The Evolution Of Biological Anthropology

Summary: Three scientists— Rick Potts from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, Susan Anton from New York University, and Leslie Aiello from the Wenner-Gren Foundation— determined that the characteristics: bipedal gait, body size, and delayed growth and development for the kids, of modern humans may not have evolved all at once, but evolution was more of a “patchwork” adapting to fluctuating wet and arid conditions in Africa. They came to this conclusion based on their work with fossilized bones of two early human species, Homo rudolfensis and Homo habilis. The scientists found and noted that both of these species shared the “human” skull, teeth, and jaw shapes; even though Homo rudolfensis and Homo habilis had smaller brains than a closer relative Homo erectus. In addition to the work with these fossilized early humans, they also called …show more content…
Fossil records provide biological anthropologists with information about species and how they lived in the past. Also, fossil records show how species evolved throughout time, and sometimes what caused the species to evolve. In the case of this article, it has a direct relationship to biological anthropology, and how biological anthropologists would go about studying early humans to understand how modern-day humans evolved to our traits. However, this article provides information that is not heavily supported by the fossil record. Support from the fossil record is another connection with biological anthropology. From understanding that there is not enough physical evidence (fossils), the next step for these scientists is to go out and refine their theory. They need to search and provide enough physical evidence that a biological anthropologist would need to support their findings to receive scientific