Essay On The Discovery Of Hominid Fossils Deep In A Cave In South Africa

The infamous event of the Piltdown hoax is one that continues to draw speculative attention over a century after the initial announcement of the paleoanthropological findings. Although many scientists, especially those involved in the field of paleoanthropology, would like to forget the incident entirely, the Piltdown man—taxonomically referred to as Eoanthropus dawsoni—is perhaps the greatest hoax in anthropological history. By 1912, British archaeologists and paleontologists were desperate for a significant paleoanthropological finding that would provide the missing link between humans and apes in hominin evolution (Prosser, 2009). The Piltdown man was originally a famous finding that straddled the human-animal boundary, dichotomously

The Rising Star Cave system is located in the Cradle of Humanity World Heritage Site above Johannesburg, South Africa. (Wilford) It was here that the now extinct Hominin species, Homo Naledi, was found. This discovery gave scientists great insight to the beginnings of the Genus Homo. The Homo Naledi is believed to be the link between Genus Homo and Genus Australopithecus. This site is regarded as an ancient, and possibly the first, burial grounds of the entirety of the Genus Homo. With the knowledge is is thought that our understanding of our ancestors is warped. Scientists used to think that our ancestors were at a much lower level of thinking than us, these ‘cave men’ were actually rather smart and self aware enough so that they had a burial site for their dead. How one skeleton was positioned and the fact that there was an ancient cougar paw with marks that showed the paw had been severed leads scientists to believe that this was a highly regarded person which entails the Homo Naledi to have a system of caste. (Townsley)

Homo floresiensis (“Man of Flores”) is the name for a possible new species in the genus Homo, remarkable for its small body, small brain, and survival until relatively recent times (www.en.wikipedia.org). Anthropologists Peter Brown of University of New England in South Wales, Australia, Michael Morwood and their colleagues have argued that a variety of features, both primitive and derived, identified LB1 (the first skeleton found in cave of Liang Bua) is that of a new species of hominin, Homo floresiensis. The first specimens were discovered by Thomas Sutikna and colleagues from the Indonesian Research Centre for Archaeology in Liang Bua cave of Flores, Indonesia in September of 2003

The “wrist morphology” is more similar to that of African ape/humans than that of Neanderthals or Homo Sapiens (iv.). The reason that this is contradictory to the theory that Lb1 is simply a mutated member of Homo Erectus is that the wrist structure actually forms during the early stages of prenatal development greatly decreasing the possibility that the wrist structure could have been a modified version of modern Homo’s. This evidence would indicate that Lb1 belongs to a species of Homo that branched off before the evolution of the modern wrist structure that was prevalent in more recent

Blastocystis hominis (B hominis) is a common parasitic organism found throughout the world. An infection with B hominis is called blastocystosis. The parasite lives in your large intestine and can be found in stool. It can remain in the body for weeks, months, or years. It is not known whether the parasite B hominis causes any symptoms in humans or if the associated symptoms may be caused by infection with other parasitic organisms, bacteria, or viruses. Often, B hominis is found along with other organisms that are more likely to be the cause of your symptoms.

As recently as only five years ago, anthropology researchers found that humans and Neanderthals had interbred at some point in time simply based on the shapes of skulls found in caves buried beneath thousands of years of soil. This mirrors a 2010 study that has uncovered the first proven

Another major phenotype to be discussed is the drastically divergent brain size when compared to other Homo species. The LB1 remains contain a cranium with a volume of 380cm3 (Brown, et al.). When this brain size is compared to a modern Homo sapiens volume of approximately 1300cm3 (Cosgrove, et al), the difference is almost laughable. Instead, the LB1 cranial capacity is more analogous with that of genus Australopithecus, at 450cm3 (Roth and Dicke), which would seem to indicate that the brain size of the specimen is primitively determined.

Superficially, anatomically modern humans and Neanderthals have much in common. Current data suggest Neanderthals had language, religion, and shared select genes with Homo-sapiens. The standing question is whether or not these similarities are a product of gene flow. This paper will be an extensive overview of the most substantial evidence that proves or disproves any genetic and anatomical relationships between anatomically modern humans and Neanderthals.

