Our speaker today was Jeremy DeSilva|Professor|Dartmouth College.
Jeremy DeSilva
Professor DeSilva is:
- Chair of Anthropology,
- Professor of Anthropology,
- Faculty in Ecology, Evolution, Environment and Society (EEES) graduate program
- Honorary Research Fellow, Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa
One of Many Publications
- First Steps: How Upright Walking Made Us Human, 2021, Winner of the W.W. Howells Book Prize from the American Anthropological Association and named one of the best science books of 2021 by Science News
Discoveries
- Jeremy DeSilva is an anthropologist at Dartmouth College. He is part of the research team that discovered and described two ancient members of the human family tree—Australopithecus sediba and Homo naledi.
From his short bio:
Jeremy “Jerry” DeSilva is a paleoanthropologist, specializing in the locomotion of the first apes (hominoids) and early human ancestors (hominins). His particular anatomical expertise– the human foot and ankle– has contributed to our understanding of the origins and evolution of upright walking in the human lineage. He has studied wild chimpanzees in Western Uganda and early human fossils in throughout Eastern and South Africa. From 1998-2003, Jerry worked as an educator at the Boston Museum of Science and continues to be passionate about science education. He is the author of the 2021 book First Steps: How Upright Walking Made Us Human. Jerry lives in Norwich, VT with his wife Erin and their twins Ben and Josie.
From a review of his book, First Steps: How Upright Walking Made Us Human, from Agustin Fuentes, Professor of Anthropology, Princeton University wrote:
“DeSilva takes us on a brilliant, fun, and scientifically deep stroll through history, anatomy, and evolution, in order to illustrate the powerful story of how a particular mode of movement helped make us one of the most wonderful, dangerous and fascinating species on Earth.
I believe this quote describes what Professor DeSilva did during his presentation at our Rotary meeting today. His talk was a brilliant, fun, and a scientific stroll though history that provided us with information about our human species. He took us back 6 million years and briefly described what he has learned, and how much more history may still be unearthed.
He talked about our shared history with Chimpanzees and that we have a similar but different genetic codes from 6 million years ago. Since I was concerned that I might not be able to relay all the information he shared, I went exploring on the web to learn more about his research and interest in human locomotion.
“Paleoanthropologist Jeremy DeSilva explores how unusual and extraordinary this seemingly ordinary ability is. A seven-million-year journey to the very origins of the human lineage, First Steps shows how upright walking was a gateway to many of the other attributes that make us human—from our technological abilities, our thirst for exploration, our use of language–and may have laid the foundation for our species’ traits of compassion, empathy, and altruism. Moving from developmental psychology labs to ancient fossil sites throughout Africa and Eurasia, DeSilva brings to life our adventure walking on two legs.”
“Humans are the only mammals to walk on two, rather than four legs—a locomotion known as bipedalism. We strive to be upstanding citizens, honor those who stand tall and proud, and take a stand against injustices. We follow in each other’s footsteps and celebrate a child’s beginning to walk. But why, and how, exactly, did we take our first steps? And at what cost? Bipedalism has its drawbacks: giving birth is more difficult and dangerous; our running speed is much slower than other animals; and we suffer from a variety of ailments, from hernias to sinus problems.”
DeSilva provided an overview of the exploration and research he has done with at team of anthropologist in South Africa, and finding skeletal remains of our ancient ancestors. He shared how technology has helped anthropologists to find new sites for exploration in South Africa. There have been 300 new caves found to explore for remains.
One of the Cave Entry Points
Two of the most complete skeletons from 3 million years ago were found by the 12-year-old son of an anthropologist who tripped and looked back and thought he saw a fossil. The son shouted this out to his father who came to look expecting it to be from an animal, only to be surprised to see that it was a clavicle of a young boy about the same age as his son. This led to further excavation and finding the finding of skeletons of a new lineage, named, Homo Naledi.
Clavicle and Tooth
From a brief AI summary:
Homo Naledi is an extinct hominin species with a mix of primitive and modern traits. The discovery of this species in 2015 has led to many debates and insights about human evolution.
Physical characteristics
- Size: Similar to small modern humans, with adult males about 5 ft tall
- Brain: Small braincase, about one third the size of Homo sapiens
- Hands: Human-like adaptations for manipulation
- Feet: Human-like lower limbs
- Posture: Upright stance and bipedal locomotion
DeSilva then shared another story of two cave explorers, Rick Hunter and Steve Tucker, who saw a very small crack (I think it was less than 18 inches wide) in a rock in a cave, that they decided to further explore. This led them to a chamber, now called the Lesedi Chamber, with skeletal remains for 15 Homo Naledi. The fossils were dated to between 335,000 and 236,000 years ago. A call then went out for very skinny/small anthropologists to come and help excavate the camber. Not a task for anyone with claustrophobia. DiSilva described the people who went into the cave as underground astronauts.
Map of the Chamber and Excavating the Chamber
There is a web page that has been created to make anthropology information more accessible to everyone, www.morphosource.org
My thanks to Jeremy DeSilva for an such an informative trip through history.
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