Homo Naledi : An Ancestral Investigation Of The Human Species

The first Neanderthal remains, discovered in Germany in 1856, were presented to the world of science at a meeting of the Lower Rhine Medical and Natural History Society held in Bonn in February 1857 and named a species, Homo neanderthalensis, by William King in 1864. Some Neanderthal fossils and other remains are in excellent condition, giving a good idea of Neanderthal culture. In 1887, two complete skeletons were found in a cave near Spy in Belgium, and more from sites in France in 1887, 1908 and 1911. These and other finds showed that the Neanderthals had populated Europe widely from about 130,000 to 28,000 years ago after which they became extinct. Most of these fossils were found in caves. Usually they are associated with cold

The Orrorin tugenensis was found with thigh bones. And the Orrorin tugenensis had small teeth like the Australopithicus.

Describe the major developments of early human and social evolution. Throughout, discuss tool manufacturing, language development, agriculture, social behavior, and population growth.

Neanderthals were a species of archaic humans who migrated out of Africa and into Europe and Asia. However, around 40,000 years ago the large populations of Neanderthals died off and became extinct. The mysterious circumstances that surrounded their extinction drove various research teams to undertake the task of excavating numerous Neanderthal sites to collect fossilized bones, and artifacts in order to learn more about this group of ancestral humans. Over the past years, major technological advances have allowed researches to analyze the fossilized remains of the Neanderthals which led to major discoveries. For example, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology found that the ear ossicles of Neanderthals and modern humans had similar functions but differed in terms of structure. In the study, the researchers used high-resolution computer tomography (CT) to scan numerous Neanderthal skulls from different sites in order to determine if there are ossicles present in the middle ear cavity (tympanic membrane). The scans revealed ossicles in fourteen different skulls which came as a surprise to the researchers since the bones of the ossicles are fragile and break down easily in the soil. The researchers then used microcomputed tomography scans and 3D geometric morphometrics in order to virtually reconstruct the bones of the ossicles which are composed of the malleus, incus and stapes. The 3D reconstructions of the ossicles allowed the scientists to

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)

The most recent ancestor to the modern human, Homo neanderthalensis existed between 300,000 and 35,000 years ago. Originating in Africa, ancestors of the early Neanderthals migrated northwards almost 800,000 years ago. These migrants colonized much of the Old World with the majority based in Europe and small groups scattered throughout the Middle East and Asia. Historically, the Neanderthals were among the most resiliant creatures to exist on Earth. As a population, they thrived during the European ice age 40,000 years ago. This ice age enveloped the majority of Northern and Central Europe and due to their physique were the Neanderthals were able to surive. Physcially, the Neanderthals were larger and more muscular than today’s human

The first chapter of the book discusses the way we can use fossil records to study the biological world. Fossils are one of the major lines of evidence we use to understand ourselves. Surprisingly, we are able to discover them with a high amount of precision and predictability. In particular, field paleontologists have it easier than it has ever been before due to the current information age. The physical hunt for important fossils, however, is much like it has always been. Three factors limiting the number of useful fossil sites include rock age, type (whether or not it can preserve fossils), and number of exposed rocks. So, it takes a bit of luck to reliably find fossils. Thankfully, rock

The Chauvet Cave, which is located in the southern part of modern day France, is full of Palaeolithic (Paleolithic) paintings created about thirty to thirty-three thousand years ago. The last Ice Age period was estimated to be around one-hundred-and-ten to twelve-thousand years ago, and places this within it. However, it was only discovered about twenty-two years ago in 1994 by a group of “cavers” led by the man himself, Jean-Marie Chauvet. Today, the cave is compelling to many observers as it is described to be loaded with “skillfully executed” charcoal and carved creations including animals such as horses/stallions, deer-like figures, lions, hyenas, owls, panthers, and rhinos.

The history of life on earth goes back to millions of years. Many species and creatures evolved and changed through time, leading up to what we know today as, modern man. One of the creatures most similar to modern man is the Neanderthals; they are sometimes referred to as “early modern humans.”

Throughout the book, Shubin illustrates the life of a paleontologist through engaging stories. Paleontologists work long hours, days and even years just to make one meaningful discovery, however each discovery contributes to a missing puzzle piece in evolution.. Shubin compares searching for fossils in the Arctic as “worse than finding the proverbial needle in the haystack” (Shubin, 2009). While reading through Shubin’s accounts of discovering fossils the reader will feel as if they are there uncovering new insights into the history of evolution. One can expect to learn about the arm, hand, teeth, head, nose, eyes and ears of

The evolutionary of human living has taken place over millions of years of geological time. It has evolved millions of generations, and billions of individuals. The human evolution is not understandable completely yet. Evolutionary change within a population can take place at different time and different rates, which yield different consequences. This process still taking place in the natural selection and human evolution. One species may be merged to the new species or developed to the next stage of the same species. Homo Habilis, Homo Erectus, Homo Heidelbergensis, and Neanderthals were the close ancestors of modern human, which developed from Australopithecus afarensis.

The fossils that are yet to be found in this project just very well may double the museum’s collection which is already at 3.5 million fossils. The project contains 16 fossil deposits that were recently unknown which makes us wonder how many more deposits are there left to discover (The Natural History Foundation, 2016). As technology advances and our understanding of these fossils grows it will be interesting to see what the future years will bring to the field of

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

The third piece of evidence that made it undoubtedly that Australopithecus afarensis walked upright was the footprints found at Laetoli in northern Tanzania. In 1976, Mary Leakey discovered hominid footprints that was preserved in volcanic ash and unearthed 1978. “The Laetoli Footprints” and skeletal structure excavated showed clear evidence of bipedalism. Many believe the three individuals who made these footprints belonged to the species Australopithecus afarensis. The footprints demonstrated that Australopithecus afarensis walked upright

The first preserved bones for this species was a lower jaw with teeth, found near Heidelberg, Germany. Other fossils include 5,500 bone fragments from 28 individuals found in “The Pit of Bones”, Spain, and possibly a fossilized skullcap discovered in northern India 's Narmada Valley that currently represents the easternmost occurrence (Meyer 2013).