Get it through your once-thick skull.

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
Scientists: Hard heads a key to survival



Clubbing heads may have been part of mating rituals



By Marsha Walton

CNN

Friday, February 13, 2004 Posted: 10:55 AM EST (1555 GMT)



(CNN) -- Get it through your once-thick skull. Scientists say the bulky craniums of the human ancestor, homo erectus, may have helped the species survive some aggressive mating rituals.



After studying fossils in a region called Dragon Bone Hill in China, anthropologist Russell Ciochon of the University of Iowa concluded males of the species were clubbing one another over the head, probably to win females.



Those with thicker skulls who survived these bloody confrontations would pass that trait to offspring, Ciochon said.







This re-creation of homo erectus

shows the thickness of the brow ridge

and the slope of the skull.










...uh, nothing new here...move on.



Comments

  • Reply 1 of 12
    I'm pretty sure that Homo Erectus didn't end up passing genes to the Homo Sapiens. That is, it is a dead end on the tree of advanced apes that ended up yielding Homo Sapiens.
  • Reply 2 of 12
    Yeah, thats the theory anyway.
  • Reply 3 of 12
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Artman @_@

    [B]





    Dude...quit posting picture of Murbot! You know he doesn't like that.



    **DMBand ducks as he hears something fly at his head**
  • Reply 4 of 12
    jimmacjimmac Posts: 11,898member
    You never know what you're going to see here! But, good comparison.
  • Reply 5 of 12
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Splinemodel

    I'm pretty sure that Homo Erectus didn't end up passing genes to the Homo Sapiens. That is, it is a dead end on the tree of advanced apes that ended up yielding Homo Sapiens.



    Is that right? Or are you thinking of Neandertals? Homo Erectus is our ancestor.







    Anyway, tune in to NEXT@CNN at 5pm ET and you'll see my cheap little animation where two Homo Erectus men club each other repeatedly over the head.



  • Reply 6 of 12
    powerdocpowerdoc Posts: 8,123member
    Clubbing head was a good ritual : the thickest head of the two, use to win the contest, and after it, he was becoming even more idiot (after loosing some neuronas in this fight). This is the most idiotic selection bias of the human history
  • Reply 7 of 12
    gargar Posts: 1,201member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Powerdoc

    Clubbing head was a good ritual : the thickest head of the two, use to win the contest, and after it, he was becoming even more idiot (after loosing some neuronas in this fight). This is the most idiotic selection bias of the human history



    that's why they became extinct...
  • Reply 8 of 12
    powerdocpowerdoc Posts: 8,123member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by tonton

    There's absolutely no way he would have been that white and that hairless. Kinda like the classic renaissance depiction of Jesus.



    Perhaps, but we have absolutely no chance to know the color of the skin of our ancestors. When people ask this questions to anthropologists, they smile ...
  • Reply 9 of 12
    jubelumjubelum Posts: 4,490member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Powerdoc

    Perhaps, but we have absolutely no chance to know the color of the skin of our ancestors. When people ask this questions to anthropologists, they smile ...



    They were brown. You pick the shade. It goes for then, it goes for now.
  • Reply 10 of 12
    groveratgroverat Posts: 10,872member
    Grandpa?
  • Reply 11 of 12
    He should have hair coming out of his ears and nose, a bushy unibrow, and a hairy chest that reaches his shoulders, while we're at it.
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