The document summarizes the discovery of Homo floresiensis, nicknamed "Hobbit", a species of tiny human discovered on the island of Flores in Indonesia in 2003. Hobbit is only 3 feet tall and has a brain size much smaller than Homo sapiens or Homo erectus, challenging existing ideas about human evolution. Several theories have emerged to explain Hobbit, including that it is a diseased modern human, a dwarfed descendant of Homo erectus, or a victim of island dwarfism. However, analyses of Hobbit's brain, legs, and other features show it differs significantly from Homo erectus and is likely a distinct species. The controversial nature of Hobbit challenges current scientific thinking
Harry Coumnas is an senior aerospace engineer who is interested in communicating with aliens through different mediums. He has been doing the research over aliens from last 30 years.
Harry Coumnas is an senior aerospace engineer who is interested in communicating with aliens through different mediums. He has been doing the research over aliens from last 30 years.
A very quick activity in which you investigate a set of fossils and make assertions about how early humans live.
Register to explore the whole course here: https://school.bighistoryproject.com/bhplive?WT.mc_id=Slideshare12202017
Harry Coumnas’ Stance on the UFO Phenomenonkevin8smith
Harry Coumnas is an African scientist who has won huge accolades for his remarkable contributions to the world of science. As UFOs (Unidentified Flying Objects) are one of the hottest topics among scientists right now, Harry wants to be the first one to unfold their mystery. After talking to people who claim to have seen UFOs, he says that the subject is worth performing a scientific study on. On the basis of the analysis done on crashed UFOs, Harry Coumnas has found out their core components, which are – UFO Navigation, UFO Power Source, Elerium-115, and Alien Alloys.
#SciChallenge2017Ava and shauna science projectshauna foran
Our project is based on Human migration and evolution. Our ancestors left Africa 60.000 years ago, and it got us interested in this topic. We wanted to learn to find out about our ancestors; Where our ancestors came from?, what they did?, how they survived? and how we evolved to what we are today?. We had to see why our ancestors moved from Africa to countries across the world and why they settled into the places we live now?. We wanted to know why our ancestors travelled across the world to the places they reside now?. We wanted to know what life was like before we, our parents, our grandparents, even before our great-grandparents were born.
We had a huge interest in this project.
A very quick activity in which you investigate a set of fossils and make assertions about how early humans live.
Register to explore the whole course here: https://school.bighistoryproject.com/bhplive?WT.mc_id=Slideshare12202017
Harry Coumnas’ Stance on the UFO Phenomenonkevin8smith
Harry Coumnas is an African scientist who has won huge accolades for his remarkable contributions to the world of science. As UFOs (Unidentified Flying Objects) are one of the hottest topics among scientists right now, Harry wants to be the first one to unfold their mystery. After talking to people who claim to have seen UFOs, he says that the subject is worth performing a scientific study on. On the basis of the analysis done on crashed UFOs, Harry Coumnas has found out their core components, which are – UFO Navigation, UFO Power Source, Elerium-115, and Alien Alloys.
#SciChallenge2017Ava and shauna science projectshauna foran
Our project is based on Human migration and evolution. Our ancestors left Africa 60.000 years ago, and it got us interested in this topic. We wanted to learn to find out about our ancestors; Where our ancestors came from?, what they did?, how they survived? and how we evolved to what we are today?. We had to see why our ancestors moved from Africa to countries across the world and why they settled into the places we live now?. We wanted to know why our ancestors travelled across the world to the places they reside now?. We wanted to know what life was like before we, our parents, our grandparents, even before our great-grandparents were born.
We had a huge interest in this project.
MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY PUBLICATION FOR EDUCATORSV.docxroushhsiu
MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY PUBLICATION FOR EDUCATORS
VOLUME 31 NO. 1 SPRING 2010
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE HUMAN?
