Little Hominid May Have
Been Failed 'Experiment'
By Maggie Fox
Health and Science Correspondent
7-5-4
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A tiny pre-human who lived more than
900,000 years ago in what is now Kenya may have been a "short experiment"
in evolution that never quite made it, scientists said on Thursday.
The little skull clearly belongs to an adult and was found last
summer at a site where much larger hominids classified as Homo erectus
lived, said Richard Potts of the Smithsonian Institution and colleagues.
He or she died on a volcanic ridge, perhaps mauled by a lion or
other carnivore, Potts said.
It is the smallest adult fossil found dating back to the time of
Homo erectus, the species of pre-human that dominated between 500,000 and
1.7 million years ago, Potts' team writes in Friday's issue of the journal
Science.
Potts believes the fossil find shows that early humans lived in
little groups that became separate and distinct for a while, and then came
together every few thousand years or so, swapping genes and then parting
ways again.
"On occasion, they became isolated for a while, possibly hundreds
of generations, and so developed their own unique combination of
features," Potts said in an e-mail.
But dramatic climate and environmental changes known to have
occurred during those times forced groups to move together again, and
perhaps drove some into extinction.
Perhaps there were lots of "short experiments" -- species that
never really quite made it, Potts said.
"In this light, I would see the hominid population at Olorgesailie
as part of a single, highly variable species, with both large and small
(possibly male/female) adults."
VIOLENT DEATH
This particular early human was found in an area that would have
been a volcanic ridge 900,000 years ago. Potts' team is working, as
anthropologists often do, from fragments of skull -- and guessing what the
rest of the creature looked like.
It had carnivore bite marks on the left brow ridge, Potts said.
"Quite possibly this is how the individual died. It was walking along or
near the volcanic ridge leading up to the highlands (a safer nighttime
place to be than by the water's edge in the lowland) and it didn't quite
make it."
Remains of large tools have been found in the area, where Potts
and colleagues have worked for years.
"The entire area was a grassy plain, filled with grazing zebra and
very large grass-eating baboons, along with grazing elephants and huge
pigs," Potts said.
"The toolmakers made extensive use of the volcanic rocks up on
Mount Olorgesailie and surrounding highlands -- we've identified 14
different types of volcanic rocks that they chipped into handaxes."
Homo erectus remains have been found in parts of Africa, southern
Europe and Asia. These hominids made tools and lived in groups, but
anthropologists are trying to figure out whether there were separate
species or sub-species among the group.
This particular individual will be difficult to classify, Potts
said.
"It's really too hard to say what species it is, if you happen to
think there were multiple species around at the time. I certainly used to
think so," he said.
He has compared the skulls of fossils found from other hominids
that lived around the same time, including Homo antecessor from Atapuerca
in Spain or Homo cepranensis, from Ceprano, Italy.
"I find the variability in the skulls (and parts of skulls)
impossible to divide neatly into separate lineages that stay consistently
identifiable over any length of time, like Homo erectus in Asia does,"
Potts said.
A Hundred Pounds Of Clay
Gene McDaniels
Highest chart position # 3 in 1961
Written by Bob Elgin, Luther Dixon, and Kay Roger
He took a hundred pounds of clay
And they He said "Hey, listen"
"I'm gonna fix this-a world today"
"Because I know what's missin' "
Then He rolled his big sleeves up
And a brand-new world began
He created a woman and-a lots of lovin' for a man
Whoa-oh-oh, yes he did
With just a hundred pounds of clay
He made my life worth livin'
And I will thank Him every day
For every kiss you're givin'
And I'll thank Him every night
For the arms that are holdin' me tight
And He did it all with just a hundred pounds of clay
Yes he did, whoa-oh, yes He did
Now can'tcha just see Him a-walkin' 'round and 'round
Pickin' the clay uppa off the ground?
Doin' just what He should do
To make a livin' dream like you
He rolled His big sleeves up
And a brand-new world began
He created a woman and-a lots of lovin' for a man
Whoa-oh-oh, yes he did
With just a hundred pounds of clay
FADE
People, let me tall ya what He did
With just a hundred pounds of clay
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| User: "TonyZ2001" |
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| Title: Re: God's Left-over 1 Ounce of Clay... |
06 Jul 2004 09:25:16 AM |
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It was a friggin' Monkey for crying out loud.
