PALEOHUMAN

A new scientific paradigm for the origin of the bizarre naked ape.

There are major mysteries about human evolution that can now be solved.

The ancestors of humans came out of Africa about 60,000 years ago. It is a mystery where in Africa they came from, and why the bizarre human ape evolved as it did.

Humans must have evolved from great ape ancestors that were similar to modern chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans. What selection pressures led humans to evolve such different traits: large brains, furless bodies, subcutaneous fat cells that can become extreme (like a whale's blubber)? Why do human babies float in salt water, when other ape babies sink? Why do humans have weak muscles compared to chimpanzees? Why do humans run much slower, and on only two legs? Why do humans have large hooded noses, while the other great apes have unshielded nostrils? These are just a few of the obvious differences.

Humans are very unlike chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans — and the question is WHY?

Bizarre creatures can evolve on isolated islands if there is abundant food all year, no competition from other animals, and no predators. This is called the island syndrome.

I think humans evolved on Bioko Island in a Galapagos-like scenario.

About 7 million years ago, a few chimpanzees may have rafted 40 km to proto-Bioko—a newly formed volcanic island. There were no trees or forest foods, and no predators. The main food was probably sea-turtle eggs and sea-turtle meat. Many huge sea turtles visit the beaches each night to lay eggs. The chimpanzees had reliable food all year and warm rain nearly every day. Bioko is one of the rainiest places on Earth.

Marine chimps probably evolved into humans within the first million years: they waded on two legs to keep their heads above water. They evolved a bald blubbery body, which helped babies to float and survive. Brains are mostly fat, and they evolved a large brain (from marine DHA fat) as a side effect. They evolved a hooded nose, which shields the nostrils during a dive. Long head-hair allows gives infants something to grab and hold on to. Females lost estrus-signals, because they were not useful in water. Marine selection pressures can explain all differences between humans and chimpanzees.

For the next 6 million years, I imagine a stable population of 1000 paleohumans on Bioko, scattered along the 200 km coastline (34 km of beaches). The island's steep and rocky interior was unappealing to them, so they stayed along the coast, mostly in the warm water. In their easy life—playing, singing and talking—they used language with advanced syntax. In this social setting, children with a facility for talking were more likely to have children when the became adults. The paleohumans had no weapons, fire, or clothes on the safe, warm, and cloudy island. Any traces they left are now below sea level.

Some paleohumans (Homo erectus, Denisovans, and Neanderthals) swam away to mainland Africa, or walked away during periods of low sea level. They began inventing things and left some fossils. When the sea level dropped most recently, about 70,000 years ago, many more paleohumans decided to leave. That can explain the genetic puzzle of 'ghost DNA'. Y-DNA seems to have its origins near Bioko. Bantu languages do also.

Here I propose just 3 stages to us:
Marine chimpanzees -> Paleohumans -> Hunter-gatherers

But my scientific paper on this new paradigm is being avoided. Fossil experts have to uphold their East African paradigm. In western Africa, where chimpanzees live, there are no fossils of any kind because bones decay fast in the wet soil there.

As a professor, I want to document my evidence and interpretations, also when they are shunned by the established professionals. The links below show some of this documentation.

Allan Krill, Professor of Geology
allankrill@gmail.com