Human roots in India.Human roots in India In 1982, the upper portion of a hominid hominid Any member of the zoological family Hominidae (order Primates), which consists of the great apes (orangutans, gorillas, chimpanzees, and bonobos) as well as human beings. skull was found on a river bank in central India. Researchers initially considered the specimen a member of the species Homo erectus Homo erectus (hō`mō ērĕk`təs), extinct hominid living between 1.6 million and 250,000 years ago. Homo erectus is thought to have evolved in Africa from H. habilis, the first member of the genus Homo. , which lived from about 1.6 million to 300,000 years ago. But a reanalysis of the skull--conducted in 1988 by Kenneth A.R. Kennedy of Cornell University Cornell University, mainly at Ithaca, N.Y.; with land-grant, state, and private support; coeducational; chartered 1865, opened 1868. It was named for Ezra Cornell, who donated $500,000 and a tract of land. With the help of state senator Andrew D. in Ithaca, N.Y., but until now unreported -- indicates it was actually an early form of Homo sapiens. The Indian skull shares "an impressive suite" of anatomical features with archaic Homo sapiens archaic Homo sapiens Relating to or being an early form or subspecies of Homo sapiens, anatomically distinct from modern humans. Neanderthals in Europe and Solo man in Asia are usually classed as archaic humans. specimens from Africa and Europe, Kennedy says. Stone hand axes and cleavers found near the Indian hominid closely match stone tools found in Africa that date to between 150,000 and 250,000 years ago, he adds. Kennedy's findings support the theory that archaic Homo sapiens and anatomically modern humans evolved in several geographic regions, not just in Africa. |
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