Читать книгу Introducing Anthropology - Laura Pountney - Страница 17

Following Darwin’s contributions, the field of genetics emerged, which went into more detail in explaining biological variation. Gregor Mendel (1822–84) was a naturalist and a monk who made a series of original discoveries in the field of genetics that eventually provided support to Darwin’s theory of natural selection.

More recently, geologists have been able to divide the history of the Earth into specific periods or epochs. It is now generally agreed by scientists, archaeologists and anthropologists that the group of primates to which humans belong, known as hominins, first appeared 6–7 million years ago, with modern humans (Homo sapiens) appearing around 200,000 years ago. Paleoanthropology (the study of human fossil remains) and anthropological genetics (the comparative study of genes in humans and other species) have made significant progress in reconstructing the steps that led from our earliest ancestors to modern humans. Since the earliest forms of life date back to 4,000 million years ago, human beings are a relatively recent species in the history of life on planet Earth.

hominins Primates, species who are closely related to human beings or who are regarded as human

paleoanthropology The study of extinct early primates and fossil remains of early primates