The Humans That Lived Before Us

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As more and more fossil ancestors have been found, our genus has become more and more inclusive, incorporating more members that look less like us, Homo sapiens. By getting to know these other hominins--the ones who came before us--we can start to answer some big questions about what it essentially means to be human.
Thanks as always to Nobu Tamura for allowing us to use his wonderful paleoart: spinops.blogspo...
Thanks to Julio Lacerda and Studio 252mya for the hominin illustrations. You can find more of Julio's work here: 252mya.com/gal...
Produced for PBS Digital Studios.
Super special thanks to the following Patreon patrons for helping make Eons possible:
Katie Fichtner, Anthony Callaghan, Renzo Caimi Ordenes, John Vanek, Neil H. Gray, Marilyn Wolmart, Esmeralda Rupp-Spangle, Gregory Donovan, Ehit Dinesh Agarwal, الخليفي سلطان , Gabriel Cortez, Marcus Lejon, Robert Arévalo, Robert Hill, Kelby Reid, Todd Dittman, Betsy Radley, PS, Colin Sylvester, Philip Slingerland, Jose Garcia, Eric Vonk, Tony Wamsley, Henrik Peteri, Jonathan Wright, Jon Monteiro, James Bording, Brad Nicholls, Miles Chaston, Michael McClellan, Jeff Graham, Maria Humphrey, Nathan Paskett, Connor Jensen, Daisuke Goto, Hubert Rady, Yuntao Zhou, Gregory Kintz, Tyson Cleary, Chandler Bass, Maly Lor, Joao Ascensao, Tsee Lee, Sarah Fritts, Ruben Winter, Ron Harvey Jr, Jacob Gerke, Alex Yan
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References:
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/ the-plot-to-kill-homo-...
Antón, S. C., Potts, R., & Aiello, L. C. (2014). Evolution of early Homo: an integrated biological perspective. Science, 345(6192), 1236828.
Gibbons, A. (2015). Deep roots for the genus Homo.
Haile-Selassie, Y., Latimer, B. M., Alene, M., Deino, A. L., Gibert, L., Melillo, S. M., ... & Lovejoy, C. O. (2010). An early Australopithecus afarensis postcranium from Woranso-Mille, Ethiopia. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 107(27), 12121-12126.
Leakey, L. S., Tobias, P. V., & Napier, J. R. (1964). A new species of the genus Homo from Olduvai Gorge.
Schwartz, J. H., & Tattersall, I. (2015). Defining the genus Homo. Science, 349(6251), 931-932.
Susman, R. L. (1994). Fossil evidence for early hominid tool use. Science, 265(5178), 1570-1573.
Villmoare, B., Kimbel, W. H., Seyoum, C., Campisano, C. J., DiMaggio, E. N., Rowan, J., ... & Reed, K. E. (2015). Early Homo at 2.8 Ma from Ledi-Geraru, Afar, Ethiopia. Science, 347(6228), 1352-1355.
Wood, B. (1992). Origin and evolution of the genus Homo. Nature, 355(6363), 783.
Wood, B. (1999). 'Homo rudolfensis' Alexeev, 1986-fact or phantom?. Journal of human evolution, 36(1), 115.
Wood, B. (2014). Human evolution: Fifty years after Homo habilis. Nature News, 508(7494), 31.
Wood, B., & Collard, M. (1999). The human genus. Science, 284(5411), 65-71.

[@theblakeslees7065]

I think the most uniquely human characteristic is the desire to categorize everything

[@f.j7086]

not true. Many animals show capability to classify. It is a fundamental aspect of neural network learning. Humans are only better at devising rigorous mathematics to augment what the brain can already do.

[@Daswassuphomie]

Well said Austin B

[@jodjadien]

The most uniquely human Characteristic is the ability to self destruct and create unrealistic goals and lifestyles that contradict the DNA which gave us the ability to be the weakest creature at the top of the food chain.

[@Burn_Angel]

@@jodjadien Nope, ants and bees do that too. Then, I would've said making complex hunting weapons, like spears, is what defines humans, but we recently saw a chimp using a spear too, so...yeah, classifing humanity in a single category is really hard.

[@jodjadien]

Burn Angel bees and ants aren’t destroying the planet.

[@qus.9617]

Number of hominins isn't what blows my mind. That's normal. It's the fact that only we survived.

[@Xpistos510]

Quinn. S. That is to be seen. Climate Change still threatens us. And for ideological reasons, we are dragging our feet in taking action. We’ve come a long way, but I don’t think we cognitively evolved fast enough.

[@Nnoitraluver]

I believe it has to be our intelligence and innovation!

[@Boogaboioringale]

Actually, most”homo sapiens” have Neanderthal and/or Denisovan genes in their DNA. Therefore, “we” or not the only one to survive.

[@omartistry]

We are the last of our kind tho

[@adrianalainez8499]

We killed everyone off.

[@sterno5119]

As a German native speaker I must confess that your annotators are the most understandable for a foreigner. It's always a gas to listen to. Unfortunately there had been nothing like this before in earlier decades. All these marvellous channels of pure information. I hope I'll stay young in mind many years to come from now. I'm 70 yo

[@baleoconnell9216]

When im 70 I hope to be like you, still curious about the world, still with a hunger to learn, still young in mind.

[@TheMrJizzus]

You people return my faith on mankind, you are gorgeous

[@nguyenhuy6742]

" a gas to listen to" 😂😬

[@lewismassie]

"one of the most complete of Australopithecus Afarensis ever found" *shows like 20 bones* Honestly how on earth palaeontologists manage to figure anything out astounds me

[@ryandika7443]

How does sceintist know lucy the australopithecus was female?

