It started with the Croods… and then we watched a variety of videos (noted below) that explored the origins of humans, potential adaptations and various “types” of human through the last 40,000 years, and even explored a couple existing societies that we have collectively determined are the closest representations we presently have of a previous human.
Lily was interested in the concrete presentations of the humans in these various groups that seem to live so primitively. While I was intrigued by language and culture, she was interested in how they built their homes, what they ate, what games they played, and what their primary daily focuses were – especially the kids.
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It’s hard to believe that there are people in this world who have no idea about the internet or cell phones. These are tribes that are completely cut-off from global civilization and do not welcome any kind of contact from the outside world.
North Sentinel Island, a part of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal Ocean between Myanmar and Indonesia, is home to one such tribe. The Sentinelese people are so hostile to external contact that the island has been dubbed the ‘hardest place to visit’ in the world.
The Sentinelese are thought to be direct descendants of the first humans who emerged from Africa. They have lived on the tiny island for almost 60,000 years. Their exact population is unknown; it could be as low as 40 or as high as 500.
It doesn’t matter whether you are friend or enemy, whether you arrive at the island shores on purpose or by accident, the locals will greet you the same way — with spears and arrows. Gifts of food and clothing are of no importance to them. They were even hostile to rescue missions after the tsunami in 2004.
In the aftermath of the disastrous tsunami that had hit the Indian Ocean in December 2004, a group of rescuers reached out to the Sentinelese in an Indian Navy helicopter. They wanted to find and help survivors, although chances were slim. They tried dropping food parcels to the ground, but they were met with hostility. A sole Sentinelese warrior emerged from the dense jungle and shot an arrow at the helicopter.
Not much is known about these tribal folk; their language is alien and their habits unknown. Their settlements are hidden in the thick jungle, so we have no clue about how they live. All we know is that the Sentinelese are hunter-gatherers; they do not farm. They live on fruits, fish, tubers, wild pigs, lizards and honey.
India has sovereignty over North Sentinel, but I doubt these people even know what India is. After several failed attempts to make friendly contact with them since 1964, the Indian government has finally backed away. All visits to the island are banned. The Indian Navy has enforced a 3-mile buffer zone to keep tourists, explorers and other meddlers away. Accidental encounters still do occur, and none of them end well.
There are several horror stories of how the Sentinelese have treated their guests. People either return from the island terrified and injured, or not at all. In 1896, an escaped convict from the British prisons of The Andamans drifted on to the shores of North Sentinel by accident. A few days later, a search party found his body on a beach, punctured by arrows and with his throat slit.
In 1974, a group went there to make a documentary, and the film’s director took an 8-foot arrow in the thigh. A few of the recordings from that visit were included in the larger documentary, Man in Search of Man.
Indian anthropologist T.N. Pandit conducted several government-sponsored trips to the island in the late 80s and early 90s. “Sometimes they would turn their backs to us and sit on their haunches as if to defecate,” he said. “This was meant to insult us as we were not welcome.”
Surprisingly, there has been only one instance where outsiders did not have to face an aggressive reception. On January 4, 1991, 28 men, women and children approached Mr. Pandit and his group. “That they voluntarily came forward to meet us, it was unbelievable,” he said. “They must have decided that the time had come.”
Unfortunately, the last contact with the islanders in 2006 didn’t go as well. Two fishermen were killed while illegally fishing within the range of the island.
The Sentinelese are among the last of the uncontacted people — communities who live without contact with globalized civilization — left in the world. Perhaps it’s best to leave them alone; bringing them out into civilization might not be the best thing for them. They might not be immune to several diseases and adapting themselves to the modern world could be extremely difficult.
It’s amazing that even in the most drastic conditions, the Sentinelese do not want any help. I find this behavior very curious. I do wonder how they view outsiders and the world around them. I wonder what they call themselves, or if they are aware that we call them ‘Sentinelese’.
From these presentations, we ventured onto Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit… read on, you’ll see why.
Out of Africa Theory
The ‘Out-of-Africa’ theory proposes that 1.4 million years ago Homo erectus left Africa and spread throughout Europe and Asia. In Europe, Homo erectus evolved into the Neanderthals. In Asia, most Homo erectus stopped evolving – with the exception of a small group in the Indonesian archipelago that branched off to become Homo floresiensis (aka the Hobbit). Unlike most of the Homo erectus in new Asian environments, which stagnated, the Homo erectus that stayed in Africa continued to evolve and eventually became Homo sapiens.
