Recent Developments in Paleoanthropology
Roger Bagula
Recent Developments in Paleoanthropology
These pages use a fairly conservative naming system. In recent years a
number of changes have been suggested in the classification of hominid
fossils.
Many people are now using the genus name Paranthropus, originally given
to robustus, to refer to the robust australopithecines (robustus,
boisei, and aethiopicus). This change makes sense if all these species
form a clade (all of the species descended from a common ancestor) but
it is not yet known if this is the case.
Homo habilis is a controversial species, with much disagreement over
which specimens belong in habilis, and which do not. A number of
scientists now use the name H. rudolfensis to refer to ER 1470 and some
similar fossils. The smaller habilis-like specimens such as ER 1813 and
ER 1805 are variously assigned to habilis, H. ergaster, or to another as
yet unnamed species. The name H. microcranous has been proposed for ER
1813, but is virtually never used. Wood and Collard (1999) have argued
on theoretical grounds that H. habilis and H. rudolfensis should be
moved into the genus Australopithecus. The latest development in this
debate is the discovery of OH 65
<http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/homs/oh65.html>, a fossil jaw from
Olduvai Gorge.
It has been proposed that the names Homo heidelbergensis and Homo
neanderthalensis should be restored as species names for archaic Homo
sapiens and the Neandertals. Recent claims of genetic and anatomical
differences between modern humans and Neandertals have added support to
a species status for Homo neanderthalensis. (Krings et al. 1997; Hublin
et al. 1996; Tattersall and Schwartz 1996)
Here is a selection of recent discoveries and other developments in
paleoanthropology:
* Mar 2004:A new paper contains details of four new mtDNA sequences
which have been retrieved from Neandertal fossils (Serre et al.,
2004). This brings the number of known Neandertal mtDNA sequences
to eight, all of which are closely related, and considerably
different from all modern human mtDNA sequences.
* Mar 2004:Some fragmentary fossils discovered in Ethiopia and
dating between 5.2 and 5.8 million years old were originally
assigned to a new subspecies, Ardipithecus ramidus kadabba.
Following further study, the finders have decided that the
differences between them and other fossils justify assigning them
to a new species, Ardipithecus kadabba. (Haile-Selassie et al.
2004, Begun 2004)
* Jun 2003: Three new skulls from Herto, Ethiopia
<http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/homs/herto.html>, are the oldest
known modern human fossils, at 160,000 yrs. The discoverers have
assigned them to a new subspecies, Homo sapiens idaltu, and say
that they are anatomically and chronologically intermediate
between older archaic humans and more recent fully modern humans.
Their age and anatomy is cited as strong evidence for the
emergence of modern humans from Africa, and against the
multiregional theory which argues that modern humans evolved in
many places around the world. (White et al. 2003, Stringer 2003
<http://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf?file=/nature/journal/v423/n6941/full/423692a_fs.html>)
* Apr 2003:A new study has claimed an age of over 4 million years
for the australopithecine skeleton Little Foot
<http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/homs/littlefoot.html> from South
Africa. If true, this would make it one of the oldest known
australopithecine fossils. (Partridge et al. 2003)
* Feb 2003: OH 65, a fossil from Olduvai Gorge
<http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/homs/oh65.html> consisting of an
upper jaw and part of the lower face, may cause a reevaluation of
the species Homo habilis. (Blumenschine et al. 2003, Tobias 2003)
* Jul 2002: A fossil skull discovered in Chad
<http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/homs/toumai.html>, between 6 and
7 million years old, has been assigned to a new genus and species,
Sahelanthropus tchadensis
<http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/homs/species.html#tchadensis>.
