The Work of Dr. Tim White

- a short discussion of how Tim's discoveries have impacted our
knowledge of the origins of our species
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The discovery of the skulls at Herto and their subsequent classification has given us a window into a time that was previously closed to us. Where before we had only speculation, now we have a bit of evidence upon which we can base our assumptions. It seems to be a critically important distinction. It is amazing to me how detailed a picture scientists have been able to create with what is really a very small fossil record, especially when it comes to hominids.
The first discoveries of hominid fossils, “Lucy” and the Java man, etc., were dramatic because they opened an entire new window into the past, and substantiated the embattled theory of the evolutionary nature of human emergence on the planet. Tim’s discovery does not have the same kind of public drama, and only within his own peer group (and perhaps among those of us who have been allowed to have...