What on Earth is HLD 6?

[@robsquared2]

*Smacks earth* You can fit so many skeletons in this thing.

[@jloiben12]

This made me laugh much too hard

[@janmelantu7490]

It’s skeletons all the way down

[@DeathPetalArt]

& during an earthquake, all the coffins become maracas!

[@AnnoyingNewsletters]

I swear one day coffins are going to hit the road in McKee's Rocks. There's a cemetery on a hill that they sheered off to put in the road, and it's old enough that burial vaults and caskets are probably only in a minority of the plots.

[@AnnoyingNewsletters]

@robsquared2 I made a similar comment on the Paulogia Mythvision episode.

[@ericawalsh6884]

"The middle pleistocene: it's almost exclusively monkey wrenches." I'd buy that tee-shirt.

[@kenbattor6350]

If Humans came from monkey wrenches, why are there still monkey wrenches?😁😁

[@neclark08]

...shouldn't they be called "Hominin Wrenches"..?

[@flyingsodwai1382]

Wait, is that a pun?

[@bethanyjermann5696]

Yeah yeah. Time for some merch

[@JacobT-1]

You and your channel are awesome. No one else has explained this stuff to me as much and as well as you have. Thank you for your efforts and passion. I appreciate your fight against non/bad-science people and their nonsense too. Our species is stronger with your existence.

[@Transblucency]

How can this throw a monkey wrench into our understanding of hominid linesges when there are still monkey wrenches?

[@CounterApologeticsWithNara]

Lmao

[@ArjanKop]

I’m glad you keep us updated. The rate of gaining knowledge is so incredible. Just 21 years ago, extracting DNA from a snail collected pre-WW2 was considered quite an accomplishment (I failed, yet no one laughed) and now there’s enough data to compare species that went extinct well before the last ice age.

[@PZMyersBiology]

"more questions' = more job security for scientists.

[@vincentcomeau7844]

Whoa, PZ Myers is here. Now I wonder what how awesome a team up paleoanthropology video between GG & PZ would be.

[@CharlesPayet]

Too many “monkey wrenches,” eh Erika? I see what you did there!

[@CelestialAnamoly]

I was imagining a bunch of hominins each with a unique wrench when she said that in the vid.

[@gdp3rd]

Always good to see another paleoanthro video from Erika.

[@grantpritchard7492]

How many videos on paleo-anthropology have me smiling like a giddy child? Just about all of yours have that effect on me. The ability to inject enthusiasm into, what can be, dry subjects is astonishing. Love all that you do. Keep it up!

[@mr.bulldops7692]

I resent the term "monkey wrench" in this context. The fossil record clearly shows Hominids have more recent common ancestors with box wrenches and crescent wrenches.

[@darwinmorrow8253]

Would that be a standard or metric crescent wrench?

[@AnnaRenee]

You’re such a great science communicator, I just started teaching a lab for the first time and it’s crazy how hard it is to convey the info in my head to people who haven’t heard that stuff before without sounding crazy

[@bobphillips2188]

That’s the thing isn’t it - you might have a lot going on in your head, but that doesn’t mean to say you are an effective communicator. I don’t mean you, personally, I don’t know you, obviously! But you know what I mean. I have been a teacher of various subjects throughout my life, and one of the things I learned early on, after acquiring certain qualifications to teach, was that that is only the very beginning of a whole other kind of learning, i.e., learning how to teach! I have always had an extremely busy mind, or if you like the inner workings or machinations thereof. But in my rush to try and get the information out, I would simply confuse people by bombarding them too much, too rapidly. It doesn’t matter how intelligent your audience is, it takes time to absorb information. One of the ‘side subjects’ I used to teach was yoga. I started the practice, initially, as a means to try to help slow down the pace at which stuff swirled around in my head. Apart from discovering that I could exert more control over the workings of my mind than I had ever thought possible, the teacher who taught me also taught me this valuable lesson, that is, more than two or three pieces of information given in the same timeframe is a waste of everybody’s time and efforts. So, during a 1.5 hour class I might only be referring, specifically, to 2 or 3 strands or thoughts within the other multiple strands within the subject as a whole. Applying this technique when teaching other subjects of a more engineering based type (for example, when teaching the workings of any kind of combustion engine to beginners to the subject), or even horticultural subjects, by teaching apparently slowly, without bombarding, the students with more than almost anybody’s brain can take it in, in the end people learn more, and faster, baby steps and all that. Tortoise and hare. It can seem a little tedious to people with quicker minds, but learning to walk before you can run...

