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New Homo erectus find asks more questions of human evolution
A newly discovered 1.2 million-year-old female Homo erectus pelvis,the most intact Homo erectus female pelvis yet found. The fossil was found in 2001 at the Gona Study Area in the Afar region Ethiopia. Excavations were completed in 2003. Homo erectus is widely believed to be the direct ancestor of modern humans.
A reconstruction of the 1.2 million-year-old pelvis discovered in 2001 in the Gona Study Area at Afar, Ethiopia, that has led researchers to speculate early man was better equipped than first thought to produce larger-brained babies. The actual fossils remain in Ethiopia.
Credit: Scott W. Simpson, Case Western Reserve University
Sileshi Semaw, the leader of the Gona Project, said that the birth canal of this pelvis is 30% larger than earlier estimates based on the 1.5-million-year-old juvenile male pelvis of the Turkana Boy, found in Kenya. Current theories, based upon estimations of the existing male skeleton from Kenya, suggested Homo erectus produced babies with only a limited neonatal brain size, and experienced rapid brain growth while still developmentally immature.
Male and female primate pelvic girdles are extremely different. Early hominid female pelvic anatomy is basically unknown, in fact we don’t really have much data, really only Lucy’s fragmented pelvis, the 3.2 million year old Australopithecus afarensis. This new pelvis also tells us of some interesting differences in stature and gait. Because of their relatively wider hips, women sway their hips and are not able to run as fast as men.
Homo erectus lived from around 2 Million years ago to 50 000 years ago and was probably driven to extinction by the expansion of our own species, Homo sapiens. Homo erectus has a very different brain size (900cc) to that of our own (1400cc). Previously we thought that erectus produced small brained babies who then developed like us. This find may suggest that we have greater differences that we thought. Homo erectus would have been producing ape like mature babies capable of fending for themselves from an early age. This would go a long way to eplaining why our big brained, bullyboy anscestors kicked erectus' ingnorant ass halfway around the world, and put an end to a 2 Millions year old species.
The Out of Africa carpensis hypothesis has sapiens developing, if not the anatomy, certainly the social abilities required to produce big brained children that are unable to fend for themselves. Under this model sapiens would have to develop a division of labor whereby males hunt externally and females remain in protected homes caring for physically challenged children. In the Southern Cape around 200 000 years ago our females changed from nomadics, running with the tribe, carrying no more than one child at a time to home makers, with a voracious appetite for children. They changed their diet to one rich in sea food. In an over simplification, these social habits have led us to a population explosion of 6 Billion people today.
The 'encephalisation' is the expansion of the brain from 900 cc to 1400 today. The debate still rages about the speed and nature of this change. This fossil find could underpin the theory of sudden change. If Homo erectus women already had big hips, then the evolutionary change required is only the expansion of brain development in the fetus.
What makes the Gona find so significant is that, because of a sparcity of calcium in Africa over the last Million years, it is very difficult for skeletons to fossilise. Evidence of the Homo erectus to Homo sapiens boundary is sparse to non existant. Tantalising evidence of early human behavior has been found along the Southern Cape particularly around Mossel Bay. This find may help us to define the differences that gave our early ancestors the advantage over their peers and let lose an explosion of sapiens expansion and other species extinction that is still continuing today.
Philip Copeman is he author of Gods First Fishermen, which advocates the Out of Africa carpensis hypothesis for human origins. www.philipcopeman.com
A reconstruction of the 1.2 million-year-old pelvis discovered in 2001 in the Gona Study Area at Afar, Ethiopia, that has led researchers to speculate early man was better equipped than first thought to produce larger-brained babies. The actual fossils remain in Ethiopia.
Credit: Scott W. Simpson, Case Western Reserve University
Sileshi Semaw, the leader of the Gona Project, said that the birth canal of this pelvis is 30% larger than earlier estimates based on the 1.5-million-year-old juvenile male pelvis of the Turkana Boy, found in Kenya. Current theories, based upon estimations of the existing male skeleton from Kenya, suggested Homo erectus produced babies with only a limited neonatal brain size, and experienced rapid brain growth while still developmentally immature.
Male and female primate pelvic girdles are extremely different. Early hominid female pelvic anatomy is basically unknown, in fact we don’t really have much data, really only Lucy’s fragmented pelvis, the 3.2 million year old Australopithecus afarensis. This new pelvis also tells us of some interesting differences in stature and gait. Because of their relatively wider hips, women sway their hips and are not able to run as fast as men.
Homo erectus lived from around 2 Million years ago to 50 000 years ago and was probably driven to extinction by the expansion of our own species, Homo sapiens. Homo erectus has a very different brain size (900cc) to that of our own (1400cc). Previously we thought that erectus produced small brained babies who then developed like us. This find may suggest that we have greater differences that we thought. Homo erectus would have been producing ape like mature babies capable of fending for themselves from an early age. This would go a long way to eplaining why our big brained, bullyboy anscestors kicked erectus' ingnorant ass halfway around the world, and put an end to a 2 Millions year old species.
The Out of Africa carpensis hypothesis has sapiens developing, if not the anatomy, certainly the social abilities required to produce big brained children that are unable to fend for themselves. Under this model sapiens would have to develop a division of labor whereby males hunt externally and females remain in protected homes caring for physically challenged children. In the Southern Cape around 200 000 years ago our females changed from nomadics, running with the tribe, carrying no more than one child at a time to home makers, with a voracious appetite for children. They changed their diet to one rich in sea food. In an over simplification, these social habits have led us to a population explosion of 6 Billion people today.
The 'encephalisation' is the expansion of the brain from 900 cc to 1400 today. The debate still rages about the speed and nature of this change. This fossil find could underpin the theory of sudden change. If Homo erectus women already had big hips, then the evolutionary change required is only the expansion of brain development in the fetus.
What makes the Gona find so significant is that, because of a sparcity of calcium in Africa over the last Million years, it is very difficult for skeletons to fossilise. Evidence of the Homo erectus to Homo sapiens boundary is sparse to non existant. Tantalising evidence of early human behavior has been found along the Southern Cape particularly around Mossel Bay. This find may help us to define the differences that gave our early ancestors the advantage over their peers and let lose an explosion of sapiens expansion and other species extinction that is still continuing today.
Philip Copeman is he author of Gods First Fishermen, which advocates the Out of Africa carpensis hypothesis for human origins. www.philipcopeman.com
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