[@user-ln6br5md1q]

You can identify a human skeleton just by examining the pelvis or even just certain parts of the skull.

[@AlexAzureOtaku]

they're pretty great at what they do, aren't they?

[@silavor7214]

@@ryandika7443 Our style of bipedalism encourages a pelvic shape that makes live birth extraordinarily difficult. Because these two competing evolutionary pressures (walking upright better vs giving birth without dying) are both pushing towards two completely incompatible pelvic shapes, the end result is that a hominin female's pelvis is shaped quite differently from a male's pelvis. That shape difference is quite pronounced if you know what to look for, which is how professionals can confidently identify the sex of hominin remains that contain a pelvis. There are also slight differences in skull morphology as well, but they're not nearly as obvious as the pelvis.

[@ManicPandaz]

That’s why it takes many years of study and school to be a palaeontologist. In the same way it’s amazing a nuclear scientist can turn a lump of warm grey metal into a thermonuclear bomb able to kill millions. Knowledge is a powerful thing.

[@crookedpaths6612]

Kids from the Pleistocene Epoch will relate to this: "I'm so misunderstood. I don't even know which group I belong. I don't feel I'm part of this hominin family anymore".

[@goosemaster5million316]

Only 40,000 BC kids will remember

[@StefanVeenstra]

Just to give extinct species another chance, I guess it won't take long for the next hipster to identify as a separate hominin.

[@markhollas7585]

@@goosemaster5million316 BCE.. Its the PC correction to the abbreviation. Never the less, you be you.

[@where_my_biscuitbih2815]

Kawerau Woods your human 🤷‍♂️

[@keithmoriyama5421]

No your a gender fluid hominid.

[@ashtonhuntoon3077]

Falling down the rabbit hole of hominid and other evolutionary videos seems to be a common habit of mine lately. And I’m just SO happy that Eons is here for it ❤️

[@chariezwane3981]

I've been obsessed with Neanderthals since I found a book about them in the school library in eighth grade. This series really brings it together. Have seen the Nova one?

[@ashtonhuntoon3077]

@@chariezwane3981 not yet but it’s definitely on my radar! Have you?

[@ashtonhuntoon3077]

@mike stambaugh of course they did ☺️

[@Flavor639]

I’m right there with you, I’m alwaysssss down to indulge in this rabbit hole 🕳 When I saw the words “Human Evolution Learning Playlist”, well…I felt things 🥹 😂

[@chariezwane3981]

@Rhonda Clark I do not think this message was meant for me.

[@coryman125]

Every time I watch one of these videos, I think to myself "I'd like to have my skeleton fossilised so I can either enlighten or confuse any potential scientists in the future, whatever species they may be"

[@ocean2824]

That's hilarious. Scientists are just guessing anyways, I think those scientist are call "Homo Iguessus".

[@RichardKoenigsberg]

@ben nichols Funny!

[@nooraqueen2716]

Your so dumb they already have proof and pictures and videos and studies of us and medical studies and records

[@moshpitsandbongrips6998]

Ra Mage 🔥🔥🔥

[@kairuannewambui8456]

Ra Mage 😂😂😂😂😂

[@evanrigel954]

it always gives me chills looking at other hominids. they look so much like us, and yet they all went extinct thousands upon thousands of years ago. i wonder, if we saw them alive today, what they'd look like? after all, we only have fragmentary remains, and although that can tell us a lot, skeletons don't always look that mich like the living being they came from

[@jimmyjames3466]

Pure Rust that’s racist man

[@harish2309]

What's more interesting or depressing depends on how you view it is that many of these so called smaller brained and primitive hominids have survived for millions of years. Humans are barely 200k years old and we are already looking at mass extinction due to nuclear disasters or climate change. Looks like having a bigger brain is not exactly an indicator of being a successful species. The irony is that we may be the most intelligent hominids and also the ones that lived the shortest amount of time cause we were just too greedy for our own good

[@spindash64]

I also wonder just how similar they were mentally. Like, would I be able to hold a conversation with one?

[@ArgUsaIsr]

@@harish2309 That might be the dumbest thing I've ever read

[@ArgUsaIsr]

@@spindash64 Depends. Neanderthals were arguably just as intelligent as we were and with the exception of their inability to pronounce some vowel sounds, you could probably have a conversation with them.

[@pmat4]

If we keep going and history keeps happening it’s going to take forever to teach history class

[@thiskal]

History only encompasses the time since we had writings. Before that it is called prehistory.

[@WeerdMunkee]

Not in America they won’t. They’ll just keep teaching the wildly abridged version they’ve always taught. If things keep going the way they’re going, kids will be taught history via Tik-Tok. 🙄

[@thatb1h855]

eh history classes always teach pre-chosen periods of time. like in my last semester of history before i dropped it all we looked at was wwii and aboriginal history. before that, in years 7, 8 and 9, we looked at ancient civilisations and again aboriginals. in my friends’ classes they’re learning about the prohibition period and either wwi or wwii again im not sure. anyway what im trying to say is that they’ll just update the class again and maybe instead of wwii they might choose wwiii dunno

[@Jg-me9ny]

Weerd Munky tiktok is full of a bunch of idiots I swear people think they know everything from there

[@Jg-me9ny]

The only history they teach us now is slavery and it just seems to cut off their

[@Alexaflohr]

Eons, can we talk about the tethitherians? The evolution of elephants and their close relatives, and how a diverse clade of mammals got reduced down to only elephants and manatees?

[@tarri16]

I think you misspelled tethytherians, but I agree that would be really interesting

[@elias9746]

More elephants please thank you

[@Alexaflohr]

@@tarri16 Thank you. Fixed that.

