Hominin Research Paper

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Hominins and Their Presence in the East African Rift Valley and South Africa

Evidence of the oldest forms of hominins is thought to be dated back to nearly five million years ago during the Pliocene Epoch (Feder, 2013). Although the locations from where these specimens were found vary, a majority of early hominin evidence was found in the East African Rift Valley and South Africa. Archeologists and anthropologists alike theorize that the location of these hominin fossils is not random or a coincidence. Environmental and climatic alterations to these sites are linked to the evolution of early human ancestors and the oldest classes of hominins (deMenocal, 1995). This paper will discuss how the East African Rift Valley and South Africa have …show more content…

In fact, many caves were discovered after efforts to mine the limestone in the area resulted in the revelation of their entrances (Conroy et al., 1998). Since the discovery of such monumental materials, the quarry is no longer mined. Because of this fortune of artifacts that it has provided and the enlightening information it produced about the evolution of hominins from other early human ancestors such as australopithecines, it has been deemed “The cradle of mankind” (Magnussen and Visser, 2003). The discovery of Australopithecus africanus “Mrs. Ples” occurred in Sterkfontein and altered our perspective of contemporary paleontology (Conroy et al., 1998). Mrs. Ples was discovered by Dr. Robert Broom and was dated to be two million years old. A juvenile fossilized skull was discovered in the Taung cave, commonly known as the Taung Child. This was significant because this led many to believe that South Africa was the origin of mankind (Conroy et al., 2008). The reason that other regions in Africa have not had such success with hominin evidence preservation is because the sedimentary and stone benefits are not offered in their flat grasslands like they are in the Rift Valley and caves of South Africa (Maslin et al., …show more content…

Because of the fault lines that created the Eastern African Rift Valley and its affects on climate and food source availability, the australopithecines that came before early hominins were obligated to adjust from quadripedal to bipedal, increase their brain size and develop greater jaw muscles in order to withstand such extreme environmental pressures (Feder, 2013) (Gani and Gani, 2008) (Maslin et al., 2008) (Ungar and Sponheimer, 2011) (Lewin and Foley, 2004). Rapid and frequent fluctuations in climate (variation selection hypothesis) is most likely the major pressure that required early human ancestors to modify from what was once a lush, forest landscape to a drier, vaster grassland (Maslin et al., 2008). Because of the unique environment of the Eastern African Rift Valley and the limestone caves of South Africa, some of history’s most telling samplings of our early human ancestors have been preserved for some more than 5 million years (Conroy et al., 2008) (Maslin et al., 2008). With persistent efforts by archeologists and anthropologists alike, these valuable locations known as “The Cradle of Mankind” will continue to map out the origin on humankind and explain how environmental factors are the main reason why we are the species we are today

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