Jakarta, CNN Indonesia –
The international research team at the University of Zurich has reportedly managed to reveal when and where the modern human brain evolved. They concluded that the modern human brain evolved around 1.7 million years ago in Africa.
The research team says evolution occurred at a time when Homoerectus emerged and the culture of stone tools in Africa became increasingly complex.
Launch Science Daily, the first population of the genus Homo appeared in Africa about 2.5 million years ago. They were already walking upright, but their brains were only half the size of humans today.
The earliest Homo populations in Africa had primitive brains similar to apes, like their extinct ancestor, the australopithecines.
“Our analysis shows that modern human brain structures appeared only 1.5 to 1.7 million years ago in the African Homo population,” said Christoph Zollikofer of the University of Zurich’s Department of Anthropology.
The researchers used computed tomography to examine the skulls of Homo fossils that lived in Africa and Asia about 1 to 2 million years ago. They then compared the fossil data with reference data from great apes and humans.
Regardless of their size, the human brain differs from that of great apes, particularly in the location and arrangement of individual brain regions.
“The hallmark of humans is primarily the area in the frontal lobe which is responsible for planning and executing complex patterns of thought and action, and ultimately for language,” said first author Marcia Ponce de León.
He said the area was significantly larger in the human brain, the adjacent brain area shifting farther back.
Launch Neuroscience, the first Homo population outside Africa, at Dmanisi (now called Georgia) had brains just as primitive as their African counterparts. Therefore, the early human brain did not become very large or very modern until about 1.7 million years ago.
However, these early humans were quite capable of making tools, adapting to the new environmental conditions of Eurasia, developing animal food sources, and caring for group members who needed assistance.
During this period, culture in Africa became increasingly complex and diverse, as evidenced by the discovery of various types of stone tools. Researchers think that biological and cultural evolution may be interdependent.
“Possibly the earliest forms of human language also developed during this period,” says León.
In fact, the research team mentioned fossils found in Java. Researchers say the fossils found in Java provide evidence that the new population was very successful. Shortly after their first appearance in Africa, they are known to have spread to Southeast Asia.
The previous theory was considered not to support the research much due to the lack of reliable data. The problem is, the brains of our ancestors today are not preserved as fossils.
The structure of their brain can only be deduced from the traces left by the folds and grooves on the inner surface of the fossil skull.
Because the tracks vary widely from individual to individual, the researchers said it was impossible to clearly determine whether a particular Homo fossil had a brain that was more ape-like or more human-like.
However, researchers are now able to close this gap for the first time using computed tomography analysis of various fossil skulls.
(jps / DAL)
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