Ok, I didn’t know EXACTLY where to post this, and if I cause more work for the mods, I’m really sorry. Please know that I did not do it on purpose.
That being said…
I just read a book on Lucy and the Dawn of Mankind, written by the guy who discovered her, Donald Johannsen (I’m not sure if that’s right). However, it was published in 1981. What happened? What has been discovered since then? What other book should I get? It’s driving me crazy! HELP ME PLEASE!
I was fascinated by the book. But he said at the end that with the discovery of Lucy there leaves a few very important unanswered questions. Such as, what came before Lucy? And what happened between Lucy and uh…shoot. I can’t remember what the other species was called, but it came 1 million years after.
Well, it’s been 20 years, I expect there are some answers now! Help me find them, please.
I don’t know any books specifically, but there was a Scientific American a month or two back that had a cover story on the subject. That would be a good place to start.
Briefly, it now looks like the human line has had a lot of branches here and there. It’s pretty complicated. Just about every fossil found brings up more questions.
Hominids were pretty diverse until one evolved xenophobia and the intelligence to act upon it.
The Human lineage should look somewhat like this:
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4.4M B.P.
Ardipithecus ramidus
Very few fossils. First upright walker and oldest hominid.
4.2M B.P.
Australopithecus anamensis
Most likely common ancestor to all later hominids.
4M-3M B.P.
Australopithecus afarensis
Lucy. Fully bipedal. Many ape like features still remain, especially on its skull.
3M-2.2M B.P.
Australopithecus africanus
Improvement over Lucy. This species may have been an evolutionary dead end however.
2.5M B.P.
Australopithecus garhi
Very few fossils. May possibly fit between Australopithecus afarensis and Homo habilis.
2.4M-1.8M B.P.
Homo habilis
Handy man. Probably the earliest users of stone tools (Oldowan). Also begins the trend of larger brain capacity.
1.8M-0.3M B.P.
Homo erectus
First hominid to come out of Africa and populate the world.
0.3M-0M B.P.
Homo sapiens
That’s us.
“M” denotes millions of years, and B.P. is before present.
The book you read was probably Lucy: The Beginnings of Humankind (1981), by Donald C. Johanson. A couple of recommended readings written by the same guy are:
Lucy’s Child: The Discovery of a Human Ancestor (1989)
Ancestors: In Search of Human Origins (1994)
This one is also the companion book to the PBS series of the same name. You might be able to get some video tapes.
From Lucy to Language (1996)
Lots of big and nice pictures. Seems to be a very popular holiday gift as well.
I’ve never read any of these books, but the list comes off of a fairly good archaeology textbook.
Zor, thank you, thank you, thank you!
That is exactly what I was looking for! Woohoo! Now I can sleep at night again. Well, almost. I still need to go buy those books you mentioned.
Zor:
Have a care when using terms like “improvement” when discussing evolution, Zor. There’s no better or worse in natural selection, just more or less fit for the environment.
A. africanus was perhaps more human (homo sapiens) -like, but not an “improvement” over Lucy’s species.
Note about Zor’s list:
A good list, but I wouldn’t characterize it as the human lineage. According to a lot of paleoanthropologists, Afarensis, Habilis, Erectus, and several of the other species you named are evolutionary offshoots of our ancestors, rather than our actual direct ancestors, which remain undiscovered. In fact, I think Garhi is almost as certainly an offshoot as Neandertalensis.
You could say they were our foreuncles instead of our forefathers.
Point taken Five. Trust me, I pondered over the use of that term, but I was trying to keep things short. Strictly speaking however, the fact that africanus managed survive after Lucy dies out does make it an improvement, no?
I believe the species I posted are the best bets we have, Danimal. If you don’t, for example, accept afarensis, then you’re left with a pretty big gap in time. I’m also under the impression that habilis and erectus have pretty much been accepted as our direct ancestors by all the experts. Do you have a cite about them being offshots? I’d honestly be interested because I could then proceed to make my professor look like a fool in class
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2.4M-1.8M B.P.
Homo habilis
Handy man. Probably the earliest users of stone tools (Oldowan). Also begins the trend of larger brain capacity.
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So, actually, handy had a huge head start (about 2 million years) in posting to the SDMB. That helps to explain his post count…
Er, no I can’t. At least not right now. It’s been the '80s since I last studied human origins, and I can’t remember the book I read it in. And alas, I don’t think I can help you embarass your professor by citing to James P. Hogan’s * Inherit the Stars. * A cursory Google search didn’t turn up anything to support my position.
ISTR reading recently about more paleoanthropologists coming around to the idea that erectus is a direct ancestor of humanity; maybe that’s the conventional wisdom now.
FTR, Lucy is on display, I think, at the Museum of National History in NYC, and is worth a visit to NY just to see her (of course, you might find another reason or two to visit Manhattan).
I just can’t resist these threads.
Here’s a collection of helpful/interesting links.
Scientists Rough Out Humanity’s 50,000-Year-Old Story
Neanderthals Kept It In the Family
Ape-Man Fossils Shed Light on Human Dawn
This page also has other links to more information . . .
The Most-Complete Hominid Skull
DNA Tests Cast Doubt on Link Between Neanderthals and Modern Man
Aaand of course, this one. The Talk.Origins Archive.
This one is so nifty - you may freely print and copy from them for non-profit personal and educational use.
Enjoy!
Tisiphone
Tisiphone, thank you, thank you, thank you!
I’m so excited over the answers I’ve received. I haven’t been this fascinated in something for a very long time. I even briefly considered majoring in anthropology…but I still want to be a lawyer more.
Again, thank you.
does the dance of joy