All living and fossil prosimians, monkeys,spes, and men belong in the order primates, which in turn belongs to the taxonomic class Mammalia. The evolution of Hominids (member of the family Homidae of Man) can be traced from about 28 MYBP(million years before present) in the Fayum (near cairo in Egypt) primates, the living forms more related to man could be known as Ramapithecus.
Ramapithecus: The fossils of Ramapithecus were first discovered by G.D.Lewis of vale University in 1932 at a place called Hartalyanger, in the Siwalik hills (Pakistan). Since then fossils of similar looking creature were found both in Siwaliks and also in Africa. Originally named Ramapithecus brevirostris, it had distinct hominid characteristics, including as mall canine tooth. In 1961 Dr.Louis Leaky found at For Ternan in Kenya some jaw pieces similar to Ramapithecus and named them Kenyapithecus,dated to about 11 million years ago. As only jaw pieces are available we know nothing abour this hominids posture,but he seems to have already assumed bi-pedalism (walking with two legs). At Fort ternam Leakey found smashed antelope skulls along with lava lumps having battered edges. These has been interpreted as indicating tool use by these hominids.
The next evolutionary stage could be traced in Australopithecus dating between 5- 2 MYBP. Thus there is a considerable gap of nearly 9 MY between Ramapithecus and Australopithecus. This form was first found by Raymond Dart in 1925 in a lime stone cliff at Taung near Botswan border of South Africa. He named it Australopithecus Africanus. Fossils of Australopithecus were also reported by B.Patterson(1965) in an early Pleistocene deposit near the southern end of Lake Rudolf, Kenys. Louis Leakey reported Zinjanthropus from Olduvai gorge (South Africa) which also has been classified as an australopithecine. From the fossil data two varieties of australopithecus have been identifed.
1.
Australopithecus Africanus, also known as Australopithecus gracile-dated to
about 2.5 to 3 MYBP. It weeighed between 43 and 27.6 Kgs.
2. Australopithecus robustus- is bigger than the gracile form and weighed
between 57
to 36 Kgs. This form dated to abot 1.5 to 2 MYBY.
Some scholars think that the first form evolved into the second.
The Australopithecans walked erect on their hind limbs. They had a brain capacity of about 480-500 CC. They stood about 1.5 Mts. high. The teeth of these hominds suggest a mixed diet of meat and vegetables. They made extensive use of pebble choppers and bone tools, chisels, scrapers, etc. The Olduvai sites also contain possible bone tols such as a flattened highly polished rib of a zebra. There is also evidence of using teeth, bone, antler and sticks as tools.
Bi-pedalism:
The reorganisation of the pelvic (hip) bone in Australopithecus suggest
assumption of bipedal locomotion.
It has been suggested that, they were better bipedal runners than
bipedals as the homosapiens.
Life-span: Whatever
the cause of death, the australopithecine life spans were short. In the
Transvaal caves, more than one third (35%)died prior to attaining adulthood. At
swartkrans and Kromdrai well over one half (57%)of the remains of children and
youngsters. On an average their longivity was about 22.9 years.
HOMO ERECTUS (1 My –1/2my)
JAVA MAN: All hominids that evolved further than the australopithecines are grouped in the genus Home. Fodssils of such king were first discovered in 1890 by Eugene Dybois on the bamks of solo river, near the village Trinil in Java. Here he found a partial skull suggesting a brain too big for an ape yet too small for any known man. Near by he also found a fossil thing bone (femur), the straightness of which suggested it came from an erect primate. He named it Pithicanthropus Erecuts, dated about 5,00,000 years BP.
This find later came to be known as `Java Man’ must have been about our
size, judged from the thigh bones. The thigh bone, and the position of the
opening of the skull
by which the nerve cord leaves the brain and skull (foramen magnum), show
that he must have walked upright. He had a strong muscular neck carrying an exceedingly heavy
and thick skull. The mouth region
was protruding and the jaws which were big contained large teeth. In the upper
jaw a toothless space between the canine and incisor suggest lengthy canine
which is accommodated in the gap when the jaws are closed. Java Man is the only hominid with this space in his
dentition. The brow ridges (supraorbital
tori) still remained thick.