A BEHAVIORAL PERSPECTIVE
by Alison S. Brooks
˜ ˜ ˜
“…it would be impossible to fix on any point when the term “man”
ought to be used……” (Darwin 1871: 230)
A
new permanent exhibit at the Smithsonian’s Na
tional Museum of Natural History asks the ques
tion “What does it mean to be human?” Before
there were any fossils to inform us about the roads taken
and not taken on our evolutionary journey, 18th and 19th
century scholars wrestled with the anatomical similarities
between humans and apes, especially, as Darwin noted,
the African apes. Many of the human distinctions these
early scholars cited were behavioral, including language,
tool-making and technology-dependence, culture, use of
fire, a sense of shame, burial of the dead, and a sense of
the sacred. Even today, our anatomy alone may not suf-
fice to define our genus Homo. Indeed in 1964 one of the
oldest members of our genus, Homo habilis, was defined
as Homo to a large extent on the basis of the tools found
in association with its bones; the evolutionary or generic
status of the bones themselves remains controversial. As
in the museum’s new exhibit, new approaches to under-
standing our past and defining our species emphasize the
role of changing human behavior and its relationship to
and possible role in changing our anatomy.
This paper offers a brief summary of key discover-
ies in the fossil record followed by a discussion of be-
havioral characteristics defining modern humans and their
emergence through time. This is followed by a descrip-
tion of the evidence documenting the development of
archaic, Neanderthal, and modern humans, tracing the
evolution of key behaviors from 600 kya to 40 kya (thou-
sands of years ago). Finally, the evidence for the role of
Africa in the gradual evolution of distinctly modern hu-
man behaviors is argued as the paper concludes.
The Fossil Record of Human Evolution
Charles Darwin in his 1871 book, The Descent of Man,
located the likely origination of humans in Africa due to
the geographic distribution and comparable anatomy of
the chimpanzee and gorilla. Other early scholars, how-
ever, thought that our two most distinctive anatomical
features, our large brains and our two-legged gait, had
evolved together and that these changes had happened in
Europe. In Darwin’s time, only a few fossils of Nean-
SPECIAL ISSUE ON HUMAN ORIGINSSPECIAL ISSUE ON HUMAN ORIGINSSPECIAL ISSUE ON HUMAN ORIGINSSPECIAL ISSUE ON HUMAN ORIGINSSPECIAL ISSUE ON HUMAN ORIGINS
What Does it Mean to be Human?What Does it Mean to be Human?What Does it Mean to be Human?What Does it Mean to be Human?What Does it Mean to be Human?
ANTHRONOTES®
Page 2
AnthroNotes Volume 31 No.1 Spring 2010
derthals, our closest extinct relatives, had been recovered
from European sites. The 1891 finding in Java of Pithecan-
thropus erectus (now Homo erectus), an ...
Please answer the question in the following discussion. this is an a.docxlorindajamieson
Please answer the question in the following discussion. this is an anthropology discussion which talks about fossils.
Questions:
Please address both parts of the prompt in your response.
1) Select a fossil related to human evolution and discuss what types of information scientists can learn from this particular fossil. Feel free to use the textbook, websites listed under 'more resources' in Unit 8, or something that you find elsewhere online.
2) As remains become fossilized, what factors influence our knowledge of the fossil record?
After writing your response for both of the questions please respond to the following responses:
Fossils can teach us so much about the past. Firstly, the book states, "Fossils provide an essential historical record for documenting and understanding the biological evolution of surviving and nonsurviving lineages." Next, fossils provide us with information on both geologic and chronological time. Finally, fossils in different geological settings can shed light on past environments and diets. This reveals important
contexts for understanding how past organisms evolved. All these things can be learned from human skeletons from the past, giving us a better understanding of how we came to be as we are today.
Another cool thing that can be done with human fossils is reconstruction through art and science. The books uses a Dimanisi boy to show this process on page 227. It may take up to four months but, through reconstruction we can learn what humans of the past looked like. Strips of clay are used to imitate muscles, more clay is applied like tissue and the exterior surface is molded, and details are made to make the hominid look real.
I chose to look at the Homo naledi fossils. This species shares the modern human genus Homo. I found this particular species and fossil set interesting because it gives us a more detailed window into the evolutionary process linking quadrupeds and bipeds. The Homo naledi has a very human like foot. In fact, the feet are the most human-like part of their skeleton. Scientists believe that the naledi was bipedal but that they also were arboreal. The other thing about the naledi that I found interesting is that it appears that they honored their dead. They hid the bodies of those who died. Perhaps to keep them from being eaten by scavengers? The idea of emotions is what creates empathy for other species, in my opinion and observation. Those species that we can see emotions, get more of our empathy than those who cannot show emotion in a way that we can readily observe. Thinking about the naledi working to preserve or protect the bodies of their loved ones is really eye opening. This is merely a hypothesis at this point though. I wonder if it is possible that they were just trying to easily distance themselves from the dead because the bodies may have made the living a target for predators. It will be interesting to see how the research plays out and what information they can glean fr.
