When I went to the Smithsonian Human Origins Exhibit, it made me realize how much more I am informed about human evolution compared to most of the people at the exhibit. One thing was I saw on one the displays that Neanderthals were classified as part of the Homo sapiens lineage, which is not true. During our lecture you already told us that Neanderthals are not part of the lineage. Neanderthals are consider more like sisters than one of us. Also one of the speakers was saying how Homo heidelbergensis were 99.9% closely related to us, which is also false.
When I first got into the museum the first thing I saw was Lucy, and I had to take a picture of her because she was found in Ethiopia; which is my culture. In the museum it’s said to be the best-known earliest human species, which is now not true because of Sahelanthropus tchadensis. I’m pretty sure they know this they just don’t update their information. So Lucy is Australopithecus afarensis which is 3.85 million years old, they were found in 3 different places in East Africa; Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania. One of the cool things about Australopithecus afarensis is that they grow from children to adult way faster than us Homo sapiens do; just like chimps. Yet even though they grow in age faster that we do, they were smaller than us; around the size of 1 to 1.2 meter. One of the things I realize is that Australopithecus afarensis have been around longer than Homo sapiens, 900,000 years that’s like 4 times longer than us. There was an interesting section of the museum talking about comparing different strides, saying how the shorter the species were; for example Australopithecus afarensis; they had short legs which relates to the fact that their strides were shorter. Over time species grew taller which also meant that there strides were getting longer as well. This allows them to walk father and fasters; it’s just like today how taller people make longer steps, compared to shorter people. Footprints; they’re different for each species. The Smithsonian exhibit showed 3 different footprints; early humans, modern human, and chimpanzees. It shows that early and modern humans have similar footprints compared to chimpanzees, which makes sense given our different structures. Early and modern humans both have sharp heals and big toes that line up with the other toes, but modern humans had a way more shallow arch on the foot compared to early humans; theirs were more lined up. Also earlier humans had longer toes. Chimpanzees however had a big space between the big toe and the other toes, has no arch, and are flat. It’s surprising how different chimpanzees are from us, since we are related to chimpanzees. I also found out how footprints were preserve by species walking through ashes left from volcanos. Bipedal walking has started 6 million years ago, an example they use in the museum was Lucy, her skeleton combines apelike and human like features. …show more content…
It allows her to climb trees and also walks on grounds, her flexibility was used to her advantage in order to survive in the various environment. Her apelike arm, help her be able to climb trees with her powerful chest and arm muscle. Humanlike hips, her pelvis is short and broad allowing her to walk bipedal; compared to a chimpanzees whose are tall and narrow. Grasping fingers, Lucy’s hands are long and more curved compared to humans in order to get a stronger grip on branches. Angled knees, her thigh bones angle towards the center; it’s showing that she walks bipedal. Flexible feet, it supports Lucy’s weight while walking as wells as her feet more curved allowing her to climb. The Smithsonian had a diagram showing us what you told us in class on how the location of the spine on the skull contributes to the way we walk, when the spine is connected to the back it going to walk quadrupedal. When the spine is connected under the skull, it allows the skull to walk upright. And when the spine is connected under and toward the center of the spine, you’re able to walk firmly upright. During the period of human evolution, these species had to deal with the different climate
When I first got into the museum the first thing I saw was Lucy, and I had to take a picture of her because she was found in Ethiopia; which is my culture. In the museum it’s said to be the best-known earliest human species, which is now not true because of Sahelanthropus tchadensis. I’m pretty sure they know this they just don’t update their information. So Lucy is Australopithecus afarensis which is 3.85 million years old, they were found in 3 different places in East Africa; Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania. One of the cool things about Australopithecus afarensis is that they grow from children to adult way faster than us Homo sapiens do; just like chimps. Yet even though they grow in age faster that we do, they were smaller than us; around the size of 1 to 1.2 meter. One of the things I realize is that Australopithecus afarensis have been around longer than Homo sapiens, 900,000 years that’s like 4 times longer than us. There was an interesting section of the museum talking about comparing different strides, saying how the shorter the species were; for example Australopithecus afarensis; they had short legs which relates to the fact that their strides were shorter. Over time species grew taller which also meant that there strides were getting longer as well. This allows them to walk father and fasters; it’s just like today how taller people make longer steps, compared to shorter people. Footprints; they’re different for each species. The Smithsonian exhibit showed 3 different footprints; early humans, modern human, and chimpanzees. It shows that early and modern humans have similar footprints compared to chimpanzees, which makes sense given our different structures. Early and modern humans both have sharp heals and big toes that line up with the other toes, but modern humans had a way more shallow arch on the foot compared to early humans; theirs were more lined up. Also earlier humans had longer toes. Chimpanzees however had a big space between the big toe and the other toes, has no arch, and are flat. It’s surprising how different chimpanzees are from us, since we are related to chimpanzees. I also found out how footprints were preserve by species walking through ashes left from volcanos. Bipedal walking has started 6 million years ago, an example they use in the museum was Lucy, her skeleton combines apelike and human like features. …show more content…
It allows her to climb trees and also walks on grounds, her flexibility was used to her advantage in order to survive in the various environment. Her apelike arm, help her be able to climb trees with her powerful chest and arm muscle. Humanlike hips, her pelvis is short and broad allowing her to walk bipedal; compared to a chimpanzees whose are tall and narrow. Grasping fingers, Lucy’s hands are long and more curved compared to humans in order to get a stronger grip on branches. Angled knees, her thigh bones angle towards the center; it’s showing that she walks bipedal. Flexible feet, it supports Lucy’s weight while walking as wells as her feet more curved allowing her to climb. The Smithsonian had a diagram showing us what you told us in class on how the location of the spine on the skull contributes to the way we walk, when the spine is connected to the back it going to walk quadrupedal. When the spine is connected under the skull, it allows the skull to walk upright. And when the spine is connected under and toward the center of the spine, you’re able to walk firmly upright. During the period of human evolution, these species had to deal with the different climate