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Paleoanthropology, which combines the disciplines of paleontology and physical anthropology, is the study of ancient humans as found in fossil hominid evidence such as petrifacted bones and footprints. Image File history File links Broom_icon. ... Paleontology, palaeontology or palæontology (from Greek: paleo, ancient; ontos, being; and λόγος, logos, knowledge) is the study of prehistoric life forms on Earth through the examination of plant and animal fossils. ... Physical anthropology, often called biological anthropology, studies the mechanisms of biological evolution, genetic inheritance, human adaptability and variation, primatology, primate morphology, and the fossil record of human evolution. ... For other uses, see Fossil (disambiguation). ... Genera The hominids are the members of the biological family Hominidae (the great apes), which includes humans, chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans. ... Petrified wood In geology, petrifaction or petrification is the process by which organic material is converted into stone or a similar substance. ...

History of paleoanthropology

Nineteenth century

The science arguably began in the late 1800s when important discoveries occurred which led to the study of human evolution. The discovery of the Neanderthal in Germany, Thomas Huxley's Evidence as to Man's Place in Nature, and Charles Darwin's The Descent of Man were all important to early paleoanthropological research. // Invention of the Jacquard loom in 1801. ... // For the history of humans on Earth, see History of the world. ... For other uses, see Neanderthal (disambiguation). ... Thomas Henry Huxley, FRS (4 May 1825 – 29 June 1895) [1] was an English biologist, known as Darwins Bulldog for his advocacy of Charles Darwins theory of evolution. ... Evidence as to Mans Place in Nature is an 1863 book by Thomas Henry Huxley and the first to discuss human evolution, coming five years after Charles Darwin announced his general theory, and four years after the publication of Darwins Origin. ... For other people of the same surname, and places and things named after Charles Darwin, see Darwin. ... The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex by British naturalist Charles Darwin was first published in 1871. ...

The modern field of paleoanthropology began in the 19th century with the discovery of "Neanderthal man" (the eponymous skeleton was found in 1856, but there had been finds elsewhere since 1830), and with evidence of so-called cave men. The idea that humans are similar to certain great apes had been obvious to people for some time, but the idea of the biological evolution of species in general was not legitimized until after Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species in 1859. Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... For other uses, see Neanderthal (disambiguation). ... 1856 was a leap year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... Liberty Leading the People by Eugène Delacroix commemorates the July Revolution 1830 (MDCCCXXX) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... For other uses, see Caveman (disambiguation). ... Genera Subfamily Ponginae Pongo - Orangutans Gigantopithecus (extinct) Sivapithecus (extinct) Subfamily Homininae Gorilla - Gorillas Pan - Chimpanzees Homo - Humans Paranthropus (extinct) Australopithecus (extinct) Sahelanthropus (extinct) Ardipithecus (extinct) Kenyanthropus (extinct) Pierolapithecus (extinct) (tentative) The Hominids (Hominidae) are a biological family which includes humans, extinct species of humanlike creatures and the other great apes... For other people of the same surname, and places and things named after Charles Darwin, see Darwin. ... The 1859 edition of On the Origin of Species First published in 1859, The Origin of Species (full title On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life) by British naturalist Charles Darwin is one of the pivotal... Year 1859 (MDCCCLIX) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Thursday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ...

Though Darwin's first book on evolution did not address the specific question of human evolution— "light will be thrown on the origin of man and his history," was all Darwin wrote on the subject— the implications of evolutionary theory were clear to contemporary readers.

Debates between Thomas Huxley and Richard Owen focused on the idea of human evolution. Huxley convincingly illustrated many of the similarities and differences between humans and apes in his 1863 book Evidence as to Man's Place in Nature. By the time Darwin published his own book on the subject, Descent of Man, it was already a well-known interpretation of his theory— and the interpretation which made the theory highly controversial. Even many of Darwin's original supporters (such as Alfred Russel Wallace and Charles Lyell) balked at the idea that human beings could have evolved their apparently boundless mental capacities and moral sensibilities through natural selection. Thomas Henry Huxley, FRS (4 May 1825 – 29 June 1895) [1] was an English biologist, known as Darwins Bulldog for his advocacy of Charles Darwins theory of evolution. ... Sir Richard Owen KCB (July 20, 1804–December 18, 1892) was an English biologist, comparative anatomist and palaeontologist. ... Evidence as to Mans Place in Nature is an 1863 book by Thomas Henry Huxley and the first to discuss human evolution, coming five years after Charles Darwin announced his general theory, and four years after the publication of Darwins Origin. ... The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex by British naturalist Charles Darwin was first published in 1871. ... For the Cornish painter, see Alfred Wallis. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Darwins illustrations of beak variation in the finches of the Galápagos Islands, which hold 13 closely related species that differ most markedly in the shape of their beaks. ...