The skull is small and apelike, but with some features associated
with hominids. (Brunet et al. 2002, Wood 2002)
* Jul 2002: The fossil skull D2700 discovered at Dmanisi
<http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/homs/d2700.html>, Georgia, is the
smallest and most primitive hominid skull ever discovered outside
of Africa, and although tentatively assigned to Homo erectus, it
and two other skulls and three lower jaws appear in many ways to
be intermediate between it and H. habilis. (Vekua et al. 2002,
Balter and Gibbons 2002) These specimens have since been allocated
to Homo georgicus
<http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/homs/species.html#georgicus>
(Gabunia et al. 2002)
* Mar 2002: According to its discoverers, a new Homo erectus skull
from Bouri in Ethiopia, about 1 million years old, indicates that
Homo ergaster
<http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/homs/species.html#ergaster>
should not be considered a separate species from Homo erectus
(Asfaw et al. 2002)
* Dec 2001: A new study claims that Homo erectus had rapid dental
growth rates and had not yet developed the slow growth rates of
modern humans. (Dean et al. 2001, Moggi-Cecchi 2001)
* Jul 2001: A number of fragmentary fossils
<http://more.abcnews.go.com/sections/scitech/DailyNews/hominid_ethiopia010711.html>
discovered between 1997 and 2001, and dating from 5.2 to 5.8
million years old, have been assigned to a new subspecies,
Ardipithecus ramidus kadabba. (Haile-Selassie 2001) (P.S. this
taxon was later named as a species, Ar. kadabba, in March 2004)
* Mar 2001: A 3.6 million year old fossil from Kenya
<http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/scitech/DailyNews/hominid010321.html>,
WT 40000 <http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/homs/wt40000.html>, has
been assigned to a new species and genus, Kenyanthropus platyops
<http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/homs/species.html#platyops>.
(Leakey et al 2001, Lieberman 2001).
* Feb 2001: A French-Kenyan team has found a fossil
<http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/science/DailyNews/hominid_kenya001204.html>
claimed to be both considerably older than any other hominid (at 6
million years) and more advanced than the australopithecines. The
fossil, originally nicknamed "Millennium Man", has been named
Orrorin tugenensis
<http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/homs/species.html#tugenensis>,
and is claimed by its finders to be a direct ancestor of humans,
relegating the australopithecines to a side branch (Senut et al.
2001). These claims are being treated with caution so far (Aiello
and Collard 2001).
* Jan 2001: A fossil of a 3.4 million year old hominid
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/1118455.stm>, probably
belonging to a child, has been discovered in Ethiopia.
* Jan 2001: A new study has sequenced mitochondrial DNA
<http://more.abcnews.go.com/sections/scitech/DailyNews/evolution_outofafrica010109.html>
from the anatomically modern Mungo Man
<http://www-personal.une.edu.au/%7Epbrown3/LM3.html> fossil from
Australia and found it to be outside the range of modern human
mtDNA. The authors have claimed this is strong evidence for the
multiregional model of human evolution, as opposed to the
currently dominant Out Of Africa model (Adcock et al. 2001).
However, other other experts have challenged this
<http://old.smh.com.au/news/0101/10/pageone/pageone7.html>. Cooper
et al. (2001) <http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/homs/mungonhm.html>
have published a rebuttal of this claim.
* Mar 2000: Mitochondrial DNA from a second Neandertal specimen
<http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/science/DailyNews/neanderthal000328.html>
(a baby from Mezmaiskaya Cave
<http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/homs/mezmaiskaya.gif> in Russia)
has been successfully sequenced. Like the first specimen, it is
well outside the range of variation of modern humans (Ovchinnikov
et al. 2000
<http://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf?file=/nature/journal/v404/n6777/full/404490a0_fs.html>,
Höss 2000
<http://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf?file=/nature/journal/v404/n6777/full/404453a0_fs.html>).
