Modern Human Brain Evolved 1.7 Million Years Ago in Africa [Research]

A study concluded that the modern brain evolved roughly 1.7 million years ago in Africa, the time when the nonexistent human Homoerectus initially appeared and the stone tools' in Africa turned out to be increasingly complex.

An article posted on News18 said, one of the most interesting experts are facing today is when and where the modern human brain may have evolved.

The same report also specified that the first populations of the genus Homo, which appeared in African around 2.5 million years back, walked straight up although they had brains akin to primitive ape, about half the size of present humans.

Therefore, an international team of researchers at the University of Zurich, Switzerland spent a long time and energy in a quest for the answers.

Homoerectus Species

The homoerectus species was the originally identified hominin to migrate out of Africa who was said to be adept at cognitive tasks like communicating and hunting or collecting food, among other skills.

In their study entitled, "The primitive brain of early Homo" and published in Journal Science, the study authors concluded as well, that the usual human brain spread fast from Africa to Asia.

Based on the research, the UZH research team led by Marcia Ponce de León and Christoph Zollikofer studied the skulls of Homo fossils that resided in Africa and Asia about one to two million years back.

Commenting on their findings, Zollikofer said their assessments propose that modern human brain structures occurred only about 1.5 to 1.7 million years ago in the African Homo population.

Not Specifically Large Human Brain

The first Homo population outside Africa, specifically in Dmanisi in what's now called Georgia, had brains that were only as primeval as their African relatives.

Consequently, it follows that the brains of early humans did not turn out to be specifically large or specifically modern until roughly 1.7 million years back, according to UNESCO.

Nevertheless, these early humans were certainly capable of producing many tools, adjusting to the new environmental conditions of Eurasia, developing food sources for animals, and caring for members of the group who are in need of help.

During this period, the African cultures turned out to be more complex and diverse, as evidenced by various tone tool types' discovery.

In connection to this, the study authors think that cultural and biological cultures are possibly interdependent.

Human Evolution Revealed in Fossil Skulls

A similar report by Neuroscience said that past theories had little to back them due to the lack of reliable data. The problem is that the ancestors' brains were not preserved as fossils.

According to Zollikofer, the study leader, structures of their brain can only be inferred from impressions the olds and furrows left on the fossil skulls' inner surface.

Since these imprints differ substantially from an individual to another, until to date, it was impossible to clearly determine whether a specific Homo fossil had a brain more similar to that of an ape's or that of a human's.

Through the use of a range of fossil skulls' tomography analyses, the study investigators, for the first time, have now been able to close this gap.

A similar report is shown on Oneindia News's YouTube Video below:

Check out more news and information on Human Evolution on Science Times.