Clicca qui per scaricare

Condividi
Human origins
Titolo Rivista: PARADIGMI 
Autori/Curatori: Bernard A. Wood 
Anno di pubblicazione:  2017 Fascicolo: 2  Lingua: Inglese 
Numero pagine:  14 P. 75-88 Dimensione file:  343 KB
DOI:  10.3280/PARA2017-002006
Il DOI è il codice a barre della proprietà intellettuale: per saperne di più:  clicca qui   qui 


This contribution discusses three interpretations of the origin of humanity. If the question addresses the origin of the features that distinguish us from our closest living relatives, chimpanzees and bonobos, then we need to look at least eight million years ago. If it is the origin of our own genus, then we are still thinking about several millions of years ago. If it is the origin of modern human morphology, the fossil evidence suggests it is at least two hundred thousand years ago. If it is the origin of complex tool manufacture, then that came relatively late, but not as late as many had assumed. But if the question refers to the acquisition of apparently unique aspects of modern human behavior, such as our complex human language, the questioner will be disappointed for there is no obvious proxy in the fossil or archaeological records for language ability.

Questo contributo considera tre interpretazioni dell’origine dell’umanità. Se la domanda riguarda l’origine delle caratteristiche che ci distinguono dai nostri più vicini simili viventi, scimpanzé e bonobo, allora dobbiamo guardare ad almeno 8 milioni di anni fa. Se riguarda l’origine del nostro genere, stiamo comunque considerando molti milioni di anni fa. Se riguarda l’origine della moderna morfologia umana, l’evidenza fossile suggerisce che si tratta di almeno 200.000 anni fa. Se riguarda l’inizio della creazione di utensili complessi, allora stiamo considerando un’abilità che si è sviluppata relativamente in ritardo, ma non tanto quanto molti hanno assunto. Tuttavia, se la domanda si riferisce all’acquisizione di aspetti apparentemente unici del comportamento umano moderno, come il nostro linguaggio complesso, l’inquirente rimarrà deluso, poiché non c’è alcuna evidenza ovvia nei fossili o nei reperti archeologici che evidenzi l’abilità di linguaggio.
Keywords: Artefatti, Metodi interpretativi, Nascita del linguaggio, Origine del genere, Origine di differenze, Origine morfologica.

