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It Really Was a Planet of the Apes Two Million Years Ago

It Really Was a Planet of the Apes Two Million Years Ago

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New genetic research shows early humans’ brains were “much more ape-like” than what is measured in modern humans. What this means is that the first waves of human ancestors to migrate out of Africa were perhaps much more primitive than previously considered.

Until now it was greatly assumed that when modern humans and our ancestors first dispersed from Africa they had large brains, more akin to modern people than apes. However, using computed tomography and virtual reconstructions a team of archaeological researchers have determined the internal brain case structures of early  Homo skulls discovered at Dmanisi, Georgia, “were much more like apes.”

Researchers mount a cranium from Dmanisi, Georgia, for synchrotron tomography at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in Grenoble, France. (Paul Tafforeau, ESRF)

Researchers mount a cranium from Dmanisi, Georgia, for synchrotron tomography at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in Grenoble, France. (Paul Tafforeau, ESRF)

Discovering the Early  Homo Brain was Ape-like

In a study published today in Science by University of Zurich paleoanthropologists Marcia Ponce de León and Christoph Zollikofer, the fossilized skulls of hominins were studied, including five individuals who lived in Western Asia more than 1.7 million years ago. The paper explains that these brains were about “half the size of modern brains” and that they were organized more like the brains of modern great apes. The new research, unexpectedly, shows “the brain of  Homo to be ape-like.”

An earlier study published last year by Dr. Marcia Ponce de León and her coauthors demonstrated that an older human ancestor, Australopithecus afarensis (Lucy), had an ape-like brain. Now it is understood that at the early stages of hominid evolution, Homo also had “ape-like-appearing cerebral cortices,” according to the most recent paper. When then did our brains begin to evolve into the powerhouses we wield today? The new research suggests the emergence of a more complex frontal lobe occurred from 1.7–1.5 million years ago. This finding, according to Dr. Marcia Ponce de León, “is shockingly recent . . . and it’s convincing.”

New research shows brains of early humans (illustrated in blue) may have evolved from a more ape-like version (left) seen in a specimen from Dmanisi, Georgia, to the more modern humanlike one (right) from Sangiran, Indonesia, between 1.7 million and 1.5 million years ago. (M.S. Ponce de León and C.P.E. Zollikofer/University of Zurich)

New research shows brains of early humans (illustrated in blue) may have evolved from a more ape-like version (left) seen in a specimen from Dmanisi, Georgia, to the more modern humanlike one (right) from Sangiran, Indonesia, between 1.7 million and 1.5 million years ago. (M.S. Ponce de León and C.P.E. Zollikofer/University of Zurich)

A Study Encompassing All “Two Legs”

The fossils presented in the study date from 1.8 million years ago and they belong to some of the first  Homo individuals to leave what is today Africa. The researchers also studied “endocasts” from fossilized remains of hominins ranging from 2.03 million to 70,000 years old from Africa, Europe, and other parts of Asia. Just in case you are like me, and didn’t know, an “endocast” is the internal cast of a hollow object, often referring to the cranial vault in the study of brain development in humans and other organisms. Furthermore, the team studied the skulls of modern humans, chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, and orangutans.

Virtual fillings of the braincases of early Homo from Dmanisi, Georgia, are shown in turquoise. Their structures provide new insights into human brain evolution 1.8 million years ago. (M. Ponce de León and Ch. Zollikofer/University of Zurich)

Virtual fillings of the braincases of early Homo from Dmanisi, Georgia, are shown in turquoise. Their structures provide new insights into human brain evolution 1.8 million years ago. (M. Ponce de León and Ch. Zollikofer/University of Zurich)

Over the years Professors Marcia Ponce de León and Christoph Zollikofer have developed new techniques to analyze the inner surface of skulls. Today, many of their traditional processes have been replaced by technology and the brain structures of fossilized hominins are now being mapped with computed tomography and MRI. The researchers explain in their paper how their research “evaluates the imprint,” which they call an “endocast,” that brains leave on the internal cranial vault. In this new study the scientists analyzed the endocasts of five Homo erectus fossils found in Dmanisi, Georgia, in Western Asia, and this is the first time this process has ever been undertaken.

An Ape Aspiring to be Human

In an article in The Scientist Dr. Christoph Zollikofer concluded that the earliest representatives of the genus  Homo - both from Africa and the samples from Dmanisi that are older than 1.7 million years - had brains were much more similar to those of the “ australopithecines,” such as Lucy, “or to modern great apes, in terms of size and organization.”

However, even if you have kind of an ancestral brain, added Dr. Zollikofer, “that doesn’t mean that you are incapable of doing interesting things like venturing out of Africa, caring for elderly people, exploiting meat resources, et cetera.” This is all put into context when we consider all Southeast Asian  H. erectus remains and Homo specimens younger than 1.5 million years from Africa are between 70,000 to 1.49 million years old, and they all had “more human-like brains,” according to the study.