Analysis of the mtDNA of a third Neandertal from Vindija
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/967119.stm> in Croatia
also confirms the earlier findings. (Krings et al. 2000)
* Apr 2000: Two Homo erectus crania and a mandible have been
discovered at Dmanisi
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/745080.stm> in the
Republic of Georgia. They have been dated at about 1.7 million
years. (Gabunia et al. 2000, Balter and Gibbons 2000)
* The complete skull of a female Australopithecus robustus
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/726597.stm> has been
discovered at Drimolen in South Africa, along with the lower jaw
of a male robustus found only a few inches away. (Keyser 2000
<http://www.nrf.ac.za/sajs/spapr001.stm>)
* Apr 1999: A new species, Australopithecus garhi
<http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/homs/species.html#garhi>, has
been named from fossils found near Bouri in Ethiopia
<http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/science/DailyNews/hominid990422.html>,
by a joint Ethiopian, American and Japanese team. This
small-brained, large-toothed hominid was found near antelope bones
which had been butchered by stone tools (Asfaw et al. 1999).
* Apr 1999: According to Neandertal expert Erik Trinkaus, the
24500-year-old skeleton of a young boy found in Portugal
<http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/homs/lagarvelho.html> contains
characteristics of both modern human and Neandertals, and is
evidence that the two groups interbred (Duarte et al. 1999).
* Oct 1998: Although it has not yet been fully excavated, it seems
that virtually an entire australopithecine skeleton has been
discovered <http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/homs/littlefoot.html>
by Ronald Clarke at Sterkfontein in South Africa. This skeleton
belongs to the same individual as the "Little Foot" set of four
foot bones discovered by Clarke in 1994 (see below).
* An article by geographer Jerome Dobson (1998) suggests that
Neandertal features are caused by an iodine deficiency, or by a
genetic difference in the thyroid. (Diseases associated with
low-iodine diets are goiter and cretinism.) Expect this
controversial claim to receive skeptical scrutiny from
anthropologists.
* Jul 1998: Analysis of new A. africanus fossils from Sterkfontein
in South Africa
<http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/science/072898sci-fossil.html>
suggests that the forelimb and hindlimb proportions of africanus
were more ape-like than in the earlier A. afarensis. (McHenry and
Berger 1998)
* A well-preserved Homo cranium discovered in Eritrea is about 1
million years old, and contains a mixture of erectus and sapiens
characteristics. (Abbate et al. 1998)
* A new A. boisei skull
<http://www.he.net/%7Earchaeol/9801/newsbriefs/boisei.html> is one
of the most complete known, and the first known with an associated
cranium and lower jaw. It also has a surprising amount of
variability from other boisei skulls, which may have implications
for how hominid fossils are classified. (Suwa et al. 1997; Delson
1997)
* Jul 1997: In a stunning technical achievement, it appears that a
portion of Neandertal mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) has been
successfully extracted
<http://www.psu.edu/ur/NEWS/news/Neandertal.html> for the first
time. It differs by a surprising amount from equivalent modern
human DNA, suggesting that Neandertals were not particularly
closely related to any modern humans, and supporting (but
certainly not proving) claims that they were a different species.
(Krings et al. 1997; Kahn and Gibbons 1997)
* Some Homo fossils found recently in Spain
<http://www.he.net/%7Earchaeol/9709/newsbriefs/gran.dolina.html>,
and dated at over 780,000 years, are the oldest confirmed European
hominids. It is not yet clear what species they belong to,
although the discoverers have named them Homo antecessor
<http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/homs/species.html#antecessor>.
(Bermudez de Castro et al. 1997; Kunzig R. 1997)
* The oldest known stone tools
<http://ur.rutgers.edu/medrel/viewArticle.html?ArticleID=215> have
been found at Gona, Ethiopia, in sediments dated at between 2.5
and 2.6 million years old. The makers are unknown, but may be
early Homo. (Semaw et al. 1997)
* An upper jaw belonging to the genus Homo
<http://www.asu.edu/clas/iho/1996jaw.html> and dated at over 2.3
million years old has been found in Ethiopia, associated with
stone tools. (Kimbel et al. 1996)
* Recent studies claim that some Javan skulls are between 51,000 and
27,000 years old, far more recent than previously thought. If
confirmed, it means that Homo erectus and sapiens co-existed in
this region for some time. (Swisher et al. 1996)
* A partial jaw found in Chad (Central Africa) greatly extends the
geographical range in which australopithecines are known to have
lived. The specimen, which has been nicknamed Abel, has since been
named Australopithecus bahrelghazali. (Brunet et al. 1995)
* Four australopithecine foot bones dated at around 3.5 million
years are the oldest hominid fossils yet found in South Africa.
