Vixen
Penultimate Amazing
The family tree of the hominids has just one family member left and that is us, the Homo sapiens. There has been much discussion as to why the other hominid branches died out, for example Homo neanderthalensis. One group of hominids the Homo erectus, so called because this is when man evolved from shuffling along on its back legs using the forearms as leverage to standing and walking upright. They were thought to have evolved into other branches such as the Homo hobbitus ( so named because of its short stature) and Homo floresiensis some of which were thought to have started becoming extinct up to 500 thousand years ago when Homo Sapiens was first thought to have evolved. The missing link between advanced primates such as the bonobo chimpanzee to man has yet to be discovered,
What the scientists look for is evidence of hominds becoming upright to take the massive evolutionary leap into walking, hence great excitement whenever primate footprints are found embedded in ancient stone suggesting this.
From fossil findings of Homo Erectus skulls found in Java, Indonesia, some scientists in the 1990's believed Homo Erectus was still around as little as 39,000 years ago - roughly the time when Homo Sapiens spread into Europe, Neanderthal Man having already been there at least 43,000 years ago with some dispute that they had ever emigrated from Africa at all, with some believing there had been three set of different groups of Homo X, Y and Z developing side by side at the same time in different parts of the world.
The current establishment view is that of Professor Chris Stringer, who firmly established that 'all humans came out of Africa', in a clear line of evolution. In other words, a single chain. However, the reader should be aware that not all scientists agree with this. Hence, the fascination of the new find which is dated at just 112,000 years ago as it seems to indicate Homo Erectus was around after the first humans evolved in Africa >500K years ago and before they first migrated out of the continent between 50K - 75K years ago. This throws doubt on the lineal theory of human evolution, which in comic strips is depicted as beginning with a hunkering down chimpanzee to a neanderthal with dragging knuckles gradually becoming upright [before evolving into Homer Simpson {is the popular punchline}].
So, it will be interesting to see how Chris Stringer analyses this new find.
<snip>
Perhaps a hint of scepticism from Professor Stringer, there, about the conclusions being drawn that whilst Homo Erectus died out as a result of being outcompeted by Homo Sapiens, on Java this didn't happen - the theory being put - because they were not subject to the same competition as elsewhere.
What the scientists look for is evidence of hominds becoming upright to take the massive evolutionary leap into walking, hence great excitement whenever primate footprints are found embedded in ancient stone suggesting this.
From fossil findings of Homo Erectus skulls found in Java, Indonesia, some scientists in the 1990's believed Homo Erectus was still around as little as 39,000 years ago - roughly the time when Homo Sapiens spread into Europe, Neanderthal Man having already been there at least 43,000 years ago with some dispute that they had ever emigrated from Africa at all, with some believing there had been three set of different groups of Homo X, Y and Z developing side by side at the same time in different parts of the world.
The current establishment view is that of Professor Chris Stringer, who firmly established that 'all humans came out of Africa', in a clear line of evolution. In other words, a single chain. However, the reader should be aware that not all scientists agree with this. Hence, the fascination of the new find which is dated at just 112,000 years ago as it seems to indicate Homo Erectus was around after the first humans evolved in Africa >500K years ago and before they first migrated out of the continent between 50K - 75K years ago. This throws doubt on the lineal theory of human evolution, which in comic strips is depicted as beginning with a hunkering down chimpanzee to a neanderthal with dragging knuckles gradually becoming upright [before evolving into Homer Simpson {is the popular punchline}].
So, it will be interesting to see how Chris Stringer analyses this new find.
<snip>
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-50827603
Perhaps a hint of scepticism from Professor Stringer, there, about the conclusions being drawn that whilst Homo Erectus died out as a result of being outcompeted by Homo Sapiens, on Java this didn't happen - the theory being put - because they were not subject to the same competition as elsewhere.
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