Trail Of Human Evolution: From Ugly Apes To Beautiful Humans?

Introduction

Okay! You’re here as a beautiful Homo sapiens sapiens (modern man) because; paleonthropologically; your ancestors evolved from some ugly-looking higher primates, lol. We will be looking at the trend and timeline of evolution through to the present day humans. And we would try to use some archeological evidences to buttress some points.

[Image Source: Pixabay. CC0 Licensed]

I would like to state categorically here that; evolution may not objectively give us the accurate account of the beginning of life to the maximum precision index, but it can point us to the right direction. Another fact here is this (just like what my mum used to tell me anytime we discuss about evolution); since none of us lived through time to witness evolution/history first-hand; the most viable sources of the account of history still remains: "Archeology, oral tradition and written record”.

It is also worthy to state here that evolution is dynamic and continuous, and it hinges on series of adaptations which can be passed on to subsequent generations. And “Homo sapiens” has remained one of the most successful in evolution, judging from other species on the planet. No wonder mankind has almost subdued Mother Nature.

Trail of Homo sapiens sapiens

Some may wonder; I used “Homo sapiens” and I also use “Homo sapiens sapiens”, what’s the difference? Putting it clearer for understanding, Homo sapiens is the “thinking man”, by definition. Then the Homo sapiens sapiens is the subspecie or a step further in the evolution of Homo sapiens (so it is not a tautology), since there were other subspecies of Homo sapiens like: Homo sapiens idaltu, and even the Homo sapiens neanderthalalis.

Based on some accounts of archeology and paleontology, Homo sapiens has been around for as long as 300,000 to 500,000 years ago (of which the cradle of the evolution of this species was traced back to Africa), but the subspecie; Homo sapiens sapiens appeared just within 50,000 to 70,000 years ago [ref].

Though scientists have had a pretty hard time pin-pointing the direct ancestor of the modern man, but from fossil evidences, some major ancestral species have been noted. A very significant one is the Australopithecus. This was actually called the “ape man” and has been proven to also have its evolution traced to Africa. It might interest you to know that these creatures stood at the average of 3.5feet (an adult human of this size would definitely be called a dwarf, lol). Also with a brain mass of almost half of that of modern humans; not too bad for their height, if you’d agree with me.

[Australopithecus. Source: Wikimedia Commons. License: CC BY-SA 3.0]

This creature has many subspecies which included; Australopithecus africanus (no need to explain; the genus indicates that is has its root in Africa), Australopithecus afarensis (Lucy), Australopithecus boisei, Australopithecus anamensis, and a host of others. Now some may wonder “why the heck did I mention Australopithecus first, and not go way back?” Actually, that point represented a major breakthrough in the evolution of man. Firstly, they are recognized for their bipedalism, that is; walking on two feet (not some naughty creatures that would walk on the four limbs and be claiming to be the ancestors of modern man). Secondly, scientists have argued that they made use of crude stone tools [ref]. Well, that would give them an edge, otherwise, we would have grouped them as apes. Oh yes! These creatures appeared first about 3.4 – 4million years ago [ref].

Away from the Australopithecus came another man-like specie; Pithecanthropus. Thanks to evolution, this creature was taller than grandpa and also had a much larger brain mass. You would guess right, they made use of more advanced stone tools, and some were excavated alongside their fossils. Some ape features were still present in the creature. Damn! The jaws were protruded and they were looking ugly too, with heavy ridges on the eyebrows, not to talk of the dense mass of hair.

[Homo erectus pekinensis. Source: Wikimedia Commons. Author: Cicero Moraes. CC BY 3.0 Licensed]

This specie was called the “Java man” at discovery, because the fossils were excavated in Indonesia; Java. But it was later renamed to Pithecanthropus erectus and then the later subspecies; Homo erectus erectus (again, this is not a tautology). Why is the “Homo erectus erectus” so important in the evolutionary tree of man? It has been indicated that these species were part of the “missing link in the trail of evolution of man. What da heck is “missing link?” Like I said earlier, none of us lived to witness evolution first-hand, so we are left at the mercies of hypothesis gotten from the systematic reviews of fossils through the help of paleontology and archeology. But as it were, there are some spaces, or rather, gaps, in-between the trail of evolution (even with the presence of the transitional fossils), these space is what is now called “Missing link”.

So with the discovery of Homo erectus erectus in the 1890s, and after some paleontological analysis, it actually fits in to close up some of these gaps. You may have figured out why the “erectus” is affixed to the name. Simple; they were more upright than the Australopithecus. How was this fact known? From the fossils excavated; their femur bone was relative of the modern humans, and was straight. Also, the knee angle didn’t have the curvature that was present in their earlier ancestors.

[Homo erectus fossils. Source: Wikimedia Commons. Public domain Licensed]

After the discovery of Java man, a host of other transitional fossils have been excavated also, and thus, closing up the gaps in the trail of evolution (time and space may not permit me to digress in fuller detail in this post). But I want to talk about another later specie that also shared similarities with apes and also with modern humans, this is the Neanderthal man.

According to this publication, the origin of Neanderthal man can also be traced to Africa, and from the study of their fossils, they made use of more complex stone tools. But fascinating enough is the fact that some of their fossils were found alongside the fossils of Homo sapiens. What does this tell you? They actually co-existed with the Homo sapiens, according to this same publication. That also goes to prove that the ancestors of Homo sapiens would also be that of the Neanderthals. By inference, they were actually considered a side-path in the trail of human evolution into Homo sapiens sapiens. Some have said; as against the popular belief; that Neanderthals didn’t evolve into modern man, they actually died out, or rather were extinct; of which the cause has remained relatively unknown.

[Image Source: Wikimedia Commons. Public Domain Licensed]

But one of the closest to the specie of modern man is the Cro-Magnon man. This specie has been regarded as the “early modern man” by many. Because of the similarities they share. They made some forms of artistry (like; paintings, jewelries, sculptures) and some of these arts are very much around in this our present times. Even their heights were somewhat closer to what we have now, as they stood at the average of 5-6feet; okay, they were not ugly like their grandpa, at least, they are finer than you; yes you.

[Skull of Cro-magnon. Source: Wikimedia commons. Public Domain Licensed]

But the question is; are there still missing links? Sadly, the answer is a “yes”. That is the reason there hasn’t been a straight chain in the trail of human evolution; it’s been disjointed here and there. Well, at least, we have known what our ancestral grandpas looked like. So if you’re ugly, don’t feel too bad, you’re just a resemblance of your ancestors.

Conclusion

The concept of human evolution is one that has been based on paleontology and archeology, but these are not without “missing links”. But at least, with the presence of some fossils, we have had a brief insight into how we came to be.

Thanks for reading

References for further reading:

• Humanorigin.si.edu/Human-fossils
• Columbia.edu/ Australopithecus
• Palomar.edu/homo
• Nature.com/first-humans
• Livescience.com/neanderthals

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