[@nellieprice4035]

Thiz is good idea yes

[@EpiphanyDraws]

if that means i have to look at that horrid elephantid with a trunk mouth then im gonna go ahead and veto that

[@joaomonteiro7063]

3+ Million years of evolution, stone tools and whatnot, so that in 3000 years we evolve out of proportions, and in 100 years we go from horse-riding to the moon.

[@joshuaw7157]

HIS-STORY.....

[@khanyisilebotshelo8362]

That doesn't sound right 😹😹😹

[@joshuaw7157]

@Rahman Rahman simply related.. they talk about finding different skills.. Africans have a history of skill enlongation and shaping.. they are ancient african human species and also beings from ancient egypt mythology.. They dont like religion and will find anything to explain it away

[@lazypotato6743]

@Rahman Rahman no ones cares what u believe evolution has evidence

[@MrBottlecapBill]

Evolution and technology are different things. Not related to each other in any way other than indirectly. Humans aren't the only ones to use tools........other animals use them but never make better ones(yet). There are still primitive stone age humans on earth who haven't invented anything new in millenia. Again, they're unrelated and progress for different reasons based on different criteria.

[@semajyo9628]

The fact that we have figured out this much is crazy...and I’m sure it’s only the surface

[@1232-e7b]

And now we are here typing KZbin comments with electricity, food, etc

[@darth856]

Sadly there is so much that we will never know, that has ben lost to time. We can only look at these fragmentary remains and take our best guess.

[@nikicarrie4071]

Agree

[@AddisonBlue]

Not everything we've discovered helped, though.

[@MargoMB19]

For me this is one of the most interesting human-related Eons videos I've seen so far, I have a lot of memories of learning about all these different classifications in school and back then it sounded so simple, so cut-and-dried. This channel in general, and this video especially, makes me realize just how uncertain these classifications are and how little we *really* learned in school.

[@davidhallett8783]

When i think back on all the crap i learned in high school. It s a wonder i can think at all

[@WannonCreekWildlife]

Could you do a video on the evolution of crocodilians? 🐊🐊🐊 I do educational videos on Australian wildlife (which obviously includes crocs) and so many people think they are dinosaurs and don’t realise how many crazy body plans crocodilmorphs had throughout history

[@tompossessed1729]

Yes crocodile are divsise as heck I mean there were land crocodiles and armadillos crocodiles. Btw is it possible that deinosuchus can grow to 50 ft

[@OmateYayami]

hey! I am with you here dude but you're about a 1,37mio years too early. U missed ur slot, you gotta wait for next one. Sincery, a fellow mammalian.

[@justcallmeSheriff]

I'm with this guy. Terrestrial crocodiles died out within the last few thousand years, as did fully marine species with paddle limbs. When we see crocs and gators, we are seeing the remnant of a very diverse group that includes very strange and amazing animals.

[@loumightwearahatt.1897]

@@beachface1050 dude stop commenting stupid stuff on all the comments

[@i.i.iiii.i.i]

@@tompossessed1729 50 feet... ... still processing .... ....15,24 m! That's huge :P

[@Skydog6301]

Today I learned that humanity is just one big Ship of Theseus

[@NorthForkFisherman]

So is all life - all the way back to LUCA. A little replacement here. A little addition there...

[@duckmouse-ts5yx]

your profile pic looks like shane madej

[@wahn10]

100% accurate.

[@ZombieX13]

Forget this. I'm a turtle now.

[@sanjayrane4628]

Who & how creates first human on tthis earth?

[@ZombieX13]

@@sanjayrane4628 Barry Gibb

[@KillzFN-YT]

Sanjay Rane evolution duh

[@ra_alf9467]

Sea turtle, mate... Sea turle

[@freshlikeyomama]

Ra Alf actually i think hes a teenage mutant ninja turtle 🐢 hahah

[@lordundeadrat]

This is the inescapable issue you run in to when you try to put categories around things that change gradually. If we had an intact fossil from every human-like creature over the last five million years. The argument of where one lineage ends and another begins would never end.

[@JRobbySh]

“Gradualism" is one of the underlying presupposition of neo-Darwinism. Five million years may seem a long while to use, but a short period of time in terms of geological history. On the other hand, environments seems to change far more quickly than Darwin and his contemporaries thought. Adaptation is going to be driven by the nature of the environment. We and other other affect that environment.

[@johnndamascene]

Agreed. It makes sense for us to classify the specimens we find by species, but if we look at how incrediblely diverse human morphology is today, then it is quite logical to suppose our ancestors were even more diverse

[@maryjeanjones1940]

@@JRobbySh - Evolution is totally amazing and it's still ongoing today.

[@JRobbySh]

@@maryjeanjones1940 Creation is ongoing. The difference in the two statements is that Evolution is perceived as a demiurge, and disconnected from us as persons.

[@garrymunro7304]

@@JRobbySh By you]] guys by

[@dhutch71]

I attended a lecture /slideshow by Dr. Louis S.B. Leakey in 1968 at University of California at Riverside. He presented his & his wife Mary's discovery of Homo habilis at Olduvai Gorge in Kenya and discussed his theory of an African origin of humans. Soon after this event, I decided to declare Geology as my major. Dr. Leakey would not be surprised at all of the Homo specimens found since his discovery.

[@larryparis925]

Wow... great story! I heard his and Mary's son, Richard, give a wonderful talk in Great Bend, Kansas, around 1978, when I was studying anthropology at Kansas State University. The Leakeys... what an incredible family.

[@redflamearrow7113]

Richard Leakey gave my parents a stone hand axe made about a million years ago according to the Smithsonian.

[@dhutch71]

@@redflamearrow7113 That is such a gift.... treasure it always!

[@redflamearrow7113]

I always have and always will.

