Last Ape Standing: The Seven-Million-Year Story of How and Why We Survived (36 page)

Once they had departed Africa, modern humans headed off to every corner of the planet—the Middle East, Europe, Asia, the Far East, the South Pacific, Australia, and the Americas. Among the last continents to be reached? Antarctica, in the nineteenth century. Remote Pacific islands were probably populated about the time the first Pharaohs ruled Egypt. (See Chapter 5: “The Everywhere Ape.”)
Original artwork by Altaileopard, Wikimedia commons.

Gorham Cave

Twenty-five thousand years ago the last Neanderthals may have lived, and died, in this cathedral-like cave. (See Chapter 6: “Cousin Creatures.”)
Original photo provided by Gibmetal77, Wikimedia commons.

Our Closest Cousin?

We now know the Neanderthal people of Europe and west Asia were remarkably intelligent and tough. This reconstruction illustrates that their large skulls, thick, ropey muscles, and expansive noses, optimized for warming cold air, helped them survive frigid temperatures and a punishing lifestyle. (See Chapter 6: “Cousin Creatures.”)
Original artwork by Cicero Moraes, Wikimedia commons.

Final Days of the Neanderthal

Did the last Neanderthal sit on the great snaggled-toothed Rock of Gibraltar and watch her (or his) final sunset? (See Chapter 6: “Cousin Creatures.”)
Original photo provided by RedCoat, Wikimedia commons.

If we could compress the emergence of all of the humans we so far know of who evolved over the past seven million years into the space of twelve months, it would look something like this. Many more species probably came and went that we haven’t yet discovered. (See Chapter 1: “The Battle for Survival.”)
Artwork and graph by Frank Harris, 2012.

Prehistoric Genius

Long ago a Cro-Magnon artist painted this breathtaking image deep in the Altamira caves of Spain. Today they would be the envy of art galleries around the world, or Madison Avenue marketeers—rich, vibrant, and ingenious. You can almost see the image ripple in the ancient firelight that once illuminated it. Around this time in human history there was a global blossoming of creativity. Was the wellspring of that creativity our long childhood? (See Chapter 7: “Beauties in the Beast.”)
Photo credit: akg-images.

One Reason Why We Resemble Baby Apes

The effect of youthful (more feminine) faces on members of the opposite sex illustrate that even today both men and women find their counterparts more attractive if they look more childlike. For this experiment, scientists digitally created an “average,” but attractive, version of two faces for each sex, one Caucasian and one Asian, four “average” faces in all. The researchers then digitally modified each face to create two versions, one slightly more masculine, the other slightly more feminine and childlike. (See Chapter 7: “Beauties in the Beast.”)
Reprinted by permission, Macmillan Publishers Ltd:
Nature
394, “Effects of Sexual Dimorphism on Facial Attractiveness,” pp 884–87, August 27, 1998.

Our Preference for Childlike Looks Persists Today

The male versions in the study sport slightly heavier eyebrows, a hint of shaved beard, squarer jaws, and pupils that stand a bit farther apart than female pupils. This creates the illusion that the male faces are larger than the women’s (they aren’t). Ancient preferences like these help explain why we look, even in adulthood, more like baby apes than fully grown ones. (See Chapter 7: “Beauties in the Beast.”)
Reprinted by permission, Macmillan Publishers Ltd.:
Nature
394, “Effects of Sexual Dimorphism on Facial Attractiveness,” pp 884–87, August 27, 1998.

The Black Box We Call the Human Brain

The human brain is an amalgamation of ancient and newly evolved “mini brains,” each with its own functions, cobbled together by the demands of evolution. Together they create the behavior we call human; complex, mysterious, playful, and unpredictable. Can the mind that the human brain makes possible comprehend itself? (See Chapter 8: “The Voice Inside Your Head.”)
Original artwork by permission: Patric Hagmann et.al., Wikimedia commons.

The Red Deer Cave People

Recently scientists stunned the world with the discovery of a mysterious people exhibiting both ancient and modern features who lived in southern China as recently as eleven thousand years ago, just as Homo sapiens were inventing agriculture. Are they somehow related to us, Neanderthals and the newly discovered Denisovan people, or are they an entirely separate branch of the human family tree? Recent discoveries have rapidly rearranged old assumptions. More changes will likely come. (See Chapter 6: “Cousin Creatures.”)
Original artwork by Peter Schouten.

Copyright © 2013 by William J. (Chip) Walter Jr.

First published in the United States of America in 2013
by Walker Books, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing, Inc.
This electronic edition published in January 2013
www.bloomsbury.com

For information about permission to reproduce selections from his book, write to Permissions, Walker BFYR, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10010

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