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DNA OF THE GODS
Origins of a Genus
Written by Christopher D. Bertram,
San Francisco, California.
Bay Area Rock Magazine, San Francisco, California.
2.
DNA OF THE GODS
1st
Peer Review Edition 2013
2nd
Edition 2014
3rd printing 2015
© 2016 Christopher D. Bertram, San Francisco, California
Printed in the United States of America.
The first part contains the Kirkus edit. The second part was
line edited by freelance staff of Bay Area Rock Magazine.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced
or transmitted in any form or by any means without written
permission from the author.
The material in the book cannot substitute for professional
advice; further, the author is not liable if the reader relied on the
material and was financially damaged in some way.
4.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 Clinical Anthropology 15
Chapter 2 Ancient History 23
Chapter 3 OoPArts 48
Chapter 4 The Novel Forms 56
Chapter 5 Neanderthals 75
Chapter 6 Plutonium Man 78
Chapter 7 Using Speech Modeling 82
Chapter 8 The MindBody Reduction and the Computer 91
Chapter 9 The Science and Technology of the Matrix 107
Chapter 10 My Life in Second Life 114
Chapter 11 Linguistics 134
Chapter 12 Psychological Time Assessment 142
Chapter 13 Freud 147
Chapter 14 The Psychoanalysis of Dorothy Gale 152
Chapter 15 The Origin of The Gray Alien 158
Chapter 16 Methods 162
Chapter 17 Hypothesis 160
Chapter 18 Panspermia: Proposal 169
Chapter 19 Panspermia: Cellular and Molecular Origins 181
Chapter 20 Panspermia: Hypothesis 297
Chapter 21 Panspermia: Conclusion 299
10.
Contributors to this Book:
Christopher D. Bertram
Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
Of the Requirements for the Degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
Clinical Anthropology
12.
Genomic Psychology
Although the archaeological record indicates a rough sketch of
the development of modern Homo sapiens and the behavior of the
species, we have now determined that the gene for speech has
been handed down through the genomic sequence at the Genus
level and that intelligence may originate far back in antiquity.
These results have implications in human modeling of behavior,
psychology and psychoanalysis.
Clinical anthropologists take a topdown approach
(everything in a phylogenetic tree), one that could shake up the
medical establishment. Strictly speaking, one could say that all of
medicine is anthropology. The future is in clinical anthropology.
Because artifacts have been misidentified, misunderstood, and
miscataloged, the depth and antiquity of our intelligence has been
misunderstood. The fossil record implying that H. sapiens is the
only truly intelligent example of its genus may not be entirely
accurate: the entire genus Homo may be intelligent, a recent
discovery in clinical anthropology.
In recent genetic analysis it has been discovered that the gene
for human speech was also in the neanderthal genome. In other
words it could be thought of that language itself may have a basis
far into antiquity in the past even into a species that primarily
lived 30,000 years ago.
Nucleotides form the basis of chromosomes. Humans are
diploid; this means they have fortysix chromosomes. Human
hominid genomes are 99 percent identical, with 1.5 percent of
known genes; these currently total approximately twentytwo
thousand.
14.
genetic therapy or even the use of stem cells. Shouldn’t the
placement of treatment consider how far out of Africa the
individual came to arrive at his or her present condition? In terms
of genetics, those individuals whose ancestors left Africa earlier
are now different in physiology than those whose forebears
remained longer. Individuals do actually fall on slightly different
places in the phylogenetic tree.
Think of a row of numbered blood samples with no other
labels on them. They can be tested to determine the sex ratio of all
of the blood samples’ donors. The approximate age of the
individuals can be determined. One might even determine the
social standing of the individuals. Next we could analyze blood
type and antigens, and so on. The test tubes could be classified
according to the socalled races of the donors.
The modern medical paradigm still works on the apprentice
system of onthejobtraining. Interns have the latest schooling
but no experience yet, and the surgeons have long ago left their
exams behind but have built great onthejob experience.
Psychiatrists have theories of human behavior. Pathologists test
all manner of samples, usually post mortem, when it is too late.
This operation of industry is doomed to failure.
