opinion
Crown of Creation, image of God, citizen of inviolable dignity - in one way or another we humans like to think about us, at least on days of good humor. At the others, of course, less flattering descriptions come to mind, then we remember our relatives from the animal kingdom, and see in dismay all over the world a single monkey circus, only much worse.
Charles Darwin's theory of evolution evoked a narcissistic shock from which modern man has not yet recovered. Where the great narratives used to emphasize our divine descent, we have since become self-critical of bonobos and chimpanzees, recognizing them naturally, but less cheerfully.
Man is not at ease. Daily new research is needed to make sure of himself. You know it from some early Monday morning, when you confront your reflection with the question: who is there?
And the gloomier the climatic prospects of the planet appear, the greater the concern that we particularly stupid apes would have irretrievably devastated our own reserve with all our great inventions. All the more violent research is done in the distant past of our species, as in the photo albums and documents of a dysfunctional family: is not there somewhere someone who has behaved better, a role model? Can we do it differently?
Walking upright? Actually, we really like to sit
The discovery of the researchers of the University of Tübingen, which has now been published in the journal "Nature", gives hope: The described there, previously unknown species of distant ancestors, a Mittelviech between human and ape, seems quite sympathetic. The "Danuvius Guggenmosi" was able to climb, but he also walked on two legs through the area. (Read more about this here.)
The upright walk is again such a thing, with which we like to describe ourselves, although in everyday life we prefer to sit and consume fossil fuels in the meantime, to come from the living to the working tree to be figurative in the world of the Uraffen to stay. And at work, the upright walk, which we so proudly attribute as a generic feature, is difficult for other reasons.
Sebastian Gollnow / DPA
The first thoracic vertebra of the previously unknown primate Danuvius guggenmosi: It's about walking
The finds in a creek of the "Hammerschmiede" clay pit in Ostallgäu could be attributed to one male, two females and one young, the ancestors of the modern patchwork family. Our cousins were not particularly tall, about one meter high, the male should have weighed more than the females, possibly was next to the impatient on two legs up and down and the beer belly already invented.
Allgäu or Africa? Where do we come from, where do we go?
In the joy of the beautiful discovery resonates, how could it be otherwise, when the human reasoned about the man, also something irritating with. The Bayerischer Rundfunk reported with undisguised pride: "The first upright ape was a Bavarian" - although it would take to the Baierischen state founding even after the demise of climbing and Wanderviechs still several million years.
In the video on "Bild.de" the question is formulated after a report over the find: "the cradle of humanity was not yet in Africa?" Perhaps for some, the idea of bearable, mankind was invented in the Allgäu instead of in East Africa, then it would be arguable arguments for a resentment that has to do without so far.
They called him Udo
The greater the possibilities that we have individually and collectively, the more eagerly we look for roots that explain and limit these possibilities. Perhaps there is not one cradle of humanity, the process was more complex and contradictory. And perhaps millions of years ago, these events have little relevance to today's concerns and needs.
European migration policy does not become easier if justified by migrations millions of years ago or not. It will not work to calm our so complex, changeable and unstable souls with lessons from even more telling fossils. Science answers those self-questioning questions, not our self-doubts and misgivings.
The Udo baptized, cheerful fellow from the prehistoric times greets us only from afar. His problems have been resolved, not ours.
