Zeresenay Alemseged : The search for humanity roots

                             

TEDGlobal 2007

Zeresenay Alemseged : The search for humanity roots (transcript)

Summary

It turns out that over the past 6 million years ago, the human ancestors started walking upright and they used the stone tools in Africa.

Around 7 million years ago, there seems to have been the division point between humans and chimpanzees.

Since the 3.3 million years ago, they had very projecting canines though they still had some adaptation for tree climbing and had sounded more like a chimpanzee. It was changing slowly and progressively.  

We can know a lot about them and even evolution in the making from fossils. When new fossils, babies', are found, we can know more in detail because the baby fossils were missing before but they don't preserve well.  

The fossils become the hard evidence though it’s very complicated endeavor to find. It seems to take for five years to find, clean, prepare and classify it.

The speaker is a paleoanthropologist, and his job is to define man’s place in nature and explore what makes us human.

Is it to start walking or using tools or having a growing brain?

We today have the knowledge, the technology, and sophistications though we have pressing big challenges.   

Against them, can it be said that we are humans?

As a human, responsibility is always changing. We have to choose to promote the world peace with courage to independent each country.  

We have the power to positively confront our problems because our ancestors started walking upright and forward.

Words in this story

paleoanthropology /pey-lee-oh-an-thruh-pol-uh-jee or, esp. British, pal-ee-/ the branch of anthropology concerned with fossil hominids.

pressing / (of a problem, need, or situation) requiring quick or immediate action or attention. urgent, critical, crucial, acute

division / the action of separating something into parts, or the process of being separated.

diverged / (of a road, route, or line) separate from another route, especially a main one, and go in a different direction