Neanderthals are highly misunderstood. Their demise is questioned by many but in the end researchers have come to an answer. After comparing mtDNA from a gorilla, a modern day human, and an ancient

Scientists have been able to discover things about our past that are almost inconceivable over 150 years ago when Charles Darwin was releasing his book, “The Origin of Species” (Gibbons, 2009a). Fossils from different australopith species have been found that lived between 4 million and 2 million years ago that show the clearer transition to human. The author, Kate Wong (2013) believes the Australopithecus sediba is the most important human ancestor discovered. Even though the discovery of Au. sediba allowed anthropologists to see human species a long time ago, there are opinions on whether it was the most important human ancestor discovered. This essay will explore how hominids have gone through many changes to get from Ardipithecus to Homo habilis and the important discoveries by scientists and what I think is the most important to the study of human origins.

In 2003, diggers have discovered a small sized fossil, which was nicknamed Hobbit for the small size, is said to have become extinct about 50,000 years ago. The discovery took place in Liang Bua Cave, Indonesia. The study showed that the bones of Homo Floresiensis could date back anywhere from 60 to 100 thousand years old. The body was also discovered with tools that can be dated back 50 to 190 thousand years. The remains of this “hobbit”

Heidelbergensis, H. Neanderthalensis, H. Sapien Sapien. The width of their craniums are all in a range of 6 mm while the cranium of both H. Neanderthalensis and H. Sapien Sapien are both 180mm. This portrays that the hominids shown were close in generations and are directly connected in the lineage. No gaps are shown in the measurements indicating a difference in generations. The lineage represents the growth of the craniums caused by random mutations, spanning millions of years. Our evidence depicts that the closest ancestor to humans are H. Sapien Sapien, the most recent hominid that has been the last of its species. Also, in the connection between H. Habilis and H. Erectus, a minor gap is seen between the cranium width and the length of braincase. The H. Habilis’ width of cranium is 98 mm while H. Erectus’ is 108mm. The length of the braincase of H. Habilis; is 115 mm while H. Erectus’ is 175 mm. The hominids are still seen as subsequent generations, but the generation gap depicts that the mutation in skull volume was

In recent years, anthropologists have made incredible work in discovering all the different kinds of human species. The discovery of a certain human species, the Australopithecus Afarensis, was mostly credited to the finding of a single individual, AL 288-1, or “Lucy.” She has helped anthropologists to understand the diet, anatomy, environment, sexual dimorphism, the technology or tools used during their time, and bipedalism of this early hominin. The evolution of humans is interesting due to the questions we are trying to find and the answers we might never find. While investigating the mysteries behind Australopithecus Afarensis, it may shine some light on how closely related to this ancestor species.

Our world as we know it, is full of missing puzzle pieces when it comes to completing the picture of how human kind truly came to be. For years and years talented fieldworkers have been working all over the world to try and collect all of these missing pieces. Slowly over the years an increasing amount of body and fossil records are helping us better understand when, where and how hominins came into and left existence. There have been many discoveries between the Australopithecus Afensis and more recent discoveries with very human like features like the Homo Erectus. The discovery of the Australopithecus Sediba is seen as a bench mark halfway point in our evolutionary time line their fossil discovery gives us insight on how they would have lived, what they could have looked like and how they are presumably related to humans.

Rising Star, a cave system found in South Africa, is said to be the home of a new species of human. When scientists first heard the news that a discovery had been made, they reacted with awe and exasperation. Never before had there been a discovery of this monstrosity; more than a thousand bones had been discovered inside of Rising Star. Further research into the cave system has revealed that there is a possibility that Rising Star was a cemetery of sorts, which would support that the fossils belonged to a creature of higher-level thinking. Carol Ward, a University of Missouri paleoanthropologist, states that “it’s a stunning collection of bones, unlike any we’ve seen before,” However, despite the abundance of fossils found within the cave, the age of the fossils have yet to be identified. Once the age of the fossils are identified, scientists will be able