Explore anatomical specimens of our hominin ancestors
In this module’s lab video, you explored anatomical specimens of our hominin ancestors. In this lab activity, you will view additional examples and will apply what you’ve learned.
Explore anatomical specimens of our hominin ancestors
Objectives
In this module’s lab video, you explored anatomical specimens of our hominin ancestors. In this lab activity, you will view additional examples and will apply what you’ve learned.
What To Do
Navigate to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History online (Links to an external site.) to read about human evolution evidence and then select the 3D collection tab on the left side of the page. Read the text and explanations on this collection before proceeding to the activity. Keep the 3D collection open, as you will use it for the rest of the activity!
After you’ve read the information on the site and have reviewed the 3D questions, answer the following questions.
Firstly,name three specimens identified as Australopithecus. Using the 3D feature, describe how they are similar and how they are different. Speculate about why there might be differences.
Secondly,name three specimens identified as Neanderthal. Using the 3D feature describe how they are similar and how they are different. Speculate about why there might be differences.
Label your answers with the question numbers. The length of your 2 answers should be one page.
More details
Until recently, the evolutionary events that surrounded the origin of the hominin lineage — which includes modern humans and our fossil relatives — were virtually unknown, and our phylogenetic relationship with living African apes was highly debated. Gorillas and chimpanzees were commonly regard to be more closely relating to each other due to their high degree of morphological and behavioral similarities, such as their shared mode of locomotion — knuckle-walking. But with the advent of molecular studies it has become clear that chimpanzees share a more recent common ancestor with humans, and are thus more closely related to us than they are to gorillas (e.g., Bailey 1993, Wildman et al. 2003).
The similarities between the living African apes were thought to have been inherited from a common ancestor (=primitive features), implying that the earliest hominins and our last common ancestor shared with chimpanzees had features that were similar, morphologically and behaviorally, to the living African apes (Lovejoy 2009). With the discoveries of the earliest hominin species discussed below, it is now possible to critically examine these assumptions.