Science U
Hominin Skulls
Season 3 Episode 4 | 1m 1sVideo has Closed Captions
Have you ever wondered about our distant ancestors? Which are our closest relatives?
Have you ever wondered about our distant ancestors? Here we can examine some skulls to see which ones might be more closely related to us, modern humans. There is still some debate about which hominin ancestors are most closely related to us.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
Science U is a local public television program presented by WPSU
Science U
Hominin Skulls
Season 3 Episode 4 | 1m 1sVideo has Closed Captions
Have you ever wondered about our distant ancestors? Here we can examine some skulls to see which ones might be more closely related to us, modern humans. There is still some debate about which hominin ancestors are most closely related to us.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorshipMENTOR: When I say science, you say "U".
Science!
CHILDREN: U!
MENTOR: Science!
CHILDREN: U!
NARRATOR: Today the campers went to the Matson Museum of Anthropology, where they came face to face with our earliest ancestors.
MENTOR: On this table, we have a variety of different humans ranging from 3 million years ago to our current human species, Homo sapiens.
So our challenge for you guys today is to lay them out in chronological order, from earliest to the most recent.
Feel free to come up here, handle the skulls.
These are all casts of different fossils.
NARRATOR: The campers examined the skulls closely to find clues for which came first and which came later.
Look at the brow ridges, I've never seen anybody with eyebrows so high.
I think this one is closer to humans because it has a bigger cranium.
One feature you look at is the size of the jaw.
If I hold this up to my face, you would think we were related.
MENTOR: Yeah, those are some very good observations.
Can you put them in order?
Try it yourself at science-u.org.
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Science U is a local public television program presented by WPSU