Re: AAT Theory
Daan Sandee (sandee@Think.COM)
5 Sep 1995 13:48:59 GMT
In article <hubey.810262126@pegasus.montclair.edu>, hubey@pegasus.montclair.edu (H. M. Hubey) writes:
|> sandee@Think.COM (Daan Sandee) writes:
|>
|> >The AAT is based on the fossil gap - no fossil gap, no AAT. New finds are
|> >continually nibbling away at the nearest end. Ardipithecus, A. anamensis,
|> >Phillip Tobias' foot. None of these need have been ancestral, but it
|>
|> So then what is the mainstream theory's explication of the
|> fossil gap? Are there no fossils from this era anywhere
|> on earth? If not, why are the "humanoid" fossils missing?
Yes, there are hominoid fossils from this era. But they are very
fragmentary and though I believe they are unlikely to be classified
as ancestral to Pan or Gorilla, they cannot be identified as ancestral
to later hominines (such as Australopithecus) either. They may belong to a
terrestrial lineage that became extinct at 5.5 mya because is was too
dumb to start swimming.
There are two answers to the question why fossils of terrestrial hominines
(candidates for being ancestors of the species identified at 4 mya) have
not been found
1. They haven't been found yet, because people haven't been looking in the
right place.
2. They (the ancestors) lived in an environment which was not conducive
to the preservation of fossils, such as forests. AFAIK, fossils ancestral
to the African apes haven't been found either, and everybody appears
happy with this explanation without suggesting that they, too, were
aquatic.
All this is mainstream theory, not my idea, and any well-informed person
following the field might know this.
|> >On the other hand, fossils *supporting* the AAT are unlikely to turn up.
|> >(The AAT explains why - I don't mean they won't turn up because the AAT
|> >is not true.)
|>
|> What fossils would support AAT? Are we expecting digs in the ocean
|> or river beds or large lakes to reveal fossils of humanoids?
I'm not asking for fossils. I am saying that the AAT includes an
explanation why there aren't any AAT fossils. I'll leave it to the
proponents of the AAT to explain the reasons. In general, I find them
plausible.
|> HOw would AAT make dispersion of humanoids more or less easy to
|> explain?
I don't see what this has to do with the discussion about fossils. I
don't know that there is a problem with hominoid dispersion that the
AAT claims to solve. Now, if a hominoid fossil would turn up at 5 mya
*in South Africa*, that would be an interesting development.
Daan Sandee sandee@think.com
Cambridge, MA 02142
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