Earlier

Since the time of Carolus Linnaeus, the great apes were considered the closest relatives of human beings, based on morphological similarity. In the 19th century, it was speculated that their closest living relatives were chimpanzees and gorillas, and based on the natural range of these creatures, it was surmised humans share a common ancestor with African apes and that fossils of these ancestors would ultimately be found in Africa.^[1] Carl Linnaeus, Latinized as Carolus Linnaeus, also known after his ennoblement as  , (May 23, 1707[1] – January 10, 1778), was a Swedish botanist, physician and zoologist[2] who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of nomenclature. ... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... Type species Simia troglodytes Blumenbach, 1775 distribution of Species Pan troglodytes Pan paniscus Chimpanzee, often shortened to chimp, is the common name for the two extant species in the genus Pan. ... Type species Troglodytes gorilla Savage, 1847 distribution of Gorilla Species Gorilla gorilla Gorilla beringei The gorilla, the largest of the living primates, is a ground-dwelling omnivore that inhabits the forests of Africa. ... Missing link is a term for a transitional form from the fossil record that connects an earlier species to a later one, or which connects two different species to an earlier ancestor. ... A world map showing the continent of Africa Africa is the worlds second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. ... For other uses, see Fossil (disambiguation). ...

Asia

Prior to today's general acceptance of Africa as the root of genus Homo, 19th century naturalists sought after the origin of man in Asia. So-called "dragon bones" (fossil bones and teeth) from Chinese apothecary shops were known, but was not until the early 1900s that German paleontologist, Max Schlosser, first described a single human tooth from Beijing. Although Schlosser (1903) was very cautious, identifying the tooth only as “?Anthropoide g. et sp. indet?,” he was hopeful that future work would discover a new anthropoid in China. Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... “Peking” redirects here. ...

Eleven years later, the Swedish geologist Johan Gunnar Andersson was sent to China as a mining advisor and soon developed an interest in “dragon bones.” It was he who, in 1918, discovered the sites around Zhoukoudian, a village about 50 kilometers southwest of Beijing proper. However, because of the sparse nature of the initial finds, the site was abandoned. Work did not resume until 1921, when the Austrian paleontologist, Otto Zdansky, fresh with his doctoral degree from Vienna, came to Beijing to work for Andersson. Zdansky conducted short-term excavations at Locality 1 in 1921 and 1923, and recovered only two teeth of significance (one premolar and one molar) that he subsequently described, cautiously, as “?Homo sp.” (Zdansky, 1927). With that done, Zdansky returned to Austria and suspended all fieldwork. Johan Gunnar Andersson (1874-1960), Swedish archaeologist, paleontologist and geologist, closely associated with the beginnings of Chinese archaeology in the 1920s. ... Zhoukoudian Peking Man Site - the Caves (taken in July 2004) Zhoukoudian or Choukoutien (周口店) is a cave system near Beijing in China. ...

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News of the fossil hominin teeth delighted the scientific community in Beijing, and plans soon began to formulate aimed at developing a larger, more systematic project at Zhoukoudian. At the epicenter of excitement was Davidson Black, a Canadian-born anatomist working at the Peking Union Medical College. Black shared Andersson’s interest, as well as his view that central Asia was a promising home for early humankind. In late 1926, Black channeled a formal proposal through the Union Medical College to the Rockefeller Foundation concerning financial support for the systematic excavation at Zhoukoudian, and the establishment of an institute for the study of human biology in China. The Zhoukoudian Project came into existence in the spring of 1927, and two years later, the Cenozoic Research Laboratory of the Geological Survey of China was formally established. Being the first institution of its kind, the Cenozoic Laboratory opened up new avenues for the studies of paleogeology and paleontology in China. Moreover, the Laboratory was the precursor of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) of the Chinese Academy of Science, which took its modern form after 1949. Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... A dead link or broken link is a link on the world wide web that points to a webpage or server that is permanently unavailable. ... Davidson Black Dr. Davidson Black (1884 – 1934) was a Canadian paleoanthropologist, best known for his discovery of Sinanthropus pekinensis (now Homo erectus pekinensis). ... Peking Union Medical College (中国协和医科大学) is a university in Beijing, China. ... The Rockefeller Foundation (RF) is a prominent philanthropic organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. ... The Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (abbreviated to IVPP) is a prominent research institution and collections repository for Chinese fossils, including many dinosaur and pterosaur specimens (many from the Yixian Formation). ...

