MUSEUM OF HUMAN EVOLUTION IN BURGOS.
By: Andrei Trifan,Marina Emilova and Daniel Amor (4ºA)
We have
recently visited the Museum of Evolution in Burgos.
There, we
have learnt a lot about our antecessors.
First, the
guide explained to us where we had obtained evidence about the past. For
example, in ¨Gran Dolina¨, we found knives and remains of teenagers. Then, in
¨Sima del Elefante¨ we found remains which we hadn´t identified yet, and which
can belong to unknown species. There is another place, ¨Galería¨, which was
used for hunting and where some remains of animals and humans have been found.
After
that, the guide spoke about Leticia, the oldest remain in Atapuerca which is
characterized by marks of heavy blows on her head. In those times stones were
 |
| Miguelon reconstructed |
used as weapons. Another place where lots of remains were found is ¨Sima de los
Huesos¨, which was discovered in the 1970s. About 28 people of different ages were found there. One of those
people is ¨Miguelón¨- a famous character, whose genre is not known yet-.
In
addition to Atapuerca and the discoveries made there, we learned several fun
facts about the people living in the caves, also, we learnt about the science
of archaeology, about human evolution and even about brain development.
As some of
the humans rests found in Atapuerca revealed, there were cannibal rituals
performed not due to necessity, but because it was believed that eating
somebody else´s brain would give you their knowledge.
However, wicked
as it might sound, it can really make some sense,if you think of it. We are
what we eat.
There was
also a part of the trip in which they talked to us about the archaeological
searching process and there was this thing that really caught our attention:
it´s not a rare practice to lick the findings in order to distinguish between a
fossil and a simple rock. It probably looks as a rather rudimentary technique
but it is surely more efficient and quicker than going back and forth from the
lab to the studied field.
By the
way, did you know that women´s labour pains are all a result of evolution? Our
antecessors had longer and wider hips, which allowed theim to give birth
without any pain (or at least, no pain anywhere near to ours). And must there
be a difference? Well, when we started developing bipedalism between 4 and 7
million years ago, our skeletons had to go through a lot of modifications and
our hips weren´t an exception. Sadly evolution didn´t come to us with a low
price to pay. And while we´re at it, there´s something to be corrected that we
all learn in school: evolution is not lineal process. Just as it happens with
any other species, there have always been several branches of humans living at
the same time-two, three and four even at some points-sometimes even on the
very same continent.
One of the
most interesting things of the museum, from our point of view, is the circle of
human evolution. There we can see interesting information about our ancestors
and a model of an individual of each one of the species.
 |
| Lucy |
·
Australopithecus: The Australopithecus is the first species that separated
from the big apes and initiated the evolutionary path which leads to man,
approximately 4 million years ago in Africa. They became extinct when the
African forest turned into savannas. Lucy was a biped Australopithecus with the
brain of a chimpanzee, found at the 20th century.
·
Paranthropus Boisei: They had small eyes, a round face and very
developed jaw muscles. They became extinct
more than one million years ago. Although they are nearest to human
beings, they behaved more as a gorilla than as an Australopithecus or a
chimpanzee. They were living in groups led by an alpha male whose role was to
guide them to new sources of food and to protect them from predators and
enemies.
·
Homo Habilis: The Homo Habilis is one of the most ancient species of the
Homo type. They lived in the African region between 1.9 and 1.6 million years
ago. This species is characterized for its big cerebral growth. Due to this,
they were the first in using tools.
·
Homo Georgicus: This species was found in 2002 in Georgia. They stood on
two feet to walk, but the size of their arms allowed them to climb trees. Also,
they used tools for hunting, such as sharp and long bones.
·
Homo Ergaster: They appeared in Africa and in Asia approximately 1.8
million years ago and disappeared 1.5 million years ago. Their proportions were
similar to those of the current human beings and they used fire.
·
Homo Antecessor: It is the species most similar to our species. Its
name, antecessor, refers to that this species: It´s probably the predecessor of
ours.They were common in Europe and Africa.
·
Homo Heidelbergensis: They appeared half a million years ago, with a
great variability and success in their development and European expansion. It
isn´t known much more about this species.
·
Homo Neanderthalensis: Now we know that they aren´t, as it was believed:
a direct ancestor of our species, but they were in a parallel branch in the
evolutionary tree. Some of their characteristics are that they were European,
they used to be blond or red-haired, with green or brown eyes and smaller bodies
due the glacial age. It is also thought that they were allergic to milk.
·
Homo Rhodesiensis: They are our direct ancestors. They appeared 650.000
years ago and disappeared approximately 150.000 years ago. Homo Sapiens had
emerged from them. It was the first species in constructing complex tools.
