Post by Sharon Faulkner on Apr 5, 2006 8:29:12 GMT -5
Ancient remains, modern enigmas
April 4, 2006
Fossils are keepers of time and the discovery of the oldest hominid fossil has thrown up a new mystery - that ‘Home erectus’ had his abode in Narmada valley before evolving as a ‘Homo sapien’, reports V K Joshi.
Thanks to the discovery of very few fossil remains, the antiquity of humans is still an enigma. The Indian sub-continent has many relics of oldest ‘cultural evidences’ such as stone implements, but so far only one oldest hominid fossil has been discovered.
Taking a complete picture of the cultural evidences and fossils of our ancestors through the ages, some Indian palaeo-anthropologists believe that archaic human Homo erectus had his abode in the Narmada valley and from there he migrated in all directions and evolved to Homo sapiens with the passage of time. The other group, which happens to be in majority from the developed world sticks to Africa being the centre for human evolution. The story of ‘out of Africa’ stock is well publicised.
‘Out of Narmada’ is a comparatively new concept put forth by Dr Arun Sonakia ex-director of Geological Survey Of India (GSI) and an expert on hominids. His postulations are based on his own discovery of hominid skull in 1982 from Hathnaura on the bank of Narmada River near Hoshangabad in Madhya Pradesh and interpretation of data available on early human sites of the SAARC region.
Hathnaura Man
Referred as ‘Hathnaura Man’ in the publication of GSI is actually part of the skull of a young woman, approximately 30 years old that probably roamed the banks of Narmada around 5,00,000 years ago. The Hathnaura Man has been identified as Homo erectus which is considered as an archaic man. First time, a Homo erectus was found in 1891 at Trinil near Java, Indonesia. These ancient men had a brain case of 650 to 1250 cm and 1.55 to 1.78 m tall. Homo erectus was the first human ancestor to use fire and hand axe. It was discovered first time in 1891 at Trinil near Java, Indonesia. Presence of this archaic ancestor from Madhya Pradesh takes back the antiquity of our culture far in the time.
The remains (partial cranium) of the ‘Hathnaura Man’ were excavated in December 1982 along with fossils of pre-historic elephants and wild boar. The rock bed on which these remains were discovered is underlain by a rock that has been precisely dated as 0.76 million years old. Close to the site of Homo erectus at Hathnaura is the tool ‘factory’ where stone implements are strewn all over the river bank as if a large number of ‘labourers’ were engaged in carving, ‘choppers’ and ‘axes’ out of the river boulders.
Down south in central Sri Lanka in Batadombalena cave and near Kuruvita Homo sapiens’ skeletal remains around 30,000 to 25,000 years old were reported in 1987 and 1990 respectively. It is true that such fossils have yet to be found in the Indian continent. But it is also a fact that similar fossils have been found close to the border of the SAARC in eastern Afghanistan.
Skeletal evidence
Human skeletons approximately 10, 000 years old have been reported from Bhimbethka near Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh and also from Sarai Nahar and Bagai Khor from the eastern parts of the country. Human skeletal remains showing more evolved and younger forms have been found in the west at Harappa, Lothal and Mohanjo Daro. It appears as if Central India was the central of human evolution in the SAARC region, believes Dr Sonakia.
According to him, the gaps between these finds in terms of periods from which no remains have been found are huge. But he says a complete cultural pre-history can be deciphered from the sites from where the stone implements and Bronze Age relicts are found.
Problem with preservation of hominid remains as fossil lies in their anatomy and habits. The flesh and viscera in case of a burial are decomposed and lost. The bones get fossilised, but minus tendons and ligaments these get disjointed and are thrown apart by the forces of nature like water action.
The stone implements on the other hand remain intact and are available for study. The wander lust of the hominids is another factor that kept them on the move constantly making availability of their remains scarce.
Due to its peculiar geographic location, SAARC region with Himalayan arcade on the north and Indian Ocean on the south must have prevented migration of hominids holds the key for locating more fossil remains.
