Searching for the Real Adam & Eve Director of Palynology Laboratory Texas A&M University Vaughn...
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Transcript of Searching for the Real Adam & Eve Director of Palynology Laboratory Texas A&M University Vaughn...
Searching for the Real Adam & Eve
Director of Palynology Laboratory
Texas A&M University
Vaughn Bryant, Ph. D.
Tonight’s Presentation
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Who Were Adam and Eve?
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Biblical Concept of the Creation of the First Humans
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The Scientific Concept
Humans are Primates and they developed during the early Cenozoic (Eocene), but where did the prosimii, monkeys, apes, and finally humans emerge? Where was Eden?
Early Cenozoic continents
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Rift Valley Apes and Humans According to Dr. Elisabeth Vrba (Yale
University), there was an uplift of areas west of the Great Rift Valley in Africa around 4-5 million years ago, it also caused many volcanic eruptions
The uplift created a higher elevation region in the west with a wetter habitat & more trees, those conditions favored early primate types that would later developed into the chimps and gorillas
Areas east of the uplift became drier and forced those primates to adapt to life in a savanna grassland, that favored early forms with upright posture, which then led to the development of early humans
WestEast
Rift Valley
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Humans lose: forced to move to the savannah
Savannah life is dangerous, needed to think quick, need to cooperate in groups, need a big brain, need dark skin, don’t need body hair, need to sweat
Bipedalism was essential for survival because:See over tall grass and watch for predators It is more energy efficient than walking on all fours; ned it
for grasslands where resources are dispersedExposes less body surface area to UV & solar radiation,
helps to keep body cooler, dark skin safer from UV raysFrees hands to carry babies, other things, to make tools and
hold weapons for protection
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How do we define what is a Human?
Bipedalism: we are designed to be walking upright on two feet, our main form of walking
Brains: humans have large brainsChildhood dependency: we mature lateTools: humans learned to make tools but are
we the only tool usersLanguage: when did we learn it and are we
the only ones that have itCulture: our adaptation, but it is unique to us
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Anthropologists’ View of Adam & Eve
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So Who do you Want to Vote For?Ardipithecus—group of ape-
size early primates, there were two species, both groups probably walked upright, lived along the edges of wooded areas and savanna grasslands
Both lived in EthiopiaBoth lived between 4.5 and
5.8 million years agoMany believe they are the
grandparents of a later form Australopithecus anamensis
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Could these have been Adam & Eve? Australopithecus
anamensis: Lived in Kenya about 4 million years ago, they weighed about 110 lbs (males)
Probably the grandparents of Australopithecus afarensis
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Australopithecus afarensis
Brain is still rather small Below neck, she is very human-
like and almost identical to us Lived 3.9-2.9 million years ago Definitely a biped but may have
slept in trees at night Large molar teeth, thick enamel,
small canines, ate coarse food Lived in social group that were
probably very similar in many ways to social groupings among the chimps and gorillas
Lucy
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Australopithecus afarensis: Was this our Adam and
Eve?
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Australopithecus afarensis She has a mixture of
apelike and hominid features, is a biped, but has curved fingers needed to climb trees easily
Lived in the savanna region of Ethiopia
Long parental care needed for young, probably years
May have had a form of rudimentary cultural
More sexual dimorphism than is found in the later species of humans
She is currently visiting Houston
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Lucy
Left--Lucy walking next to a modern woman, size ratio of the two is probably correct, Lucy about 4’ tall
Above--the Afar region in Ethiopia where the bones of Lucy were found
Red areas reflect the
actual bones of Lucy found
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Australopithecus garhi (Lucy’s cousin) the fossil
bones were found near Lucy in the Afar region of Ethiopia
Might be a grandparents of the genus Homo or it might not be, nobody is sure
Many think Lucy is the ancestor of the genus Homo
Made the earliest stone tools used by any humans
First humans to have arm and leg ratios equal to ours
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Lucy’s other cousins
A. boisei A. africanus A. robustus
A. boisei
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Homo habilis (2-2.5 mya)
The first Homo fossil found by Louis & Mary Leakey at Olduvai (Kenya) in 1959
Raymond Dart, suggested Homo habilis, "handy man" since it made stone tools
Leakey called the stone tools Oldowan, oldest tools made by genus Homo
Genus Homo--The Homo group had a flatter face, the molar teeth were smaller, jaw more parabolic in shape, larger brain/body ratio than any earlier form
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A few types of the Oldowan stone tools
made by the earliest forms of Homo habilis
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Homo erectus (also H. ergaster) in Africa
By 1.7 mya Homo erectus had expanded from Africa to Asia, SE Asia, and even Europe
Disappeared ~300,000 years ago in most places or was absorbed by early Homo sapiens moving out of Africa and into Asia and Europe
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Homo sapiens neandertalensis
Neandertal from the site of La Chapelle-aux-Saints, France (45,000 years ago)
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Are they Adam and Eve?
Neandertals living near the glaciers in Europe were stocky to minimizes the body surface area, which would conserve body heat, probably had little body hair, might have had white skin
Large nasal cavities, long & broad noses needed to warm and moisten the cold air
Language ?
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Define what one must
have to be a human!
Some say the difference between humans and all other animals is the knowledge of having a spirit or soul
All human cultures every know believe in the spirit world and concept of a soul
Neandertals were the first to bury their dead, why?
Did they have religion? Are they the first to believe in spirits? Did they have a concept of a human soul?
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Is This the real Adam? Modern humans (us) first
appeared about 40-45,000 years ago
First to draw art, first to invent bow and arrow
Believed to be the first to have real languages
First to live on all of Earth’s continents
First to develop farming, first to domesticate animals
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Adam and Eve are who you want to believe!