Who's Who Among the Early Hominids

Who's Who Among the Early Humans?
By: Randall Susman
From: Odyssey Adventure in Science

Early humans are usually called "ape-men" because they share the same features as an ape and a human. Before we became human we had to go through many different changes. We had to evolve to adapt to our surroundings. There were many different hominids because they were all in different parts of the world and the world has many different physical features so wherever they were they had to evolve to adapt.
Sahelanthropus tchadensis was discoverd in 2001 it is 6-7 million years old. But it has more of an ape skull than a human skull so we think that it might be closer to apes than humans. Orrorin tugensis was first found in Kenya it is 6.1 and 5.8 million years old. By limb bones it shows that it climbed trees but it was still bipedal. Ardipithecus known as the found ape is, 4.4 million years old and was first found in Ethiopia 1994. It had small molar teeth and large front teeth. Paranthropus who is similar to man, had a large jaw, and there teeth shows that they had large chewing muscles they were very robust. It was also bipedal but it spent more time on the ground then A.afarensis and A. africanus. By studying the hands and feet of Paranthropus we can see that it mainly ate plants. But if you look at Australopithecus you can see it ate plants and meat. In South Africa in a lime stone cave they have frond Paranthropus fossils. Also by looking at their hands we can see that they could have made tools. Kenyapithecus platyops was first found in 2001 Northern Kenya but the skull is broken into many pieces. Their skull is similar to Homo rudolfensis skull.

Early Homo the earliest fossil found in East and South Africa. Had a large brain but small teeth and face. They also used simple tools. Homo Erectus known as the upright man so they were more advanced. Found in Africa, Europe , and Asia. They had a big brain but small mouth they had a thick skull bones, they were taller and heavier. They had round heads more like humans. Where Homo Erectus sites were they also found remains of elephant, horses, and hippo bones that shows that they hunted the also learned how to make fire. Homo Habilis known as the handy man also had a large brain. They had human feature in there hands and feet. They were bipedal and used tools. They were also tree climbers they usually climbed trees to sleep, escape danger, and forage food. Archaeologist have also found animal remains where the Homo Habilis were. Homo rudolfensis were around the same time as Homo Habilis. Big brain and flat face and cheek bones. Their molars and pre molars are bigger than Homo Habilis. Home georgicus close to Homo Habilis in brain size. 4 skeletons from Dmanisi show the differnce between the male and female. Homo floresiensis they were discovered on a island of Flores in Indonesia. There are not many of them. The most complet skeleton that archaeologist have found is female and 3 feet and 6 inches. And lastly Homo Neanderthalensis who mostly lived in Europe and Central Asia. Livid from 250,000 to 30,000 years ago. They had sophisticated stone tools. Had robust skeletons body size was equal to modern human.

Why We Study Human Origins

Why We Study Human Origins
By:Randall Susman
Calliope:Exploring World History

Historians wonder and ask questions to find out more about our past. People ask why did humans evolve? And where did humans come from? By asking and answering these questions we get more information about our past. A way we find out lots of information is fossils. Fossils tell us different stages hominids had to evolve to become human. Fossils tell us how hominids adapted to there surroundings. They tell us when there certain species was extinct or how old this hominid was when he or she died. In the 1800's Charles Darwin was the first to have the idea of plants and animals having to evolve to adapt to their surroundings. What evolution means according to the dictionary is: A gradual process in which something changes into a different and usually more complex or better form. People really started to believe and think about evoltion when Tomas Henry compared humans with apes. Then in 1925 Raymond Dart in Africa found the first hominid fossil and they could see that it was very similar to the human fossil more than a monkey fossil.Archaeologist have also found stone tools that have been shaoed into points which shows that the hominds started to hunt. And showing that they started to hunt also shows that they eat meat, which is a new food to their diet. So many historians came up with differnt theories about our ancestors people said that hominids "were tree-dwelling apes, or four legged knuckle-walkers or even bipeds that live in water". What bipeds or bipedal mean is: walking on two leggs for example humans we are bipedal we walk on two legs. So ideas, theories, fossils, and facts, if we put these all together we can uncover the mysteries of our past and we can learn even more from where human came from.

Susman, Randall. "Why We Study Human Origins." Calliope: Exploring World History Sept. 1999: 4-5. Print.

Who built Stonehenge and Why?

Stonehenge is a megalithic circle in Southern England. People say it is around 4,600 years ago. There are many different legends and theories about Stonehenge. We first know that stone henge was built before the pyramids. They have big stones in a circle and then little blue stones inside the circle with some other ones.

People think it could be a place to represent the dead. Because they think that the stone represent the dead. But then also nearby Stonehenge they have Woodhenge which is like a similar monument but made out of wood pillars. And the wood represented a place for the living. So they thought as if it was some sort if burial because near and next to Stonehenge they found lots of bones all broken up under the ground. By all the bones they can work out how many bodies there were. Most of the bones where from adult males that would be around the age of 25-40. Also they could tell that the people were fairly healthy. Archeologist has also found ancient tools which are antlers from a deer. Archeologist also think that before they put the stone into place that they shape it with other stones. These stones they weigh a lot so we wonder how they carried it all the way to Stonehenge. Some people think that maybe they used rope and ramps like they did in Egypt when building the pyramids. They have also found these types of ball all around the same size and different carvings on them, archaeologists also think that they could have maybe used that too for moving the stones.

Another theory of Stonehenge is that it could be an observatory. Because the stones line up in a way and line goes to the sun that rises on the shortest day of the year. Archaeologist are always trying to find and use different ways and think of different theories to try and find out how the people moved the rocks and why they put them there.

Human ancestors may put a twist in Orign Story

2 million year old bones and possible skin from a pair of primate fossils have been found they are the apelike species that may have given rise to the first humans. They are known as Australopithecus sedia, the ancient human ancestor that was discovered in the Malapa region of South Africa in 2008. Scientists think that these types of human species were capable of making tools. They think that they have found samples of fossilized skin. So this could be the first time any type of soft tissue has been recovered. They come from a time period which is very important called circa two million years ago, that we don’t know a lot about. A Sediba skeleton belongs to a male child in his early teens and there is a female around 30. The new studies have shown that they have an unusual mixture of human like traits. One of the particular pelvis of a male shows that they were able t stand upright. His ankles were also very human like but the heels were thin. But the scientists also think that still at that time that they were still climbing trees. The sediba’s were also able to create stone tools. Their brains were a lot like ours now but were only the quarter size of ours but they were a little larger than a chimpanzee’s. The sediba’s female had a few hand bones but the tips of four fingers and a wrist bone are missing. They had very long thumb compared to other fingers they had so they probably had really good grip. Good fossils help us fill I the things that we have suspected.