Mother's Day as a holiday is only 105 years old, but moms
on the direct and extended human family tree date back to at least 58
million years ago.
That's when Plesiadapis, the oldest known
primate-like mammal, lived. Infants were fully formed but helpless, so
mothers must have provided a great deal of care. Resembling
squirrel-like lemurs, Plesiadapis moms also spent a lot of time
scurrying around the ground and in trees.
Fast forward several million years and there is
4.4-million-year-old Ardipithecus ramidus, aka "Ardi." "It is as close
as we have ever come to finding the last common ancestor of chimpanzees
and humans," said Jay Matternes of the Natural Museum of Natural
History.
Like Plesiadapis mothers, Ardi moms lived both in the
trees and on the ground. These moms probably carried their young.
Matternes and his colleagues also believe that dads provided substantial
care for their kids.
The species that gave us "Lucy" is 3.9-million-year-old
Australopithecus afarensis. Slender, toothy and small-brained (but
probably still smart), "Lucy" left the trees in favor of terrestrial
life.
Zeresenay Alemseged of the California Academy of Sciences
told Discovery News that Lucy loved meat and had tools at hand to
process foods and items. Cooking, cleaning and caring for kids might
therefore have been on the daily schedule of A. afarensis moms.
Homo habilis, dating to 2.33 million years ago, was another tool-toting
meat fancier. This species, however, was also on the menu of other
carnivores, such as large predatory cats. Homo habilis mothers had to be
on guard at all times to protect their children.
Homo erectus, from 1.8 million years ago, was probably the first human
ancestor to live in a hunter-gatherer society, according to
anthropologist Richard Leakey and others. Use of fire was important to
this species.
Mothers might have then spent many hours with their
families sitting by warming fires.
Homo antecessor, an early member of our genus from Europe, lived 1.2
million years ago. Anthropologist Juan Luis Arsuaga suspects this
species had a complex spoken language, since its sense of hearing was
suited to understanding speech. H. antecessor moms must have then
praised and scolded their kids, comparable to communications between
mothers and their children today.
Neanderthals went extinct several thousand years ago, but
they interbred with humans before their species died out, according to
anthropologist Silvana Condemi. She and her team analyzed the remains of
what is believed to be a Neanderthal/modern human love child.
Life
must have been tough for Neanderthal mothers, given the frequent harsh
cold of their Asian and
European environments. Evidence found in caves
suggests they and their families often huddled together for warmth and
savored big game meals.
Homo floresiensis, nicknamed the Hobbit human, is thought
to have gone extinct just 12,000 years ago. The species lived on the
Indonesian island of Flores.
Moms were short -- probably only
about 3'6" tall. Like Neanderthals, this species also had a tool
industry, a fondness for meat -- especially the elephant relative
Stegodon -- and often used fire.
Homo sapiens originated in Africa about 200,000 years ago. When some
members of the species migrated northward, many inhabited caves and rock
shelters for protection and to ward off cold. Home sweet home for moms
then was likely a cave with a comforting fire and all family members
present. Evidence for early instruments and alcoholic beverages further
suggest that families could have entertained themselves with music,
dancing and drinking.
Mothers today appear to have come full circle. Just as many past
ancestors combined work with childcare, so too do many modern moms. Much
has obviously changed over the millennia, but core concerns -- such as
protecting children, strengthening family togetherness and safeguarding
homes -- remain the same.
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