Dr. Henry Gee
👤 PersonAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
Here is a skull I prepared earlier. This was a sheep skull I found when I was nine. And if you look, that's the hole where the spinal cord would go in. And it's right at the back of the head. It's right at the back. So if you look at the base of the skull, there's the hole. It's called the foramen magnum, which is Latin for big hole. So let's call it a big hole where the spinal cord goes in.
Here is a skull I prepared earlier. This was a sheep skull I found when I was nine. And if you look, that's the hole where the spinal cord would go in. And it's right at the back of the head. It's right at the back. So if you look at the base of the skull, there's the hole. It's called the foramen magnum, which is Latin for big hole. So let's call it a big hole where the spinal cord goes in.
Here is a skull I prepared earlier. This was a sheep skull I found when I was nine. And if you look, that's the hole where the spinal cord would go in. And it's right at the back of the head. It's right at the back. So if you look at the base of the skull, there's the hole. It's called the foramen magnum, which is Latin for big hole. So let's call it a big hole where the spinal cord goes in.
In hominins, that is members of the human family, that hole is moved much further to the center. So the skull would balance on top. And that indicates the one thing that suggests that the owner of the skull was a hominin. And that means a member of the lineage that led to humans as distinct from our closest relatives, chimpanzees. And so Sahelanthropus
In hominins, that is members of the human family, that hole is moved much further to the center. So the skull would balance on top. And that indicates the one thing that suggests that the owner of the skull was a hominin. And that means a member of the lineage that led to humans as distinct from our closest relatives, chimpanzees. And so Sahelanthropus
In hominins, that is members of the human family, that hole is moved much further to the center. So the skull would balance on top. And that indicates the one thing that suggests that the owner of the skull was a hominin. And that means a member of the lineage that led to humans as distinct from our closest relatives, chimpanzees. And so Sahelanthropus
That was pretty much the only thing that showed that Sir Halanthoffus was a hominin. It looked very ape-like in every other way, but that crucial feature marked it out as closer to living. It's not an ancestor. It's not a missing link. What it means is that it is closer to modern humans than to modern apes. So it is the first sign of something being on our lineage.
That was pretty much the only thing that showed that Sir Halanthoffus was a hominin. It looked very ape-like in every other way, but that crucial feature marked it out as closer to living. It's not an ancestor. It's not a missing link. What it means is that it is closer to modern humans than to modern apes. So it is the first sign of something being on our lineage.
That was pretty much the only thing that showed that Sir Halanthoffus was a hominin. It looked very ape-like in every other way, but that crucial feature marked it out as closer to living. It's not an ancestor. It's not a missing link. What it means is that it is closer to modern humans than to modern apes. So it is the first sign of something being on our lineage.
Yes, I mean, it is central. One of the reasons we can tell is that no other mammal has a skull like that with the foramen magnum underneath. Bipedality, certainly of that style, is absolutely unique to modern humans. I mean, there were an awfully long time ago some apes that tried to be bipedal, but they were kind of bipedal in different ways. They were more definitely apes.
Yes, I mean, it is central. One of the reasons we can tell is that no other mammal has a skull like that with the foramen magnum underneath. Bipedality, certainly of that style, is absolutely unique to modern humans. I mean, there were an awfully long time ago some apes that tried to be bipedal, but they were kind of bipedal in different ways. They were more definitely apes.
Yes, I mean, it is central. One of the reasons we can tell is that no other mammal has a skull like that with the foramen magnum underneath. Bipedality, certainly of that style, is absolutely unique to modern humans. I mean, there were an awfully long time ago some apes that tried to be bipedal, but they were kind of bipedal in different ways. They were more definitely apes.
But they all died out a long time ago, and there's some rather suggestive footprints that are kind of five million years old. Some people think they belong to bipedal creatures. Some people don't think they're footprints at all. And there were apes that lived much longer ago, 14 million years or so. There's one called Aureopithecus that lived in what is now Tuscany.
But they all died out a long time ago, and there's some rather suggestive footprints that are kind of five million years old. Some people think they belong to bipedal creatures. Some people don't think they're footprints at all. And there were apes that lived much longer ago, 14 million years or so. There's one called Aureopithecus that lived in what is now Tuscany.
But they all died out a long time ago, and there's some rather suggestive footprints that are kind of five million years old. Some people think they belong to bipedal creatures. Some people don't think they're footprints at all. And there were apes that lived much longer ago, 14 million years or so. There's one called Aureopithecus that lived in what is now Tuscany.
might have been bipedal, but it died out. But this particular mark of bipedality, the hole, where the position of the hole in the skull is really what marks a hominin, something that is on the human line, as it were, in the human family.
might have been bipedal, but it died out. But this particular mark of bipedality, the hole, where the position of the hole in the skull is really what marks a hominin, something that is on the human line, as it were, in the human family.