Tony
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| User: "Dr. Blunt" |
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| Title: Re: God's Left-over 1 Ounce of Clay... |
07 Jul 2004 07:38:02 AM |
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"TonyZ2001" <tonyz2001@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20040706102516.10996.00001277@mb-m02.aol.com...
It was a friggin' Monkey for crying out loud.
Tony
What the hell do you expect Him to do with only 1 damned ounce, for crying
out loud?!
Dr. Blunt ----------Serving the Usenet's mentally ill since 1998.
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| User: "Dr. Blunt" |
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| Title: Re: God's Left-over 1 Ounce of Clay... |
07 Jul 2004 08:00:50 AM |
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"Dr. Blunt" <ufocalypse@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:ccgqrc01393@enews1.newsguy.com...
"TonyZ2001" <tonyz2001@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20040706102516.10996.00001277@mb-m02.aol.com...
It was a friggin' Monkey for crying out loud.
Tony
What the hell do you expect Him to do with only 1 damned ounce, for
crying
out loud?!
Dr. Blunt ----------Serving the Usenet's mentally ill since 1998.
===========================
Anthropology 101 --
The Hominids (Hominidae) are a biological family which includes humans,
extinct species of humanlike creatures and now often the great apes:
chimpanzees and bonobos (genus Pan), gorillas, and orangutans (genus
Pongo).
Originally the group was restricted to humans and their extinct relatives,
with the other great apes being placed in a separate family, the Pongidae.
However, the Pongidae are paraphyletic, whereas most taxonomists nowadays
encourage monophyletic groups. Thus many biologists consider Hominidae to
include the Pongidae, or restrict the latter to the orangutan and extinct
relatives like Gigantopithecus.
Especially close human relatives form a subfamily, the Homininae. Some
researchers go so far as to include chimpanzees and gorillas in the genus
Homo along with humans, but recent genetic evidence suggests that the
human relationship to these species may not be as close as previously
thought.
The exact criterion for membership in the Homininae is not clear, but
usually includes the species who share more than 97% of their DNA with the
modern human genome, and requires the capacity for language and for simple
cultures beyond the family or band. A theory of mind providing the
capacity to lie convincingly is a controversial criterion distinguishing
the adult human alone among the hominids. Humans acquire this capacity at
about four and a half years of age in our cultures whereas the bonobo,
gorilla and chimpanzee never seem to do so. However, without the ability
to test whether early members of the Homininae such as australopithecines,
Homo erectus, or Neanderthals had a theory of mind, it is irrational to
ignore similarities seen in their living cousins. Despite an apparent lack
of real culture and significant physiological differences, some say that
the orangutan may also satisfy these criteria. These scientific debates
take on political significance for advocates of Great Ape personhood, who
some believe have influenced the debates in order to refer to "ape
genocide".
In 2002, a 6-7 million year old fossil skull nicknamed Toumaï by its
discoverers, and formally classified as Sahelanthropus tchadensis, was
discovered in Chad and is possibly the earliest hominid fossil ever found.
In addition to its age, Toumaï, unlike the 3-4 million year younger
Australopithecine dubbed "Lucy", has a relatively flat face without the
prominent snout seen on other pre-Hominoid hominids. Some researchers have
made the suggestion that this previously unknown species may in fact be a
direct ancestor of modern humans (or at least closely related to a direct
ancestor). Others contend that one fossil is not enough to make such a
claim because it would overturn the conclusions of over 100 years of
anthropological study. A report on this finding was published in the
journal Nature on July 11, 2002. While some scientists claim that it is
merely the skull of a female gorilla, others have called it the most
important hominid fossil since Australopithecus.
Classification
a.. ORDER PRIMATES
a.. Suborder Strepsirhini: non-tarsier prosimians
b.. Suborder Haplorhini: tarsiers, monkeys and apes
a.. Family Tarsiidae: tarsiers
b.. Superfamily Platyrrhini
a.. Family Cebidae: marmosets, tamarins, capuchins and squirrel
monkeys
b.. Family Atelidae: owl, howler and spider monkeys, titis, sakis
and ukaris
c.. Superfamily Catarrhini
a.. Family Cercopithecidae: Old World monkeys
b.. Family Hylobatidae: gibbons
c.. Family Hominidae: great apes and humans
a.. Orangutan, Pongo pygmaeus
b.. Gorilla, Gorilla gorilla
c.. Bonobo (Pygmy Chimpanzee), Pan paniscus
d.. Chimpanzee, Pan troglodytes
e.. Human, Homo sapiens
Any questions?
