It’s very interesting to look at our primitive ancestors and find traits that give us information about modern human biology. There are different traits that anthropologists can look at that give them a look into the evolution that has occurred. It is really cool to have the ability to look at fossil remains and to be able to create a timeline of human evolution based on that. It’s a way to look into the past and see where humans began and where we have come from.

One of these traits that is looked at is bipedalism. Bipedalism is something that I never thought about where it might have come from. Human beings have always been bipedal, but how did that come about? Anthropologists look back at our primitive ancestors 6 or 7 million years ago where they began to find evidence of bipedalism. Although these ancestors had the ability to walk upright on their two legs, this wasn’t exactly comfortable for them, so they continued to remain on their four legs at times. Primitive ancestors began to evolve toward bipedalism in response to new conditions. One thing I found really cool is that in order to determine if the species was bipedal, anthropologists take a look at the foramen magnum which based on the location can determine bipedalism.

Another trait that is interesting to look at is brain size. I find it very interesting that as we have evolved the brain grew in size. This wasn’t something I had considered before as to why this may happen. At one point, I had assumed that our brains have always been this size even dating back to our early ancestors. Learning this information in lecture was really cool. In our primitive ancestors typically, what would be seen is a smaller sized brain. As primitive beings began to evolve, brain size began to grow as the complexity evolved. New skills and function began to come about and thus the brain increased in complexity as well as size.

The last trait that I found really interesting was the size of teeth and dental structure. The canines decreased in size as our primitive ancestors evolved. The Sahelanthropus showed the derived trait of smaller teeth 6 to 7 million years ago. I was surprised to hear in lecture that the large canines were not related to the consumption of meat. I had never considered humans being one of the largest meat consumers and yet we don’t have large canines. It was interesting to find out this is due to fighting and defense strategies rather than food consumption, which explains why we have evolved to have smaller teeth.

Fossilized remains are extremely important for anthropologists as it gives a timeline for evolution in a way. Fossils have created a casting of the past for anthropologists to study and link to our modern human biology. It gives anthropologists a way to create an evolutionary timeline that can explain how we got where we are today. It is very cool to learn about where humans began and how we have become what we are today!