Nova - Becoming Human

[UnrepentantSinner]

On Tuesday 3 Nov, PBS will start airing a three part Nova series on human evolution called "Becoming Human". Here's a link to a preview.
http://video.pbs.org/video/1300385165/

[madurobob]

Yay - finally something interesting on Nova. The video failed to launch when I clicked the link, but it looks like the key plot point in pt 1 is that dramatic climate swings was the key driving factor in early human evolution. Should be interesting. I'll be there.

[Skeptic Ginger]

Try it again, Madurobob. It worked for me.

I'll have to look for a repeat, I'll be out giving flu shots Tues evening. It looks good.

[madurobob]

I cleared my list of blocked/allowed cookies and the video launched just fine. One of those cookies must identify platform/browser for the video.

So, yeah, they video says this is based on a ""radical new theory" of a necessity to "adapt or die" due to a series of cataclysmic climate shifts. It does sound interesting... but I suspect they're using a bit of poetic license in calling it a "radical new theory".

[Whiplash]

Try it again, Madurobob. It worked for me.

I'll have to look for a repeat, I'll be out giving flu shots Tues evening. It looks good.


Proof you are an evil NWO henchman or co-conspirator. I just knew it!

:)

[Eos of the Eons]

Try it again, Madurobob. It worked for me.

I'll have to look for a repeat, I'll be out giving flu shots Tues evening. It looks good.
How much can I pay ya to get both H1N1 and seasonal shots? I'm not entirely sure which one I got... probably H1N1 considering it is the main strain right now, but I wanna make my chances of getting sick again for another year very very very small! In my area, they are only vaccinating high risk groups right now, and people like me must prove they have an underlying illness before they can get it!

[Beady]

How much can I pay ya to get both H1N1 and seasonal shots? I'm not entirely sure which one I got...

Shot? Or flu? If you got the shot, it's probably seasonal; I've got asthsma, and I'm pretty far down the list. I did get a seasonal shot.

If you've got the flu, it's probably N1H1. That seems to be the default diagnosis, probably since they (the GP's office) can't really tell once you've got symptoms.

[Hokulele]

On Tuesday 3 Nov, PBS will start airing a three part Nova series on human evolution called "Becoming Human".


Just watched the show. Definitely some food for thought.

[madurobob]

So, the "radical idea" is that rather than a quick and steady increase in brain size after coming out of the trees and becoming bipedal, our ancestral apes' brain size flat-lined for millions of years. After a nearly four million years of bipedal apes, though, climate changes became quicker and more severe, favoring those with better survival skills; favoring larger brains. Its at this point that we begin to see a quick and steady increase in brain size.

Certainly interesting.

One thing I hadn't really ever considered was H. Habilis. Meat apparently became an increasingly important part of our ancestor's diets and H. Habilis was the first to make tools; using the tools to butcher animals and cut bones for the marrow. They mentioned finding cut bones of antelope and even hippo. But, H. Habilis was only three feet tall! Were these 3 foot tall apes, armed with just chunks of sharpened flint, really hunting and killing hippos for meat? Amazing.

[Beady]

Were these 3 foot tall apes, armed with just chunks of sharpened flint, really hunting and killing hippos for meat? Amazing.

If the Inuit could hunt whales from kayaks, armed only with stone-headed harpoons...

[Hokulele]

One thing I hadn't really ever considered was H. Habilis. Meat apparently became an increasingly important part of our ancestor's diets and H. Habilis was the first to make tools; using the tools to butcher animals and cut bones for the marrow. They mentioned finding cut bones of antelope and even hippo. But, H. Habilis was only three feet tall! Were these 3 foot tall apes, armed with just chunks of sharpened flint, really hunting and killing hippos for meat? Amazing.


And butchering doesn't always imply hunting/killing. It wouldn't surprise me if mankind's ancestors were scavenger/gatherers as often as hunter/gatherers.

[madurobob]

If the Inuit could hunt whales from kayaks, armed only with stone-headed harpoons...
True - another amazing feat. But, at least the Inuit had specialized tools and language. And that had to be a fun conversation the first time one suggested to his buds they jump in a tiny boat and attack a huge whale. Sort of like the equivalent of the modern day "hey y'all, watch this!"

And butchering doesn't always imply hunting/killing. It wouldn't surprise me if mankind's ancestors were scavenger/gatherers as often as hunter/gatherers.
Yeah, the show was silent on that and I assumed at least the mentioned hippo was scavenged. But, I had nothing to base that assumption on other than my brilliant assessment that "hippos are really big".

