Paleoanthropologists suggest that drastic climate changes impacted the timeline for the area in South Africa with the network of early human ancestor fossil caves, called the “Cradle of Humankind.” The researchers believe that the geological age of the fossils can be explained by the flowstones that surround the cave sediments. This is important because the geological timeline might help the scientists explain human ancestral development to Darwin believers.
The Cradle of Humankind Has Human Ancestors?
The Cradle of Humankind in South Africa is an early hominid site that hosts nearly 40% of all known human ancestor fossils. Many believe that this site holds important clues to events in human evolution. In fact, the “Cradle” holds the Australopithecus africanus skull Mrs. Ples, the most complete skull of its kind that researchers ever discovered.
The paleoanthropologists who co-authored the study are from the Washington University in St. Louis, and they worked on an international team of scientists from South Africa, Australia, and the United States that was led by Robyn Pickering, a geochemist from the University of Cape Town. While the paleoanthropologists state that the bulk of the work in the study was by Robyn, they stated that they helped Robyn sort out the timeline for how modern-day humans’ early ancestors and close relatives evolved.
Darwin Believed in Evolution
Charles Darwin and Darwinism are taught in schools across the U.S. It is a theory that a species of organisms develop through natural selection of certain variations or genetic mutations. These variations allow an individual to adapt more readily to the environment, reproduce, and pass along their set of genes.
During his journeys, Darwin had encountered animals that differed slightly on each island. Based on the version of evolution that they heard, some people might believe this means that people come from monkeys; however, Darwin’s theory actually means that people might have descended from a common ancestor to the apes.
Whether you believe in evolution or not, scientists seem to be getting closer to dating the ancient fossils. Perhaps, this might bring them closer to solving the great mystery of our origins. But, it might take a while.
