ABSTRACT
When a lineage of proto-hominids left the forest for the savannah, the process of hominidization was initiated. Armed with bags of fossil bones, such influential scholars as Jolly (1970) with his ‘seed-eating hypothesis’, Lewis (1972) with his ‘brachiation hypothesis’ and Washburn (1971) with his ‘knuckle-walking hypothesis’ have all utilized skeletal materials to chronicle the emergence of the Hominidae, or the family of bipedal primates that includes direct and near ancestors and modern humans. More recently, the excavation of several hominid-rich fossil sites has now equipped researchers with enough tangible remains to fashion a physical portrait of early hominids. This reproduction conveys the impression that the first hominids evolved in Africa, closely resembled apes in facial features and cranial capacity, evidenced body size sexual dimorphism, and had successfully adapted to an open country niche as habitual bipeds long before manufacturing stone tools (see Falk 1983, Rak 1983, Stern and Susman 1983, Stringer 1984, White and Suwa 1987, Fleagle 1988, Grine 1988, Potts 1993). While any reconstruction of early hominid evolution must ultimately rest on the fossil and archaeological records, these assemblages are inadequate by themselves when it comes to reassembling the social ways of early hominids. This realization has forced scholars to consider secondary sources such as the rich social data now available on non-human primate societies. In particular, researchers have highlighted the Hominoidea, or the superfamily that includes apes and humans, and especially chimpanzees (Pan) and gorillas (Gorilla) because their phyletic closeness to humans would seem to allow us to glimpse ourselves in a truly ‘distant mirror’. Of course, Pan and Gorilla are the evolutionary end points of their own equally long lineages. However, although the African forest belt shrunk in response to cooler climatic conditions, the interior is believed to have remained relatively stable since the Miocene and niche theory would predict more relaxed selection, especially for primary forest chimpanzees (Simonds 1974).
