Why We Study Human Origins

Why We Study Human Origins

by Randall Susman

Calliope: Exploring World History Article Summary:

People have been trying for a long time to understand our origins. The main questions are why we evolved, when we evolved and where we evolved. Since the beginnning of time, theories on our origins were based on religion and myths. Now we can make more accurate theories thanks to science and because we discovered/have concrete evidence. During the mid 1800’s Charles Darwin showed the Theory of Evolution; this theory shows how plants and animals changed over time. Darwin’s theory was widely known and used among scientists, Thomas Henry Huxley was starting to compare apes to humans. He believed that apes resemble humans more than apes resembled monkeys.

According to the author, “Huxley believed that anatomically, African apes and humans were similar, more similar in fact than apes were to monkeys.” This is interesting because apes look like monkeys on the outside but on the inside they’re actually more like humans. When he presented this fact people were amazed and shocked; they didn’t believe their relationship with apes. Since this point of time hominid fossils had not been found yet.

Finally, in 1925 the first hominid fossils were found by Raymond Dart. This started to make scientists explanations clearer and it started to prove Darwin’s and Huxley’s theories. More fossils and stone tools were found, that shows that our ancestors were hunters, also it means that more evidence could prove Darwin’s and Huxley’s theories. From all of these fossil finds, Susman explains that some believed “our earliest ancestors were tree-dwelling apes, or four-legged knuckle-walkers, or even bipeds that lived in water.” In conclusion we can say that people had different opinions on our earliest ancestors because they didn't have an accurate fossil record.

Susman, Randall. "Why We Study Human Origins." Calliope: Exploring World History Sept. 1999: 4-5. Print.