[@Kumalala_Homophobic]

@@redflamearrow7113 wow 😲

[@veggieboyultimate]

We're going to need a lot more paper to draw our family tree, dad.😐

[@thecrippledpancake9455]

Veggieboy Ultimate. If you make a family tree you need to have set rules for who gets included. Otherwise you’ll have to put in all species alive and all that have ever lived because we’re ALL related.

[@Matheus_Braz]

@@thecrippledpancake9455 imagine how many layers of cousin I am to you 🤔

[@Rqptor_omega]

Dad: *brings in 100000 A1 size paper* I am prepared for our family tree boy

[@mewe1717]

@@Rqptor_omega "grandama lucy is stillout the picture we need more"

[@woodyfireylover9996]

I’m an fish

[@crazycatlady39]

So we have more 'cousins' then 'siblings' in our family tree.

[@manh385]

@John Barber Pls, he may not a native speaker ... Evolve 😅

[@PaintedHoundie]

[Alabama Intensifies]

[@crabbyappleseed8190]

Not to mention our extraterrestrial cousins.....

[@VaxzaLimeIsCool]

Kru that right My family tree is upside down

[@idunnosomethingiguess3941]

It's because we killed the rest

[@Ky-id1fr]

Imagine time travelling and going back to this time. It would be so scary walking around as the same time as them 😬

[@t.c.thompson2359]

You would be a giant among them.

[@googledocs637]

They probably were not scared. They were “warriors” and that’s just what they did.

[@eskiltester3913]

You would die within a few hours. Only the oxygen would kill you.

[@sarthakkumar8679]

@@eskiltester3913 how?

[@Jwalkerman_]

@@eskiltester3913 i’m curious to know how?

[@Depipro]

To take a step back and think, "and decide what traits we think are important for being human" - that sounds like a very meaningful exercise to do from time to time for any individual, not just paleontologists. :)

[@timothymclean]

The more complete the evolutionary lineage leading to humanity becomes, the harder it will be to draw boundaries between different genera and species. Evolution never creates new taxa in a single generation; there will always be intermediate forms which could arguably be in either group. And anthropologists _do_ argue about it.

[@generalminusarchives1399]

It amazes me how Humans 100 years ago didn't know about these Humans that came before us. It shows how much Humanity has advanced since that time.

[@Jesse__H]

This is the only channel I've seriously considered becoming a patron of. I'm honestly a little ashamed that y'all have so few patrons when other youtubers I subscribe to have dozens and dozens. This channel deserves better, and if I can find a place for patronizing in my budget, this'll be the first place I turn.

[@rafaelschmitz2985]

Homo Rudolfensis shows on screen Me: hey, I know that guy. Realy, I know someone who looks like that.

[@GushOnline]

I thought the same thing.

[@phillygwaup6373]

Lmfaooo 😂😂😂

[@johnbroomhead1039]

Ha ha ha some have iPhones and reply on line and some really get upset I love winding them up more u can have some real fun at others people expense I love the internet lol

[@alyssastewart738]

Splash • 20 years ago I had a math teacher who looked like that too!! Lol

[@iceheart9044]

Let me guess,your ex?

[@BillyGollnerMusic]

Love this channel. Thank you, PBS Eons for making great content

[@nate7790]

Though we all seem to feel this need to categorize everythings (myself included), it's not a bad idea to remind ourselves every once in a while that even if you could look at one specific bloodline over millions of years with all the evidence scientists don't even dare dream about (fossils, tools, remnants of meals or fireplaces but even impossible evidence like pictures and films and DNA samples for every single member of that bloodline) you would still be left without any idea where to put the cut-off limit between species. It's like looking around you every second and defining which second marks the begining of morning, which second is the first of the afternoon or night, which is the evening, which is twilight, dusk or dawn....There is no exact second when the day turns into night or vice-versa. Of course by convention we have defined a time with clocks and decided that midnight marks the change from one day to the next and that noon separates the mornng from the afternoon but it's all a human categorization. The change happens gradually.

[@juliakimdesign3043]

Thank you for this comment! I was struggling to put my thoughts into words, and you described it so well

[@jamesbryant8238]

Excellent! Thank you.

[@bazingacurta2567]

Yes. These attempts at categorising often seem absurd to me.

[@jesselopes5196]

Darwin actually says something like this in Origin of Species. He says if you line up all the species that ever lived, you'd have a continuous series. But there would still be species, since the taxonomies into species (Darwin's branching diagram) would still apply - you just wouldn't have definitions

[@rickychardzz]

Wow that is the best way to explain it

[@the13xiii52]

I like that this Eons wasn’t so short. I feel like I learned more.

[@analyticalmindset]

We thought we were special, we're just lucky lol

[@AnthonyEvelyn]

Luck had nothing to do with it.

[@tristanlj3409]

@Rohit Mohan Neanderthals had empathy too. There's evidence they burried their members, cared for members that were Hurt, even over extended periods, etc. Empathy is not exclusive to Sapiens. Not even to humans.

[@tristanlj3409]

@Rohit Mohan I would like to see the research that suggests that we had groups of above 10 000 individuals living in unison at the time where Neanderthals were extant. That sounds incredible and not at all logical

[@ridakhan9262]

Genetic drift ..lol

[@cbriangilbert1978]

sneaky and conniving is more like it...probably made friends with the others then dumped rocks on their heads. Not a shittier species than the modern human.

[@MrMikado282]

Humans are a featherless biped...with nails.

[@sonikku956]

The greatest shitposting philosopher, Diogenes.

[@jamesruddy9264]

And hammers!

[@avochristos7834]

@@sonikku956 No no no, Plato's the one who said that. Diogenes was the one who barge in to Plato's lecture with a plucked chicken saying " BEHOLD!! PLATO'S MAN ".

