Dominance of the Modern Hominid - Essay Example

identification (all above optional – if you need them) Hominid Evolution: The Dominance of the Modern Hominid Two distinct strands of humans are recognizable in the more recent history of humanity as it exists today. It is acknowledged that one group, the Neanderthals, loved in Europe and the near-East from about 100 000 years ago. Humans physically recognizable as similar to people alive today appeared in the same regions about 35 000 years ago (Trinkaus 1978: 124). Evidence does exist from scientists’ calculations using human genetic coding to show that the oldest known single ancestor of the people living on the earth today existed about 200 000 years ago (Gugliotta 2008:140). This is not the earliest of human life, though. Fossils prove that human-like creatures have lived on the planet for millions of years. Thus the species that modern humans belong to has, in one form or another, been on earth for a very long time. One of the most important questions to be answered, then, is why it is only modern humans that have managed to survive on earth. Why did other examples die out, and why did only humans such as those living today thrive and dominate all the species on earth? In the case of the Neanderthals, particularly, it is not simple to explain why they became extinct. For 200 000 years they dominated among species on the European continent. Only 28 000 years ago the last populations of the Neanderthals died out in Gibraltar, the last settlement science has evidence of (Wong 2009: 134). Only modern-form humans then continued to exist on earth. Theories to explain this change in the population of earth range from climate change as the cause for this dying out, to theories of conquest of the Neanderthals by the moderns. Climate change may certainly have caused the Neanderthals to have to adapt continually to changing weather patterns and ecologies. This adaptation would have had to affect their hunting methods, their sources of shelter, and their sources of food. Wong (2009: 135) proposes that the climate change experienced in Europe during the time of the Neanderthals was not gradual over a long period of time. From about 65 000 years ago to about 25 000 years ago, the climate changed completely in continental Europe. The period began with mild and temperate conditions across the continent, and ended with Europe experiencing extreme cold, snow and ice year-round. Evidence shows that this did not happen gradually: it did not just get progressively colder over 40 000 years. Instead, the weather patterns and thus the environment would change completely in relatively short periods of time in one place. Plant and animal life could be completely replaced by new ecology within one Neanderthal’s lifetime, in one area. Therefore the Neanderthals would have to change their lifestyles completely in order to survive: hunting methods; where they lived; the kind of shelter they needed and their food sources. Everything may very well have changed completely without warning. Hence the populations of Neanderthals would reduce, and not have time to recover before the next major climate change. Eventually over generations this may have led to populations too small to sustain themselves in particular areas (Finlayson in Wong 2009: 135). It may additionally be that the migration of modern hominids into Europe and the near-East placed more pressure on available food resources. The Neanderthals, struggling to adapt to rapidly changing ecologies around them would have had further to compete for their traditional food sources with the newcomers. The movement of homo sapiens out of its African origin and gradually across the planet would certainly have had, then, some effect on the extinction of the Neanderthals. Living in Africa, modern hominids were taller and lighter than the Neanderthals. They needed less food to survive and function than the Neanderthals; they were hence adaptable; they used more sophisticated tools and hunting weaponry (Gugliotta 2008: 139). What explains their continued survival everywhere on the planet, though, when other humanoid species could not survive? A “decisive event” occurred when the modern hominids outlasted the Neanderthals in Europe according to scientists (Gugliotta 2008: 142). Once the modern hominids had replaced the Neanderthals in Europe, they continued to migrate across the globe. There may have been a combination of further factors, beyond tools, metabolism and adaptability leading to the precedence of the modern hominid above the Neanderthal, as proposed by Ofer Bar-Yosef of Harvard University (in Gugliotta 3008: 143). He proposes that the two groups may have lived harmoniously, or the moderns could have attacked and wiped out the Neanderthals, or the Neanderthals had just died out. He further suggests that in particular instances, all of these factors could have affected the continued survival of the Neanderthals. Nonetheless, the fact remains that the modern hominid survives today. A number of theories do exist to help explain why. As mentioned above, the sophisticated tools they were using, and their adaptability should be considered, Richard Wrangham, in “A Cook’s Body” proposes that modern humans are adapted to process cooked food efficiently and that this advantage assisted in their continued survival. From an evolutionary point of view, this means that homo sapiens is able to derive more energy from less food, and this allows more “energy efficiency” (Wrangham 2008: 152). Cooked food provides more nutrients and this means that modern hominids are able to have smaller digestive organs and hence use less of their metabolic energy on digestion. This ability would explain why modern humans survive in changing environmental conditions more easily, and would be competitive for food in comparison to other species – including the Neanderthals. When it is necessary to live on raw foods, humans are able to for limited periods, and raw meat is not entirely suitable in human diets – the facial, jaw and tooth structure of modern hominids is not geared to tearing and ripping meat, Nor is the digestive system absolutely geared to processing raw meat efficiently. Thus learning to use cooked food may have played an important part in ensuring the survival of modern hominids. It is evident that modern humans have somehow better adapted to survival on this planet than any other of the human-like species stemming from the first ancestor. The exact reasons that this particular human form has managed to beat the competition and survive into the twenty-first century are open to debate and continued study. As technology continues to develop, and science is able to draw more and more information from fossil resources, knowledge of human ancestry will increase. Knowing more about human ancestry is sure to help guarantee human survival into the future. Works Cited Note that page references used in the text are relevant to the page numbers which organize the course reading. Gugliotta, G. (2008) “The Great Human Migration” from Smithsonian, July 2008 © 2008 by Guy Gugliotta Trinkaus, E. (1978) “Hard Times among the Neanderthals” from Natural History © 1978 by Natural History Magazine Wong, K. (2009) “Twilight of the Neanderthals” from Scientific American © 2009 by Scientific American Inc 33-37 Wrangham, R. (2009) “The Cook’s Body” from Catching Fire Basic Books: 2009 © 2009 by Richard Wrangham Read More