to have evolved here. This theory developed based on the fact that all of the previous hominins to make an appearance were also in Africa, so it stands to reason that the evolution from those early hominins to H. erectus would have occurred in the same location. That being said, evidence also shows that after H. erectus made his debut in Africa, he quickly migrated to other parts of the world, as fossil remains have also been found in Europe and Asia around the same time period. And, it is through the migration of H. erectus, that fossil remains show the greatest differences in physicality to one another. Anatomically, African H. erectus had a brain and brain case similar in size to previous hominins, however, smaller than “average” skulls were found showing that there were some African H. erectus with smaller skulls which may have been women (indicating sexual dimorphism) or children/youth, the skulls also had fairly large browridges with thin skull bones (typical of East African H. erectus, ve...
... middle of paper ...
...nce of much more use and variety of tools including those believed to be specifically designed to skin meat, hunt and even woodworking. There is no doubt that Neandertals were tool users, hunters, fishermen, and they even made “jewelry” out of shells and bones for decoration. Vocal capabilities are still being debated with some experts that believe that Neandertal was not capable of speech and others saying they were. So, daily life in as an Africa H. erectus was likely a little like camping for us modern humans, only without the luxuries of a tent, sleeping bag and prepackaged food. Very primitive camping with your family in which you had to find food and prepare it, keep from being hunted yourself by predators and may or may not have been able to warm up by a fire. And, more than likely, you would not have been singing campfire songs as you couldn’t speak.
The Homo erectus was an early species of Homo and the likely descendant of the H. Habilis; the first Hominin species to move out of Africa into Asia and Europe. These were the Hominins that began to develop the characteristics behaviors that we see in living humans, that increasingly engaged intelligence and displayed adaptive flexibility, and the first depended on material culture. During the early Homo’s evolution, hominins began to colonize areas of the world outside Africa. The H.Habilis had a smaller chewing complex and a larger brain, and combined it gave the H. Habilis’s skull a rounder appearance. The H. Erectus has the anatomical characteristics from the distinguished H. Habilis. These Hominins collectively date to about 1.8 my-300,000 yBP. During this dynamic period of human
Homo erectus adapted to their surroundings. Homo erectus lost most of their body hair, and developed a pelvis; the pelvis allowed bipedal travel for long distances. However, before this evolution of Homo habilis, there were many adaptations that helped put bipedalism into motion and allowing humans to move out of Africa and into other continents like Asia. The adaptation of a larger heel stabilized bipedal movement, the curve in the lumbar region of the spine allowed humans to stand upright, depth perception allowed us to see color, which allowed us to see and distinguish between safe and deadly plants. The development of a bigger brain helped inspire tool production, and a major advancement, how to build a fire. All of the adaptions helped humans rise to the top of the food chain.
It is because of the activities we have done, and more importantly the people I have been introduced to, such as Dr. Cheikh Anta Diop that I am able to expand my horizons and maybe get a glimpse on what I have been missing. When a man who himself is African and shows how he believes so strongly in where he came from, it’s hard not to start to believe it yourself. Not only did he express his opinions, but he provided several research studies and findings that can link our evolution to Africa and prove himself. With skulls of different species, they could tell what race the men were and it even showed the development from the beginning to a homosapien sapien. With the fifth out of six species not having much of a forehead, you could come to the conclusion that the brain would also be different; sure enough it was missing the anterior lobe of the brain. That to me is just mind blowing and allowed me to be open to the idea that maybe there was an evolution from one species to the next.
[1] Leakey, M. G., Spoor, F., Brown, F. H., Gathogo, P. N., Kiarie, C., Leakey, L. N. and McDougall, I. New hominin genus from eastern Africa shows diverse middle Pliocene lineages Nature 410, 433 - 440 (2001). Pg. 436
The Regional Continuity Theory, first developed in the early 1980s by Milford Wolpoff and a group of his students, asserts that after Homo erectus migrated out of Africa and moved into other portions of the Old World, local populations evolved slowly into modern humans through continuous interbreeding, genetic drift and natural selection, keeping the development of the species in the same main direction while maintaining adaptations to regional factors, but with many aspects common to all regions. The Regional Continuity Theory relies on fossil evidence far more than genetic evidence to support its claims, and cites anatomical features in Asian and European populations that carry from archaic humans to modern humans going back over 100,000 years. They, “point to the fact that many Europeans have relatively heavy brow ridges and a high angle of their noses reminiscent of Neanderthals. Similarly, it is claimed that some Chinese facial characteristics can be seen in an Asian archaic human fossil from Jinniushan dating to 200,000 years ago.”1 The merits of this theory suggest a broader expanse for evolution as a whole, suggesting that a wide array of factors, adaptations, and characteristics could feasibly create a viable species, as well as explaining so...
Australopithecus afarensis existed between 3.9 and 3.0 million years ago. The distinctive characteristics of A. afarensis were: a low forehead, a bony ridge over the eyes, a flat nose, no chin, more humanlike teeth, pelvis and leg bones resembled those of modern man. Females were smaller than males. Their sexual dimorphism was males:females; 1.5. A. afarensis was not as sexually dimorphic as gorillas, but more sexually dimorphic than humans or chimpanzees. A lot of scientists think that Australopithecus afarensis was partially adapted to climbing the trees, because the fingers and toe bones of the species were curved and longer than the ones of the modern human.