Please answer the question in the following discussion. this is an a.docx
AnthroMidTerm#2
1. Brandon Zaya 008917961
Brandon Zaya
Professor Weiss
04/21/15
Paleoanthropology
The Hobbit
The Hobbit is not just another excellent Percy Jackson movie, but an extremely small
human being that is the center of an ongoing controversy. The small human is officially
nicknamed “Hobbit” due to height of the tiny human. She stands at a solid 3 feet tall and is
challenging current scientific thinking. Nothing like Hobbit has ever been discovered before,
therefore the discovery team set her in a new species called Homo floresiensis. Researchers
believe she is a brand-new species, others think she is affected by island dwarfism, some believe
that she contracted a pathogen that made her shrink, and a few scientists believe that she is just a
dwarfed homo erectus.
Hobbit was found in a cave on the island of Flores, in Indonesia by a half Australian half
Indonesian team. Michael Morwood, an Australian scientist, led a team of eager excavators in
Indonesia and accompanied by a regional expert; during their expedition they came across a 3-
foot tall woman nicknamed Hobbit. Hobbit walked around Indonesia around 25,000 to 13,000
years ago. As soon as this new species (homo floresiensis) surfaced theories that she was a
modern human who was infected by a disease which caused her to shrink came up. Those
theories were turned down quickly because if a diseased were the reason for her shrinkage; Not
only the body would have reduction but the brain must mimic the body. And to this day, there is
2. Brandon Zaya 008917961
no disease that is capable of shrinking the brain and body. The second theory is that Hobbit is
merely a dwarfed Homo erectus. It would be logical to see the Hobbits as descendants of Homo
erectus because their origin is of the same continent. But, the hind legs, brain capacity, and
eyebrow ridge are all factors that prove why they cannot be related. The discovery team used a
CT scan to collect information on the brain capacity and resulted with 400cm3 similar to those of
a chimpanzee. The average brain capacity of a homo erectus is 930cm3. This proves that they
could not be dwarfed homo erectus because dwarfism involves the disproportion or deformation
of features or limbs. Brain is not affected by dwarfism therefore Hobbit cannot be a descent of
Homo erectus due to brain size difference. Also, the hind legs of Homo erectus are long while
the hind legs of Homo floresiensis are very undersized; and the feet of a Hobbit are much larger
than a Homo erectus. The third theory came up asking if they had been victims of Island
dwarfism. Island dwarfism occurs when people live on islands with limited resources and over
time your body develops into a smaller shape in order to cope with your environment. While this
could be true, this is but another theory just like the rest. Hobbit’s brain capacity is widely
underrated. Her brain size is not large but extremely low, even for her small stature and
comparing her brain size to her total size would deem her unintelligent but her cognitive
capabilities are strong judging by the stone tool technology that was found near the excavation of
Hobbit.
In 2009, more similar fossils were discovered including 8 hobbit-like skeletons. The
features of Hobbit shared similar features found in “Lucy” (Australopithecus afarensis). These
features were reinforced jaws and flared hipbones. The skull of Hobbit is very concrete, bent
around forehead, and the sockets of the eyes had outstanding brow ridges. Homo floresiensis
appears to be bipedal and show primitive wrists and that some researchers have conclude that
3. Brandon Zaya 008917961
Hobbit shares some characteristics of chimps. The main reason as to why Homo floresiensis are
a controversial species is because Hobbit challenges current scientific thinking. Challenging
science infuriates scientists because it discredits what they have originally believed in. That’s
why many shoot down a new and evolutionary piece of evidence as soon as it surfaces. When
that occurs, we must focus on the other side of the spectrum so our views are not perceived as
single-minded thoughts.
Word Count: 713
4. Brandon Zaya 008917961
Reference:
Dean Falk (2011). The Fossil Chronicles: How Two Controversial Discoveries Changed Our
View of Human Evolution. California: University of California Press
Karen Baab, William Jungers (2009) The Geometry of Hobbits: Homo Floresiensis and Human
Evolution. New York: University Medical Center