Together for the first time, amazing images of Man's early ancestors

[Poll_Blind]

From The Daily Mail in the UK:

Emerging from the gloom these spectacular skull reconstructions tell mankind's story of evolution.

Gathering bone fragments from across the globe, scientists have created these images of what man looked like millions of years ago.

Paleoanthropologists used sophisticated research methods to form the 27 model heads, which are on show at the Senckenberg Natural History Museum in Frankfurt, Germany.

Many, many awesome pictures at the link above

Amazing images. I had no idea how similar to modern humans some of those ancient ancestors looked.

In fact, I would totally date the girl versions of some of those ancient ancestors as far back as 1.6 million years ago.

That's right: I would totally tap that past! :evilgrin:

Obviously, my proto-human ancestors must've felt the same way! Anything farther back in the evolutionary line and they'd really have to be monied or I'd have to be into the Gray Abduction kink- *COUGH* Homo rudolfensis *COUGH*.

PB

[grantcart]

1. What a scam those are simply head shots from the Republican Senate Caucus

[UrbScotty]

2. How DARE you insult these human ancestors

by comparing them to Senate Republicans!

Shame on you!

:evilgrin:

[Cirque du So-What]

3. This guy looks familiar

This skull was fashioned from a skull and jaw found in the remains of 17 pre-humans (nine adults, three youths and five children) which were discovered in the Afar Region of Ethiopia in 1975. They are believed to have lived 3.2million years ago

If my Photoshop skills were worth a damn, I'd attempt to demonstrate that a bust of none other than Arbusto W. Fuckstick was used as a model.

[Posteritatis]

14. ... Can't unsee it now. (nt)

[rusty quoin]

4. Nova did a 3 part series on our ancestors last year.

Called "Becoming Human," it was fantastic. I was amazed at the things like how many varieties of humans there were and the fact that all homo sapiens originated from a group of around 30.

Highly recommended: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/beta/evolution/becoming-human-part-1.html

[Poll_Blind]

5. Bookmarked to check out later- thanks! n/t

PB

[lazarus]

6. really neat

That is some cool stuff.

[frogmarch]

7. WOW, awesome is right!

Fabulous! Thanks!

Those reconstructions are amazing.

[frogmarch]

8. I see what you mean

about Homo rudolfensis. He certainly has an ET look about him.

[Lisa0825]

9. Very interesting!

Thanks for posting, and thanks for encouraging me to click. I might have passed over it if not for your blinking note! LOL! :-)

[Odin2005]

10. That is cool!

[gtar100]

11. Imagine 400,000 years ago making javalins. There must have been more than

just hairy, naked people foraging through the forest as they clubbed each other over the head in search of mates. No, there must have been actual cultures, in whatever form or stage of development, passing in and out of existence. Our concept of 2,000 years being ancient history is far too shallow. Those 2,000 years have happened for people 200, 400, maybe 1000 times or more through the many forms of people this earth has created.

I bet the water was cleaner, the air was pure and it was good to go out in the day and come home later to a warm fire, lots of friends, and a warm bed for the night. The hours, minutes and seconds those people had under this same sun must have felt like heaven at times. Spending a day listening to the sounds of a stream, the wind through the trees, the insects, birds and animals in the forest, laughing and talking with friends (however crude or undeveloped we might imagine). Their lives were as real as the breath you take even now with each moment passing as this one. But so much happened and it was so long ago that their real names are completely forgotten, their languages completely unknown.

It's easy to imagine the harshness of life given our violent history but it must not have been that way all the time. Why do we have such a fondness for beauty and art and such an enduring aspiration for joy? To even have want of these is to know that they exist and are possible. What would we care for them if they weren't burned into our genetics? Those thousands upon thousands of years have instilled in us our highest ideals and hopes, not just a basic survival instinct. I have a feeling that life itself is not bound by the human form to seek its highest ideals. But here on earth, it's been lived out by many types of people over ages. And through archeology, fragments of those memories are awakened.

[miyazaki]

12. yep, we can trace everything back to the bush.

[Poll_Blind]

13. That was beautiful, thanks for posting that. n/t

PB