Clinical anthropology is the study of cultural beliefs and the
consequent behaviors associated with the origin, management,
and recognition of both health and illness within various cultural
and social groups. The field goes further to handle cases outside
the bracket of medical diagnosis and treatments such as
biomedicine. These include issues in dealing with the informal
systems of health care within a global perspective. Clinical
anthropology considers treatment by healers, traditional birth
attendants, alternative practitioners, and shamans as well as the
health practices associated with professional Western medicine
and caring practices. This field engages with cultural diversities in
17.
interment, environmental temperature, and acidity of the soil.
Changes in environmental conditions may cause extreme
differences in the rate of preservation of fossils in the burial sites.
Bone specimens from Southeast Asia harbor only a very small
percentage of fragmented mtDNA; the amount found is very
unpredictable. The quality and ease of extraction of genetic
information from the bone varies with location within the human
skeleton. Teeth may yield mtDNA when a bone from the same
skeleton does not.
MtDNA in family reference materials can be obtained from
the exhumed remains of deceased relatives if necessary. At times,
postmortem reference specimens like locks of hair,
paraffinembedded materials from the earlier biopsies, and
neonatal blood stains can be compared with information from the
deceased, as was done with the identification of relatives to the
servicemen in the war at the Southeast Asia (University, 2009).
Ancient DNA
For proper DNA identification, the researcher must use a very
intact DNA sample. This calls for better preservation of such
samples. We should follow the correct extraction process right
from the start. A new approach in the field is the amplification of
DNA obtained from ancient biological materials like those of
mammoths, tigers, and mummies. This is the field of molecular
paleontology. Once the victims in the Korean and Vietnam
conflicts were identified using these techniques, they could receive
proper burial later in their respective areas of residence (wsu.edu,
n.d.).
Clinical anthropology may offer solutions to the dysfunctional
and often overpriced and wasteful medical system. An
anthropologist might run a hospital quite differently, putting the
pathologist at the beginning of a treatment’s chain of events
27.
Figure 4. In This Photo: Sarah Jain in dramatic reenactment of
ancient Troy. A variety of gods staged an intervention at Troy
leading to the creation of Rome (Photo credit: Author 2015).
Let’s look back in time: after the battle of Troy, the remnants
fled to the coastline of what is now Italy and formed a
rudimentary society (Rome). The god Ares and Athena were
probably important not only in the proceedings of Troy and the
aftermath but the subsequent citystate of Rome. Eventually, this
society created the Roman Empire, which was in essence a
military dictatorship.
A recent theory suggests a World War Zero:
“Now, as Colin Barras at New Scientist reports, a
geoarchaeologist named Eberhard Zangger is proposing a much
grander cause for the collapse: an extended series of ancient
conflicts that he dubs "World War Zero."
Last week, Zangger, head of the Luwian Studies foundation,
which is based in Zurich, Switzerland, launched a book, as well as
an extensive website, arguing that another culture he calls the
Luwians began a series of invasions that eventually collapsed the
other Bronze Age powers.
(http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smartnews/geoarchaeologistp
roposestherewasaworldwarzero180959152/#l3KGvS4ro3p1
6T6U.99)”
Further back, at 1450 BCE, the volcano at or near the island of
Thera destroyed the Minoan fleet and empire. The depth of ash
there indicated a massive explosion. Written language has been
excavated that some believe to be evidence that the Minoan Palace
of Knossos and its temples underlie the mythological island
28.
civilization of Atlantis. So much research and excavation at Thera
has now taken place that some consider the mystery solved.
Anthropological gene testing for mtDNA has shown that some
haplogroups started out in Asia and migrated to the Americas far
back in antiquity. For Haplogroup B, starting at 50,000 years ago,
humans migrated from Asia to the Americas and became B4’5. We
have so far no archaeological finds in the Americas to corroborate
the move; no finds there date earlier than 10,000 years ago.
However, deepwater ports visible with sidescanning radar
indicate that in the fardistant past, someone was traversing the
oceans in huge ships of unknown provenance. There are also
indications of landbridge crossings from Siberia to Alaska, for
example.
