Kenyan Fossils May Add New Branch to Human Family Tree

National Geographic ^ | 8-8-2007 | John Roach

[blam]

Kenyan Fossils May Add New Branch to Human Family Tree

John Roach
for National Geographic News

August 8, 2007

A pair of fossils recently discovered in Kenya is challenging the straight-line story of human evolution.

Traditional evolutionary theories of the genus Homo suggest a successive progression: Homo habilis gave rise to Homo erectus, which then begat modern humans, Homo sapiens.

H. erectus is commonly seen as the most similar ancestor to modern humans, differing mostly by having a brain about three-quarters the size.

But the newly found upper jawbone and skull, which come from two separate skeletons, suggest that H. habilis was not a direct ancestor of modern humans and that H. erectus was less modern than previously thought.

The fossils, described today in the science journal Nature, were discovered by the Koobi Fora Research Project—an international group of scientists led by the mother-daughter team of Meave and Louise Leakey and affiliated with the National Museums of Kenya.

(Meave and Louise Leakey are National Geographic Society Explorers-in-Residence. National Geographic News is part of the National Geographic Society, which also funded this research.)

Fossil Contemporaries

The jawbone is attributed to H. habilis and was dated to 1.44 million years ago—meaning its far younger than previously known H. habilis fossils and dates to well after the emergence of H. erectus.

The finding indicates the two species lived side-by-side for half a million years in eastern Africa, according to study lead author Fred Spoor, a professor of evolutionary anatomy at University College London.

"I'm very cautious saying this, [but] it has the potential to remove Homo habilis from the direct ancestral line to us modern humans," he said.

Instead, H. habilis and H. erectus may have had a sister relationship that originated sometime between two and three million years ago,

[blam]

GGG Ping.

[vetsvette]

Do the scientists have any explanation yet as to why leftists never evolved past the baboon stage?

[ASA Vet]

Ping

[Getready]

If the two species lived side by side, where did the
progression come from? From which group? What
“environmental” stress would allow one group to
survive and propagate, and the other to fade away?
One would suppose they had similar environments, and
there would be equal chance for both groups to survive
or die.
Could a habilis mate with a erectus? would the offspring
be more “advanced” or less “advanced”..?

[RaceBannon]

MORE evidence Evo types have NO CLUE what they are talking about!

[familyop]

Here’s a more scientific explanation (YouBoob video).

MTG46: The Way of Taiji FIghting & Healing: Erle Montaigue
(or Erle tells us how to use the C-back to get in touch with our reptile brains—LOL!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uo_cHXifRk4

[Gorzaloon]

We need a Rage Boy picture!

[LiteKeeper]

YEC INTREP

[Chode]

ooops...

[Duke Nukum]

De-evolution.

Also, from the Talking Heads we learn:

Things fall apart, it's scientific.

[coconutt2000]

What “environmental” stress would allow one group to survive and propagate, and the other to fade away?

May the branch of humanity with the best looking females prevail...

[Chode]

bingo...

[Migraine]

Could a habilis mate with a erectus? would the offspring be more “advanced” or less “advanced”..?

There is little doubt that erectus could mate with just about anything. LOL

[Coyoteman]

Could a habilis mate with a erectus?

The two groups should have been able to interbreed for a while after the split, and before the differences grew too large.

No idea how long "a while" might be, but it would most likely be measured in tens of thousands of years.

But there may have been a geographical separation responsible for the early split? In which case the two groups may not have been able to interbreed for that reason.

This is all new ground, following these recent discoveries, so there are a lot of questions still to be answered. For me that's most of the fun of studying evolution!

[rusureitflies?]

Yikes! The Piltdown man is alive and.....well??

[elephantlips]

However, he was told if it lasted more than four hours he should call his doctor.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Blam.

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. Thanks.

Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on or off the
"Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list or GGG weekly digest
-- Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)

[SunkenCiv]

DaveLR started an earlier one, I just got to the bottom of my comments screen.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1878232/posts

[colorado tanker]

My own feeling is we don't know much of the story today. Remains this old are very difficult to find under any but the near ideal preservation conditions of East Africa and we have a very small sample set. I think the story is much more complex than we presently know, but the blanks probably won't be filled in in my lifetime. Like you said, Coyoteman, lots of questions to answer.