[@sonikku956]

@@avochristos7834 Oh right! Thank you Avo.

[@avochristos7834]

@@sonikku956 No probs

[@cutie_kitten234]

The weird moment when a taxonomic change for a species that died out hundreds of thousands of years ago makes you sad.

[@benjamingoldstein1111]

"The fluffy little critter homo habilis stood only about one meter tall." I know she didn't say it, but she'd loved saying it!

[@marcbelisle5685]

I come away from this video with two thoughts: 1) The history of hominins is longer and more complex than we used to think, and there are probably a lot of undiscovered species, still. 2) Our classification system is inherently flawed. We should think of species as a series of overlapping spectra rather than boxes that things either fit into or don't.

[@aylbdrmadison1051]

When we struggle to agree on who a human is out of the modern humans alive today. One day we humans will be self aware enough to finally realize we are related to all living things. I wish you all, my fellow Earthlings, peace and prosperity. ^-^

[@nofacee94]

This video went a lot into categorising species, I was hoping it would go into more detail about each species - the differing traits, how they lived and survived etc.

[@kenxclout]

Here is something to think about, biology is the only science in which multiplication means the same thing as division.

[@Antoinedionsexo]

@Know One Because in biology, you divide the taxonomic tree to multiplie the number of specices. Get it?

[@stefanr8232]

@Angel Rosas That is the correct understanding. Division does not exist in mathematics. When teaching math it is much easier to just use division as though it is an operator. Then add a rule "do not divide by 0". 0 is a real number but it does not have a reciprocal. Subtraction also does not exist. We are adding the inverse.

[@kindlin]

@jinitron We all got the pun. He's pointing out that while a cell can divide and _grow_ many times, becoming more massive in the process, when the cell initially divides it doesn't suddenly gain any mass; it cuts itself in half, forming two identical twins, each with half the mass of the cell prior to splitting.

[@Cutie_Oni]

@@beachface1050 just like religion, i take religion as a lifestyle/morality, not as a real source of knowledge

[@icee562]

shhhhhh, there may be mathematicians around.

[@scottmccrea1873]

Someone once said that paleontology is like trying to recreate a car when all you have is the steering column and the ignition block. Makes you wonder just how much we *mis*understand because we only have pieces of the puzzle.

[@gregwiens9146]

Those footprints from 3:58 were mine. I went back in time to check out what was going on, and I stepped in some mud. If you looked a few steps back my ASICS are still stuck there....

[@askani21]

Greg Wiens Future humans: invent time travel, goes back in time to mess with paleontologists. Goes back to future and laugh at the dumbfounded historians loll

[@definitelynotruss9141]

No they were mine :)

[@orgami100]

Greg, you also left your Kardashians autographed Photo album behind. .

[@gregwiens9146]

@@orgami100 that was not mine! I have no idea how it got there....

[@orgami100]

@@gregwiens9146 It was personalized from.. " Dear Greg thanks for liking my my reality show ..love kim.. ::))

[@choonbox]

PBS Eons, I think this was one of your best episodes yet. I'd love to see more episodes on early homini

[@Thomas-vd4hu]

Those videos are addictive. First time I'm on a KZbin bender without feeling it's a total wast of time.

[@catinspace887]

I know this is a year ago but yes.

[@paulwallis7586]

Hey PBS - If hit numbers are anything to go by, you're underestimating demand. These are good short docs, and probably saleable to other networks, etc. in an extended form. Keep up the good work.

[@MsJeanneMarie]

Paul Wallis I love PBS digital studios. I don't think having your show air on tv is the pinnacle achievement anymore. Lots of people don't even have cable or an antenna. I think their goal is to produce quality documentaries specifically for KZbin.

[@rayveilevans9213]

Can you do a video on "how to find a matching pair of socks" after washing?

[@hadrianchanel6381]

Rayveil Evans oh my peoples

[@SGGCREATIVES]

@@hadrianchanel6381 Stuff one sock into the other before putting into the machine. Laundry Scientists (Cleaninniologists) solved this problem decades ago. Where did you study?

[@tigerstripe3820]

How to find a woman who "was never a h0e ever" in 2020

[@prschuster]

Closely examine the washing machine after washing. Then closely examine the dryer after drying. Closely examine the floor between the washer and dryer.

[@Deepshana123]

LMAO!!!😂😂😂😂😂

[@williamnewton2786]

I'VE GOT RELATIVES THAT LOOK LIKE SOME OF THESE GUYS RIGHT NOW.

[@jackbyrley6441]

"the ability to walk upright and make tools" Ah, my favorite human, the eurasian magpie. (I know they don't walk upright but they're still sorta bipeds)

[@506boris]

make tools =/= use tools still not a good trait for human identification chimps make tools and (as it says in the video) some Australopitcenes did too

[@lettuceprime4922]

Diogenes would like a word with you.

[@spindash64]

Lettuce Prime Was he the philosopher who occasionally shat in the streets?

[@lettuceprime4922]

@@spindash64 - Probably. That sounds very Diogenes.

[@robertpryor7225]

A lot of modern humans never make tools do we still qualify?

[@emperoralexander5954]

"We can track these growth patterns in the fossils by studying microscopic features of teeth" god I love science

[@jason60chev]

I wonder what the first human thought, the very first time he took a dump. Was he frightened? Curious? Did he understand what was happening?

[@BeaglzRok1]

Perhaps an episode about what evolutionary pressures may have been responsible for humans looking as varied as we are?

[@blue-pi2kt]

Lag Incarnate l suspect deeply limited resources and well..... killing each other.

[@Silkendrum]

@@blue-pi2kt - Also "Oooo, he's cute!"

