Zimmer Chp 5 & 6

When reading chapters 5 and 6 of Zimmer's Origin of the Mind, it gave me an insight how many types of human classifications lead up to the homo-sapiens that we know today. Classification lead from the way the thumb was positioned on the hand to how straight the hominid walked during his time. Zimmer also showed pictures in how long and different skeletal bones were during those times. That lead Zimmer to talk about how mother nurtured there youngs and how chimpanzees seemed similar in nurturing there offspring. The tools that were used in that time were found all over continents making it show that these hominids were able to travel in groups to capture the food resources that they needed to survive. Also over time their bodies show that they changed to accommodate the harsh climate changes.

Paleoanthropologists also today rely on "reconstruction" to continue the study of these hominids. They collect unburied skulls and use tools take continue building whats missing from the facial features on the skull. The mentor session, I think, that taught this group led discussion did great in teaching what needed to be learned from these articles; made everything come together.

Human Origins

I found Human origins by Carl Zimmer to be quite interesting. It’s weird to think about how far the human race has come. We started with nothing but the materials we could find in our environment now I’m typing this homework from home on a computer when my television is on commercials. Ha ha try to explain that one to Homo ergaster. Though the reading was interesting I found it hard for me to remember the names and eras of these early hominids. Then just the other day I was thinking that we will probably never get the real answer about where we came from with the huge increase of the world population and urban sprawl researchers won’t be able to dig up bones when there are housing developments and mini malls covering the land.

Devon DeCamp