Top image: New research shows that early human brains were more ape-like than modern. Source: M. Ponce de León and Ch. Zollikofer/University of Zurich

By Ashley Cowie

 

Comments

Charles Bowles's picture

I think that the humans NOW IN AFRICA  NEVER LEFT AFRICA, and the ones that left Africa NEVER CAME BACK AFTER FINDING THEIR NEW HOME SATISFACTORY OUTSIDE WHERE THEY DEVELOPED DIFFERENT PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS BASED ON ENVIRONMENTAL DIFFERENCES, UNLIKE THE ORIGINAL  AFRICANS WHO DECIDED TO REMAIN ON THE CONTINENT, WHICH IS WHY WE HAVE MANY “RACES OF HUMANS”.   IT APPEARS THAT THE HUMANS WHO LEFT AFRICA EVENTUALLY CAME IN SEXUAL CONTACT WITH THE NEANDERTHAL ‘SUBHUMANS” OUTSIDE OF AFRICA WHICH CAUSED THE BIRTHRATE OF MIXED HOMO-SAPIENS AND NEANDERTHAL SUBHUMAN ADMIXTURES TO EVOLVE INTO HAVING A TOTALLY DIFFERENT PHENOTYPE WITH PALE WHITE SKIN, AS WELL AS LOTS OF STRAIGHT/CURLY BODY HAIR TO PROTECT THEM FROM COLD CLIMATES.  IN THE MEANTIME, THE 100% AFRICAN HOMO-SAPIENS THAT DID NOT LEAVE AFRICA  AND ADAPTED TO WARMER CLIMATES WITHOUT HAVING ANY NEANDERTHAL DNA, DID NOT NEED MUCH BODY HAIR, AND THE LITTLE AMOUNT OF HAIR THAT THEY GREW WOULD BECAME “WOOLLY” AND QUITE DRY AND WOULD NOT GROW AS LONG SINCE THERE WAS NO NEED FOR ENVIRONMENTAL ADAPTATION.  THAT IS WHY WE HAVE DIFFERENT RACES OF PEOPLE WHO ARE BEAUTIFUL IN THEIR OWN RIGHT..  THIS IS MY PERSONAL ANALYSIS CONCERNING OUT OF AFRICA  AND NEVER RETURNING BACK TO THE CONTINENT, AND THOSE STAYING IN AFRICA, AND NEVER HAVING TO RETURN BECAUSE THOSE AFRICANS NEVER LEFT.  WE ARE ALL DIFFERENT RACES OF PEOPLE, AND WE WILL NEVER BE THE SAME, OTHER THAN WE WILL ALL NEED FOOD & WATER TO SURVIVE, BUT WE WILL NOT LOOK ALIKE, ACT ALIKE, OR HAVE THE SAME INDEPENDENT NATURAL SKILLS...

Charles Bowles

yogimic's picture

Very interesting.  Does this mean all humans now in Africa are descendents of hominids that left africa and then returned with a bigger brain, to wipe out the indigenous hominids?  Can this be tested genetically?

Michaela Clarke

Charles Bowles's picture

Bees make great honey, and termites will destroy your home...

Charles Bowles

yogimic's picture

I have questions too, and i like yours, Charles Bowles.  I agree, size of brain may have no impact on the ability to build pyramids, etc (look at Bees and termites), however they were built long after 1.5 million years ago...

Michaela Clarke

Charles Bowles's picture

It appears that the so-call smaller brain humans who used their intellligence to travel from Africa to many areas of the globe to such far away places as the Nicobar/Andaman islands, South Pacific, Australia, Americas, Europa, Asia etc, without the assistance of (GPS) Global Positioning System tells me that the size of the brain is not what illustrates intelligence, and that Smaller brain humans used their intelligence to aide the Big Brain humans to the evolutionary stage where we are today.  It appears that the Big Brain people of today still don’t understand how the small brain humans built pyramids, tunnels, aqueducts, Obelisks and the worlds first River dams along the Nile?  Also I wonder why was it that the so-call small brain humans out of Africa who NEVER left Africa and stayed behind, were the first to theorize in different religions in relation to God, invent paper (papyrus) and INK to write their first languages, as well as doors, locks and keys during ancient times while the ones that left AFRICA became barbaric, illiterate and incapable to create any civilized settlements farthest outside of Africa..  I have so many questions,but I will keep them to myself for now...

Charles Bowles

ashley cowie's picture

Ashley

Ashley is a Scottish historian, author, and documentary filmmaker presenting original perspectives on historical problems in accessible and exciting ways.

He was raised in Wick, a small fishing village in the county of Caithness on the north east coast of... Read More

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