[@jimmyjames3466]

Maybe we just look varied with our human eyes 🤔. Like maybe Blue Jays can tell each Blue Jay apart but they think all humans look the same?

[@lablabs2613]

Lag Incarnate A E S T H E T I C

[@billyaepicgamer8642]

Humans are probably one of the most genetically bottlenecked species on Earth.

[@FranBunnyFFXII]

Yay more Anthropology videos :D AAAND you've just made me realize that my field of study is getting so much harder these days.

[@vinicius2uiciniv]

Actually I think they are posting too much videos about human evolution, this channel is getting too anthropocentric. So much stuff to be covered...

[@adeshpoz1167]

@@vinicius2uiciniv haha.

[@neetimahajan2374]

What’s really crazy for me was, Homo Erectus settled in the South of India too, (as the migration map showed), and hence Sanskrit and Tamil became one of the oldest spoken languages ever. Also, hats off to the people who found the first samples of human evolution ever. It’s incredible how we’re watching the becoming of our own story here!

[@brianwhite2104]

Sanskrit is descended from proto-indo-european, and was brought to India by steppe horsemen known as Aryans.

[@shiva4774]

​@@brianwhite2104 Aryan is a mythical race. First Sanskrit text Rigveda calls its followers Aryas. No foreign DNA in harrapan fossils.

[@peterrod5239]

years ago the thought of evolving from these early humans would get you in jail or fire.

[@kenhollis6197]

Before that, you'd get the same for suggesting that the Earth revolved around the sun.

[@sunnysamaroo7610]

Ah the days of the church and its harmful doctrines... and I say this as a Christian who loves archaeology lol

[@eberhernandez3461]

Still pretty stupid if I believe we are some monkey boys

[@ciarandevaney385]

Still will

[@dbrowng1]

The hubris of science excludes the presuppositions of faith. Unless it is faith in paleontology.

[@reinebolding544]

Hey Eons! Love the video. I was thinking for a video idea that you could look into why there is such a lack of large carnivores in Australia. The rest of the world have their big cats, wolves and bears but apart from crocodiles there aren't any large carnivores in the land down under. From my knowledge there used to be tasmanian devils and tasmanian tigers on the mainland, and some may reference dingoes, although they are thought to be brought here by the earliest humans. Also back in the Pleistocene there used to be the marsupial lion (Thylacoleo carnifex) but it doesn't seem that anything has taken over the niche of large carnivore.

[@purplejellyfish395]

Dingo took the niche

[@TehNoob1096]

I think they already covered it in an earlier video, but I'm not sure. Either way, this is what I remember: Australia used to be full of large animals, especially marsupials. The thing with large animals is that reproduction takes much longer due to increased pregnancy times and more vulnerable youth. Humans showed up to Australia and made short work of these animals that had no previous exposure or adaptation to engaging with primates. Human dominance in the region combined with the animals' slow reproduction rate resulted in them dying off relatively quickly.

[@simonj3413]

Well, because most of the big plant-eaters died out and there hasn’t been enough time or the correct environmental conditions for more to evolve, there hasn’t been a reason for such a beast to be shaped.

[@moosemaimer]

There may have still been enormous reptiles the size of the biggest crocs roaming Australia by the time early humans showed up. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megalania

[@oliverwilson11]

They got eaten. Australian and American megafauna had no idea what to do when humans arrived so they very quickly died out

[@luckyscrote]

There is some very interesting discoveries about our history and this video does a good job of breaking everything down. Still, it astonishes me that some of us seem so concerned about labeling and distinguishing everything. Deciding where humans, homo sapiens, animals, organisms begin and end is pretty arbitrary to be honest. We are in a constant state of change and from one generation to another we are not the same.

[@thijsbos]

It seems to me that H. Habilis is a typical transitional species. A clear -and simultaniously vague- transition from one genus to the next one by a muddling of traits owned by both genii. Hence it technically belongs to both. Because even though we like to make clear cut rules in science and nice neat little lines, evolution and biology is muddled, and species transition into one another not via a neat distinction, but via gradual change. In the same way you could say there have been individuals which cokuld have simultaniously belonged to the species H. Habilis and H. Erectus, because they were a transition between those species.

[@demonking86420]

Genera. Not genii. I know, I got confused about it too.

[@8698gil]

All species are transitional. Evolution can sometimes happen quickly due to environmental pressure or very slowly due to lack of pressure (crocodiles) but it is an ongoing process. It doesn’t necessarily mean more advanced, either, only what is beneficial for survival.

[@ryanperry8891]

Them capitalized species names tho

[@marktorres3881]

First of all, I would to express my love for this series. I was never interested with history/prehistory of our very existence. And now I would like u guys to discuss about the creatures we consider pests in our modern time: mosquitoes, cockroaches and termites. Thanks!!

[@shantanusingh7600]

I searched how dogs are related to wolves ......now i am in a viscous loop of KZbin 😂😂😂😂

[@hirohunter2314]

I'm searching "are hamster was a rat cousins?"😂

[@adamscarupa1240]

yo same wtf😂

[@5chr4pn3ll]

Very interesting episode. I think I'm in the camp of scrap it all and start fresh. It seems so strange to have to wedge in and around definitions and labels created so long ago when we knew so, relatively, little.

[@ohnoitsjason3033]

Could you make a video on the theropods that became herbivores (therizinosaurs, etc.) or the Australian Pleistocene megafauna?

[@TheNativeEngine]

Cool!

[@kotsiru]

i used to watch pbs kids when i was young and now here i am watching pbs eons

[@khindall8044]

My sister and I would like to request an episode on the evolution of warm-bloodedness, including what's the earliest animal suspected to have had it. (Back when we were in school, the notion that the dinosaurs were warm-blooded was still a "weird" theory: possible but unlikely, we were told.) Also . . . a few fewer episodes on humans and direct ancestors of humans, please. We'd like to hear more about the many, many, many other organisms on the planet.