  1. Amster G. and Sella G. (2016). Life History Effects on the Molecular Clock of Autosomes and Sex Chromosomes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113: 1588-1593,
  2. Arnason U. and Janke A. (2002). Mitogenomic Analyses of Eutherian Relationships. Cytogenetic and Genome Research, 96: 20-32,, DOI: 10.1159/000063023
  3. Arnold C., Matthews L.J. and Nunn C.L. (2010). The 10kTrees Website: A New Online Resource for Primate Phylogeny. Evol Anthropol, 19: 114-118,
  4. Bailey W.J. et al. (1992). Reexamination of the African Hominoid Trichotomy with Additional Sequences from the Primate B-globin Gene Cluster. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 1: 97-135,, DOI: 10.1016/1055-7903(92)90024-B
  5. Bradley B. (2008). Reconstructing Phylogenies and Phenotypes: A Molecular View of Human Evolution. Journal of Anatomy, 212: 337-353,
  6. Brunet M. et al. (2002). A New Hominid from the Upper Miocene of Chad, Central Africa. Nature, 418: 145-151.
  7. Caccone A. and Powell J.R. (1989). DNA Divergence Among Hominoids, Evolution, 43: 925-942,, DOI: 10.2307/2409575
  8. Chimpanzee Sequencing and Analysis Consortium. (2005). Initial Sequence of the Chimpanzee Genome and Comparison with the Human Genome. Nature, 437: 69-87,
  9. Day M.H. and Stringer C.B. (1991). Les restes crâniens d’Omo-Kibish et leur classification à l’intérieur du genre Homo. L’Anthropologie, 95: 573-594.
  10. Darwin C. (1871). The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex. London: John Murray.
  11. Eldredge N. and Tattersall I. (1975). Evolutionary Models, Phylogenetic Reconstruction, and Another Look at Hominid Phylogeny. In: Szalay F., ed., Approaches to Primate Paleobiology. Contributions to Primatology, 5: 218-242.
  12. Fabre P.-H., Rodrigues A. and Douzery E.J.P. (2009). Patterns of Macroevolution among Primates Inferred from a Supermatrix of Mitochondrial and Nuclear DNA. Mol. Phyl. Evol., 53: 808-825,
  13. Goodman M. (1962). Immunochemistry of the Primates and Primate Evolution. Annals New York Academy of Science, 102: 219-234.
  14. Goodman M. (1963). Man’s Place in the Phylogeny of the Primates as Reflected in Serum Proteins. In: Washburn S.L., ed., Classification and Human Evolution. Chicago: Aldine: 204-234.
  15. Gordon D. et al. (2016). Long-read Sequence Assembly of the Gorilla Genome. Science, 352: aae0344,
  16. Green R.E. et al. (2010). A Draft Sequence of the Neandertal Genome. Science, 328: 710-722.
  17. Haeusler M. and McHenry H.M. (2004). Body Proportions of Homo habilis Re-viewed, J. Hum. Evol., 46: 433-465,
  18. Haeusler M. and McHenry H.M. (2007). Evolutionary Reversals of Limb Proportions in Early Hominids? Evidence from KNM-ER 3735 (Homo habilis). J. Hum. Evol., 53: 383-405,
  19. Haslam M. et al. (2009). Primate Archaeology. Nature, 460: 339-344.
  20. Hillson S. (1996). Dental Anthropology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  21. Holliday T.W. (1995). Body Size and Proportions in the Late Pleistocene Western Old World and the Origins of Modern Humans. Ph.D., University of New Mexico, Albuquerque.
  22. Horai S. et al. (1992). Man’s Place in Hominoidea Revealed by Mitochrondrial DNA Genealogy. Journal of Molecular Evolution, 35: 32-43,
  23. Howells W.W. (1973). Cranial Variation in Man: A Study by Multivariate Analysis of Pattern of Differences Among Recent Human Populations. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
  24. Howells W.W. (1989). Skull Shapes and the Map: Craniometric Analysis of Modern Homo. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
  25. Hublin et al. (2017). New fossils from Jebel Irhoud, Morocco and the pan-African origin of Homo sapiens. Nature, 546: 289-292.
  26. Huxley T.H. (1863). Evidence as to Man’s Place in Nature. London: Williams and Norgate.
  27. King M.-C. and Wilson A.C. (1975). Evolution at Two Levels in Humans and Chimpanzees. Science, 188: 107-116,
  28. Lahr M.M. (1996). The Evolution of Modern Human Diversity: A Study of Cranial Variation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  29. Langergraber K.E. et al. (2012). Generation Times in Wild Chimpanzees and Gorillas Suggest Earlier Divergence Times in Great Ape and Human Evolution. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 109: 15716-15721,
  30. Li W.-H. and Saunders M.A. (2005). The Chimpanzee and Us. Nature, 437: 50-51.
  31. Lieberman D.E. (1998). Sphenoid Shortening and the Evolution of Modern Human Cranial Shape. Nature, 393: 158-162.
