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Posts Tagged ‘Homo sapiens’

… Photosynthetic unicellular organisms. Oxidation. Mutation. Natural selection and evolution. Respiration. Cell differentiation. Sexual reproduction…

(Excerpted from “The History of the Universe in 200 Words or Less” by Eric Schulman
© copyright 1996-1997. by Eric Schulman)
Located on the web at: http://members.bellatlantic.net/~vze3fs8i/hist/hist.html

Can Genealogy DNA Testing take us back to the beginning?

As of today scientists, historians and genealogists have fairly reached the conclusion that the following list of bi-peds are in the evolutionary chain of human like creatures that inhabited earth and that evolved in to modern day Homo Sapiens.

Here are some fairly acceptable date ranges for various Hominid species.
Homo Habilis – 2.2 to 1.6 million years BCE (Before Common Era 2010)
Homo Erectus – 2 to 0.4 million years BCE
Homo Sapiens – 400,000 to 200,000 BCE
Homo Sapiens Neandertalensis – 200,000 to 30,000 years BCE
Homo Sapiens Sapiens – 130,000 years BCE to present.
(Washington State University)
http://www.wsu.edu:8001/vwsu/gened/learn-modules/top_longfor/timeline/timeline.html

Apparently most of us, at least Americans, resemble some of our ancestors as depicted in this sculpture known as the Venus of Dolni Vŭstonice, one of the earliest known figurines depicting the human body. Dates back to about 29,000 to 25,000 BP. (Before Present 1950,) or say, about 27,000 BC.  (courtesy wikipedia)

Oldest figurine of human body

Humans are noted for their desire to understand and influence their environment, seeking to explain and manipulate natural phenomena through science, philosophy, mythology and religion. This natural curiosity has led to the development of advanced tools and skills, which are passed down culturally; humans are the only animal species known to build fires, cook their food, clothe themselves, and use numerous other technologies.
(From wikipedia/humans)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homo_sapiens#Human_evolution

Seems I recall that we along with apes and monkeys have and use opposable thumbs that are able to  articulate which is a pretty handy feature for climbing trees and other tasks.  I know that I am a super being in the eyes of my three dogs.  They trust me for their next meal.  I make light appear magically when I enter a room, and best of all I can turn a door handle.

Ultimately researchers will not fully agree on exact times and dates but through the use of DNA testing we can get almost all the way back to the earliest known one of three, or one of seven, female ancestors.

That is quite an accomplishment for sure.

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The possibility of small amounts of Homo erectus DNA in modern man does exist. Just like there is trace amounts of Neanderthal DNA, it could be a part of our genetic makeup. This is disputed by some in the genetic field of study, but also has supporters.

The Homo erectus as a species was present on the earth for over 1.2 million years. Their presence has been mainly found in Asia. This period ended some 70,000 to 50,000 years ago with extinction during the Toba catastrophe. This was when the Toba, a volcano in Sumatra, Indonesia erupted. This is thought to be the largest eruption in the history of Earth. It is credited with a 6 to 10-year volcanic winter that dramatically changed the living conditions on earth in a very short time span.

This supervolcano eruption also had long term effects on the world’s climate. It is credited with a 1,000-year period in which the earth’s surface remained cooler than it had been previously. This is also the same time period in which the human evolutionary traces appeared to be bottle necked.  It is estimated that only 1000 to 10,000 breeding pairs of Homo sapiens survived this period.

This bottle necking of the species is the leading reason for the theory that modern man can trace their genetic roots back to three females that survived this catastrophic event.

The intermixing of Homo erectus and Homo sapien could have only occurred in Asia before this event took place. There is some evidence that more people survived this event in Asia than previously known which allowed for some interbreeding between the species after this event, but the possibilities is highly reduced.

There is little to no evidence of male Homo erectus samples in modern man but because of it, genetic makeup female mtDNA from Homo erectus could still be present. There are studies that are being conducted on Homo erectus DNA with the purpose of exploring the past of modern man. With this increasing knowledge, a clearer picture is emerging but is not complete as of this date and time.

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