Introduction
Many questions have been coming up through the last past centuries which has plagued the minds of great thinkers, questions as to our origins and our relationship to other inhabitants of this Earth. It was once assumed, according to Biblical theology, that we were created by God and that all humans on Earth are descendants of Adam and Eve. With the coming of Darwin’s On the Origins of the Species, in the 1880’s, we started to reassess our thinking to a new critical level. A new question emerged; perhaps mankind perhaps evolved from apes. That evolutionary thought alone reshaped the consciousness of institutional science. After a progressive paradigm shift scientists set out on a quest to find the missing link between apes and humans. However, the more scientists searched for the answers regarding our evolutionary past the more mysterious it became. With new evidence regarding our evolution coming into light every month it seems we are getting closer to some answer, but are we really just beginning down the rabbit hole? New evidence suggests that we are not even related Neanderthals, which was once assumed were once our ancestors. Again, the paradigm consciousness within institutional science keeps reevaluating itself and keeps on searching for the answers to the questions regarding out ancestors and our evolutionary past.
From Ape to Man: The Reassessment of Darwin’s Theory
The quest for ‘missing link’ has been an on going process which has yet to turn up any results. It seems that every year a new news article comes out with proof of the ‘missing link’ but through careful analysis the remains are classified as either human or ape. Hopelessly searching and searching for any possible evidence of that leap from ape into humans has turned up a fruitless search. Some scientists are pushed to the limits for results that they end up conducting ‘bad science’. A good example of this is Eugène Dubois who in 1891 discovered what was known as ‘Java Man’. His great discovery was finally proof supporting Darwin’s theory and thus was proudly presented to the world as the ‘missing link’. The ‘missing link’ consisted of a skullcap, a femur, and a few teeth of which the skullcap and femur were found more than 40 feet away from each other. For some reason Dubois assumed they were from the same creature and alas ‘Java Man’ was born. Before his death in 1940 he realized and concluded that the skullcap and femur were of two different animals, despite this fact ‘Java man’ was prominently displayed in the Museum of Natural History in New York until 1984 when it was removed.
In the field of science the progressions and advancements can only be made through critical self evaluations. However, institutionalized science seems to accept the notions and ideas of Darwin without completely having the substantial evidence to back it up (just like in pseudoscience). So, how can an institution condemn pseudo-science, but yet is guilty at the same time to some degree. The only way science can truly progress is through the reshaping of ideas and re-evaluation established theories, or else it fails to progress and becomes almost dogmatic law.
The Upright Ape
In order to understand whether or not we are related to Neanderthals we must see the new evidence about the origins of the human lineage to see where our common ancestors might be. According to recent findings by Dr. Aaron G. Filler, the human evolution did not come from Ape, but rather, Ape evolved from Humans from a common upright ancestor. Dr. Aaron G. Filler is not alone in this claim, other notable and respectable experts seem to back him up. Most notably David Pilbeam who is a professor and past Chairman in Biological Anthropology at Harvard University. David Pilbeam said the following in regards to Dr. Aaron G. Filler’s latest research which was published in book form entitled, The Upright Ape: A New Origin of the Species.
There have been many suggestions about evolution, but almost all have agreed that the defining feature of humans and their ancestors was bipedalism-habitual upright walking. It is now more widely accepted that the common ancestor of human and chimps would have been quite chimp-like, moving in the trees by arm suspension, and on the ground quadpedally with feet flat and fingers curled so that knuckles contact the ground; bipedalism would have been very infrequent,.. He [Dr. Aaron G. Filler] argues that bipedalism has always been an important component of the locomotor behavior of all living hominoids since their common ancestor evolved such behaviors. As he points out provocatively, if some significant degree of bipedalism preceded the divergence of humans and chimps, this raises interesting questions about the earliest human ancestors.
Dr. Aaron G. Filler’s research consisted of analysis of fossils, developmental biology of the spine, etc. Filler is a leading expert within the field of medical neuroscience and has studied under other leading biologists and anthropologists such as Ernst Mayr, Stephen J. Gould, David Pilbeam, and Irven DeVore. Perhaps Darwin was only partially correct in his theory. Filler suggests that we should pay more attention to other alternatives for possible answers such as myth and religion. In his book he makes mention of Egyptian myth, Christian myth, and Hindu Veda myths surrounding the origins of man. Clearly he rejects the point of view from the institutional scientific orthodoxy and tries to explore a new way to interpret the evidence to find a new theory on the evolution of man.
The main research Dr. Aaron G. Filler brings up is through the basic evolution of various aspects of us as human beings. He scales out the evolutionary timeline in which we have come to have the different characteristics that make us uniquely human. He uses biological systematic evolution which can be seen on different levels. Using this information he was able to correlate the different ways in which humans could have evolved from a common upright ancestor and not from ape, as previously thought. To further his explanations he uses the examples of the vertebrate and its evolutionary usage. Always going back to the various comparisons of apes he concludes that it would have been almost impossible for humans to have evolved from apes. Simple tasks such as breathing or even walking would have radically been diverted evolutionarily speaking into a totally different species. Thus, the hypothesis he has becomes tested by all means available from DNA analysis to skeletal mechanism analysis. If science proves that we are radically different in lineage with sub-branches extending every which way, perhaps we must reevaluate where the Neanderthals fit in to this evolutionary framework.
