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Questions and Answers
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Karen from Ohio asks:
What is a hominid?
Hi Karen,
This is in fact one of the most common questions I get asked. The answer is both simple and complex. In
simple terms the word hominid is a term generally used to describe any bipedal ape – bipedal meaning “two
legs” or an ape that walks on two legs. This differentiates our family tree from that of the other apes which
tend to use both their hands and feet when walking on the ground. Gorillas and chimps “knuckle-walk” while
orang-utans “fist-walk”. When we start going back in time, we start seeing differences in the way our
ancestors walked on two legs, and some scientists are even beginning to suggest that bipedalism is just part
of a suite of characters that should be used to define the group of apes we include in the hominids. To make
matters worse, many scientists now use the term “hominin” instead of “hominid”. I have written a short essay
for National Geographic on this subject which should answer any questions you have about the use of the
terms and it goes into a bit more detail about the definition of the term “hominid”. To see this essay, click
Here.
Anonymous asks:
I'm starting University and am trying to decide which I should become a paleoanthropologist or archeologist?
Well anonymous, that depends - paleoanthropologist tend to specialize in human origins while archeologist
tend to specialize in human culture, although many archeologist work on paleoanthropological questions and
many paleoanthropologists work on archeological questions. In the US most paleoanthropologists tended to
come from archeology departments and then specialized in Physical Anthropology. In the British and European
systems many came out of anatomy departmens. this has changed in recent years and there are more and
more departments that are specializing in "paleoanthropology". What you might do is take an intro to
anthropology course which will almost certainly be offered at the University you plan to attend and this should
give you a general perspective on the differences in the two career pathways. The important thing is for you
to have fun and enjoy what you do! Good Luck!
James from Nairobi asks:
What was your best discovery?
James,
The easy answer is the next one I'm going to make! But thats not really a fair answer. I've had a few - finding
the first hominids at Gladysvale was great as this opened up the modern search for more hominin sites in
South Africa. However, I think my favourite was finding the eagle damage in the orbits of the Taung child,
particularly since I had been working on that problem for more than ten years and many of my colleagues
doubted we were right about an eagle collecting the little child.
What is a hominid?
Hi Karen,
This is in fact one of the most common questions I get asked. The answer is both simple and complex. In
simple terms the word hominid is a term generally used to describe any bipedal ape – bipedal meaning “two
legs” or an ape that walks on two legs. This differentiates our family tree from that of the other apes which
tend to use both their hands and feet when walking on the ground. Gorillas and chimps “knuckle-walk” while
orang-utans “fist-walk”. When we start going back in time, we start seeing differences in the way our
ancestors walked on two legs, and some scientists are even beginning to suggest that bipedalism is just part
of a suite of characters that should be used to define the group of apes we include in the hominids. To make
matters worse, many scientists now use the term “hominin” instead of “hominid”. I have written a short essay
for National Geographic on this subject which should answer any questions you have about the use of the
terms and it goes into a bit more detail about the definition of the term “hominid”. To see this essay, click
Here.
Anonymous asks:
I'm starting University and am trying to decide which I should become a paleoanthropologist or archeologist?
Well anonymous, that depends - paleoanthropologist tend to specialize in human origins while archeologist
tend to specialize in human culture, although many archeologist work on paleoanthropological questions and
many paleoanthropologists work on archeological questions. In the US most paleoanthropologists tended to
come from archeology departments and then specialized in Physical Anthropology. In the British and European
systems many came out of anatomy departmens. this has changed in recent years and there are more and
more departments that are specializing in "paleoanthropology". What you might do is take an intro to
anthropology course which will almost certainly be offered at the University you plan to attend and this should
give you a general perspective on the differences in the two career pathways. The important thing is for you
to have fun and enjoy what you do! Good Luck!
James from Nairobi asks:
What was your best discovery?
James,
The easy answer is the next one I'm going to make! But thats not really a fair answer. I've had a few - finding
the first hominids at Gladysvale was great as this opened up the modern search for more hominin sites in
South Africa. However, I think my favourite was finding the eagle damage in the orbits of the Taung child,
particularly since I had been working on that problem for more than ten years and many of my colleagues
doubted we were right about an eagle collecting the little child.