The First Human:

Evolution Documentary Critical Analysis Paper

The evolution documentary entitled, “The First Human”, produced by JMW

Productions, talked mainly about a breakthrough in the evolution of humans upon the
recent discovery of a number of humanoid skeletal parts which came certainly from Tugen
Hills, East of Kenya, the so-called cradle of humanity. Particularly, a team of fossil hunters
in Kenya, led by French paleontologist Brigitte Senut and French geologist Martin Pickford,
came upon more than a dozen of early human fossils dating between about 6.2 and 5.8
million years ago if which findings on these humanoid fossils were correct, would not just
find the oldest human ancestor but much of the received knowledge of human’s evolution
would have to be rewritten, as well. The discovery of this species, dubbed as “Millennium
Man”, is said to be twice as old as the most famous skeleton in the world, human’s known
ancestor Australopithecus afarensis, “Lucy” who lived at some time about 4 to 3 million
years ago. The parts of this species seemed to have a combination of ape and human
traits which the researchers came to give a new genus and species name to these fossils,
Orrorin tugenensis, which in the local language of Kenya means, “original man in the
Tugen Hills”.
To know if the species were ancient and indeed an ancestor of human race, studies
on the fossils and on the place where the fossils were located had been conducted. Since
the age of the fossils cannot be determined through carbon dating, the determination of
the fossils’ age was based from the geology of the location, the age of the animal bones
also found on the location of human fossils, the age of the strata where the fossils were
found and from the formation of crystals within the rocks situated along with the fossils.
Though having ape-like features like long, curved finger bones and canine and premolar
teeth, remarkably this species had the probability that it walked upright on two legs which
links it with humans since bipedalism is one human’s unique trait, upending previously
accepted opinion on why, how and most especially when humans began to walk. It is
said that this hominid survived with its low, rounded molars and small canine teeth which
suggests that it mainly ate plant-based diet including leaves, fruits, seeds, roots, nuts,
and insects.
Though we were taught in school that humans descend from apes, nothing is
clearly known of our earliest beginning leaving our understanding on the roots of human
race hidden in unknown. However, the discovery of the said early human fossils could be
the answer in the human’s mysterious point of evolution probably leading to the
formulation of revolutionary and controversial theory of how humans came to be. This
species is said to be the oldest early humans on our family tree as basis in well-known
Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution. Theory of Evolution, yet, discusses that all life
descended over time from common ancestors and that the branching pattern of evolution
resulted from a process called natural selection, in which the struggle for existence has a
similar effect to the artificial selection involved in selective breeding. With this, the
discovery of the human fossils has implications for understanding of how humans split
from the apes, as the branching pattern of evolution and natural selection theorize.
This discovery arouses excitement in the scientific world since it gives answers on
some long-time questions and fills some of the gaps about our understanding on the
evolution of the human race, from where we really came, from where we were shaped.
However, the findings along with the fossils and the conclusions about it again raises new
questions that hopefully may be answered in future discoveries.

Prepared by:
Celzo, Rhea B.
Maravilla, Sarra L.
Moreno, Krismae P.
Serrano, Jemie P.
BSGE-5
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