Introduction
Sometimes scientists can find the answers to important questions on completely unexpected places and occasions. A similar situation occurred in Spain and Barcelona and was described in the article “The priceless primate fossils were found in a garbage dump” by Pinkowski (2021). On one night, few places are less hospitable than a rubbish dump. However, that is where paleontologist Josep Robles discovered himself in December 2019 while looking for hints about human ancestry (Pinkowski, 2021). The ancient findings from the Can Mata landfill are the article’s main topic.
Discussion
Robles had spent several nights each week in Spain’s biggest dump, Abocador de Can Mata, for most of the previous few months. Three scientists were included in this initiative: Isaac Casanovas-Vilar, Josep Robles, Jordi Galindo, and David Alba (Pinkowski, 2021). The excavators tore into the ground seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day, in haste to dig yet another deep pit containing garbage.
Robles was among three paleontologists rotating assigned to monitor the tons of tan earth that the diggers were moving (Pinkowski, 2021). The most significant discoveries are fossil primates from unique species, which contribute to the study of human evolution, which is a major part of physical anthropology (Lacy, 2021). These are ancient hominoids, the ancestors of giant apes like orangutans, gorillas, primates, and humans, and smaller apes like gibbons and siamangs. These unique remains are assisting in completing the image of a time in the distant past that is still mostly a mystery.
The fossils came from a critical transitional period when the region’s subtropical rainforests began drier, and grasslands began to take control. Scientists are using these discoveries to recreate the environmental changes that Can Mata experienced over a hundred thousand in time intervals of 100,000 years (Pinkowski, 2021). The extensive, continuous geological record at Can Mata makes such a resolution attainable. Casanovas-Vilar possesses sediments covering hundreds of meters, many of which contain fossils (Pinkowski, 2021).
Simply counting the varying animal abundance throughout time is one approach to study. Observing the oxygen and carbon isotope ratios in the fossils is another. Carbon reveals what the animals consume, especially carnivores who retain the carbon from the diet of their victim. Oxygen shows what they absorbed, or in the case of the smallest creatures, the contents of the water they ingested when consuming plants—both aid in reconstructing Can Mata’s prehistoric temperatures and precipitation totals.
However, there are always questions regarding people’s origins, such as when they started existing. Still, it is not possible yet to get the precise date and timeline of human evolution. In the sense that it is highly challenging to demonstrate that a certain fossil species was indeed an ancestral species using phylogenetic reconstruction methods, ancestors are always just speculative (Pinkowski, 2021). What matters is which of these individuals is most closely related to the last species before great apes separated, not which was the earliest of the ancestors (Pinkowski, 2021).. This article seems to be a credible resource for gaining knowledge about recent findings in the field of physical anthropology. It is important to me, the scientific community, and society in general since it demonstrates that there are still many artifacts that can provide additional information about the beginning of humanity.
Conclusion
Thus, the article’s main idea is that people should understand their evolutionary history. The researchers suggested that evolution, during which similar traits develop in unconnected or distantly related creatures, was the cause. Physical anthropology emphasizes how and why evolutionary processes led to variety in humans and primates (Lacy, 2021). The subdiscipline’s name has recently changed to reflect these modifications. Biological anthropology more accurately describes the field’s current focus, which encompasses genetic and molecular studies (Lacy, 2021). This article greatly contributes to physical anthropology, enriching current knowledge about the world and humankind.
References
Lacy, S. A. (2021). Explorations: An open invitation to biological anthropology. American Journal of Physical Anthropology.
Pinkowski, J. (2021). The priceless primate fossils were found in a garbage dump. National Geographic. Web.