Did early man originate in India?
30 May, 2007 l 0212 hrs ISTlShishir Arya/TIMES NEWS NETWORK

NAGPUR: It may provide new clues to the history of mankind. A recent
discovery by a city scientist working for the Anthropological Survey
of India (ASI) has strengthened the theory that the early man could
have originated in India. It also hints at the possibility that
central India might have been the hotbed of human evolution.

Dr Pradyut Gangopadhyay, working for ASI's local office, has
discovered a part of femur (thigh bone) near Hathlora village in
Hoshangabad district of Madhya Pradesh, a part of Narmada valley.
Though not dated through scientific means, scientists surmise the
bone fossil is not less than 50,000 years old, which can be that of
homo erectus, the ancestor of the modern man.

This is the third major discovery of human remains from the same
place, which is termed as middle to later paleosicte stratum and
relates to remains at least as old as 50,000 years.

In the first discovery, a human scalp of a homo erectus was
discovered in 1982 by Dr Arun Sonakia. Later in 1997, a collar bone
was discovered by Dr A R Sankhayan, after which in December 2006,
this fragment of thigh bone was excavated from the same site.

"After finishing the requisite formalities, the bone has been
recently registered by the ASI here,"said Dr Gangopadhyay, who
discovered the fossil. This gives strong indication to the belief
that it was India, and not the African continent, where the first man
originated.

The genetic analysis done by the ASI showed that the 'M haplo'genetic
group of man, which is as old as 80,000 years, is largely found in
India. However, there is also a school of thought that this group
would have migrated from eastern African continent over one lakh
years ago, where it originated.

"But, with the findings of this fossil which is almost 50,000 years
old, once again inferences can be drawn that this species first
evolved in India, spread to Africa and later came back,"said
Gangopadhyay. This is also supported by large inhabitation of M haplo
group in India.

The fossils will later be sent for dating process to find as to
exactly how old the remains are. There are chances that carbon dating
may not work due to the specimen's age, so methods like CT scan,
uranium dating and 3D morphological dating may be used. After this,
the ASI would swing into full-fledged research for finding out
further remains,.

A picture of the femur was sent to Pennsylvania and Duke university
in the US, but experts there could not confirm its age and feel that
the bone can be older than that of homo erectus era.

Once the dating is confirmed, excavation will be under taken in this
area and the team would re-visit the place.

"This is indeed an important discovery for the organisation and the
research would be taken up further,"mentioned the deputy director of
ASI, Nagpur, Dr M B Sharma.

The Narmada Valley has always been an area of interest for scientists
and investigations began here around two hundred years ago, in 1833
itself. A part of skull was found in 1881, which is today reported to
be missing from the museum of Asiatic Society in Kolkata.