Renato Bender and Nicole Oser
The arguments of the
Aquatic Ape Theory (AAT) and the so called
Ideas about a transition
from forests to open spaces in connection with the emergence of man can be
found already in Lamarck’s Philosophie Zoologique in 1809. Indeed, most of the
main elements of the "ST" are present in the palaeoanthropological
literature since the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century.
Essential in this
observation is the fact, that the most relevant arguments of the "ST"
were formulated before the discovery of the first fossils of
Australopithecines. Raymond Dart is therefore definitely not one of the first
authors of a Savannah Theory, but the first one, which used the arguments of
this theoretical models in connection with fossils of early hominids (Bender
1999, chap. 3). Another important observation concerning the scientific value
of the AAT and the "ST" is represented by the biological concept of
convergence. As stressed by Bender (1999) and Oser (in preparation), the search
for convergences with other species is one of the most important tools used by
biologists in their attempts to reconstruct some phases of the phylogeny of a
living system. In the reconstruction of human evolution, this method is
neglected, because in the "ST" there is little possibility to find
convergences between man and savannah animals. (But there are
some examples of such attempts in connection with Savannah Theories, for
instance in Read’s analogies between early hominids and wolves [Read 1925] and
in Jolly’s analogies between Thereopithecus and hominids [Jolly 1970]).
The AAT, in contrast to
this, is the only model of human evolution which supports its arguments through
a broad and objective use of the concept of convergence. This fact supplies
other scientists with comprehensible informations,
with enable them to test the premises of this hypothesis.
Bibliography
Bender, Renato (1999): Die evolutionsbiologische Grundlage des
menschlichen Schwimmens, Tauchens und Watens: Konvergenzforschung in den
Terrestrisierungshypothesen und in der Aquatic Ape Theory (master thesis). – Institut
für Sport und Sportwissenschaft, Universtity of
Jolly, C.J., 1970: The Seed-Eaters: A New Model of Hominid
Differentiation based on a Baboon Analogy. - Man 5, 5-26.
Lamarck, J.-B. de, 1809: Philosophie
zoologique, ou exposition des considérations relatives à l' histoire naturelle
des animaux. - Paris.
Oser, N., (in preparation): Westenhöfers Aquatile Hypothese: Die
Geschichte einer neuen Theorie der menschlichen Evolution. - Medizinhistorische
Dissertation. –Medizinhistorisches Institut, University of Bern.
Read, C., 1920: The Origin of Man and of his Superstitions. -
Roede, M.; Wind, J; Patrick, J.M. & Reynolds, V., 1991a (ed.):
The Aquatic Ape: Fact or Fiction?: The First
Scientifical Evaluation of a Controversial Theory of Human Evolution.- Souvenir Press,