About 200,000 years ago, Homo sapiens left Africa. They spread throughout the globe and conquered or out-competed Neanderthals and Homo erectus. The last Neanderthal died out around 30,000 years ago. The last Homo erectus died out somewhere between 200,000 and 30,000 years ago. The last Hobbit is believed to have died out in a volcanic eruption around 10,000 years ago. After conquering Homo erectus in Indonesia, Homo sapiens moved to Australia. If Homo erectus had made it to Australia first, then they too would have been conquered.
In a nutshell, 200,000 years ago an African tribe, either through superior food gathering ability or open war, started the extinction of all hominin species living throughout Eurasia.
Supporting the Out-of-Africa theory was work by Allan Wilson who provided evidence in 1987 that all modern humans share a single female ancestor who lived in Africa approximately 200,000 years ago.
Interactive journey of humanity – http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/journey/
Mungo Man is a huge spanner in the works for the Out-of-Africa theory because it can’t explain how Mungo Man looked liked modern humans, yet was not related to any human that had left Africa in the last 200,000 years. A ‘Multiple-Regions’ theory was held up as the answer. If Out-of-Africa is a theory of war, then Multiple Regions is a theory of sex. The theory proposed that Homo erectus was not conquered; rather, once Homo erectus left Africa 1.4 million years ago, it kept evolving on migration lines between Asia and Africa (and possibly Australia). Interbreeding among nomadic tribes kept most of the different groups on a relatively constant evolutionary track and ensured they remained the same species.
Most proponents of the Multiple-Regions theory argue that the Neanderthals in Eurasia and the Hobbit in Indonesia were not unique species and therefore must have contributed DNA to modern Homo sapiens.
Testing of Neanderthal DNA has produced mixed evidence. Repeated testing of mitochondrial DNA of modern humans found no evidence of Neanderthal DNA. Because mitochondrial DNA is passed on by women, the lack of it indicated that Homo sapiens do not have a female Neaderthal ancestor. Even though sapiens don’t have female Neaderthal ancestors, they do have male Neandethal ancestors. In 2010, 60 per cent of the Neaderthal had been mapped and was subsequently compared to modern humans from Papua New Guinea, Europe, Asia and Africa. It found that 1-4% of modern human DNA, in populations outside of Africa, was Neanderthal in origin. While the results found evidence of male Neanderthal in non-African Homo sapiens, there was no evidence of Homo sapien DNA, either male or female, contributing to Neaderthal DNA.
The results suggested that Neanderthals had the ability to breed with Homo sapiens (so were not a unique species) but breeding was minimal. Furthermore, the one-way flow of genes, and the absense of Neaderthal mitochondrial DNA in modern humans, would suggest it was only a few Neanderthal men breeding with Homo sapien women. On the whole, the two Hominins bred very little.
Perhaps the small flow of genes could also be attributed to migration routes. The Neanderthals may have evolved independently because they were an ice age people living in caves. Ice age Eurasia was just too inhospitable for nomadic Homo erectus. Likewise, in the Indonesian archipelago, the ancestor of the Hobbit may have been cut off from migration routes due to changes in sea levels or volcanic activity. Consequently, they also become a unique species.
Aside from the Neanderthals and the Hobbits, all other Homo erectus keep migrating, keep breeding and kept evolving on a constant track. Eventually they evolved into Homo sapiens.
At some stage in the last 850,000 years (or longer), either Homo erectus or Homo sapiens made the crossing from Java to Australia. These hominins were the ancestors of Mungo Man. It would not have been a difficult crossing to make. Rats are believed to have made the crossing 2 million years ago.
200,000 years ago, females from an African tribe started spreading their genes through the entire arc between Australia and Africa. This spreading of female genes could have occurred as a result of a nomadic African tribe emerging from Africa and breeding throughout Asia. It could also have occurred as a result of an Asian tribe going to Africa, and forcibly taking women back to Asia. (*Although evidence indicates that all humans might have had a common female African ancestor 200,000 years ago, as yet there is no evidence to show a common male ancestor.)
60,000 years ago, Homo sapiens with African ancestors started migrating into Australia, and joined Mungo Man. The first group of Africans were known as Robust due to their heavy-boned physique. This group was significantly different from the slender body shaped Gracile of Mungo Man that was already in Australia. The Robust soon came to dominate Australia. Many thousands of years later, perhaps more people with a Gracile body migrated to Australia. The similarity in shape probably stemmed from parallel evolution rather than recent common ancestors. Alternatively, the Robust Homo sapiens perhaps evolved a more Gracile shape due to climatic changes. (Robust shapes were more suited to cold climates and tackling megafauna. Gracile shapes were more agile and had better endurance.) Aborigines today have a Gracile body shape that is like the 62,000-year-old Mungo Man but unlike the 10,000-year-old Kow Swamp people.