Mediterranean Island Voyages
Science 16 November 2012:
Vol. 338 no. 6109 pp. 895897
DOI: 10.1126/science.1228880
“Some of the classical world's most innovative cultures
developed on Mediterranean islands, but their earlier
human use is poorly known. The islands, particularly those
further from the mainland such as Crete and Cyprus, were
thought to have been first colonized about 9000 years ago
by late Neolithic agriculturalists with domesticated
resources. Until about 20 years ago, claims of earlier,
preNeolithic occupations on any of the islands did not
stand up to critical scrutiny (1), but current investigations
are challenging these perceptions. Discoveries on Cyprus,
Crete, and some Ionian islands suggest seafaring abilities
by preNeolithic peoples, perhaps extending back to
29.
Neanderthals or even earlier hominins. In Cyprus, Neolithic
sites have been documented that are nearly as early as
those on the mainland.”
Of the Neolithic age, the conventional wisdom states that: the
only remnants are stone tools and a few chips of volcanic glass
shaped into arrowheads. Then archaeological evidence is sparse
until the finds of the Bronze and Iron Ages.
Figure 5. Sacsayhuaman near Cusco, Peru. Of extreme
antiquity, the walls here use no mortar. (Getty Images,
iStockPhoto)
In South America, the preInca site Sacsayhuaman near
Cusco, Peru, lies on the side of a mountain plateau. It includes
stone blocks weighing fifty to a hundred tons each that look as
though they were melted or shaped by heating to fit into place. To
many viewers, the site looks like it could even predate
Neolithic—that is, StoneAge—culture, but the methods used to
build Sacsayhuaman confound today’s understanding of how to
work stone. Why would anyone build such a massive city, with
37.
Thus, the mythological originator of the Egyptian civilization
is buried at unknown antiquity in the second pyramid. The Sphinx
acts as Osiris’s Anubis, guarding the dead. This places the
pyramid at unknown antiquity and purpose.
It is said that in legend Osiris traveled the world with his
sister Isis and the nine muses, and what is fascinating is that there
is a legend in South America of the children of the sun traveling
there and bringing them civilization – Osiris and Isis are the
children of Ra the sun god.
Some Giza plateau artifacts have been miscataloged,
mislabeled, misinterpreted, and misdated. The Great Pyramid of
Khufu is supposedly a funerary structure. There has never been
found a body in the Great pyramid.
A mechanical engineer has recently measured the mitered
edges of the Great Pyramid, concluding that very advanced tools
were required to make the joints. There are thirtyfoot saw marks
finer than onesixteenth of an inch along wide swaths of discarded
stone at the site. The mechanical engineer concluded that the
ancient Egyptians who made the Pyramid had advanced tools:
Although the ancient Egyptians are not given credit for
having a simple wheel, the evidence proves that they not
only had the wheel, they had a more sophisticated use for
it. The evidence of lathe work is markedly distinct on some
of the artifacts housed in the Cairo Museum, as well as
those that were studied by Petrie. Two pieces of diorite in
Petrie’s collection he identified as being the result of true
turning on a lathe (Dunn, 2006).
“. . . Tool marks on the inside of the granite coffer in the
King’s Chamber indicate that when the granite was
hollowed out, preliminary roughing cuts were made by
38.
drilling holes into the granite around the area which was to
be removed. According to Petrie, these drill holes were
made with tubedrills, which left a central core that had to
be knocked away after the hole had been cut. After all the
holes had been drilled, and all the cores removed, Petrie
surmises that the coffer was then hewn and worked to its
desired dimension...”
“On the E. inside is a portion of a tubedrill hole remaining,
where they had tilted the drill over into the side by not
working it vertically. They tried hard to polish away all that
part, and took of about 1/10 inch thickness all around it; but
still they had to leave the side of the hole 1/10 deep, 3
long, and 1.3 wide; the bottom of it is 8 or 9 below the
original top of the coffer. They made a similar error on the
N. inside, but of a much less extent. There are traces of
horizontal grinding lines on the W. inside...”
“The errors noted by Petrie are not uncommon in modern
machine shops, and I must confess to having made them
myself on occasion. Several factors could be involved in
creating this condition, although I cannot visualize any one
of them being a hand operation. Once again, while working
their drill into the granite, the machinists had made a
mistake before they had time to correct it...”
