Modern Humans Research Paper

We share almost 99 percent of our genetic material with chimpanzees. Yet we have several traits that are very different. Two legged walking, or bipedalism seems to be one of the earliest of the major hominine characteristics to have evolved. To

In the Article “Redrawing Humanity’s Family Tree” by John Noble Wilford, describes how two different skulls challenge the theories of human origins and migrations. The Central African skull, that dates back to nearly 7 million years ago, was assigned to a whole new genus and species because of its apelike and evolved hominid species. The 1.75-million-year-old Georgian skull shows evidence that the first hominids may have been intercontinental travelers who set motion the migrations that occupied the whole planet. Finally a third skull was found that is the same age and shares a resemblance but, the size of the skull suggests that the brain was smaller than expected for H. erectus.

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

timeline of modern humans, Homo sapiens, and how long they have been in existence. According to mainstream science, popular belief holds that the history of our species is confirmed to be confined to the past 12,000 years. This figure is a culmination based on what we know about evolution and what we have been able to gather through fossil analyzation and dating of artifacts as well as human remains. Although the subject of human antiquity, also referred to as human origins, does not prompt a great deal of debate there may actually be the need for some. A reexamination of the notion that humans have only existed a mere 12,000 years should be considered as there may be evidence to support a much greater antiquity of modern human life. Alternative researchers have offered up evidence of “forbidden archeology” that contradicts the mainstream beliefs of human origins, however these discoveries seem to have been swept under the scientific rug.

Anthropologists of primeval and present times have been tasked to research on the Neanderthal and find out the exact time that they lived. They argued that the first humans that had proto-Neanderthal traits existed as early as 350,000-600,000 years ago (Jordan 114). Later they discovered that “true Neanderthals” appeared between 200,000 and 250,000 years ago. Nevertheless, the exact date during which they existed has been disputed by many scientists. According to (Pääbo 76), the first recognized human fossils were discovered in 1856 a pre-historic site a long Neander Valley in Germany (hence the name Neanderthal man); this creature is suspected to have a close resemblance to the modern man, differing in their genetic composition by just 0.12%.

In spite of the underlying reality that Neanderthals are typically or often perceived and depicted as not necessarily possessing all the fundamental defining features of modern human behavior where it seems as though Neanderthals emulated the behavior of modern humans rather than independently fabricating or developing their own types of culture materials unique to themselves. Albeit this may be the case,

Our evidence of the relatedness between early and modern hominids is the we have the same head features such as molars, canines, protrusion of the lower face, and the same orientation of where the spine connects with the skull. The size of the these features range in size, for example the A. africanus lower jew had 2 molars that were 2 cm, each one about 1 cm in size. Our Homo sapien skull had 3 molars (meaning it had a wisdom tooth) and measure of 3 cm, again each one being around 1 cm. All of the skulls had a protruding lower face and even through all of the skulls have the spines connect in the bottom centre of the skull, but they still varying degrees

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

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

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

Over the past decades man has identified common behavioral traits among groups of modern humans that can be attributed to a survival adaption from the prehistoric era. We are discovering that the traits that make us human are being found among others during the Paleolithic era. It has provided us with clues about adaptions and behavioral patterns involved with our most earliest ancestors. Through these observations we are finding the similarities in their tool use, natural habitat and communication.

The origin of modern human behavior is a subject in anthropology that accumulates much debate. Cognition is the dominant factor in such behavior, therefore raises the question, “when did this separation of intelligent or modern thought from the primitive come to daily behavior for our genus?” There are two such answers that hold experts in the field captive in debate: the rapid “imagination revolution” in the European-centrailized Upper Paleolithic, and the steadiness of cognitive growth provided first in Africa during the Middle Paleolithic. Although each argument provides supportive evidence for their perspective claims, the more naturally convincing shows this creative revolution taking place much earlier than the Upper Paleolithic. This explanations human cognition developing with no brisk advantageous revolutionary response, and instead by gradual means. This metamorphosis follows the pattern of biological human evolution. My argument combats the “imagination revolution” claim to the origins of creativity using specific artifacts dated earlier than those of European restrictions. Furthermore, it is the lack of excavation in Africa and the conditions of the terrain itself that pose problematic preservation of artifacts, unlike in Europe, to exonerate this innovative exclusivity. These pieces of evidence in Africa exemplify a higher process of thinking, commonly those showing deliberate means of bead and rock art used for both personal functions of expression. If art

There has been a great deal of heated debate for the last few decades about where modern Homo sapiens originated. From the battle grounds, two main theories emerged. One theory, labeled “Out-of-Africa” or “population replacement” explains that all modern Homo sapiens evolved from a common Homo erectus ancestor in Africa 100,000 years ago. The species began to spread and replace all other archaic human-like populations around 35,000 to 89,000 years ago. The rivaling opinion, entitled the “regional continuity” theory or “multiregional evolution” model refutes this theory and states modern humans evolved from various species of Homo erectus who interbred with others that lived in

The Australopithecines were the first to walk upright, or became bipedal, although rather clumsily. Their walk was unsteady, judging by their bone structure (Figure 1.), and they most likely were quadrupedal the majority of the time. The Australopithecines had a brain about the size of an orange, high up cheekbones, and big molars. They were about three feet tall, and had small thumbs. Australopithecines, while definitely possessing some human characteristics, humans are still much closer to the chimps. Australopithecines were vegetarians; even if they knew that animals were edible, they still had no reliable means of killing animals for food. About 2 million years ago, highly evolved Australopithecines made the

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.