If I take a look at all of the topics that we have learned over the past six weeks, I would say that we have learned topics that not only relate to one another in some way, but many of the topics have provided us with the knowledge to be able to compare and contrast characteristics of different species, whether living or fossilized; and to use those comparisons to make connections and identifying which species are most similar to the humans of today, and which are the least similar. I would say that Homo floresiensis is another one of those topics.
I found the discussions from the lecture and additional articles and videos on Homo floresiensis to be interesting because I think it is always intriguing to know a bit more information about the first beings in the world, whether human or nun-human. The article from The Guardian website revealed that Homo floresiensis is a direct descendant of the first apemen to evolve on the African savannah millions of years ago and are distant relatives of us humans (or Homo sapiens). From this article, I also found it interesting, and this somewhat ties into the point that I made above, that by studying the Homo floresiensis scientists can better understand the characteristics of the Flores people. It is discussed in the article that studying Homo floresiensis has explained why Flores people were so proportionally small.
From the lecture, I appreciated how the discussion on Homo floresiensis compared and contrasted the topic against australopithecines and Homo erectus. The first compared the brain size of these species and revealed that like australopithecines, Homo floresiensis also had a small brain; but also revealed that even though it looks a little different, it is a branch of Homo erectus. With all of that being said, by comparing species, as has been done in the lecture and other material, it allows scientists to provide us with this different kinds of species and the information to describe what they are; but it also allows them to provide us with the similarities that tell whether species may or may not connect to one another. That’s one of the things that I find most intriguing.
With that being said and from my understanding of what we’ve been learning, I would say that the studies done around these fossilized remains has provided us with an abundance of information, and facts, that has made it possible to identify the vast diversity of the human race. As I’ve stated before, these studies allow us to connect the pieces that tell us why we look the way we do or why we do the things that we do, and why others look or do things differently. They tell us who and what we’re related to and they tell why we aren’t related to other species, all while telling us of the many species that exist or have existed. All in all, these findings tell us how we all have come to be.
Hello!
I also was super interested in reading about Homo floresiensis! I thought it was super interesting to learn about how they might have ended up in Flores as well as how their environment impacted their evolution (or lack thereof). I think that finds such as these are crucial in understanding our evolutionary history and diversity!
I also find it intriguing to know more information about the first beings in the world. When I was younger, I was always interested in how we evolved into the humans that we are today. I agree with your thoughts about why studying fossilized remains is important for us to study human diversity. It’s great that we can find out how old they were when they died and what time period they lived in. The fact that anthropologist can figure out the way different species lived and moved around by looking at fossils is amazing to me. We can learn a lot about our evolution from looking at Homo Floresiensis because they have similar traits like using tools. They also have different traits like being very short compared to the average sized human.
After reading your reflective post, I want to highlight some of the discussed topics, that stood out to me. First of all, I agree regarding all the content syncing up to one another, topic are extensive yet easy to apply and duplicate when found a fossil. Now, focusing on the fossil beginning talked about, homo floresiensis which I think stands as a debated fossilized early humans, because it is difficult to link it to other genus homo, since the characteristics of fossil are mixed and not signalized. Homo floresiensis could also be accounted as new species under australopithecines, because of the many similarities to australopithecines, while we might be able to connect them, we don’t have any or enough information about homo floresiensis culture, maybe we can discover that more in the future.