In their article, A Complete Skull from Dmanisi, Georgia, and the Evolutionary Biology of Early Homo, David Lordkipanidze et al explain a point that disapproves many unsubstantiated beliefs that have gone down in the books of history for quite a long time. The article is basically about the best preserved hominid from Dmanisi, southern Georgia. The article prominently focuses on the cranium, the face, the braincase and the cranial base to rule out the presumption that the tree of human ancestry has many branches. The study disapproves this belief explaining that the different species of Homo erectus as explained by previous historical research did not actually exist. On the contrary, they say, there was only one Homo erectus, which appeared in different forms. They prove that Homo erectus was actually one in many forms by carrying out measurements and making comparisons among the facial measurements of the five hominids discovered in Dmanisi.
The article does not hesitate to mention that the five hominids being compared existed at around the same time. The article also mentions that the comparisons made among the five hominids, match, by extent, to the comparisons made between modern man and the chimpanzees. David Lordkipanidze et al, however, do not fail to mention that their conclusion is not binding on anybody because their dismissal of the earlier presumption is based on the actuality that their discovery is backed by evidence while the earlier historians were merely relying on scarcely available information.
A different article that seems to concur with David Lordkipanidze et al is the article No known hominin is common ancestor of Neanderthals and modern humans, study suggests, done by professors from Indiana University. In the articles the author argues that, unlike the suggestions made by other studies, the human ancestry diverged more than one million years ago. This, they say, is because there are no hominids that resemble the Neanderthal man of Europe. Similarly, no fossil resembles the structure of modern man. While this is the case, the researchers argue that if at all, there was a common ancestor, and then the divergence must have taken place more than one million years ago.
Prior to the discovery of the Dmanisi fossils, the oldest known fossil in archeology was the renowned Turkana boy skeleton. Like the class lessons, the two articles agree that the previous research was founded on scarcely available information. For instance, while the Dmanisi fossils were sufficiently complete with the cranium, and the lower jaw, the Homo erectus fossils discovered in Africa were only specific parts. David Lordkipanidze et al note that the lower jaw is very rare in the African fossils and the fossil records are scanty, hence unreliable. It is also critical to mention that the fossils discovered in Georgia, were reliable because, according to existing literature, the African Homo erectus and the newly discovered hominid match significantly with regard to the brain case size and shape.
Existing literature and class lessons indicate that the intrademic and intraspecific variations are main factors that mislead researchers into believing that Homo erectus had other resembling species. Contrary to this, Homo erectus just had many forms, and the differences can be accounted for by the fact that they did not live during an exact period, but rather some time range. Over the years within the range, it is suspected that the changes might have occurred. Alternatively, it is possible that the environmental conditions might have affected the appearance of the hominid. Academic underpinning reveals the possibility of environmental effects on the appearance, citing the African Homo erectus as the perfect example. The African homo erectus differs significantly.
The presumption that divergence might have taken place more than 1 million years ago as suggested by Indiana university (1) is supported by the research carried out by David Lordkipanidze et al (326) who established that any possible divergence must have taken place some 2 million years ago because if the Georgia fossils are anything to go by, the 1.8 million years old fossil does not show the signs of divergence. The possibility of different lineages is overruled on the grounds that they were not adapted to different niches. While both articles suggest further research, it makes sense that all the studies implying that man’s ancestry is some kind of tree with numerous genus, be revised because I actual fact, going by the latest discoveries, the tree requires to be pruned significantly, until solid evidence suggests otherwise.
In conclusion it is important to point out that the research by Indiana University and the discovery of David Lordkipanidze et al significantly reflects what we learned in class with a few discrepancies on the time of divergence, and as to whether there was divergence at all. All studies, class lessons and the two articles have some commonalities. They fault the previous findings on the scantiness of the information on fossils in Africa. They, therefore recommend that the discrepancies be addressed by focusing on Africa more than any other place. Africa will offer the ultimate answer because as at now, it is among the reasons for the discrepancies.
Works Cited
David Lordkipanidze et al. “A Complete Skull from Dmanisi, Georgia, and the Evolutionary Biology of Early Homo.” Science 342, 326 (2013)
Indiana University. "No known hominin is common ancestor of Neanderthals and modern humans, study suggests." ScienceDaily, 21 Oct. 2013. Web. 21 Nov. 2013.
