There was a chief new discovery of fossil bones and teeth belonging to the earliest human ancestors ever discovered. The fossil bones predate the oldest formerly discovered human ancestor by more than a million years. The discovery was of fossil remains of a hominid that lived in present day Ethiopia between 5.2 and 9.8 million years ago. (Hominids include all species following the split as of the chimpanzees on the “human” side of the evolutionary tree.)
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
This chapter starts off by explaining the evolution of the first human ancestors, which originated around seven million years ago. Historians and scientists were able to conclude that the closest living relatives of humans are the gorilla, bonobo, and the chimpanzee. All humans from the start originated and evolved in Africa. Of the many evolutionary stages of humans, Homo erectus was the first to migrate outward into other areas. Neanderthals have constantly been portrayed as unintelligent, desolate, and inconsiderate creatures, from past and present points of perspective, but evidence from archeological digs show they essentially cared for their sick and buried their dead. "The Great Leap Forward" is what Jared Diamond calls the earliest signs or evidence of uniform tools, bone tools, jewelry, and much more. This great leap was estimated to be around 50,000 years ago. Around the same period, hominids began to spread to New Guinea and Australia. As hominids adapted to their new surroundings, large animal species were wiped out because they weren’t evolved to defend themselves against hominids and other predators. The extinction of many large animal species in Eurasia occurred shortly after
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
Many people often consider our first milestone in life to be our first step. It is the beginning of many important developments as an individual. It was also the beginning of our development as a species. Dr. Donald Johanson and Dr. Tim White discovered two of the most amazing specimens that would be the stepping-stones to the beginning of evolutionary development. Australopithecus Afarensis (Lucy) and Ardipithecus Ramidus (Ardi) were the first fossils found in Africa that showed signs of early evolutionary development that is connected to Homo sapiens in the evolutionary tree. Lucy and Ardi are important to our
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.
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
Many people ask questions about how was the first human created? Anthropologists work day and night to try to find the answer to this question. One lead they do have is the discovery of a first human fossil in Ethiopia. Scientists believed that through looking at the timeline of the fossil the first human appeared originally at 2.8 million years. But discovered that the first human was 400,000 years older that they thought.
Masters of the Planet is organized historically, and traces the diverse and complicated history of hominids over the past 8 million years. The book begins with the ancient origins of the hominid lineage, it outlines the rise of bipedal apes beginning with Australopithecus (including “Lucy”), the harsh life on the savannah, the multiple emergence from Africa, the spread of early "Homo" throughout the Old World continents, the misunderstood Neanderthals (our distant cousins) and finally the arrival of modern Homo sapiens.
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.
Human evolution according to research started over 6 million years ago. The outcome of the evolution process is the current human beings. Scientific studies have revealed over the years a remarkable affinity between the chimpanzees/Apes and human beings. Even though this reality is not a definitive prove that human beings evolved from apes, it does show that the human beings are in one way or another related to other primates. Scientists suppose that the humans and the primates shared a common ancestor. The subject of what makes humans what they are and their origin has been the exclusive purpose leading to many scientific studies globally (Coolidge & Wynn, 2011). Studies believe that Africa was the origin of evolution millions of years ago. Fossil remains have been discovered in different parts of Africa as well as other regions of the world. Different hominins have been discovered around the world in the last 1 million years. Thus, the different discoveries have led to comparisons between the various species of hominins to clarify on their similarities as well as differences. This essay seeks to explain whether they were distinctively different species or regional versions of the same species.
Human evolution is the gradual process in which people, or Homo sapiens, originated from apelike ancestors. Scientific evidence, particularly in the form of fossils and secondary remains, show that the physical and behavioral traits shared by all people evolved over a period of approximately six million years. Humans are primates. Both genetic and physical similarities show that humans and the great apes (large apes) of Africa, chimpanzees (including bonobos, or so-called “pygmy chimpanzees”) and gorillas share a common ancestor that lived between 8 and 6 million years ago. The volume of fossils found in Africa suggests that most evolution occurred there and is likely the place of origin for early humans. This brings to fruition the “out of Africa” theory, also called the “single-origin hypothesis.”
There are two fossil species available to the study of Ardipithecus: Ar. ramidus and Ar. kadabba (Gibbons, 2009). There is much greater evidence to analyze Ar. ramidus, a hominine that lived from the Late Miocene to the Early Pliocene (Gibbons, 2009). The 1994 discovery of A. ramidus, commonly referred to as Ardi, included “125 pieces of her skeleton” such as “pelvis, hands, arms, leg, and feet” (Gibbons, 2009, p. 1598). Furthermore, it was determined that Ardi was a female “based on probability assessments of canine size” (White et al., 2009, p. 80). The same paper also argues paper that Ardi lived in the “Afar Rift region of northeastern Ethiopia” six
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.
According to physical evidence, and theories, scholars have concluded upon a whole hypothesis. Based on their knowledge and belief, modern humans diverged from Homo sapiens between 200,000 and 150,000 years ago specifically in Africa, that between 125,000 and 60,000 years ago members of Homo sapiens left Africa, and that these