[PenultimateManStanding]

The story of the search for the origins of humans is an interesting one. The Piltdown Man hoax is an interesting episode. Neanderthals had already been found in Germany. The year was 1912 and the rivalry between Britain and Germany was intense in every field. In science, the search for the fossil bones of the missing link between apes and humans was also intense. In those days, it was thought that a missing link would have ape-like features but with a bigger brain. Sure enough, a supposed discovery was introduced to the British scientific establishment showing just such characteristics. It wasn't until 41 years later that the "fossil" was shown to be a forgery. The actual identity of the forger remains unknown. But the big brain theory, which had been shown wrong by discoveries in South Africa many years earlier lost it credibility. A new theory was that the "missing link" would be a tool maker. The tool maker was found but it proved to be coexisting with another hominid species at the same time, about 1 and a half million years ago. So they kept looking and with refined methods found Lucy, the earliest hominid known, in the 60s. Turns out the story goes like this: over 3 million years ago, the African jungles of north Africa were turning into grasslands. The trees were getting sparse. "Lucy" and her kind evolved to walk on two legs to get from tree to tree and see above the grass. That's it, that's what got us started. You can watch an interesting documentary about it here. (you have to go down to History->Prehistoric->Ape To Man)

At the end of this documentary, paleontologist marvel at the 150 year unraveling of these mysteries and wonder breathlessly what the next 20 years will bring. I think if they pulled their scientific minds up out of the grasslands of paleontology and took a look at the big picture, they would be alarmed.

[PenultimateManStanding]

BTW, "Lucy" was discovered in the 1960s using modern rock dating methods to target the search areas. This has been called the most profound paleontological discovery of all times. With good reason it seems to me. The dawn of humanity wasn't, as Stanley Kubrick suggested, when an ape man picked up a bone as a weapon, it was when chimps needed to run across grass lands to get to another tree for food. After all, this was the evolutionary event that freed up the use of our hands to make tools. Oh, and "Lucy" was named for the Beatles song Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds.

[pup55]

I think by 2150 AD, 6 generations from now, the average north american male will be the same size as during the first US civil war, which was about 5-7 and 135. Females about 5-2 and 100.

Those Kenyan runners are about 5-7 and 120 today.

Nature will select those who can get by on less food, and can run all day without stopping.

[Tanada]

On the other hand I favor the AAT, I think it answers a lot more of the species distinctive traints than the Savannah theory does.

AAT

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'H')umans are classed anatomically among the primates, the order of which includes apes, monkeys and lemurs. Among the hundreds of living primate species, only humans are naked.

Two kinds of habitat are known to give rise to naked mammals - a subterranean one or a wet one. There is a naked Somalian mole rat which never ventures above ground. All other non-human mammals which have lost all or most of their fur are either swimmers like whales and dolphins and walruses and manatees, or wallowers like hippopotamuses and pigs and tapirs. The rhinoceros and the elephant, though found on land since Africa became drier, bear traces of a more watery past and seize every opportunity of wallowing in mud or water.

It has been suggested that humans became hairless "to prevent overheating in the savannah". But no other mammal has ever resorted to this strategy. A covering of hair acts as a defense against the heat of the sun: that is why even the desert- dwelling camel retains its fur. Another version is "to facilitate sweat-cooling". But again many species resort to sweat-cooling quite effectively without needing to lose their hair.

[wisconsin_cur]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pup55', 'I') think by 2150 AD, 6 generations from now, the average north american male will be the same size as during the first US civil war, which was about 5-7 and 135. Females about 5-2 and 100.

Those Kenyan runners are about 5-7 and 120 today.

Nature will select those who can get by on less food, and can run all day without stopping.

[PenultimateManStanding]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Tanada', 'O')n the other hand I favor the AAT, I think it answers a lot more of the species distinctive traints than the Savannah theory does.
hair.