[UnrepentantSinner]

One thing I hadn't really ever considered was H. Habilis. Meat apparently became an increasingly important part of our ancestor's diets and H. Habilis was the first to make tools; using the tools to butcher animals and cut bones for the marrow. They mentioned finding cut bones of antelope and even hippo. But, H. Habilis was only three feet tall! Were these 3 foot tall apes, armed with just chunks of sharpened flint, really hunting and killing hippos for meat? Amazing.

This got me to thinking about the technology difference between Neanderthals and Sapiens. Both a thrusting spear and a thrown spear (or one hurled with an atlatl) will kill a large animal. The distance weapons make it less likely that dinner will turn the table on the hunters though.

[shadron]

Something weird happened. I went and watched what I thought was this video last night. It is definitely related; many short cuts are the same (the making of a tool; some of the pictures of modern humans, like the couple with the darker colored man and the pale woman and the woman with the baby, some of the rotoscoped stuff like the three H. erectus hunters running scene), but the main thrust of the show was on Turkana Boy, a Homo erectus/ergaster fossil from 1.5 MYA. They had a scene in which they showed actors in blue body suits creating the erectus running. After going back and looking at the episode y'all are referring to, I think I must have caught some error in the net and saw one of the two later parts of the series that haven't been officially released yet. It was more centered on the loss of hair and the unique way in which human hunters can run almost any other animal into the ground. That episode didn't much mention climate change.

It seems to me a little too bad that they didn't wait on producing this series until the data on Ardi was released, and added into the mix. For one, they emphasized that Ardi lived in a forest, not in a savannah, as was supposed to have been a precondition for bipedality.

As for the hippos, they would, like any hunter, be going after the young, the old and the lame animals first. A bull hippo is a pretty fearsome thing, but one with a lame leg would be a lot easier to approach. And, of course, road kill (or, rather, drowned in a flood), as Hok suggests. If you're hungry enough, you'll do a lot of things.

[shadron]

This got me to thinking about the technology difference between Neanderthals and Sapiens. Both a thrusting spear and a thrown spear (or one hurled with an atlatl) will kill a large animal. The distance weapons make it less likely that dinner will turn the table on the hunters though.

Habilis didn't have spears, I don't think. A rock in the hand, perhaps sharpened, was the limit; this was early paleolithic, Olduwan culture. They were named Handy man because the first fossil had an almost complete hand, not because of their advanced tools.

[UnrepentantSinner]

Habilis didn't have spears, I don't think. A rock in the hand, perhaps sharpened, was the limit; this was early paleolithic, Olduwan culture. They were named Handy man because the first fossil had an almost complete hand, not because of their advanced tools.

A. I know that. This is the JREF forum. Why are people so quick to presume ignorance when this is one of the most knowledgeable forums on the Web?
B. Since I didn't mention habilines in my post, your response is germane how?

Sorry, should be more polite... Madurabob was joking about the habilines using hand axes to take down a hippo. His joke reminded me that Neanderthals never developed throwing spears like sapiens did and had to rely on thrusting spears meaning they had to get much closer to some very dangerous prey often resulting in death or injury to the hunters themselves.

eta -
Something weird happened. I went and watched what I thought was this video last night. It is definitely related; many short cuts are the same (the making of a tool; some of the pictures of modern humans, like the couple with the darker colored man and the pale woman and the woman with the baby, some of the rotoscoped stuff like the three H. erectus hunters running scene), but the main thrust of the show was on Turkana Boy, a Homo erectus/ergaster fossil from 1.5 MYA....
Heh. Sounds like they ran part two instead of part one. Part two isn't supposed to air until Nov. 10th and the program description does focus on Turkana Boy.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/beta/evolution/becoming-human-part-2.html
In "Birth of Humanity," the second part of the three-part series "Becoming Human," NOVA investigates the first skeleton that really looks like us–"Turkana Boy"–an astonishingly complete specimen of Homo erectus found by the famous Leakey team in Kenya. These early humans are thought to have developed key innovations that helped them thrive, including hunting large prey, the use of fire, and extensive social bonds.

The program examines an intriguing theory that long-distance running–our ability to jog–was crucial for the survival of these early hominids.

[shadron]

A. I know that. This is the JREF forum. Why are people so quick to presume ignorance when this is one of the most knowledgeable forums on the Web?
B. Since I didn't mention habilines in my post, your response is germane how?

Sorry, should be more polite... Madurabob was joking about the habilines using hand axes to take down a hippo. His joke reminded me that Neanderthals never developed throwing spears like sapiens did and had to rely on thrusting spears meaning they had to get much closer to some very dangerous prey often resulting in death or injury to the hunters themselves.

Yeah, sorry myself - I was keying on MaduroBob's habilis. Should have stopped posting a couple of hours ago.