[@MossyMozart]

@AnnaRenee - Greetings. Are you still teaching? I hope so - it's really fun to see the light come on in their eyes! -------- I taught a very elementary human biology course to HS graduates who were not particularly interested in science. I would talk as animatedly as I could to convey excitement in the topic, then would periodically stop and ask a student to explain some material I covered about 10 minutes earlier. They did well with this repetition and seemed eager to supply the answers (small classes, luckily, ~12 students at the most). -------- I drew on the board, provided lots of handouts, and tried to think of fun experiments. --------- With skin, I gave everyone drawing paper and kiddie pastels and told them to duplicate their own skin tone. They seemed fascinated and there was a lot of interaction between them. (All skin tones are based on orange - some paler, some darker, with bluish / pinkish / greenish overtones. Not even those with Albinism are "white". It's a lot easier to do than it may sound and everybody was able to do it, though I never had to face a person who was colorblind.) --------- With smell and taste, I blindfolded all willing parties, clipped a clothespin on their noses, gave them a variety of beverages to taste with the same texture (like iced tea, grape juice, apple juice, etc) - they were astonished when they couldn't tell the difference between the flavors! (Taste is *strongly* influenced by visual cues and by aroma - cut those paths off and we may as well drink water. Better, anyway, and more cost-effective.) ---------- Anyhow, you get the idea. Keep it bouncy, have fun, and appeal to as many learning styles as you can (reading, hearing, visual, hands on, kinetic).

[@jdlech]

In my experience, digging up distant relatives always produces more questions than answers. Like, why was my great great grandfather buried without his head? And what is it about my mother's side being buried with all these little silver balls?

[@philw6056]

werewolves?

[@Timbo6669]

Your great grandpa was a vampire.

[@emk7132]

😂😂😂

[@ChristopherSadlowski]

OMG! You're a vampire and werewolf! Life must be tough. You can't go outside in the daytime and on full moons you completely transform. Oof, rough roll of the genetic dice.

[@jdlech]

@@ChristopherSadlowski That just leads to even more questions. Like why do I enjoy watching the sun rise? And why am I compelled to dig up my old relatives in the first place?

[@alisaurus4224]

Somebody with Photoshop skills needs to make a cereal box showing a bowl full of skulls, called Middle Pleistocene: OOPS! All Hominins!

[@dalmunae]

the armful of skulls at the beginning of the video was giggle inducing

[@vforwombat9915]

"Now, i know what you're thinking..." i was not thinking that.

[@gary.h.turner]

3:34 - loved the way the subtitles tell us that the prototypical example of the Denisovans was a young lady called "Denise Evans"! 😂

[@Albukhshi]

The men ought to be called "Dennis Evans", and the women "Denise Evans". Kinda like John and Jane Doe, but for Denisovans :P

[@DeeDeeBaldwin]

Thanks for keeping this humanities nerd updated on cool science. :D

[@regex74]

Nice reenactment of the "how can I hold all these" meme hahaha

[@freddan6fly]

Theist: "There is not any transitional fossils, therefore god" Erika: "No, we have too many transitional fossils, so we don't know the exact evolutionary tree" Theist: "See I was right, there are too many transitional fossils, therefore god" Erika: "Sigh"

[@keniag5]

All this is so exciting! Thank you so much for these wonderful videos Erika! ❤

[@Laura-kl7vi]

It is! Erica says she's "in a tizzy". I kind of feel that way about this one as well. So glad she brought it to our attention.

[@helly9027]

Omg I love your enthusiasm and passion! I'm just teaching myself about evolution from your and others channels and it's so cool to see someone so psyched to talk about what they so clearly love. Also Kris Jenner?? Damn, what can't she do?? A momager and human biology queen 😍👑

[@erniemathews5085]

A pleasure to see other folks are as impressed by you as I was when you had under 5K subscribers. You continue marvelous.

