Abstract
In 1967, two important papers were published that had bearing on the start of the hominin lineage. One sorted and reclassified the fossil record, promoting Ramapithecus punjabicus as the earliest known hominin. The other used molecular comparisons of living primates to calculate the time the hominin lineage diverged from other hominoids. These two studies incompatibly disagreed over the timing of that split, but at the time both conclusions represented the best interpretations of different lines of evidence. The struggle to reconcile them stimulated new research and profoundly changed the way we understand ourselves.
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Langdon, J.H. (2016). Case Study 7. Reinterpreting Ramapithecus: Reconciling Fossils and Molecules. In: The Science of Human Evolution. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-41585-7_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-41585-7_7
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Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-41584-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-41585-7
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