“Let us speculate for a moment that the drill was being
worked by hand. How far into the granite would they be
able to cut before the drill had to be removed to permit
cleaning the waste out of the hole? Would they be able to
drill 8 or 9 inches into the granite without having to remove
their drill? It is inconceivable to me that such a depth could
be achieved with a handoperated drill without the frequent
withdrawal of the drill to clean out the hole, or provisions
39.
being made for the removal of the waste while the drill was
still cutting. It is possible, therefore, that frequent
withdrawals of the drill would expose their error, and that
they would have noticed the direction their drill was taking
before it had cut a .200 inch gouge into the side of the
coffer, and before it had reached a depth of 8 or 9 inches.
Can’t we see the same situation with the drill as with the
saw? Here we have two high speed operations where
errors are made before the operators have time to correct
them.”
The box was carved from a solid piece 71/2 ft. wide 9 ft.
high 13½ ft. long (Dunn, 2006).
The advanced tools were from a people that already had metal
objects from the hottest forges possible (Dunn, 2006). The King’s
Chamber coffer is the precise dimension of the so called Ark of
the Covenant in biblical description. This coffer’s true purpose
cannot be that of a coffin and must have been something like a
catch basin for a desalinization plant.
I have a point of contention here: who the hell was tube
drilling the King’s chamber box, after the block was laid in such a
small room and with no lights? There is no room for the
machinery to be placed inside the room to drill the core holes. Not
only is there no machinery left inside but someone forgot to
mention that there is no light switch in the chamber of the
pyramid.
The builders have not been identified, and the true purposes
of the structure have not been determined. Given its erosion and
predynastic artifacts, the Giza site must date back far beyond
3,000 BCE.
40.
It is obvious with a superficial study that the Great Pyramid is
done as the result of an advanced civilization and that the dating
could be in error. Perhaps it was sealed at an unknown date. This
Great Pyramid could have been King Solomon’s temple that was
supposedly lost in antiquity. Perhaps restoration work was done
by Khufu.
The Identity of King Solomon
The Bible contains accounts of ancient buildings using saws
that cut massive stones:
All these were of costly stones, according to the measures
of hewed stones, sawed with saws, within and without,
even from the foundation unto the coping, and so on the
outside toward the great court. (Kings 1:7–9).
There are buildings still standing with stones so described.
Both the great pyramid and Solomon’s temple have inner
chambers that house the Ark of the Covenant. Is the Great
Pyramid the great Solomon’s temple?
Could the name SolOmon be broken down and interpreted as
the god Amen Ra the pharaoh. Solomon married a daughter of an
Egyptian pharaoh in deep antiquity and built a huge structure that
supposedly has never been found, yet staring us in the face is the
Great Pyramid with the same dimensions as Solomon’s temple
built to house the Ark of the Covenant.
Amen Ra is referred to in the names of a succession of
pharaohs in Egypt. Matching the pharaoh with Solomon places a
new date on the unification of Egypt, as once Solomon married a
pharaoh’s daughter, he became pharaoh, etc.
There are texts suggesting that Moses was one of the Pharos,
etc. There is a named line of Pharaohs as TutMoses, etc. Besides
42.
antiquity of the area has not been fully understood. Work is being
done to match up artifacts with ancient texts.
Legend has it that Nala built the Nala Setu Bridge by direction
of King Rama in 5,076 BCE. The date has been calculated using
archaeoastronomy and sea level measurements from before the
melt of the last ice age. The bridge can still be seen from space by
satellite and space stations, spanning across the southern tip of
India and the northern tip of Sri Lanka.
The bridge of Rama that can be seen from space can also be
dated using the texts. Using the books of Ramayana, and the
Mahabharata the birth of Rama can be calculated. In Ramayana
1.18.8, 9 using the astronomical alignments the birth can be
calculated to January 10th, 5114 BCE.
Off of the coast of India near the gulf of Khambhat, ruins of
ancient city complexes have recently been found. They have been
dated between 9,500 and 32,000 BCE. The artifacts of the sunken
city complexes show intricate tool use and architectural
sophistication. Each of the two sites is as large as the city of
Manhattan.
“After all the people had set out, the ocean flooded
Dvaraka, which still teemed with wealth of every kind.
Whatever portion of land was passed over, the ocean
immediately flooded over with its waters.
(Mahabharata, Mausala Parva 7 verse 40)”
At a depth of between 70 and 170 feet under the ocean lies
quite possibly Dvaraka, the legendary city of the god Krishna, that
can be dated by the rising sea levels of the cities discovered nearby
in the gulf of Khambhat. How many tens of thousands of years has
the city been under the water?
