Scientists have recently concluded that the oldest hominid (a primate of a family that includes humans and their ancestors) skeleton provides solid evidence that humans and primates evolved from the same ancestor. This skeleton, called Ardipithecus but nicknamed "Ardi", is 4.4 million years old. The discovery tells us that humans have been evolving for at least 6 million years. Ardi challenges the idea that humans directly evolved from chimpanzees, rather than the idea that humans and chimps evolved from the same ancestor. Earlier tonight there was a special on the Discovery Channel about Ardi as well. More information can be found on the website here.
Reading the article informed me about progress in human evolution, but it made me think even more about racial evolution. In class we have been talking about slavery and white dominance, but I am curious as to how the white 'race' was developed in the first place. If race is defined by skin color, does anyone know how those skin colors evolved over time? How did different races develop?
P.S. Here is a video from the Discovery Website comparing Ardi to Lucy, a 3.2 million year old skeleton:
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