Friday, February 13, 2004
Homo Erectus knew how to party
According to this recent article posted on CNN, our ancestors may have had thicker skulls because we were beating each other over the heads with clubs as part of a mating ritual.
I don't find the following to be a convincing enough reason for our skulls to have gotten thinner, though:
So why didn't modern humans inherit this thick skull? Ciochon said evolution eventually favored a lighter skull to accommodate a heavier and larger brain. A thinner skull also would help cool the brain.
That wouldn't stop people from clubbing each other over the head. In fact, the clubbing would be MORE likely to hold back evolution, as the skulls of the smarter proto-humans would smash easier. More likely, we evolved the ability to say: damn, that hurts (or a variation on the theme, damn, this is REALLY stupid).
Evolution can be so amusing sometimes. The Cassowary is a bird about the size of an ostrich from Northeastern Australia which has a bone plate on its head as hard as a motorcycle helmet. Apparently, this is to protect the bird as it runs head-first through dense forest.
Too bad the bird couldn't evolve a machete.
According to this recent article posted on CNN, our ancestors may have had thicker skulls because we were beating each other over the heads with clubs as part of a mating ritual.
I don't find the following to be a convincing enough reason for our skulls to have gotten thinner, though:
So why didn't modern humans inherit this thick skull? Ciochon said evolution eventually favored a lighter skull to accommodate a heavier and larger brain. A thinner skull also would help cool the brain.
That wouldn't stop people from clubbing each other over the head. In fact, the clubbing would be MORE likely to hold back evolution, as the skulls of the smarter proto-humans would smash easier. More likely, we evolved the ability to say: damn, that hurts (or a variation on the theme, damn, this is REALLY stupid).
Evolution can be so amusing sometimes. The Cassowary is a bird about the size of an ostrich from Northeastern Australia which has a bone plate on its head as hard as a motorcycle helmet. Apparently, this is to protect the bird as it runs head-first through dense forest.
Too bad the bird couldn't evolve a machete.
