Charles Darwin’s ‘Origin of Species’ brought about the question as to how the human beings came to existence. The hereditary of human was characterized by variations I all the stages and there were some stages when individuals bore more children than the others. The main ingredients in this process were natural section. Darwin was well aware of the fact that he did not have any record of fossils that could help him back up his claims of the human evolution. However, there has been the uncovering of some stones and fossils that have been attributed to extinct mammals. Some skeletons and teeth are among the human fossils that have been discovered in the past years, belonging to over 6000 individuals. There has also been a rapid increase in the discoveries by scientists, leading t a representations of a better part of the human beings even though some may still be missing. From the human fossils, it has been possible to establish how the early human species were adapted for walking, living in areas with high temperatures, temperate environments, cold or in the tropical habitats. The fossils also make it possible for a comparison and contrast between the body sizes of the male and the female human species in relation to their social behavior. (Connors, 2012)
First fossils
The first human fossil was discovered in the year 1857 but the scientists had a very difficult time in identifying and recognizing it. This was in the Neander, Germany, where some miners tumbled upon a skullcap in the Feldhofer. The skull had similarities with human but was thicker and had a brow ridge that was massive. There were questions as to whether this species belonged to the Homo sapiens species or as to whether it was a type of the human like species that had become extinct. Few years after the publication of the ‘Origin of Species’ by Darwin, Thomas Huxley took a detailed consideration of the Neander Valley skull and took the notion similar to that of the Euro centric. There was an assumption that the Europeans had brains that were the best developed because of their skulls as opposed to the Australians who have skulls that are places shortly in a much lower position.
More discoveries of fossils
The fossils would be of a great help in solving the debate that has resulted from the human evolution theory. However, the fossils were rare to come by. The Neanderthal fossil was later to be discovered yet again in the year 1886, but this time bearing the jaws among other skeletal parts. This was in Belgium, in Spy’s ancient rocks. This was a clear demonstration to the fact that the Neanderthal man was after all not a barbaric man. Dubois, while carrying out excavations at the sides of Solo River, east of Java came across yet other fossil remains of a creature that was not human and was at the same time not an ape. It was upright but had a brain that was too small for a human being. This was later known as Pithecanthropus erectus. There followed a number of discoveries of fossils including that of Homo erectus in Asia in the year 1895. The twentieth century saw much more discoveries of fossils belonging to hominids and humans. Currently, there are up to twenty hominid species whose fossils have been identified with the oldest fossil dating to over six million years back.
Reference
Connors, K. (2012). Human Fossils. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group.
