Grace

Exploring Human Origins at the Smithsonian

Imagine you are getting a box of frozen pizza out of the freezer. This box comes with two
pizzas. You take one out, unwrap it, and throw it in the oven. You wouldnt want to eat it still
frozen, would you? When the pizza is done you take it out of the oven you cut it into triangular
slices and choose a piece to eat. You take the left overs and put them back in the fridge. Making
frozen pizza is very similar to the theory of evolution. First you take an organism, that organism
can evolve into one or more other organisms. This is representing the factory making the pizzas.
These other organisms can evolve into something better just like frozen pizza after you cook it
tastes better than uncooked, cold, icy pizza. The left overs represent the organisms that survive
and later on evolve into another organism, which for pizza is reheated pizza. For organisms, to
evolve can be a big change, like when the factory is making the pizza out of dough, cheese,
sauce, and meat, or it can be a small change, like when you reheat the pizza. There are multiple
definitions that are stated on dictionary.reference.com for evolution. Only two of them are really
relevant for our purposes, one being, Biology. Change in the gene pool of a population from
generation to generation by such processes as mutation, natural selection, and genetic drift. And
the other being, any process of formation or growth; development: My definition of evolution
based off of what we have learned in class, what we saw at the Smithsonian, and these
definitions is, Any change that a group of organisms or objects have gone through, often times
for the better. Scientists have found evidence supporting evolution including primates, human
fossils, studies on animal mutations, human language, tool making, cooking, shelter making, and
environmental conditions.

Among the many pieces of information for human evolution, primates have been
involved in 99% of it. Primates are animal species that are similar to a different species in
appearance, size, shape, behavior, technology, language and much more; primates can be
organisms that a modern animal has evolved from. A lot of people have heard that we share
about 98% of our DNA with chimpanzees, who are our primates. Scientist have said that humans
have evolved from certain primates such as Australopithecus afarensis, which lived about 3.85
million years ago, Homo heidelbergensis, which lived about 700,000 years ago, and Homo
floresiensis, which lived about 95,000 years ago (Potts). Scientists have found fossils and bones
of these different primates and discovered when the primates started to stand upright and speak.
Even small changes can be the only difference between primate groups.
Human fossils and bones are another discovery influencing the study of evolution. There
was a really significant discovery recently that changed the view on human evolution. More than
1,000 bones were found in Rising Star Cave in South Africa. This new creature was a mix
between two genuses, homo and australopithecine. These species were called Homo naledi. If
you were to look at their hands and feet you would see no difference between them and the bones
of your hands and feet. They stood up straight and their spine was almost the same, but their
head was significantly smaller than normal. The interesting thing that they performed was much
like Homo sapiens and Neanderthals, funeral services. They would take their dead through the
caves and drop them down a skinny tunnel (Shreeve). Physically seeing something is one of the
easiest ways to convince some people to believe in something; human bones and fossils are a
great example of visual evidence.
Animal mutations are another example of physical evidence of evolution. There is an
example of animal mutations and how they affected evolution. Brown bears were living in an

arctic environment and they were having a hard time camouflaging in the snow preventing them
from getting their prey until a mutation that made the bears white developed. The bears that had
this mutation survived longer than the brown bears did because the white bears ability to get
prey was much easier than the brown bears ability. Eventually the brown bears all died and the
white bears were the only ones left. When this happens it is called natural selection. Artificial
selection can also cause evolution. Dog breeders often use artificial selection to create the most
desired dog breed.
At the Smithsonian museum there was an exhibit based on human language. It talked
about how over time the voice box evolved higher up on your windpipe making it easier to talk.
When organisms like the Australopithecus afarensis were living they could not talk to each other
because their voice boxes were too far down on their windpipes, which made it extremely
difficult to speak (Potts). This is evidence that evolution changes creatures for the better.
Human civilization was changed when humans evolved and became smart enough to
create fires, tools, food, shelter, and other key things. To back that up, the human brain is almost
3 times the size of an adult chimpanzees brain, which leaves us more space to store ideas, facts,
and memories (Potts). The humans saw more and more opportunities to create tools. These tools
were later used to create fire, this fire was used to cook and keep warm. The tools were used to
help make shelter and grow plants, collect plants, or kill animals for food.
Environmental conditions affected human appearance, technology, and behavior. They
changed the human appearance by eliminating some of the hair on their bodies because of the
heat. Environmental changes, like not having to climb as much and standing up straight, affected
the texture of their skin. It made their skin softer, less rough, less fit for climbing, more fit for
working. The technology had changed because of their availability of resources and supplies;

some places might have only seashells and sand when others might have dirt and rock. Human
behavior was also affected because some of the humans were more susceptible to heat when
other were too cold.
Evolutional evidence is shown in many different ways. It is the change in a human or
animal that is frequently better for the environment and other organisms. Like I said earlier,
evolution is like making pizza or any type of food really. You take the ingredients and make them
into something else.

Works Cited
dictionary.reference.com/browse/evolution?s=t
Potts, Rick. Museum exhibit. Hall of Human Origins. Natural History Museum, Washington,
D.C.
Shreeve, Jamie. This Face Changes the Human Story. But How? 10 Sep.
2015.http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/09/150910-human-evolution-change/?
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