44.
constitute an exceptional example of continuous human
occupation, due to their special ecosystems and their
geographical location. The fossil remains in the Sierra de
Atapuerca are an invaluable reserve of information about
the physical nature and the way of life of the earliest
human communities in Europe…”
“…The earliest fossil hominid remains in Europe, the
Pleistocene deposits, from around 800,000 BP as
established by paleomagnetic analysis, were found in the
Gran Dolina site in the Sierra de Atapuerca, one of the
Trinchera Del Ferrocarril group. They are associated with
simple stone tools of the preAcheulean type, which is
consistent with the dating of the earliest levels of this site.
Also in the Trinchera Del Ferrocarril group of sites are
those known as Tres Simas. The oldest human remains
from the Galería site have been dated to between 200,000
and 400,000 BP, associated with Acheulean stone tools.
Similar dates have been established for human skeletal
remains from the Sima de los Huesos in the Cueva Mayor.
The absence of herbivores consumed by humans in this
site, where the remains of no fewer than 32 humans have
been discovered, suggests that this may have been a
mortuary site. The relatively large sample, largely of
adolescents and young adults, has permitted a number of
important studies to be carried out on the palaeopathology
of this population, the growth and development of
individuals, and their average size... (UNESCO)”
The European sites indicate that stone tools go back further
than 10,000 years and perhaps as far as 800,000 years.
There are 1.5 millionyearold hominid footprints that show
some hominid being walking like modern humans. Recently, a 12
millionyearold hominid from the genus Homo has been
45.
discovered in Spain. Our current paradigm says that the modern
human, Homo sapiens, evolved 130, 000 years ago alongside
Homo sapiens neanderthalensis, who lasted until about 30,000
years ago. Perhaps we must update our theories, maybe even
radically. How “recent” are our appearance and “outofAfrica”
origins?
But why is this relevant to us today? For one thing, updating
our understanding of prehistory could even translate into
improvements in modern medicine.
The OutofAfrica Theory
There are limits to the accuracy of carbon dating and
determining the age of artifacts at archaeological sites. What’s
important about the time 30,000 years in the past is that this is
when Homo sapiens neanderthalensis emerges as being an
influence.
Modern humans are supposed to have arisen in Africa after a
recent ice age. The theory breaks off in two directions: out of
Africa recently or out of Africa a long time ago. In any case, a
mammalian primate began our lineage in Africa, and some of its
descendants migrated out of Africa at some point.
Apparently, Neanderthals emerged from a group of primates
that left Africa before the others and settled in iceage Europe. It
seems that groups living in different places in the world developed
different physiologies.
Groups that remained in Africa, for example, can have the
genetic trait of sicklecell anemia as a way of fighting off a malaria
infection. Conversely, some modern Scandinavian people are
immune to AIDS due to a lack of protein receptors for it on their T
cells.
46.
Modern humans, Homo sapiens, have been sold short. We
have been intelligent longer and resided in areas of Europe longer
than we have been told, and what tools we have had have been
misrepresented. The methods for building the great works of
antiquity have been lost. Modern clinical anthropology can help
us rediscover who we were, who we are now, and where we will be
going. Perhaps our genome will show that our earliest intelligence
included the gifts of tool use and language, which could establish
new insights into medical treatment.
a. There are two theories about the origin of modern humans:
One, that they arose in one place—Africa, and two, that
premodern humans migrated from Africa to become
modern humans in other parts of the world. Most evidence
points to the first theory, including that fossils of
modernlike humans, stone tools, and other artifacts have
been found in Africa and DNA studies suggest a founding
population in Africa.
b. Ancient footprints found at Rutgers’s Koobi Fora Field
School show that some of the earliest humans walked like
us and did so on anatomically modern feet 1.5 million
years ago (physorg.com, 2009).
c. “Researchers have discovered a fossilized face and jaw
from a previously unknown hominid primate genus in Spain
dating to the Middle Miocene era, roughly 12 million years
ago. . . . Scientists can only find comparable values within
the genus Homo.” Great apes have longer faces and jaws
that project forward strongly. The unexpected and
mysterious similarity might be “evolutionary convergence,
where two species evolving separately share common
features.” (Science Daily).
