Fossils and the Mosaic Nature of Human Evolution
- 31 October 1975
- journal article
- review article
- Published by American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Science
- Vol. 190 (4213), 425-431
- https://doi.org/10.1126/science.809842
Abstract
These new fossils, dates, analyses, and interpretations lead to confirmation and refinement of the mosaic scheme of human evolution as proposed by early evolutionists such as Lamarck, Haeckel, and Darwin. Evolutionary changes in the body adapting our ancestors to bipedalism occurred before 3 million years ago, judging by the completeness of the adaptation in the late Pliocene-early Pleistocene hominids. The skeletons of these early hominids were not identical to those of modern humans, but locomotor behavior was probably human. At about 3 million years ago their brains were relatively small, although internal reorganization may have been taking place. By 2 million years ago a wider range of variation in brain size appears in the fossil record, with an average size somewhat larger than that in earlier hominids. Concomitant with this beginning of brain size increase was the reshaping of the pelvic region, perhaps related to an increase in birth canal size to accommodate larger-brained fetuses. Evidence for tool manufacturing, meat eating, shelter building, and probably food sharing also occurs at about this time, which signals the coming of a new adaptive strategy.Keywords
This publication has 79 references indexed in Scilit:
- Encephalization in Australopithecines: a New EstimateFolia Primatologica, 1973
- The gait of AustralopithecusAmerican Journal of Physical Anthropology, 1973
- A commentary on the use of multivariate statistical methods in anthropometric researchAmerican Journal of Physical Anthropology, 1972
- Body Posture and Mode of Locomotion in Early Pleistocene HominidsFolia Primatologica, 1971
- Competitive Exclusion Among Lower Pleistocene Hominids: The Single Species HypothesisMan, 1971
- Functional Affinities of the Olduvai Hominid 8 TalusMan, 1968
- The Discovery of Tertiary ManScience, 1930
- The Fossil Anthropoid Ape from TaungsNature, 1925
- On the Discovery of a Palæolithic Human Skull and Mandible in a Flint-bearing Gravel overlying the Wealden (Hastings Beds) at Piltdown, Fletching (Sussex)Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, 1913
- Preliminary Report on the Cranial Cast [of the Piltdown Skull]Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, 1913