Thread: human family tree.

Is there a chart showing human species relations from homo erectus to present?

Originally Posted by mathman

Is there a chart showing human species relations from homo erectus to present?

The most significant changes in human evolution from Homo erectus to Homo sapiens occurs with the skull.

It is referred to as "Encephalization" - and is associated with an increase in cranial volume.


Wiki has a decent chart on this :

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_evolution


And another on brain size:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_size

Interestingly. some of our cromagnon ancestors appear to have had bigger brains than we do now. Our society encourages specialization, and so we don't need as much. Just enough to know your own job. Whereas some of the cromagnon societies required each person to know how to make every tool.


And then there is the strange case of the Paracas Skull people, who can be shown to have had really big brains, and not from cranial deformation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5W2y6uVTvtk

Forster's work is considered fringe, but he gives strong evidence in some of his works on this, such as the mounting point of the skull where it connects to the neck, and the number of skull plates. Cranial deformation certainly happened in some cultures, but that doesn't automatically mean that every large skull is a deformation. Especially when convincing evidence exists to prove the contrary.

I am an amateur here. I thought complexity rather than size mattered.

Originally Posted by mathman

I thought complexity rather than size mattered.

And you are probably right.

There has been endless debate about brain size and intelligence in humans and our relatives. However, past studies suggest that it is the organization of the brain which imparts most intelligence. Scientific American has a good article on this*. The author makes it pretty clear that :

"... it is a brain's underlying organization and molecular activity at its synapses (the communication junctions between neurons through which nerve impulses pass) that dictate intelligence."

end quote.

Of course there is substantial debate on all of this. But it does stand to reason, that at some level of size, "underlying organization and molecular activity" must dominate with regard to intelligence.


"Fact or Fiction: When It Comes to Intelligence, Does Brain Size Matter?"

* https://www.scientificamerican.com/a...n-size-matter/