[@paulcontursi5982]

Another terrific video. Can't tell you how much I learn from your work!

[@lorrygoth]

I love your work. It is so interesting learning about potential sister species and our ancestors.

[@KianaWolf]

Oh good, I needed a fun palette cleanser sort of video right about now. Thank you for delivering, Erika!

[@DoktorApe]

Was there a period of unusually rapid hominin diversification here? Would there be any interesting implications of that if there were?

[@richardthompson6079]

Another study talks about a genetic bottleneck that occurred 900k years ago. I wonder if we won't find that's where the explosion in diversity began?

[@mattnewcomb4147]

Homo erectus left Africa around 2 mya and rapidly spread along the coast of India, China and, presumably with boats, crossed large stretches of water to get to south east Asia. They encountered many different habitats along the way, plus the founder effect means slivers of Homo erectus populations were left isolated in many different habitats for around 1.5 million years. Then around 70 kya modern Homo sapiens left Africa and took the same route across Europe and Asia and met and interbred with many of these populations. I think within a few years everyone will be admitting that Homo erectus was on a one-way trip to becoming Homo sapiens no matter which continent he was on. Homo erectus is our true ancestor, and many of his intelligent, locally adapted descendants were left around Europe and Asia when the most recent, technologically advanced (atlatl or other throwing technology) Homo sapiens that left Africa 70 kya.

[@Timbo6669]

That’s a good prediction and I look forward to seeing the evidence that will back it up!

[@mattnewcomb4147]

@@Timbo6669 Sea levels are high now compared to other times in the last 100k years, so with underwater archaeology getting more and more popular, more early migration routes and artifacts will be uncovered. In some areas the coast line from 10 kya is 5 miles away from the current coast line. Some areas are completely submerged such as Beringia and Doggerland and so many miles of coast line in India. Think about how common the handaxe is and how perfect it is for digging clams, and how far under water Homo erectus' clam digging areas are right now.

[@AlbertaGeek]

@@Timbo6669 _"I look forward to seeing the evidence that will back it up"_ Kind of counting your chickens before they've hatched aren't you? In assuming there even will be such evidence?

[@richardthompson6079]

How did I just find this channel? Great content, well presented. Thank you.

[@emk7132]

My thoughts exactly!!

[@iluvtacos1231]

Her channel is amazing. I've learned a ridiculous amount of stuff from watching her.

[@muskyoxes]

Do you have a few hundred hours to block off?

[@Fawnarix]

I really like that you don't dumb down terminology and methodology but yet make the information understandable..

[@joanfregapane8683]

One of my favorite content creators with a really fun & interesting episode on our early ancestors and distant cousins!

[@thomaswhitelake]

Brilliant Erika! I did a unit of anthropology almost 30 years and loved it but developed a different career path. I love tuning in for updates and geeking out. Thanks for your channel and enthusiasm! Great work!

[@ziploc2000]

I used to love modelling with pleistocene when I was a kid.

[@EricLovely-n5t]

Love this video, please keep making these. The YEC debunking is low hanging fruit but detailing the hominid phylogeny with new finds is needed. Thanks

[@jenulu]

I'm really excited to watch this video, and I'm glad to say that this content was a helpful factor in deciding to go into anthropology as a major :) Thanks!

[@DeathPetalArt]

Congratulations!

[@Timbo6669]

Nice. If you get to do your PhD; what would you specialise in?

[@DulceN]

Congrats. It's way too late for me, so I must live vicariously through Erika's prowess.😊

[@amelliamendel2227]

You're the best my favorite channel!

[@Monedgar123]

This is really helpful! More like this please. 😊

[@llynhunter]

You always put out the best stuff!. Keep it up and thank you!

[@TheMg49]

I'm a layperson who watches a lot of KZbin vids on this sort of stuff. It's all very fascinating. Your presentation is very clear, and not too slow or too fast for me. Thanks and thumbs up.

[@tommartin2360]

What a great episode! Your enthusiasm is very contagious!

[@peterveenhuizen9624]

This video is brilliant. By far the best explanation (for a lay person) I have seen. I’m about to watch for a second time to take extensive notes. Thank you so much!! Keep it coming

[@cynthiadugan858]

Thanks Erica! Great breakdown of some fascinating new info!

