The Real World > History

Aquatic Ape Hypothesis

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monksgirl:
This thread reminded me of a special on Nova, Nat Geo, Discover or similar, from several years ago, on this same theory of early man spending a great time living by the water, and this quote from one of LKJ's references "...    * The requirement of the human brain for certain nutrients including iodine[20] and some essential fatty acids[21] which are most easily found and absorbed in seafood..." This inclusion of marine fatty foods was specifically cited in the show as the probable causation for the human brain making sudden exponential leaps in capability, and the rise of modern man.

Laura:
Thanks very much!  A great read!

bngenoh:

--- Quote from: Laura on November 07, 2011, 10:58:21 PM ---Thanks very much!  A great read!

--- End quote ---
:D You are most welcome mama. :D :D

bngenoh:
It seems AAH goes back way further than i had thought of before, stubled upon this while doing research on the legend behind mermaids.

--- Quote ---The first known mermaid stories appeared in Assyria, ca. 1000 BC. The goddess Atargatis, mother of Assyrian queen Semiramis, loved a mortal shepherd and unintentionally killed him. Ashamed, she jumped into a lake to take the form of a fish, but the waters would not conceal her divine beauty. Thereafter, she took the form of a mermaid-human above the waist, fish below—though the earliest representations of Atargatis showed her as a fish with a human head and arm, similar to the Babylonian Ea. The Greeks recognized Atargatis under the name Derketo. Prior to 546 BC, the Milesian philosopher Anaximander proposed that mankind had sprung from an aquatic species of animal. He thought that humans, with their extended infancy, could not have survived otherwise.

--- End quote ---
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mermaid

More about Anaximanders speculation on origins of life:

--- Quote ---Anaximander speculated about the beginnings and origin of animal life. Taking into account the existence of fossils, he claimed that animals sprang out of the sea long ago. The first animals were born trapped in a spiny bark, but as they got older, the bark would dry up and break.[38] As the early humidity evaporated, dry land emerged and, in time, humankind had to adapt.

[...]

He thought that, considering humans' extended infancy, we could not have survived in the primeval world in the same manner we do presently. Even though he had no theory of natural selection, some people consider him as evolution's most ancient proponent. The theory of an aquatic descent of man was re-conceived centuries later as the aquatic ape hypothesis. These pre-Darwinian concepts may seem strange, considering modern knowledge and scientific methods, because they present complete explanations of the universe while using bold and hard-to-demonstrate hypotheses.

--- End quote ---
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anaximander

Just more resources for anyone who is so inclined to research AAH & its history, heck it makes it a whole lot easier if anyone wants to write a paper on AAH & its history.

Laura:
Very interesting find.  Sometimes the remarks of the "ancients" were remarkably prescient.

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