Lecture 22 The Scatterlings of Africa: The Origins of Humanity скачать в хорошем качестве

Lecture 22 The Scatterlings of Africa: The Origins of Humanity

Where, and from what, did humans evolve? What were proto-humans like? One of the most profound issues every culture considers is "where are we from?" Paleontology and zoology reveals our position among the primates. Cladistically we are not merely descended from "monkeys" and "apes": we ARE "monkeys" and "apes". Specifically, our closest living relatives are chimps and bonobos, and beyond them gorillas. We explore some of the traits that place humans among the tree of life. We then look at the discoveries which showed that the origin of the human lineage lies in Africa. We take a look at some of the many discoveries of "proto-humans" ("apemen", in the old-fashioned terminology) and their diversity in the late Miocene, Pliocene, and Pleistocene. We finish by examining recent discoveries of the varied diets and ways of life of early stem-humans.