The first of the major project finds should be attributed to the young Swedish paleontologist, Anders Birger Bohlin, then serving as the Field Advisor at Zhoukoudian. He recovered a left, lower molar which Black (1927) identified as unmistakably human (it compared favorably to the previous find made by Zdansky), and subsequently coined it Sinanthropus pekinensis, Black and Zdansky 1927. The news was at first met with skepticism, and many scholars had reservations that a single tooth was sufficient to justify the naming of a new type of early hominin. Yet within a little more than two years, in the winter of 1929, Pei Wenzhong, then the Field Director of Zhoukoudian, unearthed the first, complete calvaria of Peking Man. Twenty-seven years after Schlosser’s initial description, the antiquity of early humans in East Asia was no longer a speculation, but a reality. Trinomial name Homo erectus pekinensis (Black, 1927) Peking Man (sometimes now called Beijing Man), also called Sinanthropus pekinensis (currently Homo erectus pekinensis), is an example of Homo erectus. ...

Excavations continued at the site and remained fruitful until the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937. The decade long research yielded a wealth of faunal and lithic materials, as well as hominin fossils. These included 5 more complete calvaria, 9 large cranial fragments, 6 facial fragments, 14 partial mandibles, 147 isolated teeth, and 11 postcranial elements-estimated to represent as least 40 individuals. Evidence of fire, marked by ash lenses and burned bones and stones, were apparently also present (Black, 1931), albeit recent studies have challenged this view (Weiner et al., 1998; Weiner et al., 1999). Franz Weidenreich came to Beijing soon after Black’s untimely death in 1934, and took over the academic affairs of studying the hominin specimens. Combatants China Japan Commanders Chiang Kai-shek, Chen Cheng, Yan Xishan, Feng Yuxiang, Li Zongren, Xue Yue, Bai Chongxi, Mao Zedong, Peng Dehuai Hirohito, Hideki Tojo, Kotohito Kanin, Matsui Iwane, Hajime Sugiyama, Shunroku Hata, Toshizo Nishio, Yasuji Okamura, Umezu Yoshijiro, Fumimaro Konoe Strength 58,600,000 4,100,000... Franz Weidenreich (7 June 1873, Edenkoben, Germany- 11 July 1948, New York City U.S.) was a German anatomist and physical anthropologist who studued human evolution. ...

Africa

Following the tragic loss of the Peking Man materials in late 1941, scientific endeavors at Zhoukoudian and elsewhere slowed. For the most part, it was because of the lack of funding. Conversely, frantic search for the missing fossils also figured prominently, and efforts continued well into the 1950s. Nonetheless, after the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, excavations resumed at Zhoukoudian. But as the story goes, with political instability and social unrest brewing in China, beginning in 1966, and major discoveries at Olduvai Gorge and East Turkana (Koobi Fora), the paleoanthropological spotlights inevitably shifted westward to East Africa. While China re-opened its doors to the West in the late 1970s, national policy calling for self-reliance, coupled with a widened language barrier, thwarted all the possibilities of renewed scientific relationships. Indeed, Harvard anthropologist K. C. Chang noted, “international collaboration (in developing nations very often a disguise for Western domination) became a thing of the past” (1977: 139). People on the stairs to the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago In general, the English word people refers to a specific group of humans, or to persons in a general sense. ... Olduvai Gorge, February 2006 Olduvai Gorge from space Topography of Olduvai Gorge The Olduvai Gorge or Oldupai Gorge is commonly referred to as The Cradle of Mankind. ... Koobi Fora is an archeological site on the east side of Lake Turkana in Eastern Africa. ...

Of course, work did not stop everywhere. Back in South Africa, a notable and rare find came to light in 1924. In a cave site at Taung, Professor Raymond Dart discovered a remarkably well-preserved juvenile specimen (face and brain endocast) and named it Australopithecus africanus (Australopithecus = Southern Ape). Although the brain was small (410 cm³), its shape was rounded, unlike that of chimpanzees and gorillas, and more like a modern human brain. In addition, the specimen exhibited short canine teeth, and the foramen magnum was more anteriorly placed, hinting a bipedal mode of locomotion. All of these traits convinced Dart that the Taung child was a bipedal human ancestor, a transitional form between ape and man. Another 20 years would pass before Dart's claims were taken seriously, following the discovery of additional australopith fossils in Africa that resemble his type specimen. The prevailing view of the time was that a large brain evolved before bipedality. It was thought that intelligence on par with modern humans was a prerequisite to bipedalism. Taung is a small town situated in North West Province of South Africa. ... Raymond Dart, holding the Taung Child skull Raymond Dart (February 4, 1893–22 November 1988) was an Australian anatomist and anthropologist best known for his discovery in 1924 of a fossil of Australopithecus at Taung in Northwestern South Africa. ... Binomial name †Australopithecus africanus Dart, 1925 Australopithecus africanus was an early hominid, an australopithecine, who lived between 3. ... In mammalian oral anatomy, the canine teeth, also called cuspids, dogteeth, fangs, or (in the case of those of the upper jaw) eye teeth, are relatively long, pointed teeth. ... In anatomy, the foramen magum is the large hole through the occipital bone in the base of the skull, through which the medulla oblongata (an extension of the spinal cord) exits the skull vault. ... A biped is an animal that travels across surfaces supported by two legs. ...

