John Bavaro Fine Art/Science Photo Library
For most of our planet's history, there were no humans. Today we have over 8 billion. Logically, there must have been that moment Homo sapiens It has become a clear species. But the moment is surprisingly difficult. The problem is not a shortage of fossils at once. Instead, differences of opinion about when to mark human origin comes down to the speciation process itself.
We often imagine the human evolution tree as a more epic version of a personal family tree. In fact, researchers tend to talk about the species of parents, daughters, and sisters. In this photo, our parent species is comparable to our biological parents; H. Sapiens It becomes an event that is as easy to define as our own birth. However, speciation is not really the case.
Consider the evidence of this more than the studies posted online last year. Trevor Cousins ​​and his colleagues at Cambridge University propose our supposed parent species. Homo Alivisor leaving that parent, HOMO HEIDELBERGENSIS over a million years ago. About 600,000 years ago H. Alivers Two branches were born. One led to the Neanderthals and Denisovan – another kind of humanity – the other H. Sapiens. Then there's a twist. Our evolutionary grandparents, H. Heidelbergensis stuck to see the birth H. Sapiens Lineage – and about 300,000 years ago, the two bred in a great way. In fact, researchers' models show that 20% of us…
Source: www.newscientist.com