58.
'Bigfoot' Is Part Human, DNA Study Claims
Discovery News Online
Dec 13, 2012 03:00 AM ET
“Genetic testing confirms the legendary Bigfoot is a human
relative that arose some 15,000 years ago at least
according to a press release issued by a company called
DNA Diagnostics detailing supposed work by a Texas
veterinarian.”
“The release and alleged study by Melba S. Ketchum also
suggests such cryptids had sex with modern human
females that resulted in hairy hominid hybrids, but the
scientific community is dubious about her claim.”
"A team of scientists can verify that their fiveyear long
DNA study, currently under peerreview, confirms the
existence of a novel hominin hybrid species, commonly
called 'Bigfoot' or 'Sasquatch,' living in North America," the
release reads. "Researchers' extensive DNA sequencing
suggests that the legendary Sasquatch is a human relative
that arose approximately 15,000 years ago."
Oddly there is a sociopolitical opposition to an alternative
hominid that walks the forests of the world. As the alternative
hominid evidence gets more modern the opposition seems to get
more intense.
There are people testing populations of humans and finding
Bigfoot markers indicating that the so called slowevolutionin
time theory is partially incorrect in the fact that people appear to
be evolving now especially with the novel genes being found.
63.
The Neanderthal genome is being studied because it is closer
in relation to us that the chimpanzee or the Binobo.
The Hobbit Novel Form
Homo floresiensis
There has to be a way to work this in a book, and to a
discussion of these theories – The Hobbits. The cover of the
dissertation could be a Hobbit – think of the possibilities. It is not
just that there has been literature, and motion picture films made
of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Hobbit characters but that the descriptions of
the characters are so well done that of course when there was a
novel hominid form found – it was only a matter of time before
they would be compared. I have to bring up the Hobbits.
On the island of Flores in Indonesia, there have been found
700,000 thousand year old complex Neolithic tools where the
conventional wisdom of such tools is 12,000 years old at the most.
Finding of such tool kits in deposits of that antiquity would
eventually get the attention of researchers in it for the long haul.
In a dark and cold cave 17 meters below the surface an
excavation revealed the first skeleton of a female form. The form
was a pre human being that walked on two legs.
12 other individuals were eventually found. The skeletons
were found to be thousands of years apart.
Specimens Lb1, and Lb2 had brain cases 1/3 the size of
modern Homo species yet used stone tools. The dating by
luminous methods indicates 30,000 years ago.
Radiocarbon dating suggests 18,000 years ago lasting to
about 10,000 years old with a total range of between 95,000
10,000 years.
64.
The teeth indicate a new species based upon the sizing of
premolars. The Trapezoid wrist bone suggests a new species. The
wrist bone that was found is found in human type species, and
was primitive in earlier hominids. Therefore: the skeletal evidence
suggests a new species.
Science
8 April 2005:
Vol. 308 no. 5719 pp. 242245
Published Online March 3 2005
REPORT
The Brain of LB1, Homo floresiensis
“The brain of Homo floresiensis was assessed by
comparing a virtual endocast from the type specimen (LB1)
with endocasts from great apes, Homo erectus, Homo
sapiens, a human pygmy, a human microcephalic,
specimen number Sts 5 (Australopithecus africanus), and
specimen number WT 17000 (Paranthropus aethiopicus).
Morphometric, allometric, and shape data indicate that LB1
is not a microcephalic or pygmy. LB1's brain/body size ratio
scales like that of an australopithecine, but its endocast
shape resembles that of Homo erectus. LB1 has derived
frontal and temporal lobes and a lunate sulcus in a derived
position, which are consistent with capabilities for higher
cognitive processing.”
These findings suggest: Descendants from Australopithecus,
were stranded on the islands. A large amount of history of earlier
71.
Science 23 April 1999:
Vol. 284 no. 5414 pp. 572573
DOI: 10.1126/science.284.5414.572
A New Human Ancestor?
