Aux origines africaines de l’homme
During the past decade, the palaeontological history of man has been considerably enriched by the discovery of several potential ancestors of humans, gorillas and chimpanzees in Africa allowing a better reconstruction of our phylogenetic tree (even though these data are still under discussion). Thei...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
OpenEdition
2010-09-01
|
| Series: | Afrique Archéologie Arts |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://journals.openedition.org/aaa/683 |
| _version_ | 1818977848185061376 |
|---|---|
| author | Brigitte Senut |
| author_facet | Brigitte Senut |
| author_sort | Brigitte Senut |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | During the past decade, the palaeontological history of man has been considerably enriched by the discovery of several potential ancestors of humans, gorillas and chimpanzees in Africa allowing a better reconstruction of our phylogenetic tree (even though these data are still under discussion). Their age exceeds the estimates commonly accepted by the scientific community (divergence between humans and chimpanzees at 4 to 6 million years ; separation between gorilla and the chimpanzee / human group at 9 million years). While Africa is more likely to be the cradle of our lineage, some authors suggest that during the Middle Miocene hominoids migrated out of Africa to Eurasia where they radiated before returning to Africa during the upper Miocene to give rise to humans and modern African apes (known as the “Back to Africa” hypothesis). However, this last hypothesis does not take into account a number of recent data. Africa has been populated with hominoids for 25 million years approximately and, although they emigrated towards Eurasia during the Middle Miocene, there is no evidence to support the hypothesis that they were our direct ancestors. During the Middle and Upper Miocene, Africa and Southern Eurasia were tropical and a connection existed between the two continents. It is very likely, therefore, that hominoids and other vertebrates were able to move from one region to another, but no evidence so far supports an exclusively Eurasian origin for prehumans and African apes. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-20T16:34:15Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ff4248efcdf4486e92389e35c7f518a9 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2431-2045 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-20T16:34:15Z |
| publishDate | 2010-09-01 |
| publisher | OpenEdition |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Afrique Archéologie Arts |
| spelling | doaj.art-ff4248efcdf4486e92389e35c7f518a92022-12-21T19:33:12ZengOpenEditionAfrique Archéologie Arts2431-20452010-09-01692410.4000/aaa.683Aux origines africaines de l’hommeBrigitte SenutDuring the past decade, the palaeontological history of man has been considerably enriched by the discovery of several potential ancestors of humans, gorillas and chimpanzees in Africa allowing a better reconstruction of our phylogenetic tree (even though these data are still under discussion). Their age exceeds the estimates commonly accepted by the scientific community (divergence between humans and chimpanzees at 4 to 6 million years ; separation between gorilla and the chimpanzee / human group at 9 million years). While Africa is more likely to be the cradle of our lineage, some authors suggest that during the Middle Miocene hominoids migrated out of Africa to Eurasia where they radiated before returning to Africa during the upper Miocene to give rise to humans and modern African apes (known as the “Back to Africa” hypothesis). However, this last hypothesis does not take into account a number of recent data. Africa has been populated with hominoids for 25 million years approximately and, although they emigrated towards Eurasia during the Middle Miocene, there is no evidence to support the hypothesis that they were our direct ancestors. During the Middle and Upper Miocene, Africa and Southern Eurasia were tropical and a connection existed between the two continents. It is very likely, therefore, that hominoids and other vertebrates were able to move from one region to another, but no evidence so far supports an exclusively Eurasian origin for prehumans and African apes.http://journals.openedition.org/aaa/683HominoideaMiocenepalaeoenvironmentorigins |
| spellingShingle | Brigitte Senut Aux origines africaines de l’homme Afrique Archéologie Arts Hominoidea Miocene palaeoenvironment origins |
| title | Aux origines africaines de l’homme |
| title_full | Aux origines africaines de l’homme |
| title_fullStr | Aux origines africaines de l’homme |
| title_full_unstemmed | Aux origines africaines de l’homme |
| title_short | Aux origines africaines de l’homme |
| title_sort | aux origines africaines de l homme |
| topic | Hominoidea Miocene palaeoenvironment origins |
| url | http://journals.openedition.org/aaa/683 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT brigittesenut auxoriginesafricainesdelhomme |