Post by sandwiches on Jun 30, 2011 15:36:29 GMT
I was fascinated the other week by a new BBC series:
Planet of the Apemen: Battle for Earth.
It is reviewed here:
www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/reviews/last-nights-tv-shameless-usamore4br-history-cold-casebbc2br-planet-of-the-apemen-battle-for-earthbbc1-2301864.html
More bones on BBC1, where the battle between Homo erectus and Homo sapien was give the dramatic treatment, thanks to Planet of the Apemen: Battle for Earth. Interspersed between bits of expert commentary and clipped RP narration was a reconstruction of life on the Indian sub-continent in the wake of Mount Toba's eruption 75,000 years ago. There, we learned, the incumbent erectus population was joined by a steady trickle of wandering sapiens, both humans, but with differing abilities and evolutional quirks.
Erectus were like "wolves with knives": their bones resemble those of modern-day Olympic athletes. They had weapons – rocks with sharp edges, for cutting into flesh – and could cook. In the arid conditions left behind by Toba's eruption, they had become fiercely territorial. What the erectus couldn't do, though, was think ahead, visualise the unseen, and anticipate others' actions. Their weapons were more primitive than the sapiens, and, though they were stronger, they lacked communication skills. In short: it was brain versus brawn.
Quite how dramatic the gulf between the two species was isn't clear, though I'm fairly certain it didn't extend to the one we saw last night, with the sapiens (us) shown battling the erectus (them) while speaking perfect English. Perfect, though strangely limited to corny one-liners straight out of a soap. "Dad will protect you," said the sapien son as he handed his dead father's necklace to his mother. "It's yours now," she protests, the erectus grunting monosyllabically in the background. It's all slightly peculiar, and not, I suspect, entirely researcher-approved,..
So our ancestors battled against these fearsome creatures. (rather comically from the reconstruction in the programme) But today I read:
www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2009746/Modern-mans-ancestor-Homo-erectus-extinct-108-000-years-earlier-previously-thought.html
Out of Africa? New theory throws doubt on assumption all humans evolved from the continent
Homo erectus, widely considered to be a direct ancestor of our own species Homo sapiens, never co-existed with modern man, researchers believe.
It migrated out of Africa around 1.8million years ago.
By around 500,000 years ago it had vanished from Africa and much of Asia, but until now was thought to have survived in Indonesia until as recently as 35,000 years ago.
Early modern humans reached the region about 40,000 years ago, and so were believed to have co-existed with their ancestors.
The new research suggests this assumption was wrong, and Homo erectus disappeared long before the arrival of Homo sapiens in Asia.
New excavations and dating analysis indicate that Homo erectus was extinct by at least 143,000 years ago, and perhaps more than 550,000 years ago.
If this is the case, it challenges the widely accepted 'Out of Africa' hypothesis which holds that modern humans became fully evolved in Africa before emigrating to other parts of the world.
If anyone has a lot of time n their hands here is the programme:
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0124y9x
I am beginning to thing scientists either have not got a clue, or just change their minds every week
Is anyone here a scientist, and if so what have you got to say for yourself?
Planet of the Apemen: Battle for Earth.
It is reviewed here:
www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/reviews/last-nights-tv-shameless-usamore4br-history-cold-casebbc2br-planet-of-the-apemen-battle-for-earthbbc1-2301864.html
More bones on BBC1, where the battle between Homo erectus and Homo sapien was give the dramatic treatment, thanks to Planet of the Apemen: Battle for Earth. Interspersed between bits of expert commentary and clipped RP narration was a reconstruction of life on the Indian sub-continent in the wake of Mount Toba's eruption 75,000 years ago. There, we learned, the incumbent erectus population was joined by a steady trickle of wandering sapiens, both humans, but with differing abilities and evolutional quirks.
Erectus were like "wolves with knives": their bones resemble those of modern-day Olympic athletes. They had weapons – rocks with sharp edges, for cutting into flesh – and could cook. In the arid conditions left behind by Toba's eruption, they had become fiercely territorial. What the erectus couldn't do, though, was think ahead, visualise the unseen, and anticipate others' actions. Their weapons were more primitive than the sapiens, and, though they were stronger, they lacked communication skills. In short: it was brain versus brawn.
Quite how dramatic the gulf between the two species was isn't clear, though I'm fairly certain it didn't extend to the one we saw last night, with the sapiens (us) shown battling the erectus (them) while speaking perfect English. Perfect, though strangely limited to corny one-liners straight out of a soap. "Dad will protect you," said the sapien son as he handed his dead father's necklace to his mother. "It's yours now," she protests, the erectus grunting monosyllabically in the background. It's all slightly peculiar, and not, I suspect, entirely researcher-approved,..
So our ancestors battled against these fearsome creatures. (rather comically from the reconstruction in the programme) But today I read:
www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2009746/Modern-mans-ancestor-Homo-erectus-extinct-108-000-years-earlier-previously-thought.html
Out of Africa? New theory throws doubt on assumption all humans evolved from the continent
Homo erectus, widely considered to be a direct ancestor of our own species Homo sapiens, never co-existed with modern man, researchers believe.
It migrated out of Africa around 1.8million years ago.
By around 500,000 years ago it had vanished from Africa and much of Asia, but until now was thought to have survived in Indonesia until as recently as 35,000 years ago.
Early modern humans reached the region about 40,000 years ago, and so were believed to have co-existed with their ancestors.
The new research suggests this assumption was wrong, and Homo erectus disappeared long before the arrival of Homo sapiens in Asia.
New excavations and dating analysis indicate that Homo erectus was extinct by at least 143,000 years ago, and perhaps more than 550,000 years ago.
If this is the case, it challenges the widely accepted 'Out of Africa' hypothesis which holds that modern humans became fully evolved in Africa before emigrating to other parts of the world.
If anyone has a lot of time n their hands here is the programme:
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0124y9x
I am beginning to thing scientists either have not got a clue, or just change their minds every week
Is anyone here a scientist, and if so what have you got to say for yourself?