Sites showing where Homo erectus was found. Debate exists about European sites. Some skulls have been found in Australia that show Homo erectus features but they have not been categorised as Homo erectus. Homo Flores (the hobbit) was found on the eastern side of the Wallace line, indicating that its Homo erectus ancestor had the capacity to make ocean crossings.
One view on human evolution. Note, overlap is only deemed to have occured in Europe where Homo sapiens and Neanderthals co-existed. Homo floresiensis was not included.
Implications for Australia
If Out-of-Africa is to be believed, then human occupation of Australia has to be less than 200,000 years. Exactly when humans arrived would have been determined by how long it took Homo sapiens emerging from Africa to cause the extinction of the Homo erectus tribes spread throughout Asia. If Multiple Regions is to be believed, the length of human occupation of Australia can be greatly extended. Homo erectus was known to be in the Indonesian archipelago 850,000 years ago. If they had made the crossing to Australia, then hominin occupation of Australia could be anywhere up to 850,000 years.
It is generally believed that Homo erectus was not intelligent enough to make the boats that would have been required to cross to Australia. Arguably though, making a raft or a canoe is much much easier than making stone tools that can kill animals. Furthermore, Homo erectus obviously had a degree of intelligence as it had crossed rivers and adapted to diverse climates on its way from Africa to Java and Peking.
It should also be noted that the Hobbit was found on the Australian/Papua New Guinea side of the Wallace Line. In previous ice ages, Papua New Guinea was part of the Australian zooalogical regions and Flores showed signs of both Asian and Australian fauna. Stone tools on the island of Flores have been dated at 840,000 years, which proves that Homo erectus was capable of making a sea crossing. It also proves that after crossing the Wallace Line, Homo erectus gained the opportunity to migrate into Australia.
The Wallace Line – A stretch of deep water that separates the zoological regions of Asia from those of Australia and Papua New Guinea. 840,000-year-old Homo erectus tools have been found on the Australian New Guinea side.
Sahul – The land mass that comprised PNG and Australia during the last ice age. Australia was not as isolated as some people believe.
The possibility that Homo erectus made it to Australia was supported by archaeological excavations from 1968 to 1972 by Professor Alan Thorne at Kow Swamp, which found skeletons showing Homo erectus features. The main problem with seeing them as Homo erectus was that they were between 10,000 and 13,000 years old. If they were Homo erectus, then it would suggest that either Homo erectus lived in Australia until very recently, or came in a migration wave after Homo sapiens and then died out or was bred out.
Implications for human evolution
Survival of the Fittest proposes that the strongest and most intelligent will eventually emerge triumphant. Out-of-Africa supports the theory because it proposes a smart and strong African tribe was able to cause the extinction of all other hominin species spread across the globe. It caused the extinction due to its superior food gathering ability and/or superior battlefield might.
A Multiple-Regions theory indicates that Survival-of-the-Fittest is only half true. Physical weakness can aid promiscuity and therefore the proliferation of genes. In the case of the Neanderthals, the fact that male Neanderthals survives in the DNA of Homo sapiens but female Neanderthals DNA does not suggests that Neanderthal men probably raped Homo sapien women and the offspring was raised by Homo sapien tribes. It would have been easy for Neanderthals to rape the women because they were far stronger. (It is possible that Neanderthal boys/men were adopted by Homo sapien tribes but this would not explain why Neanderthal women were not adopted.) While Neanderthal men could rape Homo sapien women, Homo sapien men were too weak to rape the stronger Neanderthal women and to carry them back to the tribe as typically occurred in hunter gatherer communities. Ironically, by being strong, the Neanderthal women were not forcibly inducted into tribes that could survive.
Similar problems may have been experience by the women of Mungo Man’s tribe. If they were particularly agile or strong, other groups of Homo sapiens would not have been able to force them to join their tribes as was custom in hunter gathering. If the other tribes came to dominate, then the women’s evolutionary lines would have gone extinct like those of the Neanderthal.
1) Groves, Colin, (2002) Australia for the Australians http://www.australianhumanitiesreview.org/archive/Issue-June-2002/groves.html)
2) http://archive.uninews.unimelb.edu.au/news/1255/
3)Susan C. Antón, Karen J. Weinstein (1999) Artificial cranial deformation and fossil Australians revisited Journal of Human Evolution Volume 36, Issue 2, February 1999, Pages 195–209
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