Freethought & Rationalism Archive

Valentine Pontifex · 04-02-2002, 09:24 AM

The latest update to the Fossil Hominids section of The Talk.Origins Archive alerted me to sometime I don't recall hearing about. It might be rather useful. Here is an abstract from PubMed:

Quote:

Nature 2001 Dec 6;414(6864):628-31

Growth processes in teeth distinguish modern humans from Homo erectus and earlier hominins.

Dean C, Leakey MG, Reid D, Schrenk F, Schwartz GT, Stringer C, Walker A.

A modern human-like sequence of dental development, as a proxy for the pace of life history, is regarded as one of the diagnostic hallmarks of our own genus Homo. Brain size, age at first reproduction, lifespan and other life-history traits correlate tightly with dental development. Here we report differences in enamel growth that show the earliest fossils attributed to Homo do not resemble modern humans in their development. We used daily incremental markings in enamel to calculate rates of enamel formation in 13 fossil hominins and identified differences in this key determinant of tooth formation time. Neither australopiths nor fossils currently attributed to early Homo shared the slow trajectory of enamel growth typical of modern humans; rather, both resembled modern and fossil African apes. We then reconstructed tooth formation times in australopiths, in the approximately 1.5-Myr-old Homo erectus skeleton from Nariokotome, Kenya, and in another Homo erectus specimen, Sangiran S7-37 from Java. These times were shorter than those in modern humans. It therefore seems likely that truly modern dental development emerged relatively late in human evolution.

This one might be useful for creationists who claim that the erectus grade fossils were merely humans.

lpetrich · 04-02-2002, 10:09 AM

However, evolution can work in mosaic fashion, with tooth growth evolving at a pace different from the paces of evolution of other features.

I'm using "pace" to be general; I wish to encompass both gradual evolution and evolution in bursts.

[ April 02, 2002: Message edited by: lpetrich ]</p>

Oolon Colluphid · 04-02-2002, 11:37 AM

Many thanks LordV, just what I was looking for. I'll link this to Ed's thread...

Oolon

ps418 · 04-02-2002, 02:43 PM

This popped up briefly back in December.

<a href="http://iidb.org/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=3&t=001574" target="_blank">Early humans more ape-like than previously thought </a>

Valentine Pontifex · 04-04-2002, 10:43 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by ps418:
<strong>This popped up briefly back in December.

<a href="http://iidb.org/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=3&t=001574" target="_blank">Early humans more ape-like than previously thought </a></strong>

Thanks, I must have missed it. An no wonder, it was posted during the X-mas season....

BTW, the entire issue of whether Homo erectus/ergaster was really just a human like the people we see around us today might make a good FAQ for Talk.Origins. It is increasingly common creationist claim. Just a suggestion for the paleoanthropology folks....

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04-02-2002, 10:09 AM	#2
lpetrich Contributor Join Date: Jul 2000 Location: Lebanon, OR, USA Posts: 16,829	However, evolution can work in mosaic fashion, with tooth growth evolving at a pace different from the paces of evolution of other features. I'm using "pace" to be general; I wish to encompass both gradual evolution and evolution in bursts. [ April 02, 2002: Message edited by: lpetrich ]</p>

04-02-2002, 11:37 AM	#3
Oolon Colluphid Contributor Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: Alibi: ego ipse hinc extermino Posts: 12,591	Many thanks LordV, just what I was looking for. I'll link this to Ed's thread... Oolon

04-02-2002, 02:43 PM	#4
ps418 Veteran Member Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Louisville, KY, USA Posts: 1,840	This popped up briefly back in December. <a href="http://iidb.org/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=3&t=001574" target="_blank">Early humans more ape-like than previously thought </a>

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