Today, the australopiths are considered to be the last common ancestors leading to genus Homo, the group to which modern humans belong. Both australopiths and Homo sapiens are part of the tribe Hominini, but recent morphological data have brought into doubt the position of A. africanus as a direct ancestor of modern humans. Genera Subtribe Panina Pan (chimpanzees) Subtribe Hominina Homo (humans) †Paranthropus †Australopithecus †Sahelanthropus †Orrorin †Ardipithecus †Kenyanthropus For an explanation of very similar terms see Hominid Hominini is the tribe of Homininae that only includes humans (Homo), chimpanzees (Pan), and their extinct ancestors. ...

The australopiths were originally grouped based on size as either gracile or robust. The robust variety of Australopithecus has since been renamed as Paranthropus (P. robustus from South Africa, and P. boisei and P. aethiopicus from East Africa). In the 1930s, when the robust specimens were first described, the Paranthropus genus was used. During the 1960s, the robust variety was moved into Australopithecus. The recent consensus has been back to the original classification as a separate genus. This page is a candidate to be copied to Wiktionary using the Transwiki process. ... Robust means healthy, strong, durable, and often adaptable, innovative, flexible. ... Species †Paranthropus aethiopicus †Paranthropus boisei †Paranthropus robustus The robust australopithecines, members of the extinct hominin genus Paranthropus (Greek para beside, Greek anthropos human), were bipedal hominins that probably descended from the gracile australopithecine hominins (Australopithecus). ... Binomial name Broom, 1938 Paranthropus robustus was originally discovered in Southern Africa in 1938. ... Binomial name (Mary Leakey, 1959) Paranthropus boisei (originally called Zinjanthropus boisei and then Australopithecus boisei until recently) was an early hominin and described as the largest of the Paranthropus species. ... Binomial name (Olson, 1985) Paranthropus aethiopicus is an extinct species of hominid. ... Face The 1930s (years from 1930–1939) were described as an abrupt shift to more radical and conservative lifestyles, as countries were struggling to find a solution to the Great Depression, also known in Europe as the World Depression. ... The 1960s decade refers to the years from January 1, 1960 to December 31, 1969, inclusive. ...

While Ian Tattersall once noted (Nature 2006, 441:155) that paleoanthropology is distinguished as the "branch of science [that] keeps its primary data secret," it is perhaps more accurate to observe that primary physical evidence in paleoanthropology is among the most difficult to obtain. Nature is one of the most prominent scientific journals, first published on 4 November 1869. ...

Renowned paleoanthropologists

• Robert Ardrey (1908-1980), whose African Genesis (1961), The Territorial Imperative (1966), The Social Contract (1970), and The Hunting Hypothesis (1976) detail the mid-20th century transition in paleoanthropological studies and methodology.
• Lee Berger (1965 - )
• Davidson Black (1884-1934)
• Robert Broom (1866-1951)
• J. Desmond Clark (1916-2002)
• Carleton S. Coon (1904-1981)
• Raymond Dart (1893-1988)
• Eugene Dubois (1858-1940)
• Johann Carl Fuhlrott (1803-1877)
• Donald C. Johanson (1943- )
• Kamoya Kimeu (1940- )
• Gustav Heinrich Ralph von Koenigswald (1902-1982)
• Louis Leakey (1903-1972)
• Meave Leakey (1942- )
• Mary Leakey (1913-1996)
• Richard Leakey (1944- )
• André Leroi-Gourhan (1911-1986)
• Kenneth Oakley (1911-1981)
• Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955)
• Phillip V. Tobias (1925- )
• Franz Weidenreich (1873-1948)
• Milford H. Wolpoff (1942- )
• Tim White (1950- )
• Ian Tattersall (1945- )

References

The logo of the National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. ... University of Montana The University of Montana campus, 1999. ...

See also

Wikibooks has a book on the topic of

Introduction to Paleoanthropology

• Desmond Morris
• Stephen Jay Gould
• Jeffrey H. Schwartz

Image File history File links Wikibooks-logo-en. ... Wikibooks logo Wikibooks, previously called Wikimedia Free Textbook Project and Wikimedia-Textbooks, is a wiki for the creation of books. ... Dr Desmond Morris (born 24 January 1928 in the village of Purton, UK) is most famous for his work as a zoologist and ethologist. ... Stephen Jay Gould (September 10, 1941 – May 20, 2002) was an American paleontologist, evolutionary biologist, and historian of science. ... Jeffrey H. Schwartz, PhD, is a physical anthropologist and professor of biological anthropology at the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. ...

External links

• Paleoanthropology in the 1990s - Essays by James Q. Jacobs.
• Fossil Hominids
• Aspects of Paleoanthropology
• Becoming Human: Paleoanthropology, Evolution and Human Origins