southsider2k5 Posted October 27, 2004 Share Posted October 27, 2004 http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/science/10/27...n.ap/index.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlaSoxxJim Posted October 27, 2004 Share Posted October 27, 2004 Insanely cool! That's the stuff that made me want to become a scientist. [stupid decision in retrospect... as back I go to writing about the bioactivity of extracts isolated from ground up sponges... yippee!] If they can find some good evidence corroborating the Homo erectus to Flores Man connection that would be pretty amazing. The traditional (and largely suspect of late) view is we are the living end of a straight line of descent from Homo habilis --> H. erectus --> H. neandertalis --> H.sapiens. Anthropologists have long suspected that this is a huge oversimplification, and that the real evolutionary pattern consists of a lot of branches and dead ends, like we see for just about everything else on the planet. Ultimately the discovery of contemporary fossils of several of these species demonstrated that they did in fact exist at the same time. But to go from --> H. erectus that existed nearly a million years ago to a new species (maybe) that was around as recently as 12,000 years ago... that would be phenomenal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kid Gleason Posted October 27, 2004 Share Posted October 27, 2004 It almost HURTS to think about this type of stuff!!! Very, very cool though! We may as well face it, we will never know all there is to know, and that even means about our own past. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chisoxfn Posted October 27, 2004 Share Posted October 27, 2004 Insanely cool! That's the stuff that made me want to become a scientist. [stupid decision in retrospect... as back I go to writing about the bioactivity of extracts isolated from ground up sponges... yippee!] If they can find some good evidence corroborating the Homo erectus to Flores Man connection that would be pretty amazing. The traditional (and largely suspect of late) view is we are the living end of a straight line of descent from Homo habilis --> H. erectus --> H. neandertalis --> H.sapiens. Anthropologists have long suspected that this is a huge oversimplification, and that the real evolutionary pattern consists of a lot of branches and dead ends, like we see for just about everything else on the planet. Ultimately the discovery of contemporary fossils of several of these species demonstrated that they did in fact exist at the same time. But to go from --> H. erectus that existed nearly a million years ago to a new species (maybe) that was around as recently as 12,000 years ago... that would be phenomenal. Isn't there a lot of debate in regards to Neandrathals and that they may of been at least in a part a pretty seperate species? And then they pretty much dissapear and its unsure if they bread in with our modern ancestors or if they were killed by them or simply died off. I remember in my anthro class their was a pretty big on-going debate on this issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrimsonWeltall Posted October 27, 2004 Share Posted October 27, 2004 Isn't there a lot of debate in regards to Neandrathals and that they may of been at least in a part a pretty seperate species? The one I've heard is that Erectus spreads out of Africa to Asia and Europe. In Europe, Erectus => Neandertalis and in Africa, Erectus => Sapiens. Then sapiens goes out of Africa and either beats the s*** out of everyone or interbreeds with them until they're gone. So Neandertals would not be in our direct lineage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlaSoxxJim Posted October 27, 2004 Share Posted October 27, 2004 Isn't there a lot of debate in regards to Neandrathals and that they may of been at least in a part a pretty seperate species? And then they pretty much dissapear and its unsure if they bread in with our modern ancestors or if they were killed by them or simply died off. I remember in my anthro class their was a pretty big on-going debate on this issue. Exactly right. Current thinking is that we co-existed with Neanderthals and were not descended from them. Our Cro-Magnon/Homo sapiens line was around in vvery small numbers for a while, and then for unkknown reasons we multiplied like gangbusters arounnd 40,000 years ago. This coincides with the time in which the Neanhderthal line vanished - presumably due to competition and/or extirpation by Homo sapiens. Just thinking about how relatively recent that was (40k years is nothing on an evolutionary scale), and thinking that this proposed new Flores species was around as recently as 12K years ago (and possibly not even of genus Homo according to some) is wild. A book that came out last year (I think it was called "Dead Humans") reviews the state of the field and suggests there were as many as 15 different Hominid species over the past 3 million years. As many as 10 of these lines existed on earth at the same time, although we're all that's left now. And like the speculation surrounding the demise of Neanderthal, there is at least some support for the idea that modern man helped its congeners along to extinction as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlaSoxxJim Posted October 27, 2004 Share Posted October 27, 2004 The one I've heard is that Erectus spreads out of Africa to Asia and Europe. In Europe, Erectus => Neandertalis and in Africa, Erectus => Sapiens. Then sapiens goes out of Africa and either beats the s*** out of everyone or interbreeds with them until they're gone. So Neandertals would not be in our direct lineage. Add this to the mix and your head will really spin. A study published in 2003 gives compelling evidence that modern chimps should actually be on the Hominid branch of the primate evolutionary tree, and not on the branch that contains the other extant great apes. That would put Chimpanzee not in our genus, but it would put it in our family (Hominidae). So, for all the "I didn't come from no damn monkey!" anti-evolutionists... well, they're right, actually we came WITH them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrimsonWeltall Posted October 27, 2004 Share Posted October 27, 2004 Add this to the mix and your head will really spin. A study published in 2003 gives compelling evidence that modern chimps should actually be on the Hominid branch of the primate evolutionary tree, and not on the branch that contains the other extant great apes. That would put Chimpanzee not in our genus, but it would put it in our family (Hominidae). Yeah, because chimpz are closer to us than the other apes. Then chimps get added in among the hominids and the actual humans become hominins. SO MUCH HOMINIHOMOHIMOHMIOMOHMIMIHIM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlaSoxxJim Posted October 27, 2004 Share Posted October 27, 2004 SO MUCH HOMINIHOMOHIMOHMIOMOHMIMIHIM Why do I have an image of Ralph Cramden in my head? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.