[@justinlaw9336]

I love this channel! Anthropology related work is secretly my dream job. Plus, it is so refreshing to see a younger and attractive girl make youtube videos like this, that are actually thought provoking, well thought out, intelligent, and actually provide important videos that will enlighten and often educate people in topics such as debunking (YEC), which is something so badly needed here in America especially! But her channel dives deeper, and is so much more than that. Keep it up Erika! Love the work that ur doing! 🙈🙉🙊 🤘🏼🐵🤘🏼

[@Noreen_Ni_Riain]

I loved this, Erica! Your excitement and enthusiasm is contagious ❤

[@stefanlaskowski6660]

Fascinating stuff, Erika! Thanks for the lesson. 👍

[@Laura-kl7vi]

Awesome video! I was so happy to see it drop and this is particularly interesting to me. And a perfect length, too. I"m so glad a subscribed! I'd not have found out about this paper-I"m not in the loop enough (I"m a layperson). I'm really pleased.

[@sytheprice407]

She blinded me with science!

[@hansweichselbaum2534]

Super interesting! I only understand a fraction of it and need to listen at least two more times. So exciting to see all the pieces of a gigantic jigsaw puzzle coming together.

[@thychozwart2451]

I cracked up from the first 10 seconds, seeing Erika exasperated while holding 5 different skulls with another 6 (hominin) skulls in the back is the perfect channel descriptor

[@markTheWoodlands]

Erika, Thanks for this video - your content selection is excellent and your delivery style is exceptional.

[@ursawendal498]

This is my favorite of all the videos you've done! I woke up thinking about it.

[@tashuntka]

Your enthusiasm isn't overwhelming, yet quite contagious 👍🏻 Subscribed 👍🏻 👍🏻 👍🏻 Hey, I have 4 thumbs... Another species 🙌

[@Fitz.V]

I so wish I'd seen this video a year ago! You do a fantastic job presenting all the info!

[@jasonbelanger7525]

Nice, thanks for hte update! Always love finds that shed more light into grey areas. :)

[@Bildgesmythe]

Thank you! You answered many of my questions.

[@DavoidJohnson]

For some reason the old saying " if your not confused your not sufficiently well informed" comes to mind.

[@philurbaniak1811]

👍👍 How cool! I love to see additions like this to the fossil record!

[@denislemelin7653]

So much information while I have my morning coffee. Great stuff !

[@gatocuerdo5676]

No one talks with the passion that you shows, i love your videos

[@lenoakes2450]

Love your enthusiasm. Great work!

[@Feralsquirrel]

Love everything about this channel.

[@cgsrtkzsytriul]

It was hilarious when you said “I know what you’re thinking,” to which I usually think, “probably not” because… well it’s usually not. But then you actually said what I WAS thinking! It was a first in my KZbin experience

[@codybennett5305]

I love your videos, I can't wait for the intro to make a comeback!

[@Kasamira]

I really appreciate how you break everything down for us!

[@kevincraig9704]

Using "monkey wrenches" when talking about monkeys (hominens) made me laugh.

[@myownreviews76]

As a physicist looking at those four graphs (11:00), I'd say they tell us basically nothing. HLD 6 is within the range of variation (whiskers) of any of those groups, with the exception of Recent Modern Humans in A (we knew that anyway from the date) and Late Pleistocene in C. Any random individual from one of those groups will show up as slightly higher than average on some measures and lower than average on others.

[@CantonWhy]

Super sweet. Thanks for the update, Erika!

[@jamesbrowne1004]

Why does this burst of variation remind me of Gould's snails? When Steven J. Gould did his thesis on fossil snails he observed bursts of variation when conditions changed and the snail morphology was pushed from one equilibrium but had not yet stabilized on a new one.

[@williammeyer214]

Another great presentation GG. Thanks.

[@MarkBenson-j8o]

Thanks! Great video; it is an exciting development. I can tell you put a lot of effort into these 21 minutes for our benefit. Thanks!

[@j.deaton332]

Wonderful presentation. Clear and entertaining.

