110,311
edits
Homo erectus: Difference between revisions
From CreationWiki, the encyclopedia of creation science
Jump to navigationJump to search
→Problems
| Line 29: | Line 29: | ||
=== Morphological distinction === | === Morphological distinction === | ||
One of the primary defining characteristics of ''Homo erectus'' has been a skull with a thick wall, but until recently little data was present to support whether there was truly a difference between modern skulls and ''H. erectus''. In 1994 a substantial comparison was conducted to determine if cranial thickness was a true criteria for identify ''H. erectus'' fossils.<ref name=brown>.Brown, P., cranial-vault thickness in Asian Homo erectus and Homo sapiens, in: Franzen, J.L., ed., 100 Years of Pithecanthropus: The Homo Erectus Problem, Courier Forschungs Institut Senckenberg 171, pp. 33–45, 1994.</ref> The skulls of four modern ''Homo sapiens'' populations were studied; south Chinese, Romano-British, aboriginal Australians, and the famous Australian Kow Swamp remains - aborigines that were dated from 10,000 to 30,000 years ago. These modern skulls were contrasted against samples of Asian ''Homo erectus'' and so-called Chinese archaic ''Homo sapiens'' by measuring seven anatomical points on the skulls. Although the cranial-vault thickness was significantly different between modern Europeans and Chinese when compared to ''Homo erectus'', the archaic ''Homo sapiens'' did not differ from ''Homo erectus'' at any of the seven anatomical points. More | One of the primary defining characteristics of ''Homo erectus'' has been a skull with a thick wall, but until recently little data was present to support whether there was truly a difference between modern skulls and ''H. erectus''. In 1994 a substantial comparison was conducted to determine if cranial thickness was a true criteria for identify ''H. erectus'' fossils.<ref name=brown>.Brown, P., cranial-vault thickness in Asian Homo erectus and Homo sapiens, in: Franzen, J.L., ed., 100 Years of Pithecanthropus: The Homo Erectus Problem, Courier Forschungs Institut Senckenberg 171, pp. 33–45, 1994.</ref> The skulls of four modern ''Homo sapiens'' populations were studied; south Chinese, Romano-British, aboriginal Australians, and the famous Australian Kow Swamp remains - aborigines that were dated from 10,000 to 30,000 years ago. These modern skulls were contrasted against samples of Asian ''Homo erectus'' and so-called Chinese archaic ''Homo sapiens'' by measuring seven anatomical points on the skulls. Although the cranial-vault thickness was significantly different between modern Europeans and Chinese when compared to ''Homo erectus'', the archaic ''Homo sapiens'' did not differ from ''Homo erectus'' at any of the seven anatomical points. More surprising were the contrasts between ''H. erectus'' and the modern and ancient native Australians. The Kow Swamp remains differed at only one of the seven anatomical points of the skull, and presently living Australian aborigines differed from ''Homo erectus'' in only four of the seven anatomical points on the skull.<ref name=woodmorappe>[http://creation.com/how-different-is-the-cranial-vault-thickness-of-homo-erectus-from-modern-man How different is the cranial-vault thickness of Homo erectus from modern man?] by John Woodmorappe, ''Journal of Creation'' 14(1):10–13, April 2000.</ref> Brown summarizes the implications of the findings: | ||
{{cquote|Now that comparable data is available it appears clear that if ''H. sapiens'' includes all the people alive in the world today, their ancestors in the Late Pleistocene and “archaic” ''H. sapiens'' like Dali and Xujiayao then vault thickness can not be used to distinguish ''H. erectus'' from ''H. sapiens''.<ref name=brown/>}} | {{cquote|Now that comparable data is available it appears clear that if ''H. sapiens'' includes all the people alive in the world today, their ancestors in the Late Pleistocene and “archaic” ''H. sapiens'' like Dali and Xujiayao then vault thickness can not be used to distinguish ''H. erectus'' from ''H. sapiens''.<ref name=brown/>}} | ||
| Line 35: | Line 35: | ||
Other researchers have shown that mixtures of ''Homo erectus'' and ''Homo sapiens'' traits occur at many locations around the globe. Skulls with ''Homo erectus''-like features are found in location such as Indonesia and Africa. Thick-vaulted and gracile (thin-vaulted) skulls are often found to co-occur in the same strata showing that they lived at the same time and place.<ref name=woodmorappe/> | Other researchers have shown that mixtures of ''Homo erectus'' and ''Homo sapiens'' traits occur at many locations around the globe. Skulls with ''Homo erectus''-like features are found in location such as Indonesia and Africa. Thick-vaulted and gracile (thin-vaulted) skulls are often found to co-occur in the same strata showing that they lived at the same time and place.<ref name=woodmorappe/> | ||
When the cranial capacity of ''Homo erectus'' is compared with ''Homo sapiens'' the morphological distinctions blur even further. ''Homo erectus'' has a cranial capacity from 780 cc to about 1225 cc, whereas modern humans have a capacity from 700 cc all the way up to 2200 cc. Clearly ''H. erectus'' falls with the natural range of modern humans in not only vault thickness, but cranial capacity as well. Neanderthals have also been shown to fall within the range of modern humans, having a skull capacity ranging from 1200 cc to 1650 cc. In fact, the skull morphology of the ''Homo erectus'' is virtually identical to Neanderthal - differing only by size.<ref name=lubenow128>Lubenow p. 128</ref> | |||
Lubenow comments: | |||
{{cquote|My own conclusion is that ''Homo erectus'' and Neandertal are actually the same: ''Homo erectus'' is the lower end, with regard to size, of a continuum that includes ''Homo erectus'', early ''Homo sapiens'', and Neandertal. The range of cranial capacities for fossil humans is in line with the range of cranial capacities for modern humans.<ref>Lubenow p. 127</ref>}} | {{cquote|My own conclusion is that ''Homo erectus'' and Neandertal are actually the same: ''Homo erectus'' is the lower end, with regard to size, of a continuum that includes ''Homo erectus'', early ''Homo sapiens'', and Neandertal. The range of cranial capacities for fossil humans is in line with the range of cranial capacities for modern humans.<ref>Lubenow p. 127</ref>}} | ||
This tremendous similarity between the various ancient human fossils causes considerable difficulty for the evolutionist who attempts to place the discoveries in various categories. The African early ''Homo sapiens'' have been referred to as "African Neanderthals", and Asian ''Homo erectus'' fossils have been called "Asian Neanderthals". In fact some scholars treat Neaderthals as a population of late ''Homo erectus'', describing their skulls as an "''enlarged and developed version of the ''Homo erectus'' skull''". <ref>Lubenow p. 128</ref> Jerome Cybulski (National Museum of Man, Ottawa) speaks to the difficulties in characterizing ''H. erectus'' on morphological grounds: | |||
{{cquote|Indeed, one may well wonder whether agreement will ever be reached as to which fossils do belong to or represent the taxon, and on what morphological-cum-phyologenetic grounds fossil hominids are or are not to be regarded as Homo erectus''.<ref>Lubenow p. 128</ref>}} | |||
=== Appropriate timeframe === | === Appropriate timeframe === | ||
