Some of the hominin traits that can inform us about modern human biology are the fossilized teeth and the footprints found. Ardipithecus, which is a million years older than “Lucy”, had an opposable large toe. This led researchers to believe that Ardipithecus is closer to the evolutionary split of chimps and humans than ever seen before. Ardipithecus’s toes which were meant for grasping and stabilization rather than for a quick change in direction came to help paint a new picture of where early hominids lived. These traits align much more with forest dwelling creatures rather than those living on wide open savannas, the generally accepted location of where early humans developed and evolved. Footprints are also important not only in the conceptualization of how the feet looked and but how the hands and arms look. Ardipithecus had long arms and hands but a lack of knuckle prints in the fossilized soil leads scientists to believe that they walked upright and lacked adaptations that chimps and apes had. The missing adaptations include strong and sturdy wrists and knuckles, but Ardipithecus gained the ability to be more flexible with its hands. This now creates the theory that the common ancestor between chimps and humans was not a knuckle walker at all and that chimps, like gorillas, evolved to knuckle walking independently.
The second trait I wanted to talk about was teeth. In Australopithecus sediba, a 1.9 million year old hominid found in South Africa, the skull was so well preserved that its teeth were still intact. The similar teeth can lead researchers to assume that at this point we had already evolved from large canines to ones closer to today. This is interesting because although the teeth were similar in shape and size at 1.9 million years ago, the head and brain were significantly smaller. Still being larger than that of an ape, when Lee Berger held the skulls of his finding and a modern human side by side, the difference in size was obvious. Over the course of the next nearly 2 million years, the human brain and skull grew to almost double the size of the past. Australopithecus sediba’s brain was large enough to not rule out the possibility of tool use but Berger found it hard to believe that they were capable of manipulating and starting fires.
Fossilized skeletal remains of early human ancestors not only help anthropologists reconstruct and learn from the past but are some of the main clues on not only the physical make up the individuals but also how they lived and where. It was a common belief that we descended from knuckle walking ancestors but the discovery of Ardipithecus, a hominid from 5.6 million years ago indicates that even at this point in human evolution we walked upright. This changed the perception that chimps may have independently evolved to knuckle walking rather than the diverging shared ancestor being one. Ardipithecus was also important because the fossilized remains of its footprints changed the perception of where early hominids lived. It was long believed that we left the forest and once on the savanna we adjusted to upright walking. The type of soil along with other organisms found in the soil further proved that we evolved while still in the forest. All of these discoveries have changed the perceived history of humans.
your blog posts are always so well done. I really like how you set this one up and talked about each specific thing. I also wrote about teeth and the opposable large toe. I think it is fascinating to think about how so many of the traits that we have today that we find very important evolved from so long ago. I 100% agree with your last paragraph. I think these fossils are essential in understanding where we came from, how we evolved and how our human ancestors lived before us. I think we have learned so much from them but can also learn so much more and perhaps that will come in the future if we can find a complete skeleton. I also found the fact that our teeth are the same size as 1.9 million years ago but their heads and brains being so much smaller. I wonder why that would be.
Hi Zac! I really enjoyed how you explained the hominin traits that support our modern human biology. First, when you mentioned that the footprints and fossilized teeth can infer some information about the split between chimps and humans. I was highly informed that we adapt pretty separately from chimps and many other primates. I agree when you stated that the use of fossilized records is vital to history because there would not be any information that helps us figure out where we are derived from. Also, It caught my eye when you said that the soil where I fossilized skeletons discoveries truly supports that we evolved from the terrestrial wildlife into our modern human life-like. Well, I believe that this can somewhat be true if and when anthropologist can find new fossils among this planet.
Joshua K. Belcher
I think it is incredible that the skull of an Australopithecus Sediba was found with intact teeth nearly 1.9 million years after it existed. It’s interesting that the teeth were similar to what we have today yet the skull was still smaller than what it has evolved to. This just proves that not everything evolves at the same rate, especially because there are different things influencing each characteristic to evolve at different times. This was just one finding that changed the theories scientists had. Had it not been for this finding and others we would likely still be trying to piece together a history incorrectly which would have made things much more challenging and confusing. I wonder how many more fossils are still out there yet to be unearthed that will completely challenge the theories we have today.
I enjoyed reading your post and to me, you did a great job in highlighting some of the hominid traits that can play a significant role in informing us about modern human biology. To begin with, it is true that the footprints and the teeth can be a great trait that can be used to explain the modern human biology aspect. In most of the cases, this is something that has been a common practice in the hominid and they point to the ability to be able to eat and move around in the same way that human beings tend to do. Besides that, I also think that the big skull can be used as a trait that can explain the hominid traits, which can be used to inform us about human biology. The skull has been changing over time in terms of size and shape and this can explain about modern human biology.