[@Cat_Woods]

I swear I thought you were going to say, "The problem is, with more fossils... comes great responsibility"! 😊

[@adrianokury]

Excellent video...

[@andrewjones6693]

This is a good video. Very informative! Thank you, Erika.

[@RobertFHarrison]

Thanks Erika! Always great to have a vid from you to break up my work day!

[@margaretedwards4157]

What an awesome video! I admit, it made my head spin a little but you did a great job in explaining it.

[@chrissievert4409]

You are such an amazing communicator. Keep it up.

[@miteeoak]

Thank you for being on top of these new discoveries.

[@bobphillips2188]

I agree with many of the other comments, namely that you explain so much about this entire subject in a way that nobody else does quite so successfully. And your almost, but not quite, bonkers enthusiasm only adds to the allure! Listening to you, but also other people expert on their subjects, when compared to the creationists - especially the so-called young Earth, creationist fools - and flat Earthers etc, it is clear that your fluency of knowledge is 100% authentic, and almost anybody included in the above groupings of pseudo ‘knowledge’ believers, sounds utterly dumb and unconvincing by comparison. I hope you continue to spread the joy, not least as a mouthpiece for the thousands upon thousands of other true scientists, doing research into all areas regarding evolution, regardless of wherever along the evolution timeline, those scientists choose to hang their hat. Thank you!

[@debrabathurst7276]

Thank u Erica for yr fascinating content. Will be interested to follow this outcome once the dna can be analysed

[@lorencalfe6446]

Hybridisation is common. The branches often get entangled muddling holophyletic trees.

[@hammeroferis9805]

Wonderful video, just the right length. Now I need to have a lie down and let all the knowledge soak in.

[@MorganTiller]

Saw this like a week or so ago and ive been waiting specifically for your take on it!

[@sloanekuria3249]

Your videos are fantastically accessible given how deep you go into the science. Thank you! Such useful and interesting information as I leave Homocentrism behind in my meandering lay studies of the organism kingdoms. Have a great day, my gentle and maybe not so very modern apes 💛

[@Vishanti]

I've never been this early! LET'S GOOOO HOMININS!!!!!

[@ShunkUp]

Great video, but Neladi was extant 300k ago, doesn't change the excellent story and communication but minor detail. It is a mystery partially for this reason, rather primitive for that age.

[@dianasalles0]

I loved this one Especially because it was short and to the point

[@jerryfoust3860]

You are good! Your presentation was very clear and interesting

[@bradlcnm]

Brilliant breakdown!

[@esslar1]

How the whole human species came to be pretty much us today is astonishing. She says it just right when she talks about the mystery of the whole thing. It has never stopped being astonishing.

[@LtDamn]

Thanks again for another great video GG! Fascinating stuff. You are somehow able to explain this complex material in a way that even an old coot like me can understand. Science rules!

[@DanSlaughter85]

Here just to show support and give props. You are super brilliant and talented. Love the channel even though sometimes it's really over my blue collar head. 🤘🖤

[@dib737]

Great video, Erica!

[@connornoel2138]

it's cool to imagine that there used to be other kinds of people, just existing alongside our ancestors

[@Where_is_Waldo]

Super interesting! Thanks for keeping us updated!

[@brianray2614]

So rich, so tantalizing! Outstanding !!

[@elingeniero9117]

At what point do we have enough species to move past the "monkey wrenches" and reach "Barrel of Monkeys" status?

[@y-u-video4596]

I think in this very case it is much more helpul to use a profiling approach since the pattern is always the same: A group of hominids inhabit a certain area. They develope into a own group, maybe start building shelters, hunt in groups, learn to control fire, develope some tool use etc. The particular hominin group gets discovered by homo sapiens and 'disappears'.

[@DulceN]

This is so exciting! Looking forward to the next update. ❤

[@steveaustin4118]

It would be great if we could go back and see all these different humanoid races

[@dogwalker666]

Tardis sound effect 😊

[@animavideography1379]

Love your content erudite & fascinating!

[@iLettercast]

How exciting! I love a good mystery :)

[@John-qu8zv]

Science is finding a lot of prehistoric humans and hominids I find all of them so incredibly fascinating and interesting. I study this stuff myself I love Paleo Anthropology thank you very much.