They seem to be adapted to bipedalism, but have an intriguing
mixture of ape and human features (Clarke and Tobias 1995). Since
then, 8 more foot and leg bones have been found from the same
individual, who has been nicknamed Little Foot
<http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/homs/littlefoot.html>.
* Recent finds at Zafarraya in Spain suggest that Neandertals may
have survived longer than previously thought, perhaps as recently
as 27,000 years ago.
* Two hominid teeth in a small jaw fragment found in China and dated
at around 1.9 million years are claimed as evidence that Homo
arrived in Asia earlier than currently thought. (Huang et al.
1995) (However other researchers have suggested this is a fossil
ape <http://www.chineseprehistory.org/art1.htm>.)
* Recent research suggests that the some australopithecines were
capable of a precision grip, like that of humans but unlike apes,
which would have meant they were capable of making stone tools.
(Susman 1994)
References
Abbate E., Albianelli A., Azzaroli A., Benvenuti M., Tesfamariam B.,
Bruni P. et al. (1998): A one-million-year-old Homo cranium from the
Danakil (Afar) depression of Eritrea. Nature, 393:458.
Adcock G.J., Dennis E.S., Easteal S., Huttley G.A., Jermiin L.S.,
Peacock W.J. et al. (2001): Mitochondrial DNA sequences in ancient
Australians: implications for modern human origins. Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences, USA, 98:537-42.
Aiello L. and Collard M. (2001): Our newest oldest ancestor? Nature,
410:526-7. (a skeptical look at Orrorin tugenensis)
Asfaw B., White T.D., Lovejoy C.O., Suwa G., and Simpson S. (1999):
Australopithecus garhi: a new species of early hominid from Ethiopia.
Science, 284:629-35.
Asfaw B., Gilbert W.H., Beyene Y., Hart W.K., Renne P., WoldeGabriel G.
et al. (2002): Remains of Homo erectus from Bouri, Middle Awash,
Ethiopia. Nature, 416:317-20.
Balter M. and Gibbons A. (2002): Were 'Little People' the first to
venture out of Africa? Science, 297:26-7. (D2700 from Dmanisi)
Balter M. and Gibbons A. (2000): A glimpse of humans first journey out
of Africa. Science, 288:948-50.
Begun D.R. (2004): The earliest hominins - is less more? Science,
303:1478-80. (Ardipithecus kadabba)
Bermudez de Castro J.M., Arsuaga J., Carbonell E., Rosas A., Martinez
I., and Mosquera M. (1997): A hominid from the lower Pleistocene of
Atapuerca, Spain: possible ancestor to Neandertals and modern humans.
Science, 276:1392-5.
Blumenschine R.J., Peters C.R., Masao F.T., Clarke R.J., Deino A., Hay
R.L. et al. (2003): Late Pliocene Homo and hominid land use from western
Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. Science, 299:1217-21. (discovery of OH 65)
Brunet M., Guy F., Pilbeam D., Mackay H.T., Likius A., Djimboumalbaye A.
et al. (2002): A new hominid from the upper Miocene of Chad, central
Africa. Nature, 418:145-51.
Brunet M., Beauvilain A., Coppens Y., Heintz E., Moutaye A.H.E., and
Pilbeam D. (1995): The first australopithecine 2,500 kilometres west of
the rift valley (Chad). Nature, 378:273-5.
