Homo sapiens is the name of the species that rules today 's Earth. It means in Latin man (Homo) that is wise (Sapiens), but who are these "wise men" that have made their way to the top of the food chain you may ask? Well, they are we, like you and me, humans that have out competed our fellow homos into extinction. How do we know this though? Well, around 3.3 million years ago people started to become curious about how we Homo Sapiens came to be and human evolution in a whole. One may think that it would be easy to discover the remains of a past ancestor, but time and time again it has been proven that that is not the case. With fossilization being a rare event, of nearly only one in one million organisms having the chance to be fossilized,
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In his article, First hominin fossils from Milner Hall, Sterkfontein, South Africa, Stratford discusses his finds on two hominin fossils excavated recently in Milner Hall, Sterkfontein, South Africa in December 2014. What makes this an interesting find is not just that they are the first hominin fossils to found in its original positioning from the site, but their reminiscent structure present, "intriguing taxonomic and functional possibilities and emphasize the continuing paleoanthropological productivity of Sterkfontein" (Stratford, pg1). With the fossils being discovered in the first layer of sediment, which Stratford calls T1 the sediments are, "unconsolidated, highly fossiliferous and artifact-bearing, containing occasional pebble-to boulder-sized, heavily calcified and rounded breccia blocks" (Stratford, pg. 2). Thus, making the fossilization process much more successful, and more accessible for an archeologist to discover these 0.21 million-year-old fossils. The fossils Stratford and his team found were very small but very significant. With only finding one first molar tooth, and one talus bone of the left hand, the archeologist were able to come up with much information to help fill in the blanks to the missing links of our human lineage. The molar, identified in the article as, StW …show more content…
6). Unfortunately for Darwin, and many others that agreed with his theory like Stringer, it wasn 't until after Darwin 's death around the early 1900 's until the first hominin fossils were discovered in Africa. Stringer in his book Lone Survivor discusses in detail his favoring of a single origin model, that he called Recent African Origin (RAO). Stratford 's findings help support these claims with his findings in Milner Hill, being that the two fossils he discovered of what he believes is H. Naledi, was found on the first of four layers in the site. This is significant to Stringers theory of RAO because it means more fossils can be berried deeper in the sediment in Milner Hill, hence creating the possibility for trapped paleoanthropological potential at Sterkfontein. In regards to the classification of the two fossils as H. Naledi, Stringer would most likely support the classification with his vast knowledge of hominins and the evolution of humans stemming from
In his article, First hominin fossils from Milner Hall, Sterkfontein, South Africa, Stratford discusses his finds on two hominin fossils excavated recently in Milner Hall, Sterkfontein, South Africa in December 2014. What makes this an interesting find is not just that they are the first hominin fossils to found in its original positioning from the site, but their reminiscent structure present, "intriguing taxonomic and functional possibilities and emphasize the continuing paleoanthropological productivity of Sterkfontein" (Stratford, pg1). With the fossils being discovered in the first layer of sediment, which Stratford calls T1 the sediments are, "unconsolidated, highly fossiliferous and artifact-bearing, containing occasional pebble-to boulder-sized, heavily calcified and rounded breccia blocks" (Stratford, pg. 2). Thus, making the fossilization process much more successful, and more accessible for an archeologist to discover these 0.21 million-year-old fossils. The fossils Stratford and his team found were very small but very significant. With only finding one first molar tooth, and one talus bone of the left hand, the archeologist were able to come up with much information to help fill in the blanks to the missing links of our human lineage. The molar, identified in the article as, StW …show more content…
6). Unfortunately for Darwin, and many others that agreed with his theory like Stringer, it wasn 't until after Darwin 's death around the early 1900 's until the first hominin fossils were discovered in Africa. Stringer in his book Lone Survivor discusses in detail his favoring of a single origin model, that he called Recent African Origin (RAO). Stratford 's findings help support these claims with his findings in Milner Hill, being that the two fossils he discovered of what he believes is H. Naledi, was found on the first of four layers in the site. This is significant to Stringers theory of RAO because it means more fossils can be berried deeper in the sediment in Milner Hill, hence creating the possibility for trapped paleoanthropological potential at Sterkfontein. In regards to the classification of the two fossils as H. Naledi, Stringer would most likely support the classification with his vast knowledge of hominins and the evolution of humans stemming from