Storyboard
To begin with, Million and a half years ago, hominid shaped the first piece of
advanced technology the hand axe. They were thought to be used only for cutting
but as paleontologists started finding more and more of them, they came up was the
hypothesis that they were made for the sheer of pleasure of it. Dr.Tattersal later
found an enormous cast about 20 cm long and 11 kilos. He claimed it to be
completely useless as it is extremely heave and big. He then made the assumption
that it had a symbolic meaning.
These tools that were shaped from stones and have the shape of axes later
became known as Acheulen tools. A simpler form of technology was the Oldwan.
Those were evidence that early Homo sapiens loved their tools and were devoted to
technology.
Who were those creatures that made this technology and where did they
come from? It is believed that Humans came out of Africa in two waves the Homo
erectus and Homo sapiens. Later the Homo sapiens later became the Peking man
and the Java man. On the other hand Homo sapiens were said to have had a lot of
technology but then abandoned it.
Moreover these creatures were said to have migrated from one place to
another, but what struck the paleontologists is when they found fossils of humans in
Australia no more than 8000 years ago. These fossils were near Lake Mungo which
has been dry for 20,000 years. How could have they survived and Why would they
migrate to these areas? Furthermore, paleontologists later found fossils to be 23,000
and even 60,000 years old. But the question of how they reached this continent and
why is still unanswered, As it is believed that at that time those humans didn’t have
enough to support them to cross the sea as it is the only way to Australia.
The truth is we don’t know much, as it is really hard to build a story when
there is little evidence to support it. In India only one ancient fossil was found, while
in Uzbekistan only on Neanderthal was found because those were the areas with
little productivity. It is not surprising that paleontologists don’t know much.
As mentioned earlier, Humans separated across Eurasia in two waves. The
Homo erectus, that left Africa remarkably quickly, then later emerged into other
distinctive types of species beginning nearly two million years ago. These species are
the Java man, Peking man, Homo heidelbergensis, and Homo neanderthalensis. The
Java man and Peking man were found in Asia, while the others were in Europe. The
second wave is the Homo sapiens, but there were no evidence of slaughter between
the two waves. It was simply believed that the newer hominids simply outcompeted
the older ones though other factors may have contributed. At that point
Paleontologists weren’t able to determine why the other species aren’t still alive.
Nobody knows where the truly modern humans first appeared in fossils
record, some say that they started about 120000 years ago at Llasles River but not
everyone accepts that they were fully modern people. The first undisputed
appearance of Homo sapiens was in east Mediterranean, where they began to show
up 100,000 years ago. They are described as Trinkans and shipman, they are also
known as odd, difficult to classify and poorly known. (P.S. Assumption: because they
are complex creatures)
Neanderthals were already established in areas and had a tool-kit called
Mousterian, that modern humans found worthy enough to know. No Neanderthal
remains have been found in Africa, but their tool kits turn up all over the place.
Neanderthals and modern humans coexisted in some fashion for tens of thousands
of years in the Middle East, but it is not known that they lived together. Acheulen
tools were found all over the Middle East, over a million years ago but scarcely in
Europe until just three hundred thousand years ago. People who used this
technology moved without it.
Modern Humans became known in Europe, and were said to have driven
Neanderthals to the margins of the continent, where they could have fallen in the
sea or go extinct. At that age only toughness counted, and was the most important
mean of survival. On the other hand Neanderthals that passed the age of 30 were
considered lucky because of the weather conditions at that time. They survived at
least 100,000 years.
Neanderthals are disrobed as dim, stooped and simian. They lacked the
intelligence to compete, although they had brains that are larger than modern
people. The brain of the Neanderthal is 1.8 liter while the brain of modern people is
just 1.4 liter; this is known to be one of the most known differences between Homo
sapiens and Homo erectus. Although the brain of modern people is smaller, it is
somehow more effective.
Why are Neanderthals extinct? Carleton Coon suggests that modern species
have different sources of origins. The Rhodesian man is believed to be the ancestor
of the black African and it is close in characteristics to the Homo sapiens. Dr. Throne
also believes that it was a smooth continuous transition. Evidence for that has been
found in Greece, a skull dated 300,000 years ago is a mixture of both Homo erectus
and Homo sapiens. Species were evolving not replaced. Later in 1999 a skeleton of a
child was found in Portugal that is close to Neanderthals which was used later as a
proof that modern humans and Neanderthals interbred. Tattersal doesn’t believe of
an offspring between modern humans and Neanderthals.
All modern Humans descended from a population in Africa 140,000 years
ago as found in the DNA records. Then later it was proved that modern humans and
Neanderthals are connected. The Mungo man was anatomically modern but carried
an extinct genetic lineage. No Identical DNA is found in living humans like his
mitochondrial DNA. Finally, two variants were found common among Asians and the
indigenous people of Australia, but hardly exist in Africa.