[@chris999999999999]

So far so good. My suggestion is a short series on the evolution of farm animals. Not how they were domesticated, but the evolutionary history the the wild ancestor that was domesticated. There's been one on horses as I recall, but ones for other familiar animals--pigs, chickens, sheep, turkeys--would be interesting.

[@lestatsgames7426]

At 63, Im usually in awe of the scientific knowledge gained during my lifetime. I barely remember the moon landing, but I think that has to do with my environment during the event rather than just accepting events outside my control.

[@TragoudistrosMPH]

I was *literally* on the verge of a breakthrough in my data analytics... and then an Eons notification came up... 😰 ...the world can wait 12.5 minutes... #worthit

[@el.blanco552]

I'm actually in favor of scrapping the entire system and looking at everything as a whole and recategorize everything. There's just too much to update might as well remake the system with modern science.

[@penitentpotato1344]

Well the problem is that it would take waaayyy too much time and wouldn't yield much results. Also, I don't really see why modern science could do it better than the old as the idea is still the same.

[@pavels470]

The group is too exclusive. "you got a big brain!! Oh your definitely in!" haha

[@richardblazer8070]

What group?

[@kaym7704]

I wish I could time travel.

[@HelIish]

yeah not to be species but just because we are both human doesn't mean they will be friendly just take a look how gorillas and chimps treat each other in the wild

[@HoneyBrasco]

We can try

[@DanielBro42]

@@HoneyBrasco would you like to build a black hole in a lab and travel the future with me?

[@yaboy1689]

And go back to the beginning of time

[@zoonosis3610]

I've read that the distance between reptiles and amphibians is greater than most people know...even though we tend to lump them together...any thoughts on that? how about an episode on bat flight evolution? Just some ideas. I love this series.

[@Silkendrum]

"We tend to lump them together" - uh, no we don't. Well, I suppose some people might out of ignorance.

[@oliverwilson11]

All reptiles are more closely related to humans and to birds than they are to amphibians

[@dilaudid1]

Herpetology: the study of reptiles and amphibians. Makes about as much sense as having ornithology be the study of birds and mammals

[@ginnyjollykidd]

The fact that taxonomists define amphibians as separate species shows that they consider reptiles and amphibians separate families. Amphibians: 3-chambered hearts, takes in significant O2 from skin. Must breed in water with bare, uncovered eggs. Reptiles: take in O2 through lungs only. 4-chambered hearts with no mixing of unoxygenated blood with oxygenated blood. They have sex without exposing gametes to danger. They lay eggs on land and are independent of bodies of water. These are all reasons these divisions I of amphibians and reptiles are defined so.

[@zoonosis3610]

Nathan Robertson: Gets what I meant. I'm a science educator. geez.

[@meganmckenna8796]

the fact that she says homo that many times without laughing prove she's better than me

[@RazBlueberry]

grow up

[@David_Shao]

Playing Ancestors the Humankind Odyssey brought me here lol

[@Wherestheseed]

Yup!

[@willmosse3684]

This says more about how 20th & 21st century humans think about and categorise things than it does about ancient human like beings themselves.

[@pumpberrystorm]

The great thing about this series is it could theoretically go forever 🥺

[@jessicascott7781]

Thank you for your fascinating videos! I was actually wondering if you guys could potentially do a video on our co-evolution with parasites and their interactions with our immune system etc. Would be interesting to know more!

[@marvelousmeh2077]

Amazing. Humans has a much more complex history than I thought.

[@billybobthekidiswack]

This isn't true

[@christopherward9587]

@@billybobthekidiswack The best we know now.

[@NoName-fp3jk]

Billybobthekid yes lil billy ..we believe you ....we believe you 👍🏻

[@gargarcomedy]

The picture of one of them running from hyenas had me laughing, fight or flight in action 🤣

[@stevedenis8292]

Survival of the fastest. Ok you actually don't have to be the fastest just faster than some one else.

[@marikalayaedelos4790]

I'd love to hear about the research that suggests the first single celled organisms developed in hydrothermal vents. It's really exciting to think that they've found the most likely enviroment it started in.

[@nevermind-he8ni]

This will be a works in progress forever. Very interesting.

[@tallonarts9152]

I know this is a little off topic, but I would love you to do a video on just how accurate the reconstructions are of early people based off musculature etc. Like, someone should do a test where an XCT of a living persons skeleton is given to an archeologist to reconstruct and see how close they get to the actual person's face. Are we that close, or is it a bit of a guess?

[@SalianSaxon]

A video about the early Triassic would be cool. Especially the fact that just one spiecies of plant and a few animals absolutely dominated al life on land.

[@vesplatdamaged6994]

7:35 when Karen leaves, and takes the kids

[@taraechok2376]

🤣😂🤣😂🤣😆🤣😂

[@taraechok2376]

He looks like Homo Simpson.

[@ra_alf9467]

Dat face 😂

[@onyx4606]

That’s a whole lot of child support

[@huntadex8419]

9:22 When you take Karen to court, and win full custody of the kids.

[@Dattebayo04]

All of that our ancestors survived over hundreds of thousands of years just to get a bunch of us breaking down due to depression😔

[@stonecolombo627]

I doubt this will happen but a video on Ankylosaurus would be awesome

[@ricardogutierrez4768]

1:50 why he look like a rapper flexing

[@senpai9263]

😂you right

[@saldan3985]

@@senpai9263 bruh you don't know that rapper? He is lil Neanderthal

[@Centre14]

lmaooooo

[@yesh_phani.25]

It's actually a woman; look at the breasts.