The Problem of Neanderthals
The archaeological evidence seems to suggest that Neanderthals are very different from Homo Sapiens. The various physical characterizes point to an interesting timeline. Though as previously though, Neanderthals evolved out of Africa, migrated northwards and established simplistic hunting and gathering techniques to adapt to the environment. Later of which, Homo sapiens came with various waves northward out of Africa and competed for wild game. Recent investigations show that perhaps Homo sapiens and Neanderthals were able to produce offspring which brings us back to the question are we so radically different from the Neanderthals?
The new questions posed point out that Homo sapiens were not the only ones to develop culture. This new reassessment on our contemporary views on how we see Neanderthals as almost barbaric simplistic beings now comes under question. We see evidence of culture from death rituals to even music. Though science has now proved that we, as humans, are a distinctly different species from that of the Neanderthal why do we still portray them as almost animalistic beings. Studies conclude that the fate of the Neanderthal could have been due to an intermixing of the Neanderthals and Homo sapiens (e.g., Neanderthal Child from Gibraltar) . And an even newer study suggests that the extinction of the Neanderthal was due to its inability to adapt to the Ice Age (Gilligan 2007).
Perhaps folklore might play a role in interpreting what might have taken place in the past in ancient Europe for example. Ancient folklore surrounding the legend of ‘trolls’ in ancient Europe has been suggested by researchers as perhaps being a distant conscious memory of our modern day ancestors (Cro-Magnons) encountering the Neanderthals. Paleoanthropologist Juan Luis Arsuaga wrote a book entitled ‘The Neanderthal’s Necklace: In Search of the First Thinkers” in which he tries to investigate where the role of the Neanderthal might have taken place in terms of a ‘developmental lineage’ in ancient Europe. In his theory he places the Neanderthals and the early Cro-Magnons as nomadic tribes which had to at one point run into each other, which is clearly evident in the archaeological record. However, he further states that the Neanderthals had larger heads and through their means of physical appearance could have led to later reminiscent tales of ‘creature-like’ beings that once inhabited the land. Thus, creating a precursor for the later tales of ugly trolls that roamed the land.
Mitochondrial DNA & the Evidence
Studies conducted by genetic coding facilities have placed the Neanderthal theories to the test, literally. DNA samples were taken from Neanderthal specimens and then decoded to record the exact mtDNA. That mtDNA(Mitochondrial DNA), which normally passes from mother to daughter, was compared to a wide set of human mtDNA extracted from modern day humans. The conclusion was that the Neanderthal species did not contribute at all genetically to our developmental lineage. In other words, the results show that Neanderthals did not interbreed with Homo sapiens, but rather just went extinct (Krings 1997).
Despite this evidence this does not rule out the fact that crossbreeding between the Neanderthal species and Homo sapiens did in fact take place. The debate from all sides of the matter are still on going and scientists have yet to reach a conclusion to this regard. Though the Neanderthal are rather quite similar to us as human beings in a relative way, they are still not our genetic ancestors. In 2006 scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the Joint Genome Institute (JGI) underwent the process of genetically sequencing a Neanderthal bone. The results showed that we were 99.5% identical to Neanderthal. “Based on these early results, Homo sapiens and Homo neanderthalensis last shared a common ancestor approximately 700,000 years ago” (Lawrence 2006). This new research opens the doors for further genetic studies to uncover our historical past. If we indeed co-existed for thousands of years, how did we, as humans, go about living along side the Neanderthals.
Evolutionary Systematics and their Interpretations
When it comes down to evolutionary origins of modern day humans, it is as mysterious as the ocean we crawled out of. With the various rates of mutation we are able to clearly distinguish roughly at what point we branched off from some unknown. Though we are able to understand that, how does everything else fit in? The question is still up in the air for scientists. Perhaps with the new research of Dr. Aaron G. Filler we are able to reevaluate our own understanding of the origins of man. Trying to understand all these branches on a genetic timeline seems to be the ongoing strife with the academic sciences. Evolution, in terms of our own understanding, becomes critical to the point where we must keep conducting test after test to understand the basic foundation of which we came about. The various interpretations give us deep insight into the hundreds of possible scenarios which could have taken place at one point or another. But again, with each new investigative analysis into the matter raises even more questions than answers. As long as we understand the basic fundamentals for a foundation on which we can base our own knowledge upon, there is no rush. Over time new methodological technology comes about as well as new archaeological evidence and maybe in later times we will further our detailed understanding of how we came about.
Bibliography
Arsuaga, Juan Luis
2002 The Neanderthal’s Necklace: In Search of the First Thinkers.
Brace, Loring C.
Refocusing on the Neanderthal Problem, American Anthropologist August 1962, Vol. 64, No. 4, pp. 729-741
Filler, Dr. Aaron G.
2007 The Upright Ape: A New Origin of the Species. New Jersey: The Career Press
Gilligan, Ian
Neanderthal extinction and modern human behaviour: the role of climate change and clothing, World Archaeology, Vol. 39, No. 4. (2007), pp. 499-514.
Krings, M., A. Stone, R. W. Schmitz, H. Krainitzki, M. Stoneking, and S. Pääbo. 1997 Neanderthal DNA Sequences and the Origin of Modern Humans. Cell 90:19-30.
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
(2006, November 16). Neanderthal Genome Sequencing Yields Surprising Results And Opens A New Door To Future Studies. ScienceDaily. Retrieved April 16, 2008, from http://www.sciencedaily.com /releases/2006/11/061116083223.htm