Toumai, The Oldest Relative of the Human Race Essay example -- Anthrop

Toumai, The Oldest Relative of the Human Race Discoveries relating to the human beings lineage are passing exciting and often baffling. This is the case with the recent discovery of what seems to be the oldest penis of the human family. A skull found in northern Chad in 2001, has been deemed the earlier relative to the human ever found. Nicknamed Toumai, and discovered by Michel Brunet and his paleontology team, this new category of human has been given the scientific name, Sahelanthropus tchaensis. What makes this skull so authorised is the fact that it dates back approximately 6-7 million years in the worldly concerns history (Whitfield 2002). Since the discovery there have been anthropologists and paleontologists that have dispute the hominid status of Toumai (Evans 2002), but many, especially those involved in the purpose of the skull still believe that they have the oldest relative to the human race we fill out today. The kind of attention that comes from dis covering a fossil that may challenge preexist notions of human lineage is massive. When the findings were first published in Nature and intuition, scientific journals, the news spread like wildfire and every news artificial lake from ABC to the BBC had the story covered. A discovery of this magnitude is highly grave considering it can alter thoughts about the beginnings of the human line and cause an turmoil in the science community in terms of the way human evolution is looked at. BBC News was one of the sources that covered this story when the discovery was made. Their uncomplicated article stated, Scientists say it is the most important discovery in the chase for the origins of humankind since the first Australopithecus ape-man remains were found in Africa i... ...s. Touma, the ancestor of the human ones. http//www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0%402-3328,36-331868,0.htmlEvans, Mark., 2002, Ancient Skulls Species in Dispute. Philadelphia Inquirer. http//www.mercurynews. com/mld/inquirer/living/science/4249114.htmGibbons, Ann., 2002, One Scientists Quest for The Origin of our Species. Science, v. 298. http//rcp.missouri.edu/carolward/pdfs/quotebrunetpiece.pdf Meek, James., 2002, varlet or Man? Toumai hailed as our oldest ancestor, is stirring ancient scientific rivalries. defender News,http//www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,808955,00.htmlNoble, Ivan., 2002, Astonishing Skull Unearthed in Africa. BBC News, http//news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/2118055.stmWhitfield, John., 2002, Oldest part of Human Family Found. Nature, Science Update, http//www.nature.com/nsu/020708/020708-12.html