Human Evolution Orthodoxy


 
Atapuera Mountains The genomic revolution is an increasingly challenging, long-standing human evolution orthodoxy. An international team of geneticists headed by Matthias Meyer (pictured right below) of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany reported earlier this month in the journal Nature. The team studied the mtDNA from 28 fossilized hominins estimated to be 400,000 years of age from the Sima de Los Huesos cave in the Alapuera Mountain (pictured left) range of northern Spain.

Meyer’s team, which included legendary Swedish geneticist Svante Paabo, analyzed the genetics of these fossils collected during the 1970s. The study report, entitled “A mitochondrial genome sequence of a hominin from Sima de Los Huesos,” concluded, unexpectedly, the fossils were genetically similar to the Denisovans, even though morphologically resemble Neanderthals. Sima de los Huesos means “Pit of the Bones.”

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Human Georgian Skull Fuels Dilemma

Georgian Skull International teams of paleoanthropologists for more than two decades have been discovering human-like fossils from a medieval archaeological site in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia known as Dmanisi. A new human Georgian skull fuels the dilemma further. The first four human-like fossils were discovered in 1991 by David Lordkipanidze of the Georgian National Museum in Tbilisi.

Increased archaeological interest in this Georgian site began in 1936 following the discovery of ancient and medieval artifacts. The discovery of teeth from an extinct rhino in 1983, followed by the discovery of stone tools in 1984, led to an increased archaeological and paleontological interest in Dmanisi. Last week the discovery of a fifth Dmanisi skull reported in the journal Science fuels the escalating dilemma of the struggling human evolution industry.

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Smithsonian Human Evolution Exhibit

 

Smithsonian Human Evolution Exhibit“Human evolution is the lengthy process of change by which people originated from apelike ancestors,” explains the Smithsonian Institute exhibit (pictured left) entitled “Introduction to Human Evolution.” Continuing their explanation –

“Scientific evidence shows that the physical and behavioral traits shared by all people originated from apelike ancestors and evolved over a period of approximately six million years.”

The source of Smithsonian’s description is rooted in history. Although this was also Charles Darwin‘s central argument in The Descent of Man (1871), this explanation had emerged before the sixteenth century, long before Darwin, highlighting a critical issue.

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Exploring Human Evolution via DNA

 

Exploring human evolution via DNA was essential for twentieth-century evolution scientists. Charles Darwin, however, in The Origin of Species, never used the terms genetics, genetic, and genes until 1872, following the publication of the pea plant inheritance report of Gregor Mendel in 1866.

In his sixth edition, Darwin used the term “genetic” twice,  but only to express a genealogical idea, not as a molecular term. In the words of American evolutionary biologist Richard Lewontin,

“Darwin knew nothing about genes.”

English geneticist William Bateson, in a personal letter to colleague Alan Sedgwick, is credited for coining the term “genetics” in 1905 – as a molecular term. Since then, “genetics” emerged as the cornerstone of molecular evolutionary biology. Along with searching the fossil record, molecular biologists have been exploring human evolution via the natural selection of DNA.
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What Is Science?

What is science?Science is a process of discovering nature’s secrets. In the sixteenth century, the introduction of the Scientific Method process launched the Scientific Revolution, modernizing Western Civilization.

(This page follows Studying Evolution in our Understanding Evolution series)

When Isaac Newton began his studies at Cambridge University in 1661, the revolution had already solved many of nature’s secrets. Understanding his place in the revolution, Newton noted –

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