Greg Laden's Blog

Of course the term “aquatic ape” is a misnomer, it’s not about apes or australopiths (only about Homo s.s.), and it’s not about having been aquatic (a better term is “littoral”), but – however one wants to name it – the Hardy–Morgan theory is beyond the slightest doubt: it’s obvious that Pleistocene Homo populations dispersed along coasts & rivers: how else could they have reached Flores? why else are all archaic Homo fossils found next to edible shellfish (work of J.Joordens, of S.Munro, and others), all over the Old World, from the Cape to Eritrea to Boxgrove to Dmanisi to Mojokerto, from at least 1.8 Ma until 125 ka?
The problem IMO is that most anti-AAT people attack their own idea of what they believe AAT is (eg, dolphin-like ancestors). Their “critiques” are nearly invariably irrelevant, misunderstanding, misrepresenting, obsolete, not essential (attacking a possible sub-hypothesis), and illogical (because we differ from aquatic animals, we can’t have lived along coasts).
IMO we have to discern 2 theories:
- the littoral theory of Homo (AAT s.s.): Pleistocene diaspora along coasts & rivers,
- the aquarboreal theory of apes: Mio-Pliocene hominoid adaptations to flooded forests (mangrove, gallery, swamp forests).
For up-to-date insights, please
- google “econiche Homo” & “aquarboreal”,
- or read our forthcoming ebook “Was Man More Aquatic in the Past? Fifty Years after Alister Hardy: Waterside Hypotheses of Human Evolution” by M.Vaneechoutte, A.Kuliukas & M.Verhaegen eds 2011 Bentham Sci.Publ., with contributions of Elaine Morgan, Phillip Tobias, Michel Odent, Anna Gislén & others,
- or see our recent paper “Pachyosteosclerosis suggests archaic Homo frequently collected sessile littoral foods” in HOMO J.compar.hum.Biol.62:237-247, 2011.
Marc Verhaegen http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/AAT

Posted by: marc verhaegen | September 29, 2011 11:36 AM