1. Anthropocentric claims Lee Berger et al. 2015
4 claims justification
* naledi = Homo : humanlike feet etc.
* distance-runner : ‘human feet = bipedal’
* tool-maker : long thumbs etc.
* buried dead in caves : ‘is the only possibility’

2. Are fossil-hunters biased to discover “human ancestors”?

3. Anthropo-centric Paleo-Anthropology
Piltdown hoax
Taung fossil
‘Ramapithecus’
Lucy
Ardipithecus
naledi
...
all were called “human ancestors”.
And at least 2 fossil sites are called The Cradle of Humankind :
East-African fossil-hunters think Lucy was a human ancestor (Rift),
South-African paleoanthropologists think Taung was our ancestor.
human child Taung child bonobo child

4. Fossil-hunters often find ‘human ancestors’, +-never ‘chimp ancestors’.
Of 5 extant species of African hominoids (= hominids :
bonobo, common chimp, human, western & eastern gorilla),
4 species are traditionally believed to have 0 or 1 fossils !?
and 1 species (ourselves) to have 100s of fossils !?
= statistically impossible, unless there’s an enormous bias in fossilisation chances between human & ape ancestors.
But Asian apes Pongo do have lots of fossil relatives !
E.African paleoanthropologists say Lucy = our ancestor,
S.African fossil-hunters believe Taung = human ancestor.
!!! Anthropo-centrism
Anthropo-, geo-, ego-centrisms... have always hindered scientific progress
(not questioning own view – thinking that humans are unlike animals – ...).

5. - human branch : fossils+++ - chimp, gorilla 0 or 1 fossils ?? 0
Fossil hominid skulls :
African apes & humans
‘Vertical spine = bipedal
= human ancestor’ ??
- human branch : fossils+++
- chimp, gorilla
0 or 1 fossils ?? 0
Curiously,
+- all fossil skulls are placed in the Homo branch,
+- none in the Pan or Gorilla branches ...
0 ?? s of fossils ??
of so-called
‘human ancestors’

6. We have ancestors, but do fossils have descendants
We have ancestors, but do fossils have descendants? Hominid fossils are no direct human ancestors :
Hominid fossils are more or less distant relatives (shorter or longer side-branches) of the lines leading to extant hominids Pan, Homo & Gorilla.

7. We don’t descend from chimps : both humans & chimps derived from the same LCA ~5 Ma.
H–P LCA ~5 Ma?
Homo 0 Ma Pan
As we go back in time, towards the Homo–Pan LCA,
- Pan fossils show more Homo-like features,
- Homo fossils show more Pan-like features
(though humans are generally more derived than bonobos).
IOW, generally (mosaic evolution!) we can expect that
Homo-like features in Pan & fossil relatives are primitive,
Pan-like features in Homo & fossil relatives are primitive.

8. Praeanthropus boisei afarensis Pan paniscus
Gorilla gorilla female aethiopicus Australopithecus africanus
East-African australopiths generally South-African australopiths
resemble Gorilla more than Pan resemble Pan more than Gorilla
(not due to size, Verhaegen 1994 Hum.Evol.9: , 1996 ib.11:35-41)

9. Revision of Hominid Tree 7 Ma hominid LCA ? Sahelanthropus 6 ? Orrorin
(provisory, incomplete, schematic)
Marc Verhaegen 1994, 1996
Hum.Evol.9: , 11:35-41
7 Ma hominid LCA
? Sahelanthropus
? Orrorin
Homo–Pan LCA
4 anamensis
aquarboreal
afarensis 3
Praeanthropus Australopithecus ? naledi
aethiopicus africanus
? habilis
boisei robustus ergaster erectus
aquarboreal littoral + outside Africa 1
Gorilla Pan Homo
lowland & mountain bonobo & common neandertal & modern
0 gorillas // chimps >< humans
Fossils are no direct ancestors of extant spp.
!! Mosaic, reverse,
parallel, convergent ... evolutions.