Scientists rethink evolution with discovery of “Ardi”
(NECN: Brian Burnell, Longmeadow, Mass.) – Scientists are rethinking the theory that humans evolved from ancient chimpanzees. A Massachusetts researcher was part of the team on this groundbreaking study of a 4.4 million year old skeleton called “Ardi”. Ardi has captured the imagination of scientists around the world. She’s a skeleton found in Ethiopia. She’s almost 4-and-a-half million years old and her story is so compelling The Discovery Channel is airing a report on Ardi on Sunday. 47 scientists, some working for 15 years, have released a paper on her that is profoundly changing the way we look at human evolution. Dr. Gina Semperbon of Bay Path College in Longmeadow, Massachusetts is one of them. Dr. Semperbon’s job was to examine the fossilized teeth of some of the animals that lived in the same area Ardi did. That helps established what environment she lived in. What did she find? Dr. Gina Semberbon, Bay Path College: We found a definitive pattern that the large mammals were telling us that they were more closed, woodland habitats. Not forested, not totally closed. More of a woodland with little patches of forest and some trees but spaces between the trees. That is significant because it shows Ardi was walking upright even though she had trees to climb. Conventional wisdom has been humans took to walking upright because the trees disappeared and we had to adapt to living in grasslands. Dr. Gina Semberbon, Bay Path College: So we always pretty much thought we’d find these first bipeds or ancient bipeds would be in these open environments or more open environments. This has really turned everything upside down. Ardi takes science in a direction where the evolutionary track of humans and apes diverged sooner and more profoundly than first thought. Walking upright is very significant in human evolution so anything that changes the thinking on that will be closely scrutinized. Dr. Gina Semberbon, Bay Path College: So I think if we think about it that way we see why Ardi’s so important because bipedality frees your hands up to do other things and manipulate objects and do all sorts of great things and most anthropologists really believe the expansion of the brain in humans is probably due to the fact that we could manipulate objects with our hands and not be tieing our hands up to loco-motoring knuckle walking like the apes. She expects this research will spark more study of Ardi and her implications.
