There are many definitions of the word story, but one definition in particular fits the topic of human origins perfectly; a narration of the events in the life of a person or the existence of a thing, or such events as a subject for narration. The story of human origin and the creation of human nature is a difficult story to tell, created by miniscule pieces of evidence and guesswork through paleoanthropology, and advances in the ability to look at and study DNA. Exactly where we came from and how we got to where we are today is one of the main questions scientists are trying to answer. Scientists such as Louis Leakey, Zeresenay Alemseged, and Spencer Wells, have all contributed greatly to the story of the origin of humans and how we become
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Not just a species of hominids from which we evolved from, although we have one of those too, which paleoanthropology attempts to answer, through guesswork and morphology. Wells, however, believes the question of origin is really a question of genealogy, due to the fact that DNA contains, in a sense, a “historical document that takes us back in time to our earliest species(Wells).” Wells says that in your DNA, when it’s being copied over from one person their children, sometimes there will be occasional blips, or “typos”, in the DNA. These typos make it possible to trace back where the typo was first created and it allows us to see who you’re related to, other people with the same “typos.” Along with the discoveries of countless hominid fossils in Africa, DNA also points to Africa as the source of human origin. Africans have the deepest line of diversity in their DNA, meaning that humans originated in Africa (Wells). They have also discovered that within the last 200,000 years, we all share one common ancestor, nicknamed “Mitochondrial Eve.” Eve is one African woman who gave rise to all of the mitochondrial diversity seen in the world today (Wells). However, y-chromosome Adam only lived about 60,000 years ago, meaning humans didn’t migrate out of Africa until then. 60-70 thousand years ago, the world was coming out of the worst part of the last ice age, and humans were reduced to only about 2000 people …show more content…
Louise Leakey and Zeresenay Alemseged have contributed greatly to the field of paleoanthropology. Discovering new species of hominoids and discovering new kinds of skeletons have lead to a greater understanding of our distant ancestors and our distant evolutionary story. Spencer Wells and the Human Genome Project have opened up a whole new way to learn about our past, focusing more on our recent common ancestors, “Mitochondrial Eve’ and “Y-Chromosome Adam” and how human nature and diversity have come to be so expansive, complex, and diverse. The story of human origins is an interesting and important story, and it’s going to continue evolving based on new evidence for years to
Not just a species of hominids from which we evolved from, although we have one of those too, which paleoanthropology attempts to answer, through guesswork and morphology. Wells, however, believes the question of origin is really a question of genealogy, due to the fact that DNA contains, in a sense, a “historical document that takes us back in time to our earliest species(Wells).” Wells says that in your DNA, when it’s being copied over from one person their children, sometimes there will be occasional blips, or “typos”, in the DNA. These typos make it possible to trace back where the typo was first created and it allows us to see who you’re related to, other people with the same “typos.” Along with the discoveries of countless hominid fossils in Africa, DNA also points to Africa as the source of human origin. Africans have the deepest line of diversity in their DNA, meaning that humans originated in Africa (Wells). They have also discovered that within the last 200,000 years, we all share one common ancestor, nicknamed “Mitochondrial Eve.” Eve is one African woman who gave rise to all of the mitochondrial diversity seen in the world today (Wells). However, y-chromosome Adam only lived about 60,000 years ago, meaning humans didn’t migrate out of Africa until then. 60-70 thousand years ago, the world was coming out of the worst part of the last ice age, and humans were reduced to only about 2000 people …show more content…
Louise Leakey and Zeresenay Alemseged have contributed greatly to the field of paleoanthropology. Discovering new species of hominoids and discovering new kinds of skeletons have lead to a greater understanding of our distant ancestors and our distant evolutionary story. Spencer Wells and the Human Genome Project have opened up a whole new way to learn about our past, focusing more on our recent common ancestors, “Mitochondrial Eve’ and “Y-Chromosome Adam” and how human nature and diversity have come to be so expansive, complex, and diverse. The story of human origins is an interesting and important story, and it’s going to continue evolving based on new evidence for years to