  32. Lieberman D.E., Mc Bratney B.M. and Krovitz G. (2002). The Evolution and Development of Cranial Form in Homo sapiens. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., 99: 1134-1139,
  33. Lock D.P. et al. (2011). Comparative and Demographic Analysis of Orangutan Genomes. Nature, 469: 529-533.
  34. Mayr E. (1950). Taxonomic Categories in Fossil Hominids. Cold Spring Harbor Symposium on Quantitative Biology, 15: 109-118,
  35. McBrearty S. and Brooks A.S. (2000). The Revolution that Wasn’t: a New Interpretation of the Origin of Modern Human Behavior. J. Hum. Evol., 39: 453-563,
  36. Mc Dougall I., Brown F.H. and Fleagle J.G. (2005). Stratigraphic Placement and Age of Modern Humans from Kibish, Ethiopia. Nature, 433: 733-736,
  37. Meyer M. et al. (2012). A High-Coverage Genome Sequence from an Archaic Denisovan Individual. Science, 338: 222-226,
  38. Moorjani P. et al. (2016). Variation in the Molecular Clock of Primates. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113: 10607-10612,, DOI: 10.1101/036434
  39. Pearson O.M. (2000). Postcranial Remains and the Origins of Modern Humans. Evol. Anthropol., 9: 229-247,
  40. Pearson O.M. (2004). Has the Combination of Genetic and Fossil Evidence Solved the Riddle of Modern Human Origins?. Evol. Anthropol., 13, no. 4: 145-159,
  41. Prado-Martinez J. et al. (2013). Great Ape Genetic Diversity and Population History. Nature, 499: 471-475.
  42. Prüfer K. et al. (2012). The Bonobo Genome Compared with the Chimpanzee and Human Genomes. Nature, 486: 527-531.
  43. Richter et al. (2017) The age of the hominin fossils from Jebel Irhoud, Morocco and the origins of the Middle Stone Age. Nature, 546: 293-296.
  44. Robson S.L. and Wood B.A. (2008). Hominin Life History: Reconstruction and Evolution. Journal of Anatomy, 219: 394-425,
  45. Ruff C.B., Trinkaus E. and Holliday T.W. (1997). Body Mass and Encephalization in Pleistocene Homo. Nature, 387: 173-176,
  46. Ruvolo M. (1997). Molecular Phylogeny of the Hominoids: Inferences from Multiple Independent DNA Sequence Data Sets. Molecular Biological Evolution, 14, no. 3: 248-265,
  47. Sarich V.M. and Wilson A.C. (1967). Immunological Time Scale for Hominid Evolution. Science, 158: 1200-1203,
  48. Scally A. et al. (2012). Insights into Hominid Evolution from the Gorilla Genome Sequence. Nature, 483: 169-175.
  49. Senut B. et al. (2001). First Hominid from the Miocene (Lukeino Formation, Kenya). Comptes rendus de l'Academie des sciences, Paris, 332: 137-144.
  50. Spoor F. et al. (1999). Anterior Sphenoid in Modern Humans. Nature, 397: 572.
  51. Stringer C.B., Hublin J.J. and Vandermeersch B. (1984). The Origin of Anatomically Modern Humans in Western Europe. In: Smith F.H. and Spencer F., eds., The Origins of Modern Humans: A World Survey of the Fossil Evidence. New York: Alan R. Liss: 51-135.
  52. Trinkaus E. (1981). Neandertal Limb Proportions and Cold Adaptation. In: Stringer C.B., ed., Aspects of Human Evolution. London: Taylor and Francis: 187-224.
  53. Uddin M. et al. (2004). Sister Grouping of Chimpanzees and Humans as Revealed by Genome-wide Phylogenetic Analysis of Brain Expression Profiles. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 101: 2957-2962,
  54. Venn O. et al. (2014). Strong Male Bias Drives Germline Mutation in Chimpanzee. Science, 344: 1272-1275,
  55. White T. et al. (2003). Pleistocene Homo sapiens from Middle Awash, Ethiopia. Nature, 423: 742-747,
  56. White T.D. et al. (2009). Ardipithecus ramidus and the Paleobiology of Early Hominins. Science, 326: 75-86,
  57. Wood B.A. (2010). Reconstructing Human Evolution: Achievements, Challenges and Opportunities. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 107, Supplement 2: 8902-8909,
  58. Wood B.A. and Collard M.C. (1999). The Human Genus. Science, 284: 65-71,
  59. Zuckerkandl E. (1963). Perspectives in Molecular Anthropology. In: Washburn S.L., ed., Classification and Human Evolution. Chicago: Aldine: 243-272.
  60. Zuckerkandl E., Jones R.T. and Pauling L. (1960). A Comparison of Animal Hemoglobins by Tryptic Peptide Pattern Analysis. Proceedings of National Academy of Science, 46: 1349-1360,

Bernard A. Wood, Origini umane in "PARADIGMI" 2/2017, pp. 75-88, DOI:10.3280/PARA2017-002006

   

FrancoAngeli è membro della Publishers International Linking Association associazione indipendente e no profit per facilitare l'accesso degli studiosi ai contenuti digitali nelle pubblicazioni professionali e scientifiche