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Journalism of Courage
CHANDIGARH, June 7: An Indian anthropologist, who surprised the world last year with his discovery of a five to seven lakh year-old human clavicle (collar bone) fossil from Central Narmada Valley, now endeavours to disprove the known theory of human evolution by establishing that Narmada Man represented the earliest form of homo sapiens.
Dr Anek Ram Sankyan, from the Anthropological Survey of India, Calcutta who was here, told ENS in an exclusive interview that the new knowledge had given credence to his belief that Narmada Valley could have been the centre of human evolution. He said the available evidence after the Narmada Man discovery points towards the possibility that the origin of African and European stone age cultures was the Narmada Valley.
Sankhyan, who is bringing out his startling findings in his forthcoming book, Narmada Basin and Early Human Culture, said that Narmada Man was different from extinct Africian homo erectus as well as from the European Neanderthals and western archaic homo sapiens.
Sankhyan had created a sensation with his discovery of clavicle supposed to be that of a 25-30-year-old 4 ft 4" woman of stocky build belonging to the Stone Age near Hoshangabad in Central Narmada Valley basin. His findings were reported in the Journal of Human Evolution, London last year which opened up new possibilities of human evolution apart from giving credence to the theory of parallel evolution.
“There is a great likelihood that modern man had in Narmada Man its closest resembling ancestor and there is likelihood that modern man had its origin here and migrated elsewhere from here,” Dr. Sankhyan said.
Disputing the currently held view that African or European Neanderthal man was the origin of Marmada Man, Sankhyan says Narmada Man was different morphologically and ecologically. The Narmada hominid characterises an archaic robust and stocky hominid in sharp contrast to the tall and well-built African or western homo-sapiens.
No hominid fossil clavicle has so far been reported from Asia except the one in Narmada Valley.It was sustained effort on the part of the team, for over a decade, as it conducted explorations during 1983 to 1992 over 50 sites between Jabalpur and Punasa, which led to the discovery of the clavicle fossil. Over 700 lithic artifacts and mammalian fossils were also recovered.
The specimen was originally misidentified and later, after sustained research, was recognised as a hominid.“I am trying to weave and re-write the theory of evolution of human beings from a reassessment of the evolutionary relationships of the Narmada Man in a global framework,”Dr Sankhyan said.
Narmada Valley, with its central location between the Asian, African and European land messes could have been quite a suitable place for early human origin and thereafter, for easy dispersal across the continents of the old world.Earlier, the Indian and particularly South Indian stone cultures were supposed to have been extensions of the African or European Stone Age culture.However, Dr Sankhyan decisively says that the Narmada Man was the most appropriate anatomical, geographical and ecological ancestor of modern man.
Two evolutions, one in Africa and another in Asia, in Narmada Valley, may have existed, he claimed while disputing the Chinese claims of a separate evolution. He said, Chinese Man was only three-lakh year old.The Narmada Man could not have come from Africa as he was distinct in features from him. The African Man had a small head and was much nearer to an ape than modern man. On the other hand, Narmada Man was pigymy-sized with large head and was a much closer version of modern man, claims Dr Sankhyan.
