Ardipithecus Ramidus Kadabba: The Oldest Hominid Essay example

Ardipithecus has been discovered, an Ancestor that dates back prior to the remains of Lucy. In the article written by Ann Gibbons and others, it dives into the discovery of our most ancient ancestor and the clues given to us from all 110 remains that have been found of A. ramidus. First let me begin with Lucy whose remains were found in 1974 and that dated back to 3.2 million years ago. These skeletal remains gave us the evidence needed to prove that our ancient ancestors were bipedal before evolving their big brains. After Lucy was discovered the scientist found themselves with even more questions, such as, were any previous ancestors before Lucy bipedal or did

Discoveries relating to the human lineage are extremely exciting and often baffling. This is the case with the recent discovery of what seems to be the oldest member of the human family. A skull found in northern Chad in 2001, has been deemed the earliest relative to the human ever found. Nicknamed Toumai, and discovered by Michel Brunet and his paleontology team, this new category of human has been given the scientific name, Sahelanthropus tchaensis. What makes this skull so definitive is the fact that it dates back approximately 6-7 million years in the earth’s history (Whitfield 2002). Since the discovery there have been anthropologists and paleontologists that have

Afropithecus is a fairly large extinct ape- 50kg, characterized by a lack of a prehensile tail, long snout with procumbent incisors, generalized limb proportions and thick molar enamel. The braincase of Afropithecus is fairly small in size compared to other Miocene apes and Old World Monkeys from the same area. The primitive characteristics of Afropithecus suggest a relation to early catarrhines- such as Aegyptopithecus. And the post-cranial fossil record suggest that it was both arboreal and quadrupedal, similar to the proconsul that Afropithecus is categorized

This article shows how Paleoanthropologist David Lordkipanidze and his group of archeologist discovered a 1.8 million-year-old skull fossil that could lead to knowing more about the earliest known ancestors of humans that ventured outside of Africa. Lordkipanidze’s excavation in the Georgia site known as Dmanisi. With this archeology find, it has been concluded that all early fossil humans belong to the same species known as Homo erectus. The article explains that the Dmanisi hominins had brains less than half the size of a modern human’s, and are key to understand the evolution and expansion these ancestors experienced from Africa to Eurasia. Genetic studies indicate that their expansion began from Africa about 1.9 million years ago. The article also mentions that with these new findings there can be a better ground from where to start to understand these ancestors as how they lived and socialized. Lordkipanidze does mention that the Dmanisi “were very primitive, we think there were social groups that connected with each other and learned from each other”.

Professor David Lordkipanidze presented some highly interesting information regarding our ancestry as humans. He is an internationally renowned scientist and paleontologist, and it was a great privilege to hear about his work in the Dmanisi where he led the discovery and analysis of the earliest human found outside of Africa.

The discovery of Ardipithecus Ramidus (Ardi) changed our whole insight of how humans evolved. The theory that we evolved from ape like species was disproven. Because of Ardi’s has close resemblance of qualities of both a chimpanzee and a human, she is thought to be the “missing link” between our last common ancestor and the Australopithecines. Ardi’s had a pelvis structure, which was evident that she was bipedal on the ground while she could also climb trees, using her long fingers and opposable big toe for grasping, however the flexibility that apes use to grab and scale tree trunks and vines she lacked. The way the hand, wrist and shoulder bones demonstration shown that she wasn't a knuckle walker and did not spend much time hanging or swinging

In this article “A New Kind of Ancestor: Ardipithecus Unveiled”, Ann Gibbon explains the discovery of an international Scientific’s team. This finding is the oldest known human ancestor skeleton and it has 4.4 million years. The Ardipithecus ramidus is the most complete earliest hominin found until now because it has the pelvis, hands, feets and most of the skull and teeth, it is bipedal and its features show a new early hominin, but is still being similar to other species.

Our newly discovered human ancestor was unearthed about two years ago by amateur cavers, They were exploring the limestone tunnels in the rising star cave near Johannesburg, South Africa.