The brain size varied between 750 and 1200 CC (ours 1450 CC). The mandible (lower jaw) of H.Erectus is heavily constructed and lacks a chin (mental eminence).
Peekng man: The remains of Peking Man were first discovered by
J.G. Anderson, a Swedish mining adviser. Later O. Sdansky and Pei also had worked at the limesone
filled cave, near the village of Choukoutisn, some 37 miles SW of Peking. On the
whole remains of well over three dozen different individuals had been recovered.
They are dated about 5 Lakh years old.
Peking Man forms an important link in Man’s ancestry. He is closely related to Java Man and virtually identical in some respects, but he had larger brain (900-1200 CC) and his teeth more identical to ours. The teeth are smaller than those in Java Man, and lacks gap in teeth row. The reduction in dentition suggest that he was more dependent on tools. He also mastered fire and probably cooked his food. He was an accomplished tool maker and user. Probably he was a cannibal also, as several skulls with opened bottom found in these caves.
SOLO MAN : In Java the pithecanthropus appears to have been followed by a more advanced hominid. The traces of Solo Man were found on the terraces of Solo river near the village of Ngandong. The cranial capacity (brain size) was about 1100 CC. The remains are dated about the beginning of the last Glaciation, i.e 1lakh years age.
HEIDELBERG MAN: Discovered by Schoetensack in 1907 near the village Mauer near Heidelberg. According to some he was contemporary of Java Man, though dated 800000 years old. Only the Mandille (lower jaw) is available, which is huge and heavily built . It has some what ape-like appearance because it lacks a chin prominence, but the dental arch and the teeth point distinctly in human direction. The canines, well reduced in size do not project at all above the other teeth. A part of the back of human skull was discovered by Vertesszolos (Hungary near Budapest). From this very nearer to modern humans (1450 cc ) and far larger than those of the Asian fossil men from China and Java.
NARMADA MAN : A skull cap of Early Man, named as Homo Erectus Narmadensis was collected during 1982-83 from the basal gravel-conglomerate beol at Hathnora (55 F/ 13 ), Hoshangabad area, Madhya Pradesh, by Arun Sonakia. This unique discovery, throws new light on the evolution of Man in India. The mammalian fauna and the associated stone implements suggest Middle Pleistocene age to the basal gravel-conglomerate bed from which the skull cop of the Early Man collected. On this basis the fossil could be dated between 2-4 lakh years old.
During
the warm times of the last Inter- Glacial, about 125000 years age, the fossil
evidence revealed a widespread human form in S.Europe and W. Asia, who is called
Neanderthal Man. They occupied
human stage untill the mild phase of the Last Glaciation (Wurm).
Then almost miraculously, they disappeared from the scene, to be replaced
by several kinds of men of the modern type, Homo
Sapiens.
They were rather short and heavily built, and must have been exceedingly
strong. They still had thick,
jutting brow ridges, a protruding muzzle-like mouth, poorly developed chin and a
retreating forehead. Males appear
to have reached a height of about five feet four inches.
The skulls indicate that they posxed brains equal in size to ours and
sometimes even larger, reaching up to 1700 cc.
The Neanderthal Men were accomplished tool makers. The Mousterian industry is assigned to them. The evidence from their burial of a child found at Teshik-Tash in E..Uzebekistan is remarkable. Here child was buried closely surrounded by a ring of six pairs of goat’s horns still attached to the skulls of the animals and pushed point down wards into the follr. Other burials indicate that complete bodies had been buried along with stone tools. The C-14 dates from various sites indicate an antiquity of 70,000 to 50,000 B.P for Neanderthal Man.
With the commencement of relatively milder spell towards the end of the Fourth Glaciation (Warm), when ice Began its retreat to the north , the Neanderthals vaniched into obscurity and were replaced by men of our own sub-species , some 40,000 years ago. The arrival of Homo Sapiens also corresponds to the Upper Palaeolithic culture.
These people were taller than Neanderthals, many of the males approaching six feet in height. All living men, of all races, Belong to this one sub-species only. The most Characteristic difference between Homo Sapiens and earlier men is the disappearance of the large continuous eye brow (supra-orbital ridge). Their skull is well domed with vertical sides and rounded brain case at the back. The cranial capacity ranges between 1400 to 1800 cc. But unfortunately still we do not have a clear answer for their early origin.
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