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| This must have been the last of the Australopithecines,
the second stage in our evolutionary march away from the apes. One
branch of the Aethiopicus evolved into Homo Rudolphensis while the
other branches became extinct. Three other Australopithecines also
had become extinct around this region in time. They are the A. Africanus,
A. bosei, and A. robustus. The discovery, in Taung of South Africa,
of the fossil skeleton of a child was a turning point in the study
of paleoanthropology. This fossil known as the Taung child was Christened
Australopithecus meaning southern apes. This discovery was followed
by the discovery of various other species of our possible ancestors
in the Streksfontein caves very near Johannesburg. Homo Rudolphensis,
most probably the first in a line of homo species, lived from 2.4
to 1.7 million years ago. These were followed by the Homo habilis
and soon by Homo erectus. Homo Erectus lived from 1.6 million years
to as close as 40 000 years ago. Three homo species also had become
extinct during the last two million years. These are, Homo Heidelbergensis,
Homo Ergaster and Homo Neandrathalensis or the Neandrathal man. |
| All the species mentioned above from Orrorin to Homo
Rudolphensis originated and died in Africa. Homo erectus also evolved
in Africa but was not confined to that continent. Fossils of Homo
erectus belonging more or less to the same period had been discovered
from various parts of the earth including Java, China, Europe, Middle
East and Africa. This has led many scientists to believe that the
evolution from the early primates to humans had taken place simultaneously
in many places. But genetic studies including the D.N.A. analysis
of the various races of people all over the world has shown that all
of us are descendants of one individual or one couple of Homo sapiens.
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| Today the out-of-Africa theory is widely accepted and
as an explanation of the presence of Homo erectus in many parts of
the world before the appearance of modern man, scientists talk of
two separate migrations from Africa. About two million years ago Homo
erectus migrated out of Africa and reached various parts of Asia and
Europe. The last ice age seems to have caused the extinction of all
these forerunners of man along with many other species of animals
north of the equator. Only those who lived in the central and southern
part of Africa survived this attack of ice. Even if some of these
survived this ice age they later became extinct, as had many of their
forerunners. |
| There is evidence of a people who lived in caves close
to the Indian Ocean coast of South Africa about 130 thousand years
ago who had all the characteristics of modern man. This is the Homo
sapiens, our species or modern man that evolved from the Homo erectus
branch that remained in southern Africa during the Ice age. The climate
change around this period in a way opened the gates that trapped the
homos in southern Africa and again they began moving up north. By
this time the advancement in the use of tools and other survival skills
had made them much more efficient and they began to multiply and spread
fast, reaching remote corners of the landmasses linked together. This
second migration is the migration of Homo sapiens, the modern man,
the story of our origins. |
| The painstaking, patient and persistent efforts of
many individuals who had spent most of their time and energy in search
of answers to these questions that had interested us since Darwin’s
time have made all this information available to us. Among these a
few who stand out prominent should be mentioned here. We owe most
of our knowledge of the fossil finds of East Africa, especially Kenya,
to the Leaky family, three generations of them. In South Africa, the
discoveries and studies at Taung and the Streksfontein Caves had begun
with the works of Robert Broom and Richard Dart and today Lee Burger
and others continue the good work. To Donald Johnson belongs the credit
of most of the outstanding work in Ethiopia. |
| Among the evolutionary changes that have taken place
during the last 6 to 10 million years whereby we changed from one
of the anthropoids to the present form, the most notable is the change
in the brain size. According to the scientists we had to pay a price
or many prices for this. They call it a trade-in. As the scull capacity
increased the gastro intestinal capacity decreased. It seems that
the increased brainpower makes it possible for us to manage with a
much smaller stomach and intestines. We have been able to use our
intelligence to manage with the minimum quantity of the right kinds
of foods. |
| There seems to have been a genetic trade-in too. There
is not much more chance for the process of mutation to take place.
Mutation of the genes is the main process that guides evolution. The
results or findings in the year 2001 at the gene sequencing labs tell
us that as far as humans are concerned we have reached the limit of
mutations. There is not much more room for evolution. Does this mean
that there was an end of the process of evolution some 100 000 years
ago with the appearance of Homo sapiens? I do not think so. Actually
the process of evolution continues at a faster rate but not in the
field of physiological changes. It is more intellectual, scientific,
technological, philosophical and spiritual. |
| What does this story of evolution tell us? Does it
not depend on what you want to hear? Do you want to listen to the
rhetoric of those T.V evangelists who vehemently deny the concept
of evolution? Do you want to listen to the scientists who say that
man is just an ape with bigger brain? Or would you rather put your
brain to better use, study all the facts available, use reasoning
and arrive at a proper balance between these two views. Any one view
gives you a distorted picture or an incomplete picture like that of
the blind man who, after feeling the leg of an elephant, declared
that an elephant is like a pillar. |
