Why We Study Human Origins

The fossil record can help us to know how the early humans (primates) lived and adapted to their surroundings. Fossils are not only for seeing how our ancestors lived in the past, but they are also used for evidence of our ancestors. They also tell us about their physical features and behavior. In the past, people used religious teachings and myths to explain the beginning of humanity (human origins). By comparing our behavior from the past with animals we can learn more about our ancestors.

Charles Darwin was a scientist from the 1800s. He developed the theory of Evolution by observing plants and animals from his travels. Evolution is “ the process by which species of organisms arise from earlier life forms and undergo change over time through natural selection.” (Dictionary definition) Thomas Henry Huxley was a scientist just as Charles Darwin was and he proposed that apes and humans are anatomically more similar than apes are to monkeys. During Darwin’s and Huxley’s time, no human fossils were found yet, therefore they weren’t able to prove their theories were true. In 1925 Raymond Dart found the first hominid fossil in South Africa. From this evidence, many historians came up with theories about our ancestors. They thought, “They were tree-dwelling apes, or four-legged knuckle walkers, or even bipeds that lived in water.” (Randall Susman) To me, this theory was very interesting because it made the most sense out of all the other theories.

Some questions that I came up with reading this article were: People question WHY humans evolved, WHEN we evolved, WHERE did we originate?? WHY did some early humans (early hominids) not survive? WHAT makes us different than all other early humans? What is evolution? (definition)

Susman, Randall. "Why We Study Human Origins." Calliope:

Exploring World History. Sept. 1999: 4-5. Print.