[@robdiesel1579]

I've watched just about all of their videos and at this point I need to know who the contributor 'Steve' is.

[@guyranting]

Thank you for creating these high quality videos. Very informative and well done.

[@RichardSekmistrz]

Can we learn about the Clovis peoples?

[@godofthisshit]

like what?

[@richardsiemion5903]

Richard Sekmistrz that would be unreal.

[@robertpryor7225]

They live near Fresno, Walk among us undetected, can breed with normal humans.

[@robertpryor7225]

Clovis people

[@justsam7919]

Clovis people

[@Earthy2100]

I would love more dog content. I rarely hear about dogs when I hear discussions of Out of Africa 2 but it seems like the timelines line up well to show that the group we descended from were the first to bring their dogs on migration.

[@clarkthesharkshow9944]

Grrrrr Grrrr Grrrr rough rough rough rough grrrrrrrr,..............................''' !!!!

[@perspii2808]

Existing in the period after humans had evolved to our current selves, but prior to the formation of societies must have been an utterly bewildering phenomenon to have experienced as a human. Although perhaps it was easier in a sense; not worrying about the discontents of ourselves in a society. Idk.

[@theexchipmunk]

I do to. How must it have been to be alive during that time. These were humans just like us, with the same capacity for thought. To have so much knowledge of things that happen, but not a single idea why, that must have been wild.

[@DIY_Miracle]

I would absolutely love a video about the Denisovan. They were an incredibly interesting people.

[@shrimpwithagun5702]

its crazy to me how old these fossils are yet how similar they look to us today, the hominid rabbit hole is so interesting!

[@seiyuokamihimura5082]

I'm mildly dissapointed she didn't say that they can't find a home-o for them. :/

[@BirdieBlue5602]

😂😂😂

[@robertspies4695]

We have an incomplete fossil record where each recovered fossil type displays a matrix of characteristics whose variability is largely incompletely defined and where we do not know which characteristics link any two different fossils evolutionarily. Depending on life style in any particular habitat or ecosystem different characteritics were adaptive. We have the analog of a complex bush of which we cannot see the branches that connect any two forms.Using the bins of genera and species makes explicit assumptions about relatedness that may or may not align with multiple forms evoving in different habitats, climates and over hundreds of thosands of years.

[@KaosRunes]

What about Denisovans, and the other cavemen? I'm very interested in our relationship with them and how they lived and died. I'm quite interested in all of it, Neanderthals, Denisovans, Cromagnon, etc. How did they all live and how closely are we related to each other? What periods did they live in and what periods did they die in?

[@matteochen6899]

9:22 Thanos chimp (alternatively, Thanos Australopithecine)

[@reapz4761]

matteo chen lmao

[@warrior_of_liberation]

7:34 We have hulk too

[@SockMuppet]

Now that's just mean. Comparing a magnificent being with a space prune. Lol

[@warrior_of_liberation]

Thanos : *I am inevitable*

[@spindash64]

Mautik Ganvir And I’m Homo (Invents Fire)

[@zoerronquillo1844]

we always talked about past, how about lets do a video about speculative evolution(is my term right?) where we theorize what would animals look like in the near future. Especially with the changing climate and moving continents.

[@caesar6484]

S B Chill man, just take your pill

[@kassdremusic]

So do research and make a video about it

[@KimiHayashi]

you should watch this show called The Future is Wild. they did that and i thought it was cool. wiki it :)

[@boby7679]

I m watching this 9th time. And everytime I watch I come up with more informative

[@MistikaManiac]

Can you do a video on the earliest known archosaurs?

[@joej9890]

MistikaManiac no

[@Inignot12]

You guys have a great show; excellent material coupled with engaging presentation. Always love tuning in. Thanks!!

[@michaelportaloo1981]

It's nice that they evolved long hair by natural selection when short hair was perfectly functional.

[@thekamiakai]

I kinda agree to scrap the work and start again. Why are we stuck on being only one converging group when there are so many other examples of animals that evolved separately and still be able to interbreed? Why can't there be a larger field than there is? Is it possible that the mass graveyard that has mass variance be a special location for other reasons, like it is a gathering of water in the area, or a sacred space where we could have multiple species come together and separate, maybe not even at the same time of year? I have read some papers on how some scientists are proposing that there are multiple breeds of human - think like dog breeds - that splintered off due to spread and we are the crossbreeds of the consequence of world travel. However these papers are normally crushed because they are deemed racist.

[@stevenschnepp4816]

You're conflating responses to two different multispecific origin theories. The theory that different races had different ancestors is debunked pseudoscience (inb4 Neanderthal ancestors for Eurasians; a couple percentage points of the genome not what they meant). The theory that H. sapiens has more than one species for an ancestor is fairly widely accepted and is confirmed by genetic analysis.

[@thekamiakai]

​@@stevenschnepp4816 Obviously I'm not making myself clear. And that's okay. I personally think that if pockets were left alone longer we might've had different "breeds" par se, just like how one can say that there is dogs in the world, but there is a difference between a mastiff and a tea-cup yorkie. The changes can happen quite quickly in selective breeding and a middle point can be made equally quickly.

[@chemicaldefender9679]

@@thekamiakai the only reason there are different dog breeds are because humans selectively bred them for different reasons so that analogy is stupid and has no basis they were forced to evolve by humans it's not natural and wouldn't have happened if we never domesticated them.

[@alphatrion100]

We are all africans

[@SGGCREATIVES]

@@alphatrion100 SHHHHHH, a lot of people don't like hearing that!

[@TyrannosaurusRex5027]

Awesome job! Really loving the anthropology. Can you try doing a video on the archaic human; the Neaderthal?