Research shows that the Neanderthals had a “protruding jaw, receding forehead, and weak chin.” (Ansering Genesis) The average brain of a Neanderthal was slightly larger than a modern humans brain. It is also stated that this specific species generally was larger in body size. The Neanderthals also tend to live mostly in colder climates. Researchers and paleontologists found many remains left by the Neanderthals, which include bones and stone tools, found in Eurasia, Western Europe to Central, Northern, and Western Asia. “Neanderthals (or Neandertals) are our closest extinct human relatives. There is some debate as to whether they were a distinct species of the Homo genus (Homo Neanderthalensis) or a subspecies of Homo sapiens. Our well-known, but often misunderstood, fossil kin lived in Eurasia 200,000 to 30,000 years ago, in the Pleistocene Epoch.” (Live Science) The Neanderthals had a very similar appearance to human, although they were “shorter and stockier with angled cheekbones, prominent brow ridges, and wide noses.” (Live
The climate of Africa’s east coast ranges from deserts, to plains, to tropical areas. The diverse climate makes it difficult to generalize about the individual people and cultures found in the region. While climate is important to understanding the various cultures in East Africa, it is the animals that are the primary factor in the establishment of groups of people between 1300-1450 CE. Animals such as the elephant and rhinoceros were resources that early traders were interested in acquiring for
Often we can look at the evolution of humans and their trends to answer questions about living humans today. Since the split of the African ape and hominid lines six million years ago, our earliest ancestors from the genus Homo were bipedal and had the earliest evidence of stone tool technology (Relethford, 45). Bipedalism was an important evolutionary trend that contributed to our modern diet, because it allowed us to walk upright and have stone tool culture (deFrance, 2013). Although the origin of meat consumption is still unknown, it is suggested that the early hominid hunter gatherers used their tools for scavenging, which may have c...
The most significant feature that differentiates hominoids from hominins is bipedal locomotion. This evidence of converting to bipedal locomotion is explained by several theories, including the need for conservation of energy, the need to walk further distances for food due to the changing environment of Africa, and the regulation of body temperature (Ember, Ember and Peregrine 2015, 110-112). A second defining feature of hominins was the slowing down of maturation in childhood, which also contributed to the gradual increase in brain size. The evidence behind these features suggest that it would have allowed mothers to produce more offspring, which would have led to the them expanding further out to more regions of Africa (Ember, Ember and
The earliest known peoples of the world are known as Homo Habilis. These early peoples have been known to have lived in Ethiopia millions of years ago. They started out being around 4 feet tall weighing about 100 pounds. They had strong jaws allowing them to eat meat, long arms which helped them climb trees, and could walk upright. As for their shelter, they slept in nest high up in trees. Their existence helped the development of hand tools. Fossils have shown signs of the beginning of stone tools called “primitive tools” which included lumps of rocks but also sharp flakes used for cutting (Choi). However, lack of resources, and attacks of
There is robust evidence provided into conservative and tradition belief that complex cognition began as a result of the ability of knapping stone into tools. The field of psychology has proven that it requires complex motor skills to knap stones into flints and sharp stones that were associated with Oldowan and Acheulean Traditions during a pilot study on positron emission tomography (PET). (Wynn 2002, Pg. 391) This is because the application of bilateral, three dimensional, rotational and broken symmetry all aspects which required planning beforehand and a firm understanding of the natural world and its minerals. (Wynn 2002, Pg. 395) collaboration with anthropological approaches reveals that these skills could only be replicated in bonobos after provided with direct stimuli, restriction on other methods of production and the absence of intended symmetry. (Wynn 392) Tools are fundamental to hu...
Ungar received his Ph.D. in Anthropological Sciences from Stony Brook University. He now serves as Distinguished Professor and Chair of Anthropology at the University of Arkansas. In this book, Ungar discusses the evolution of hominin diets, the importance of diet in order to understand the ecology and evolution of distant ancestors and their relatives, the hominin fossil record, dental morphology, mandibular biomechanics, and the paleontological evidence for the evolution of human diet. This book was published in 2007, so it is fairly recent. In is not biased because, for the most part, it states different methods used to examine fossilized teeth and the evidence found from these methods.
erectus being the first species to have a more human-like diet via the hunter gatherer model (Bio Anth Reader, 110). The hunter-gatherer model, founded by H. erectus, led to meat becoming a large portion of their diet. This dietary change is supported in fossil records, as it was found that during this period there was a notable increase in animal bones found in H. Erectus sites (Bio Anth Reader, 110). Another source of evidence for this change in the fossil records is the smaller molars and more delicate jaws seen on H. erectus fossils, both of which indicate a diet that consisted of less plants and more meat (Bio Anth Reader, 110). Transitioning to high consumption of meat was the food based energy H. erectus needed to support large brain growth. All in all being the first hunters enabled H. erectus to assume a more human-like diet and allowed for the growth of a larger
According to the “out of africa” model, “modern humans evolved relatively recently in Africa, migrated into Eurasia and replaced all populations which had descended from Homo erectus” (Stringer). Human’s