The Australopithecus Family

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

2) Lucy is a collection of fossils from an early hominid species that is over 3 million years old. Lucy's fossils were discovered in Ethiopia, and Lucy was also very short compared to the average modern

In terms of lower limb proportions comparing Australopithecines and Paranthropus, only a few post cranial remains have been discovered. Comparing the post cranial remains of these genera to those of modern day non-human and human apes can give great insight to the locomotion and stature of Paranthropus and Australopithecines.

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.

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

Ramdius has a small cranial capacity that is “metrically and morphologically derived in the direction of later hominids” and shows a “reduction” in upper canine size (White et al., 2009, p. 80). According to White et. al. (2009), this signifies that Ar. Ramidus was an omnivore, and while its diet may “have included some hard foods,” it generally stuck to ripe fruit (White et al., 2009, p. 64, p. 80). Adding further evidence, Ardipithecus does not have “sharp, daggerlike upper canines seen in chimpanzees” (Gibbons, 2009, p. 1599) Moreover, the muzzle of Ar. Ramidus “juts out less than a chimpanzee's does,” also likening the hominid to its ancestors (Gibbons, 2009, p. 1599). However, Ardipithecus differentiates significantly from Australopithecus in the types of plants it did eat. Australopithecus has a diet “of more than 30% C4 plants” while the diet of Ar. Ramdius “vary only between ~10 and 25% C4” (White et al., 2009, p. 79). This delineates that Ardipithecus “exploited a wider range of woodland resources” than chimpanzees. It also “did but did not have access to the “open biotype foods” later consumed by Austraolopithecus (White et al., 2009, p. 79). Socially, Ardipithicus “lacks the delayed canine eruption” found in chimpanzees” (White et al., 2009, p. 79). Similar to Australopithecus, this indicates that “canine was not an important component of adult sociobehaviroal relationships” (White et al., 2009, p.

Australopithecus ramidus represents the oldest species that possesses certain features that create a unequivocal link to the hominin lineage. Both sites from which Ar. ramidus fossils were recovered , every site offers slightly totally different environment reconstructions. At Gona, several massive mammal fauna related to Ar. ramidus are intense grazers, which might indicate a environment with a major grass-covered peice. different indicators from Gona, however, recommend that the atmosphere was a a lot of mosaic environs, consisting of closed woodlands and a lot of open, grass-covered environments. Similar proof from the components of the middle awash region wherever Ar. ramidus has been found, in contrast, result in reconstructions of a closed woodland. though the Aramis reconstruction suggests a a lot of closed surroundings, each environment reconstructions square measure in keeping with the concept that bipedality at first evolved during a time of woodland surroundings instead

Hominin is a group of modern humans, extinct human species and all of our immediate ancestors, such as members of Australopithecus, Paranthropus and Ardipithecus. Of those members, Australopithecus is one of the extinct genuses of hominins. Based on paleontological and archaeological findings, the Australopithecus genus evolved in Eastern African around 4 million years ago. During this time period, different australopithecine species emerged, including A. afarensis, A. africanus, A. anamensis and A. garhi – to name a few.

here is an argument as to which Australopithecine gave rise to the genus homo. Evidence indicates that it was Australopithecus Sediba. The species lived 1.9 million years ago and greatly resembled Homo. According to Erin Wayman in his article Fossil Finds Complicate Search for Human Ancestor scientists still don't fully agree on where A. Sediba fits in the human family tree, but there is evidence to support it is possible ancestor. The study of two skeletons, on male one female, found in Malapa Cave in South Africa show that: the shape of the frontal lobe of the males brain is very similar to that of Homo. Also the pelvis had a mix of australopithecine- and homo-like traits leading scientists to believe they spend more time walking around and

The Australopithecus afarensis was a robust, early australopithecine that lived 3 to 3.6 million years ago (McFarland). The origin of this species name comes from two different factors. The first comes from the genus name, Australopithecus. This genus means “southern ape” and was originally developed for a species found in South Africa. The word afarensis is based on the location where some of the first fossils for this species were first discovered (Dorey). “Lucy” was an Au. afarensis that was discovered in Afar, Ethiopia 3.2 million years ago and “Dikika Child” was of the same species that was discovered in Dikika, Ethiopia 3.3 million years ago. Because to these discoveries, the Au. afarensis is one our best known ancestors due to Lucy’s

Australopithecus africanus is a species of human like and ape like animal. The Australopithecus africanus lived primarily in Southern Africa. A man by the name of Raymond dart set out to find one and he did. “It was half ape and half human, and the skull of a child in Johannesburg, South Africa” says Brain. Dart chipped and chipped away at the rock containing the skull until eventually he was able to make out the child’s face. The child had a full set of milk teeth and also its permanent molars in place.

The scientist predict that Lucy is at least 20 years old because her wisdom teeth had fully come in. Her head looked primitive and her brain was not much bigger than a chimpanzee’s. She was an ape with a human looking body but underdeveloped skull and brain. We obviously still had a long way to come in the 3.18 million years between then and now, but Lucy already showed clear differences from the normal apes. The shape of her hip bones and her upright posture means that Lucy is closer to us than the chimpanzee. Knowing that Lucy could walk on two legs and was about 3’6’’ tall.

One of the earliest hominins are grouped as pre- australopiths. We came to know about

Prof Brian Villmoare of the university in Vegas said that it contains a clear link into a 3.2 million year old hominid who was eventually discovered in the same place in 1994 who was called Lucy. Anthropologists question if Lucy’s kind which is the Australopithecus afarensis could have evolved into which may be the very

There are many traits and behaviors which can be used to define as early humans, such as big brains, language, and distinctive cultural or behavioral traits such as tool technology. One of the most fundamental human characteristic which distinguish early hominins from other apes is bipedalism. (Kottak) Walking upright on two legs is the trait that defines the hominin lineage. It took paleoanthropologists a long time to realize that bipedalism is the key difference between human and ape. They tended to believe large brains made hominins unique and it was a reasonable conclusion at that time because the only available hominin fossils were Neanderthals and Homo Erectus. However, with more and more earlier hominin fossils being found, paleoanthropologists