Re: Verhaegen - where it all began...

On Mon, 02 Mar 2009 21:22:26 +0100, Marc Verhaegen <...@skynet.be

11.4.98:

thanks a lot - interesting - some comments between brackets

Hi all. I'm only a few days on the internet. For about 20 years - a few
years after I read Elaine Morgan's The Descent of Woman - I'm trying to get
AAT papers published in scientific/anthropological journals, but many
editors are rather conservative and refuse such papers.
(Many scientists appear to be extremely good in reproducing the ideas of
their professors and are remarkably resistant to new ideas. How many years
were needed before now obvious theories were accepted: Alfred Wegener's
continental drift theory, or the theory that the earth was round, or that
the sun circled around the earth?)
I just read Jim Moore's website Who thought up the aquatic ape theory? (a
lot of work, but unfortunately superficial, outdated and biased), as well as
some AAT discussions on the internet, and I felt rather disappointed that
many people who think they have to discuss the AAT (pro as well as con) seem
to have read only part of the relevant literature (eg, one or two books of
Elaine Morgan), and what they have read, they have sometimes not read well.
As for the more scientific works, I never found any reference to Erika
Schagatay's book on the so-called diving reflex: The Human Diving Response -
Effects of Temperature and Training, Univ.Lund Sweden 1996.
An other recent publication is CL Broadhurst et al.1998 Rift Valley lake
fish and shellfish provided brain-specific nutrition for early Homo,
Brit.J.Nutr.79, 3-21. An anti-AAT paper (merely a repetition of Moore's
website) is JH Langdon 1997 Umbrella hypootheses and parsimony in human
evolution: a critique of the AAT, J.hum.Evol.33, 479-494. I then sent a
pro-AAT paper to J.hum.Evol., but it was refused, so-called because it
contained no new information and scient.journals only publish original
contributions. (Perhaps I had forgotten to mention the editor's recent
book?)
For those interested I give here a list of most of my work on human
evolution ...

It's often thought (even by AATers) that the semi-aquatic phase happened
more than 5 Ma or so, but there is firm evidence (paleo-milieu etc. ) that
semi-aquatic adaptations lasted until, and perhaps even got intensified
since, the Pleistocene about 2 Ma. I have a long list of citations from
anthropol.papers that proves that all Australopithecus and Homo species
dwelt in wet or humid environments (the list will be provided on demand).
Here follows an abstract of what I intend to send for the anthropological
Dual Congress in South Africa this summer:
Wetland apes: hominid palaeo-environment and diet - The combination of data
from different anthropological researches makes it clear that hominid
evolution did not begin in warm and dry but in warm and wet conditions.
a. Not one single feature typical of savannah mammals is found in humans:
low or absent need of drinking-water or succulent food; concentrated urine
(high diurnal body temperatures ((up tot 10°C); high running velocities (50-100km/h); hoof- or toe-running;
lean body built; poorly developed vocalisations; low handiness, etc.
b. Comparative studies of cheekteeth microwear suggest that the
australopithecine diet included marshland plants (P.F. Puech 1992
Scann.Microsc.6:1083). In A.afarensis, the enamel has a polished surface
(e.g. mountain beaver, capybara: sappy aquatic plants and grasses, buds and
bark of young trees). In A.boisei, it displays more pits, wide parallel
striations and deep recessed dentine (e.g. beaver: aquatic plants, bark,
more woody parts). In A. or H.habilis, the margins of the striae have been
polished and slightly etched (e.g. coypu: reed, sedges, marsh plants,
fruits, molluscs).
c. Robust australopiths (boisei & robustus) resemble the bamboo-eating
bamboo-lemurs and the giant panda in front teeth reduction and cheekteeth
broadening (E.L. DuBrul 1977 Am.J.phys.Anthrop.47:305), and estimates of the
robusts¹ bite force also suggest ³low-energy foodŠ to be processed in large
quantitiesŠ hard and round in shape² (B. Demes 1988 J.hum.Evol.17:657).

(Bamboo is less certain now: isotopic data seem to contradict this. It's
still not sure why they had superthick enamel. Alan Shabel thinks their diet
might have included hard-shelled invertebrates. Certainly a possibility IMO.
They probably ate papyrus sedges & cane etc., but I don't know whether that
can explain the superthick enamel. --MV)

d. The low strontium/calcium ratios in Swartkrans A.robustus have been
explained by partial carnivory (unlikely with their herbivorous dentition),
eating leaves and shoots of forbs and woody plants (e.g, kudu) and eating
food from wet, well-drained streamside soils (A.Sillen 1992
J.hum.Evol.23:495).
e. Palaeo-ecology indicates that early australopithecines (A.afarensis...)
lived in warm, humid and often forested landscapes. Robust australopiths
dwelt near more open environments such as grasslands, marshlands and
lagoons. Homo species (rudolfensis, erectus..) are often found near ancient
lakes, seas and rivers where molluscs were abundant. The australopithecines
were apish relatives of humans, probably not direct ancestors.

(This is now fully accepted by PAs. --MV)

We suggest that early australopiths became partial bipedalists in shallow
waters, somewhat like western lowland gorillas when wading in forest
clearings, eating sedges and aquatic plants (D.Chadwik 1995
Natl.Geogr.188:2). The robusts later dwelt in more open riverside and
marshland habitats, supplementing their diet (in the dry season?) with woody
plants, papyrus, reed etc.

(Since then (1998) the Dikika child has been found. Impressions on its
hyoid suggest it had a very large laryngeal airsac. This sac can have
different functions (eg, singing, but the child was prepuberal). One of
these was floating in the wetlands where they lived. Recent wildlife films
show lowland gorillas floating +-2 hours/day in bais with only head (IOW,
they're no wading) & hands (IOW, they're no swimming) above the surface,
eating aquatic herbaceous vegetation. As DD noticed: their airsac (up to 6
litres in adult male gorillas & orangs = c 5-10 % of body volume?), which
extend to the axillas & prethoracally, keep them floating. The Mio-Pliocene
was c 4-2°C hotter than today (& wetter), and it's exactly in the hottests &
wettest places on earth today that these floating gorillas live.
PAs now generally consider the possibility that the robust apith diet
included sedges & wetland plants, eg, papyrus, see papers, eg, by Van der
Merwe cs & Wrangham. Within a few years this will be generally accepted by
intelligent PAs. --MV)

We think that early Homo was more omnivorous and learned to use stones to
crack nuts and shellfish as mangrove capuchins (M.Fernandes 1991 Primates
32:529) or sea-otters do. This would explain the development of stone tool
use for other purposes, the rapid dispersal of H.erectus outside Africa (eg,
his early colonisation of Flores and crossing of Gibraltar, and his remains
on seacoasts from Mojokerto to Hopefield, Rabat, Boxgrove or Terra Amata),
and the dramatic increase in brain size (S.C.Cunnane 1993 Nutr.Health
9:219). All comments are very welcome.

(Not all comments were welcome: a lot were extremely biased, stupid &
aggressive, and unfortunately we still find some of these idiots here.
In any case:
- Leading PAs (Tobias, Stringer etc.) now generally consider the possibility
that Homo populations dispersed along the coasts.
- The Flores fossils confirm the early colonisation of S.Asia by Homo.
- The recent H.erectus footprints in mudflats confirm the littoral
hypothesis. Etc. --MV)