In the historical year of 2013, two amateur cave explorers, Rick Hunter and Steven Tucker, discovered a primitive human-like species in a cave in South Africa. After two years, Lee Berger, a professor at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa was tipped off by the cavers, who had explored the deep cave to find multiple fossils. Berger and his team soon identified the multitude of fossils as a primitive human. This revolutionary discovery has added an ancestor to our evolutionary tree.

Richard Potts of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History said the Morocco fossils "appear to reflect the very early transition to Homo sapiens, very possibly denoting the outset of the lineage to which all people

A team of scientists have discovered the remains of a human-like species whose existence was not known until now. They are estimated to be around 3 million years old and to have existed right before Homo erectus, in the chain of human evolution. The name of this new species is Homo Naledi. The interesting part about this discovery, besides the fact that we completely ignored their existence, is that they were found in burial chambers, which might indicate some sort of ritual behavior.

In Search of Human Origins, a film based on the findings of a three million year old female skeleton, that lived near the lake of an African forest. However, ‘Lucy’ was the given name when she was discovered by anthropologist Donald Johanson in Ethiopia many decades ago. Primarily identified as A. afarensis. Lucy, a remarkable piece of treasure portrayed a characteristic of having the ability to walk upright and the capability to lock her knee joints, thus, allowing her to be listed as a vital starting point of the transition between humans and animals. Though, the story of ‘Lucy’ is an interesting one, as she is said to be the “missing link” between humans and apes, essentially, allowing individuals to get a key understanding of the earliest common human ancestor. As Johanson set out on a journey through the Great Rift Valley of Africa, he and his team gathered years of essential evidence that helped tie together the history of human origins known to be the “first family.”

Indeed, a French Geologist by the name of Maurice Taieb first discovered Hadar in 1968. Taieb had a conversation with a doctoral candidate about his work in Ethiopia. Donald Johanson who was a graduate student became intrigued by Taeib’s fossil discoveries, so he joined Taieb and French paleontologist Yves Coopens to organize the International Afar Research Expedition, and the team of French and American scientists began working at Hadar in the fall of 1973. This team of three recovered hominin fossils, which included some of the earliest existence of bipedalism. Additionally, other findings that can be recognized are the “Lucy skeleton”, but also by the year of 1977 there were over 250 hominin species that had were recovered. How did the hominin live? They lived in a rich habitat that was surrounded by wet and dry environments. For example “Animals whose diets consisted of rich grasses, leaves and branches include various antelope species (e.g., impalas, dwarf antelope, duikers, and extinct forms similar to modern wildebeests and waterbucks), giraffes, gazelles, and the extinct three-toed horse”. You may ask what the “Lucy” skeleton is. The Lucy skeleton is known to be the oldest and earliest human ancestor, but also it is known as the missing link. The missing link referred to a chimpanzee that would resemble something between today’s humans and apes. As a matter of fact, scientists reveal that “our forebears underwent a

The origin of the genus Homo is widely debated, with several candidate ancestors being proposed in the genus Australopithecu. I believe that Au. garhi gave rise to the genus homo. I believe this to be true because even though it is believed that the Au. afarensis was most likely ancestor of the genus homo, the ancesteral-descendent linkage between the two taxa was difficult to identify, owing the virtual lack of a hominid fossil record in the East African dating to 3-2 mya, the timing during which earliest Homo likely evolved. The Au. garhi was found in Bouri, in Ethiopia's Middle Awash region, and it is dated to about 2.5 mya. The Au. garhi is represented by bones, teeth, a partial skeleton, and a skull. For the first time in hominin evolution,

When australopithecus afarensis was first discovered it was thought to be the ancestor of genus homo, even though "there was a virtual lack of a hominin fossil record in East Africa dating to 3-2 mya, the time which earliest Homo likely evolved" (Our Origins). This, however, changed when australopithecus garhi was discovered later in 1999 in the Hata beds of Ethiopa's Middle Awash (Asfaw, White Lovejoy, et. al,). Au. garhi could possibly be the ancestor of the genus homo. Au. garhi like Au. afarensis had a primitive face projection beneath the nose and a small brain. (Our Origins). However the ratio of the arm to leg length that was found was in Au. garhi much humanlike than apelike. (Our Origins). Due to its physical features including its