Burenhult G. (1993): The first humans: human origins and history to
10,000 BC. New York: HarperCollins.
Clarke R.J. and Tobias P.V. (1995): Sterkfontein member 2 foot bones of
the oldest South African hominid. Science, 269:521-4.
Cooper, A., Rambaut, A., Macaulay, V., Willerslev, E., Hansen, A. &
Stringer, C. (2001): Human origins and ancient human DNA. Science, 292:
1655-6
Dean C., Leakey M.G., Reid D., Schrenk F., Schwartz G.T., Stringer C.B.
et al. (2001): Growth processes in teeth distinguish modern humans from
Homo erectus and earlier hominins. Nature, 414:628-31.
Delson E. (1997): One skull does not a species make. Nature, 389:445-6.
Dobson J.E. (1998): The iodine factor in health and evolution. The
Geographical Review, 88:1-28.
Duarte C., Mauricio J., Pettitt P.B., Souto P., Trinkaus E., van der
Plicht H. et al. (1999): The early upper Paleolithic human skeleton from
the Abrigo do Lagar Velho (Portugal) and modern human emergence in
Iberia. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, 96:7604-9.
Gabunia L., de Lumley M.-A., Vekua A., Lordkipanidze D., and de Lumley
H. (2002): Découvert d'un nouvel hominidé à Dmanissi (Transcaucasie,
Georgie). C.R.Palevol 1, 2002:243-53.
Gabunia L., Vekua A., Swisher C.C., III, Ferring R., Justus A., Nioradze
M. et al. (2000): Earliest Pleistocene hominid cranial remains from
Dmanisi, Republic of Georgia: taxonomy, geological setting, and age.
Science, 288:1019-25.
Haile-Selassie Y. (2001): Late Miocene hominids from the Middle Awash,
Ethiopia. Nature, 412:178-81. (Ardipithecus ramidus kadabba)
Haile-Selassie Y., Suwa G., and White T.D. (2004): Late Miocene teeth
from Middle Awash, Ethiopia, and early hominid dental evolution.
Science, 303:1503-5. (Ardipithecus kadabba)
Höss M. (2000): Neanderthal population genetics
<http://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf?file=/nature/journal/v404/n6777/full/404453a0_fs.html>.
Nature, 404:453-4.
Huang W., Ciochon R., Gu Y., Larick R., Fang Q., Schwarcz H.P. et al.
(1995): Early Homo and associated artefacts from Asia. Nature, 378:275-40.
Hublin J., Spoor F., Braun M., Zonneveld F., and Condemi S. (1996): A
late neanderthal associated with upper palaeolithic artefacts. Nature,
381:224-6.
Kahn P. and Gibbons A. (1997): DNA from an extinct human. Science,
277:176-8.
Keyser A.W. (2000): The Drimolen skull: the most complete
australopithecine cranium and mandible to date
<http://www.nrf.ac.za/sajs/spapr001.stm>. South African Journal of
Science, 96:189-93.
Kimbel W.H., Walter R.C., Johanson D.C., Reed K.E., Aronson J.L., Assefa
Z. et al. (1996): Late pliocene Homo and oldowan tools from the Hadar
formation (kada hadar member), Ethiopia. Journal of Human Evolution,
31:549-61.
Krings M., Stone A., Schmitz R.W., Krainitzki H., Stoneking M., and
Paabo S. (1997): Neandertal DNA sequences and the origin of modern
humans. Cell, 90:19-30.
Krings M., Capelli C., Tschentscher F., Geisert H., Meyer S., von
Haeseler A. et al. (2000): A view of Neandertal genetic diversity.
Nature Genetics, 26:144-6.
Kunzig R. (1997): The face of an ancestral child. Discover, 18, 88-101.