The Hathnaura ‘Lady’ perhaps became victim of the carnivores in abundance those days. May be someone discovers some lucky ones who escaped the fangs of wild animals and lie buried in the sands of time.
www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/apr42006/snt165025200643.asp
April 4, 2006
Fossils are keepers of time and the discovery of the oldest hominid fossil has thrown up a new mystery - that ‘Home erectus’ had his abode in Narmada valley before evolving as a ‘Homo sapien’, reports V K Joshi.
Thanks to the discovery of very few fossil remains, the antiquity of humans is still an enigma. The Indian sub-continent has many relics of oldest ‘cultural evidences’ such as stone implements, but so far only one oldest hominid fossil has been discovered.
Taking a complete picture of the cultural evidences and fossils of our ancestors through the ages, some Indian palaeo-anthropologists believe that archaic human Homo erectus had his abode in the Narmada valley and from there he migrated in all directions and evolved to Homo sapiens with the passage of time. The other group, which happens to be in majority from the developed world sticks to Africa being the centre for human evolution. The story of ‘out of Africa’ stock is well publicised.
‘Out of Narmada’ is a comparatively new concept put forth by Dr Arun Sonakia ex-director of Geological Survey Of India (GSI) and an expert on hominids. His postulations are based on his own discovery of hominid skull in 1982 from Hathnaura on the bank of Narmada River near Hoshangabad in Madhya Pradesh and interpretation of data available on early human sites of the SAARC region.
Hathnaura Man
Referred as ‘Hathnaura Man’ in the publication of GSI is actually part of the skull of a young woman, approximately 30 years old that probably roamed the banks of Narmada around 5,00,000 years ago. The Hathnaura Man has been identified as Homo erectus which is considered as an archaic man. First time, a Homo erectus was found in 1891 at Trinil near Java, Indonesia. These ancient men had a brain case of 650 to 1250 cm and 1.55 to 1.78 m tall. Homo erectus was the first human ancestor to use fire and hand axe. It was discovered first time in 1891 at Trinil near Java, Indonesia. Presence of this archaic ancestor from Madhya Pradesh takes back the antiquity of our culture far in the time.
The remains (partial cranium) of the ‘Hathnaura Man’ were excavated in December 1982 along with fossils of pre-historic elephants and wild boar. The rock bed on which these remains were discovered is underlain by a rock that has been precisely dated as 0.76 million years old. Close to the site of Homo erectus at Hathnaura is the tool ‘factory’ where stone implements are strewn all over the river bank as if a large number of ‘labourers’ were engaged in carving, ‘choppers’ and ‘axes’ out of the river boulders.
Down south in central Sri Lanka in Batadombalena cave and near Kuruvita Homo sapiens’ skeletal remains around 30,000 to 25,000 years old were reported in 1987 and 1990 respectively. It is true that such fossils have yet to be found in the Indian continent. But it is also a fact that similar fossils have been found close to the border of the SAARC in eastern Afghanistan.
Skeletal evidence
Human skeletons approximately 10, 000 years old have been reported from Bhimbethka near Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh and also from Sarai Nahar and Bagai Khor from the eastern parts of the country. Human skeletal remains showing more evolved and younger forms have been found in the west at Harappa, Lothal and Mohanjo Daro. It appears as if Central India was the central of human evolution in the SAARC region, believes Dr Sonakia.
According to him, the gaps between these finds in terms of periods from which no remains have been found are huge. But he says a complete cultural pre-history can be deciphered from the sites from where the stone implements and Bronze Age relicts are found.
Problem with preservation of hominid remains as fossil lies in their anatomy and habits. The flesh and viscera in case of a burial are decomposed and lost. The bones get fossilised, but minus tendons and ligaments these get disjointed and are thrown apart by the forces of nature like water action.
The stone implements on the other hand remain intact and are available for study. The wander lust of the hominids is another factor that kept them on the move constantly making availability of their remains scarce.
Due to its peculiar geographic location, SAARC region with Himalayan arcade on the north and Indian Ocean on the south must have prevented migration of hominids holds the key for locating more fossil remains.
The Hathnaura ‘Lady’ perhaps became victim of the carnivores in abundance those days. May be someone discovers some lucky ones who escaped the fangs of wild animals and lie buried in the sands of time.
www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/apr42006/snt165025200643.asp