Jakarta –
The sequence of human history ancient time evolve with new discoveries. The existence of Homo Bodoensis, for example, will change the history of human ancestors.
Quoted from IFL Science, Sunday (10/31/2021) an international team of scientists filed a case to classify the findings of a new species of extinct human, Homo bodoensis, which is the direct ancestor of us, modern humans.
In the journal Evolutionary Anthropology Issues News and Reviews, their new identification is a reassessment of fossils found in Africa and Eurasia dating from 774 thousand to 129 thousand years ago.
This year was an important time period for the emergence of our own species, Homo sapiens in Africa and Homo neanderthalensis in our closest human relatives, in Europe.
This period, the Middle Pleistocene, is often called the ‘middle chaos’ because so many species classifications are doubted and debated.
From the classic ‘Human Evolution’ diagram, the current understanding of human evolution is not a neat family tree, but an intertwined and messy journey and there is such a huge knowledge gap. The researchers hope that this messy lineage can be cleared up by this new study.
The team argues that many Eurasian and African fossils from the Middle Pleistocene had previously been labeled as Homo heidelbergensis, thought by some to be the most recent common ancestor between modern humans and Neanderthals, or Homo rhodesiensis, a species very similar to H. heidelbergensis.
In the new study, the team put forward the idea that most of these fossils could only be defined as the species H. bodoensis. They argue that H. heidelbergensis is a redundant label because many were found to be early Neanderthals, not parent species. man modern and Neanderthal.
Furthermore, the name does not account for other hominin fossils from east Asia around this time. Similar to the H. rhodesiensis label, this label is considered to be unclear and not widely accepted by palaeoanthropologists.
The name has also caused some controversy due to its association with Cecil Rhodes, a famous 19th century British imperialist, mining magnate, and politician who played a major role in the colonial horrors of south Africa.
While the name bodoensis, refers to the location where one of the fossils was found in Bodo D’ar, Ethiopia. Under the new classification, H. heidelbergensis and H. rhodesiensis will be effectively eliminated.
Instead, H. bodoensis would be used to describe most of the Middle Pleistocene humans from Africa, as well as some in Southeastern Europe. The team argues that the fossils remaining in Eurasia could be reclassified as Neanderthals.
Of course, not everyone agrees with this ‘one size fits all’ approach. However, the team thinks it’s a necessary step to address the pedigree mess and make it easier to communicate about this important time in hominin history.
“Speaking of evolution man during this period it became impossible due to the lack of precise terminology that recognizes human geographic variation,” said Dr Mirjana Roksandic, lead author of the study and paleoanthropologist at the University of Winnipeg.
“Naming a new species is a big deal, as the International Commission for Zoological Nomenclature allows name changes only under very strict rules. We believe this one will last a long time, the name of a new taxon will live only if other researchers use it.” .
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