Anthropology Interview Question:

Could you explain to me what evidence is utilized to support the claim that humans have evolved over time from earlier forms?

Submitted by: Administrator

There are several sorts of evidence that point to contemporary Homo sapiens evolving from archaic ones.

Well firstly, apart from a high diversity of the hominid fossil record, there is the obvious phenotypic resemblance that humans and apes share. Between humans and the apes, there needed to be some form more progressive than apes- a sort of missing link. Modern science recognizes that our ancestor was a life form that differed from contemporary gorillas and chimps. Humans are not descended from gorillas or chimps. Rather, humans and the African apes share a common ancestor- a creature that was like the apes in some ways, and like humans in others. Over time, all three species have evolved and must have diverged from one another. To add, DNA analysis of humans, chimps and gorillas have offered us a precise answer: Human ancestors almost certainly diverged from those of chimps and gorillas late in the Miocene epoch, between 7-5 million years ago.
Submitted by: Administrator