This week’s lectures gave a lot of insight into the development into the humans that we know and are. Anthropologists and archeologists and scientists alike have used fossils, volcanic ash, and other supplies that they’ve found around the world to piece together our history. They’ve painted a picture of pre-human species that evolved into the intelligent, complex, and higher thinking primates. There is evidence of many species that came about and died off, all leading to our arrival. Two main species that have provided proof to our evolution are the neanderthals and Homo floresiensis. The Homo floresiensis species is named after the island flores, off of indonesia, where their fossils were found. They were an isolated community exclusive to that island. Their average height was only about 3 feet tall and showed primitive features. Their height is suspected to be due to “evolutionary dwarfism” because of limited resources which left them stunted. Their existence and the existence of other human species shows that there are distinct lineage that provide the proof for variation within the group Homo. The neanderthals are what we think of as the “cavemen”. In hollywood they’re portrayed as very simple minded and containing rudimentary skills. There is much more evidence and facts behind the neanderthals so i’m going to be discussing them more.
Neanderthals existed hundreds of thousands of years ago, and although they are not still around today there is so much evidence of how they paved the way for the evolution of us. They had a very large brain size compared to the other earlier species we’ve discussed in this class. They were the first early human species to really utilize their environment to their benefit, ie: shelter, tools, clothing, etc. They lived during a time of environmental struggle; the climate was constantly changing which forced them to adapt. Their larger brain along with dental evidence has shown us that they were able to “grow up” faster than we are. They found teeth from a young boy that had growth rings that told us he was around 3 years old, but his crania was more similar to a 4-5 year old. Another huge find was that a specimen containing the FOXP2 gene, which is also found in humans. This gene is related to speech in us, which leads us to believe they also had the ability to converse. They also found the same mutation as us which is our ability to have basic language. So even though their language was probably very simple and would be nothing like we know, it is incredible for us to see that other species besides us were able to carry out conversation. Although the last common ancestor between humans and neanderthals was dated over 600 thousand years ago, there has been evidence of minor cross breeding between those more primitive neanderthals and the “modern” humans. In fact, 1-3% of our DNA (depending on where we are born and where our parents are from) is shared with them. Although there are definite differences, there are enough similarities and scientific proof that they were a stepping stone in our history.
Hi Page,
I enjoyed reading your blog post this week! I choose to do mine on Neanderthals, therefore I had similar information as you posted! I think we choose the main/ interesting points from lecture this week! I think it is crazy how our DNA is 1-3% shared with them. Even tho they had larger brains and other things compared to us, it is crazy how after them more and more things changed due to evolution to survive better and that is how we ended up the way we all look today! I personally would have loved a bigger brain compared to what we have now for school! I see you also talked about the Homo floresiensis species! I thought they were also very interesting, especially how they were isolated on an island! I also think it is interesting how tall they are! Especially, how anthropologists and archeologists think they know why they were that size based on what remains they found of them!
Hi Page!
Thank you for sharing your thoughts in this post! You have provided a quality representation of information on the materials from this week! I think the most interesting fact about the homo floresiensis would be that they have a smaller brain- I appreciate how you mentioned the difference in brain size and see that they were able to create tools and develop as a society and function. The information gathered and the existence of the homo floresiensis shows us that not everything is what we believe it to be- like how the homo floresiensis was so much more than what scientists initially believed it to be. I would say that I feel that these discoveries are important as they display how they are closely related to us as humans and the relatives of the human species.
Cool blog, Its cool to see how Anthropologists, archeologists and scientists have used fossils, volcanic ash, and other supplies that they’ve found around the world to piece together our history. Interesting to find out how Neanderthals had a very large brain size compared to the other earlier species we’ve discussed in this class. Very good informational facts about how we evolved.
Hi Page, I enjoyed reading your blog post for week 6. I also focused on the Neanderthals when I wrote my blog post, so I was interested to find out that you came across a few different facts than I did. When I was reading through the content for this week, I didn’t see that the Neanderthals had the same gene as us that is associated with speech. It’s so cool that we can assume that the Neanderthals spoke to one another and possibly had their own language, just from finding a common gene that is associated with language and speaking. I thought it was really interesting that due to the climate and environment, the Neanderthals developed differently which gave them unique characteristics. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for sharing such a riveting post! I truly loved reading this and felt like I really picked up on some information from you that I had not gleaned previously during lectures and the other materials provided this week. I find the life and possibility of the Neanderthals to be endlessly fascinating. I’m very intrigued by the idea of them having language (as a Linguistic student this is obviously something I find very interesting!) and what that could possibly say about how we as humans view our relationship with language. It’s an accepted thought in Linguistics that language is a wholly human trait and that no other species or animal has language. It makes me wonder if the theories that language was something homo sapiens evolved to have or if it started earlier with the Neanderthals and grew to be what we have today. Some very scrumptious food for thought, anyway! Thank you for posting such an interesting blog, I had a lot of fun reading and responding to it.
Hi, Page. I found your blog to be really thorough and informed, as you used A LOT of information from the lectures and other reading which is good! I think that shows that you really paid attention and learned. I would have liked to see a little bit more interpretation of all the material and a further discussion of how Neanderthals have changed the way we think about evolution, but overall the facts and pieces of information you utilized was very impressive. I also was glad that you included a small discussion of Homo floresiensis even though that wasn’t the species you focused on for the most part since I think this is a species not many people know about but it is an important piece to understanding human evolutions as well. Nice job.
Hello! Although I focused primarily on the Neanderthal group because I could relate them more so to today’s modern human compared to the homo floresiensis. After reading this week’s lecture and watching the videos and links, I did a little more research on the homo floresiensis because I found it very interesting. Due to the isolation of the group being on the island, the gene pool didn’t allow for much variation. They remained a small stature with primitive features such as large canines, this is originally where the ‘hobbit’ name came from because of their dwarfism. Limited resources on the island creative an evolutionary change where they remained small. With less resources their morphology has adapted and evolution changed into smaller body structures due to the lower energy requirements of a smaller body, being more beneficial where there is less resources.
I was very interested in the facts that you learned about Neanderthals – such as a specimen containing the gene (also found in humans) that is related to speech. It is amazing how paleoanthropologists can not only find structural differences from these specimens but functional differences as well (such as this FOXP2 gene). In my blog focused on H. floresiensis, and I talk about their primitive features and how it related to their functioning. Paleoanthropologists were able to figure the complexity of their brains despite its very small size – based on the stone tools found as well (which was surprising for their brain size). This species is already small in stature because of minimal resources where they live – so a large brain size might have been more of a hindrance for their survival. But despite its small size, it was still more complex than most would assume, not only did they find stone tools, but there was evidence of them killing much larger prey them themselves as well. What anthropologist found was that their brains were more “compact.” Though their brains were small – the neural connections that were needed were just concentrated in smaller areas.
Hi Paige!
What a great blog post with lots of information packed into it! I like how you talked about the Neanderthals brain size, and how they were the first human species that we have learned about in this class that utilized the environment around them to their benefit. That is what I found to be one of the most interesting about them, and what I think sets them apart. It is so interesting that species from so long ago were able to do things that we can do now. Just like you talked about how they found the FOXP2 gene, which is related to speech, and although they had more basic features they were still most likely able to carry out basic speech. Overall, the Neanderthals are very unique and it is incredible that we have the tools to be able to learn about them.