Elizabeth Culotta
“Hominid fossils found in Ethiopia, described in a pair of
papers beginning on page 625, are starting to fill in a
mysterious chapter of human prehistory. According to the
international team that made the discoveries, one new find,
a bigtoothed skull, represents an unusual new species
that is the best candidate for the ancestor of our own
genus, Homo. Not everyone in the field agrees, but the
new species, which the researchers have named
Australopithecus garhi, is certain to shake up views of the
transition from the ape like australopithecines to
humankind. The team also found hominid leg and arm
bones, as well as scored antelope bones that represent the
earliest recorded evidence of hominids butchering animals,
bolstering the notion that meat eating was important in
human evolution.”
The LCA 4 Million Years AGO
As interesting as the discussions of Lucy are, and that there
have been efforts to find fossils at the date of Lucy, the new
findings are fast surpassing the Lucy discussions. There appears
to be a characteristic species going back as far back as Lucy and
beyond.
72.
Before Lucy Came Ardi, New Earliest Human
Ancestor Found
October 1, 2009
RANDOLPH E. SCHMID,
AP Science Writer
“The story of humankind is reaching back another million
years with the discovery of "Ardi," a hominid who lived 4.4
million years ago in what is now Ethiopia.”
“The 110pound, 4foot female roamed forests a million
years before the famous Lucy, long studied as the earliest
skeleton of a human ancestor.”
“This older skeleton reverses the common wisdom of
human evolution, said anthropologist C. Owen Lovejoy of
Kent State University.”
“Rather than humans evolving from an ancient chimplike
creature, the new find provides evidence that chimps and
humans evolved from some longago common
ancestor—but each evolved and changed separately along
the way.”
“…"This is not that common ancestor, but it's the closest
we have ever been able to come," said Tim White, director
of the Human Evolution Research Center at the University
of California, Berkeley.”
“The lines that evolved into modern humans and living
apes probably shared an ancestor 6 million to 7 million
years ago, White said in a telephone interview.”
73.
“But Ardi has many traits that do not appear in modernday
African apes, leading to the conclusion that the apes
evolved extensively since we shared that last common
ancestor.”
“Formally dubbed Ardipithecus ramidus—which means root
of the ground ape—the find is detailed in 11 research
papers published Thursday by the journal Science.”
“…"This is one of the most important discoveries for the
study of human evolution," said David Pilbeam, curator of
paleoanthropology at Harvard's Peabody Museum of
Archaeology and Ethnology.”
“…"It is relatively complete in that it preserves head,
hands, feet and some critical parts in between. It
represents a genus plausibly ancestral to
Australopithecus—itself ancestral to our genus Homo,"
said Pilbeam, who was not part of the research teams.”
“Scientists assembled the skeleton from 125 pieces.”
“Lucy, also found in Africa, thrived a million years after Ardi
and was of the more humanlike genus Australopithecus.”
“…"In Ardipithecus we have an unspecialized form that
hasn't evolved very far in the direction of Australopithecus.
So when you go from head to toe, you're seeing a mosaic
creature that is neither chimpanzee, nor is it human. It is
Ardipithecus," said White.”
“White noted that Charles Darwin, whose research in the
19th century paved the way for the science of evolution,
was cautious about the last common ancestor between
humans and apes.”
74.
“…"Darwin said we have to be really careful. The only way
we're really going to know what this last common ancestor
looked like is to go and find it. Well, at 4.4 million years ago
we found something pretty close to it," White said. "And,
just like Darwin appreciated, evolution of the ape lineages
and the human lineage has been going on independently
since the time those lines split, since that last common
ancestor we shared."…”
The LCA, or last common ancestor has been the holy grail for
researchers. What needs to be found is that one definitive skeleton
that really draws the picture. But like finding the vertex of a
parabola, the way to finding it is to get closer and closer the line
with an equation until you find the point close enough to finally
call it.
The Genus Homo
Not from the Apes
The myriad of hominid forms that exist in the fossil record
may not be a ladder neatly leading up to the Genus Homo forms,
but they may have coexisted with them never to have been
involved at all. What is going on is that there are starting to be
discoveries indicating that the Genus Homo is intelligent and that
it may go all the way back fully formed. It appears that the Homo
Genus may go all of the way back to antiquity unknown, and it
may be the case that we never acted or looked like primates.
The Genus Homo from the beginning shows intelligence,
upright walking, and tool use at the same time as the so called
Lucy skeleton. There are indications of a new species different
from the so called Lucy lineage. In fact most people, who still talk
about the Lucy skeleton, are actually now millions of years off.