Leakey M.G., Spoor F., Brown F., Gathogo P.N., Kiarie C., Leakey L.N. et
al. (2001): New hominin genus from eastern Africa shows diverse middle
Pliocene lineages. Nature, 410:433-40. (announcement of the discovery of
Kenyanthropus platyops)
Lieberman D.E. (2001): Another face in our family tree. Nature,
410:419-20. (commentary on K. platyops)
Lontcho F. (2000): Georgia Homo erectus crania. Archaeology 53(1)
McHenry H.M., Berger L.R. (1998): Body proportions in Australopithecus
afarensis and A. africanus and the origin of the genus Homo. Journal of
Human Evolution, 35:1-22.
Moggi-Cecchi J. (2001): Questions of growth. Nature, 414:595-6.
Ovchinnikov I.V., Götherström A., Romanova G.P., Kharitonov V.M., Liden
K., and Goodwin W. (2000): Molecular analysis of Neanderthal DNA from
the northern Caucasus
<http://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf?file=/nature/journal/v404/n6777/full/404490a0_fs.html>.
Nature, 404:490-3.
Partridge T.C., Granger D.E., Caffee M.W., and Clarke R.J. (2003): Lower
Pliocene hominid remains from Sterkfontein. Science, 300:607-12.
Semaw S., Renne P., Harris J.W.K., Feibel C.S., Bernor R.L., Fesseka N.
et al. (1997): 2.5-million-year-old stone tools from Gona, Ethiopia.
Nature, 385:333-6.
Senut B., Pickford M., Gommery D., Mein P., Cheboi C., and Coppens Y.
(2001): First hominid from the Miocene (Lukeino Formation, Kenya).
Comptes rendus des seances de l'academie des sciences, 332:137-44.
(discovery of Orrorin tugenensis)
Stringer C.B. (2003): Out of Ethiopia
<http://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf?file=/nature/journal/v423/n6941/full/423692a_fs.html>.
Nature, 423:692-4. (Commentary on the Herto skulls)
Susman R.L. (1994): Fossil evidence for early hominid tool use. Science,
265:1570-3.
Suwa G., Asfaw B., Beyene Y., White T.D., Katoh S., Nagaoka S. et al.
(1997): The first skull of Australopithecus boisei. Nature, 389:489-92.
Swisher C.C. III, Rink W.J., Anton S.C., Schwarcz H.P., Curtis G.,
Supryo A., and Widiasmoro (1996): Latest Homo erectus of Java: potential
contemporaneity with Homo sapiens in southeast Asia. Science 274:1870-1874.
Tattersall I. (1993): The human odyssey: four million years of human
evolution. New York: Prentice Hall.
Tattersall I. and Schwartz J.H. (1996): Significance of some previously
unrecognized apomorphies in the nasal region of Homo neanderthalensis.
Proc.Natl.Acad.Sci.USA 93:10852-10854
Tobias P.V. (2003): Encore Olduvai. Science, 299:1193-4. (commentary on
OH 65)
Vekua A., Lordkipanidze D., Rightmire G.P., Agusti J., Ferring R.,
Maisuradze G. et al. (2002): A new skull of early Homo from Dmanisi,
Georgia. Science, 297:85-9. (D2700)
White T.D., Asfaw B., DeGusta D., Gilbert H., Richards G.D., Suwa G. et
al. (2003): Pleistocene Homo sapiens from Middle Awash, Ethiopia.
Nature, 423:742-7. (Herto skulls)
Wood B. (2002): Hominid revelations from Chad. Nature, 418:133-5.
(Sahelanthropus tchadensis)
Wood B.A. and Collard M. (1999): The human genus. Science, 284:65-71.
Wood B.A. and Collard M. (1999): The changing face of genus Homo.
Evolutionary Anthropology, 8:195-207.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/homs/recent.html
--
Respectfully, Roger L. Bagula
tf...@earthlink.net, 11759Waterhill Road, Lakeside,Ca 92040-2905,tel: 619-5610814 :
URL : http://home.earthlink.net/~tftn
URL : http://victorian.fortunecity.com/carmelita/435/