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Steven H's Reviews > The First Human: The Race to Discover Our Earliest Ancestors
The First Human: The Race to Discover Our Earliest Ancestors
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AN EXCELLENT ACCOUNT OF THE SEARCH FOR HOMINIDS, UP TO 2006
Ann Gibbons is a writer on human evolution for Science magazine; she wrote in the Introduction to this 2006 about a 1994 discovery, "the renowned Hominid Gang fossil hunter Kamoya Kimeu found two parts of a shinbone that resembled those of Lucy's species, showing that this chimp-sized creature had walked upright... These body parts from several individuals showed a mixture of primitive traits, such as those found in a chimpanzee, and more derived characters---new traits that appeared later in early humans but not in the African apes. The new fossils also showed some unique features of their own. The mix suggested that Meave and the Hominid Gang had assembled fossils of a new type of early human---an upright-walking hominid that was more primitive than Lucy." (Pg. 19)
She notes of an earlier discovery of Louis and Mary Leakey, "The discoveries also offered a new view of human evolution, showing that the earliest sign of becoming human was not a big brain... The big brain did not come until later, less than 2 million years ago, when it began to expand in Homo Erectus, reaching its largest size in Neanderthals and modern humans." (Pg. 43)
She points out that "it was high time for Ramapithecus to come down from the human family tree. More than a decade would pass before many paleoanthropologists --- would admit that Ramapithecus was no hominid. Even then, it would take the paleoanthropologists closest to the fossils to finish off Ramapithecus as a hominid---on the basis of its anatomy." (Pg. 76)
She observes, "Then along came Lucy and other members of her species, walking upright with tiny brains---and well before stone tool kits show up in the fossil record, at about 2.5 million years. The thoroughly upright gait of Lucy suggested a host of new questions: How long did it take Lucy's ancestors to develop a modern gait? Did upright walking appear rapidly in one population? Or did it take many, many generations to remodel the anatomy of hominids before they walked like a modern human? [Donald] Johanson was among those who recognized that it was time to consider new hypotheses about why human ancestors got up on their hind legs and started walking in the first place." (Pg. 96-97)
After new discoveries by Tim White and his team, "Some paleoanthropologists were beginning to wonder if they were seeing fossils that were part of a radiation, or a proliferation of different types of early hominids that walked upright in different ways---and if more than one had been alive at the same time 4 million years ago. This talk of a 'bushy' family tree would drive White up a tree; he would point out that two species older than 4 million years was hardly a radiation... Nonetheless, consensus about the neat line of descent from A. ramidus down to Lucy and eventually to modern humans was beginning to erode." (Pg. 152)
She quotes an article written by Tim White, which concluded, "the science of paleoanthropology at the millennium is in serious trouble. The paleoanthropology commons are at risk from the selfish activities of practitioners. Tenure-tracked, mediaphile paleoanthropologists seem unlikely to rescue the discipline from tragedy. They simply have too much to gain by acting individually and institutionally, rather than for the common good." (Pg. 186-187)
This is a well-written and very engaging tale of the search for our hominid ancestors, that will interest anyone studying the subject.
Ann Gibbons is a writer on human evolution for Science magazine; she wrote in the Introduction to this 2006 about a 1994 discovery, "the renowned Hominid Gang fossil hunter Kamoya Kimeu found two parts of a shinbone that resembled those of Lucy's species, showing that this chimp-sized creature had walked upright... These body parts from several individuals showed a mixture of primitive traits, such as those found in a chimpanzee, and more derived characters---new traits that appeared later in early humans but not in the African apes. The new fossils also showed some unique features of their own. The mix suggested that Meave and the Hominid Gang had assembled fossils of a new type of early human---an upright-walking hominid that was more primitive than Lucy." (Pg. 19)
She notes of an earlier discovery of Louis and Mary Leakey, "The discoveries also offered a new view of human evolution, showing that the earliest sign of becoming human was not a big brain... The big brain did not come until later, less than 2 million years ago, when it began to expand in Homo Erectus, reaching its largest size in Neanderthals and modern humans." (Pg. 43)
She points out that "it was high time for Ramapithecus to come down from the human family tree. More than a decade would pass before many paleoanthropologists --- would admit that Ramapithecus was no hominid. Even then, it would take the paleoanthropologists closest to the fossils to finish off Ramapithecus as a hominid---on the basis of its anatomy." (Pg. 76)
She observes, "Then along came Lucy and other members of her species, walking upright with tiny brains---and well before stone tool kits show up in the fossil record, at about 2.5 million years. The thoroughly upright gait of Lucy suggested a host of new questions: How long did it take Lucy's ancestors to develop a modern gait? Did upright walking appear rapidly in one population? Or did it take many, many generations to remodel the anatomy of hominids before they walked like a modern human? [Donald] Johanson was among those who recognized that it was time to consider new hypotheses about why human ancestors got up on their hind legs and started walking in the first place." (Pg. 96-97)
After new discoveries by Tim White and his team, "Some paleoanthropologists were beginning to wonder if they were seeing fossils that were part of a radiation, or a proliferation of different types of early hominids that walked upright in different ways---and if more than one had been alive at the same time 4 million years ago. This talk of a 'bushy' family tree would drive White up a tree; he would point out that two species older than 4 million years was hardly a radiation... Nonetheless, consensus about the neat line of descent from A. ramidus down to Lucy and eventually to modern humans was beginning to erode." (Pg. 152)
She quotes an article written by Tim White, which concluded, "the science of paleoanthropology at the millennium is in serious trouble. The paleoanthropology commons are at risk from the selfish activities of practitioners. Tenure-tracked, mediaphile paleoanthropologists seem unlikely to rescue the discipline from tragedy. They simply have too much to gain by acting individually and institutionally, rather than for the common good." (Pg. 186-187)
This is a well-written and very engaging tale of the search for our hominid ancestors, that will interest anyone studying the subject.
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Finished Reading
Finished Reading
September 27, 2024
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