Dr. Blunt ---------Serving the Usenet's mentally ill since 1998.
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| User: "Grantland" |
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| Title: Re: God's Left-over 1 Ounce of Clay... |
07 Jul 2004 09:00:18 AM |
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"Dr. Blunt" <ufocalypse@yahoo.com> wrote:
e.. Human, Homo sapiens
Any questions?
Dr. Blunt ---------Serving the Usenet's mentally ill since 1998.
1. What did homo sapiens (as opposed to h sapiens sapiens) look like? How intelligent was
it?
2. When/why did h sapiens sapiens evolve from h sapiens?
3. What happened to the original h sapiens ancestor? Was it destroyed/assimilated? Or is
it still extant?
Thank you very much.
Grantland
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| User: "Dr. Blunt" |
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| Title: Re: God's Left-over 1 Ounce of Clay... |
07 Jul 2004 10:10:58 AM |
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"Grantland" <mithril@iafrica.com> wrote in message
news:40ec01d3.429178135@ct-news.iafrica.com...
"Dr. Blunt" <ufocalypse@yahoo.com> wrote:
e.. Human, Homo sapiens
Any questions?
Dr. Blunt ---------Serving the Usenet's mentally ill since 1998.
1. What did homo sapiens (as opposed to h sapiens sapiens) look like?
How intelligent was
it?
2. When/why did h sapiens sapiens evolve from h sapiens?
3. What happened to the original h sapiens ancestor? Was it
destroyed/assimilated? Or is
it still extant?
Thank you very much.
Grantland
I suspect you know the "answers" and therefore you're posting rhetorical
questions, albeit them theoretical, variable and controversial.
As you should know, anthropology is partly a theoretical science based on
data that is incomplete and constantly being gathered, as is true with all
sciences.
Answers which you seek would be obviously dependent largely on incomplete
data and are currently relegated to theory.
In summation, my, your, or anyone else's answers cannot, at this time in
human history, be scientifically verifiable as conclusive and are highly
arguable amongst scientists and laymen alike.
Bottom line: No one KNOWS the answers to your questions.
The Creationist Theory that homo sapiens, appearing as we are today,
appeared in the "Garden of Eden" (N. Africa??) quite suddenly, and without
a very long evolutionary time span has some merit if one were to posit
that Man was placed here by another intelligent species, coming from an
extraterrestrial source (perhaps?).
But, if you're an unflappable believer in the biblical story that had God
creating and then directly placing Adam, then Eve, on Earth and they
appeared as we do today, then all this anthropological debate is simply an
unnecessary fruitless exercise.
And, please, let's not go on and on with this. Plenty of info is available
all over the Net and in libraries. It's like debating the origin of the
universe...egads.
Dr. Blunt -------Serving the Usenet's mentally ill since 1998.
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| User: "Dr. Blunt" |
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| Title: Re: God's Left-over 1 Ounce of Clay... |
07 Jul 2004 12:24:30 PM |
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"Grantland" <mithril@iafrica.com> wrote in message
news:40ec01d3.429178135@ct-news.iafrica.com...
"Dr. Blunt" <ufocalypse@yahoo.com> wrote:
e.. Human, Homo sapiens
Any questions?
Dr. Blunt ---------Serving the Usenet's mentally ill since 1998.
1. What did homo sapiens (as opposed to h sapiens sapiens) look like?
How intelligent was
it?
2. When/why did h sapiens sapiens evolve from h sapiens?
3. What happened to the original h sapiens ancestor? Was it
destroyed/assimilated? Or is
it still extant?
Thank you very much.
Grantland
This is a huge subject as you know and opinions and interpretations of
data vary. I find that the following resource is the outline of human
evolution that I generally agree with.
http://anthro.palomar.edu/homo2/modern_humans.htm
Dr. Blunt -------Serving the Usenet's mentally ill since 1998.
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