Archeology Field

Anthropology and genetics are two fields that, when put together, discover some amazing things. Most of these amazing things are written in the book The Journey of Man, by Spencer Wells. In it, he explains where humans originated from, and how we came to populate the entire globe. It is both humbling and riveting, and a great start to understanding how much work truly goes in to studying our past.

In a skeleton found in Asia, the discovery of a hyoid bone in the the throat raised the question of whether or not Neanderthals had language capabilities. There has been much debate over this and many different theories, but the most widely accepted is that they were capable of producing human speech sounds, but whether or not they used this speech to communicate in any kind of language is still largely up for debate. In height, Neanderthals were roughly about the same size as modern humans, but did not live as long as modern humans. A Neanderthal who lived into his or her 40's was considered to be long lived, which is comparatively short to our much longer lives of roughly double that. Genetically, Neaderthals and humans differ in their DNA structure both in the mitochondrial DNA and in the nuclear DNA. The significance of the DNA evidence is that it is crucial in determining whether remains that are found are truly Neanderthal or an older hominin relative.

The fossils which passed the amino acid tests were called “transitional” elements between the two species.  They represented a part of Europe where the Neanderthals and early humans would have more than likely encountered each other.  The same DNA sequence was found in Neanderthals and early humans, but also in ancient cave bears from Croatia and Austria.  This made the researchers skeptical of their findings and decided to test for mtDNA stands.  When the fossils were further analyzed, the researchers found that the mtDNA embedded in the Neanderthal fossils was of a different strain than that in the early humans, which was of course, different from that of the ancient cave bears.

“Despite intense research efforts, no consensus has been reached about the genetic relationship between early modern humans and archaic human forms such as the Neanderthals” (Serre, 16 March 2004). It is a

Genetics laid out the foundation for all of humankind (Davis 10). Yet throughout history, the world has grown less interested in where it came from, and more to where it’s going. We all know that extinction is unavoidable whether it be life or language. Before explaining the main themes

Evidence supports that most likely, with male extinction comes primate extinction. This is because crucial maternal genes are sometimes activated through males on their Y- chromosomes (Marvan et al., 2005). But there is still a possibility, as the loss of the Y-chromosome after relocation of the SRY gene might prove successful for humans. However, evidence shows that when a Y-chromosome becomes functionless species are readily capable to adapt to male-less conditions (Marvan et al., 2005). Studies of the Y-chromosome have shown the importance of mapping out its evolutionary history in order to better understand why the Y-chromosome looks and functions the way it does. Its divergence outside of the monotremes showed that primates have ancestral Y- chromosome relationships with earlier mammals that independently evolved from other sex chromosome. Similarly, the variation of male specific genes, such as DAZ, display how significant the modification of the Y-chromosome truly can be. Its susceptibility to evolutionary pressures such as mutation, genetic drift, and natural selection. a The Y-chromosome’s potential for being preserved across lineages is relatively high. Although, some mutation can occur occasionally during

Darwin once hypothesized that humans evolved from an ape like ancestor and that those ancestors most likely originated in Africa since the majority of the great apes lived there. Unfortunately, Darwin’s hypothesis was ignored for reasons such as people (e.g. Europeans) not liking of having African ancestors—not to mention the lack of evidence did not help in supporting such hypothesis. Thus, finding the missing link between apes and humans was of great important—it still is. Thankfully, through extensive research many scientists have been able to determine a clade called Hominin [7]. This clade contains humans as well as their most closely related relatives.

The book begins by exploring gene variations in the human genome, and finding genes that show “strong signs of selection” over the last 10,000 years or so. This is possible due to relatively recent

Three recent fossil findings believed to be hominin ancestors have been selected for description and any controversy surrounding their discovery will be discussed. The three fossils are: Homo floresiensis, Homo rudolfensis and Kenyanthropus

Discovering the origins and timeline of our species genetics is an essential component of our history. The majority of research into this topic has been relatively recent within the past many years. Scientists are consistently providing new findings and new information for this rising area of interest. Through widespread learning of this material can we collectively make sound judgements based on our own past.

Decoding Neanderthals is an analysis of the Neanderthal genome shows that modern humans and Neanderthals had interbred some 60,000 years ago. It all started with our ancestors making their way from Africa to Europe. The ones who were in Africa evolved into humans and the ones who went to Europe developed into Neanderthals. They were also known as “Cavemen”. People saw them as some type of weird specie but the more you learn about them the more you start to realize that they are a lot like us humans.

When professor assigned us to read chapter 2 what is left? As soon I open this chapter, the title of the chapter grab my attention. The deliberation that came to my mind was this chapter is going to be related to past ancestors. Before reading main thought was rolling around my mind was how the archaeologists figure out the past history. The chapter talks about the archaeologists quickly survey the possibility of the enduring substantiation and look at the great variety of ways in which it has been preserved for us. On the main apprehension of the archeology is to study the artifacts, moveable objects which are made by humans, which provide evidence to help get answer questions about the past. Non-movable artifacts such as postholes, floors, ditches, etc. are known as feature.

Finally the researchers were able to conduct new experiments by examining the DNA from archaeological skeletons and contrasted them with coexisting Europeans with the use of computer simulations. Since the change in genetics was difficult to explain because of the randomness of inheritance, researchers were able to conclude that the positive selection played a main role in the change of people.

During the 1980s, three specialists, Allan Wilson, Rebecca Cann and Mark Stoneking, worked together on another theory that supports Charles Darwin's speculation, the “Mitochondrial Eve” hypothesis. In these tests, the scientists solemnly focused on mitochondrial DNA, human genes that lay within the cell and are passed from mother to child. These genes allow mutation, as they mutate quickly for adaptation, thus allowing those studying to find and track changes during short time periods. By focusing on these genes and comparing their differences, the three scientists were able to create a hypothesis about the time and place when modern humans began to evolve. According to their findings, they believe that modern humans are decentants from a single population, while earlier humans e.g. Neandertals and Homo erectus, had become extinct. Furthermore, the team compared the DNA of numerous people of differerent ethnic backgrounds and concluded that all humans did indeed evolve from 'one mother' in Africa about 150,000 years ago.

The first Neanderthal fossils found in Europe, a fragmented child’s cranium in Belgium in 1830, and an adult cranium in Gibraltar, were not immediately recognized as a divergent kind of human. Only in 1856 after a partial skeleton was found in a cave in the Neander Valley in Germany it became clear that these fossils belonged to an extinct human and our closest evolutionary relative (Hublin and Pääbo, 2006). Since then, questions about their relationship with modern humans have been fiercely debated between anthropologists. But what attracts most interest from scientists and popular media is the possibility of hybridization between Neanderthals and modern humans if, in other words, they were a genetically different specie or a