The species known as Ramapithecus was found in the Siwalik foothills of northwestern himalayas.This species believed to be the first in the line of hominids lived some 14 million years ago.According to Dr. B.S.Guha, the population of india is derived from 6 main ethnic groups.
1.) Negritos: they are brachycephalics(broad headed) from Africa, were the earliest people to inhabit India. They are surviving in Andaman and Nicobar islands. They include Jarewas, Onges, Sentelenese, and Great Andamanis.
2.) Pro-Australoids: This group was next to come to India. They represent people with wavy hairs plentifully distributed over their brown body., long heads with low foreheads and prominent eye,ridges, noses, thick jaws,large palates and teeth and small chins.Austric tribes are present in Myanmar, south east asia, are said to "form bedrock of the people".They were the main builders of the Indus Valley Civilisation.
3.) Mongloids: These people have features common to people of Mongolia, China ,Tibet. They are found in northeastern part of India in states like Assam, Nagaland, Meghalya and also in Ladhak and sikkim. They people of yellow complexion, oblique eyes, high cheeckbones, sparse hairs, medium heights.
4.) Dravidian/ Mediterranean: This group came to India from south west asis and appear to be same to people of Asia minor and Crete and pre-Hellenic Aegeans of Greece. They have built up the city civilisation of indus valley, whose remains have been found in Mohenjodaro and Harappa. They comprise all three sub- types , Paleo-Mediterranean, and Oriental mediterranean.
5.) Western Brachycephals: These include the Alpinoids, Dinaries, Armenois. The Coorgis and Parsis fall INto this category.
6.) Nordics: Nordics or Indo-Aryans are the last immigrants. Nordic Aryans were a branch of Indo- Iranians, who had originally left their homes in Central Asia , some 5000 years ago, had settled in Mesopotamia. The Aryans must have come to India in 2000 and 1500 B.C. Their first home in India was PunjabFrom there spread to valley of ganga and beyond.
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Ramapithecus?? Did you mean Sivapithecus? AFAIK Ramapithecus is no longer regarded as a likely ancestor of humans. I may be wrong also but this is what Wikipedia says.
ReplyDeleteThe first incomplete specimens of Ramapithecus were found in Nepal on the bank of Tenau River western part of the country in 1932. The finder (G. Edward Lewis) claimed that the jaw was more like a human's than any other fossil ape then known. In the 1960s this claim was revived. At that time, it was believed that the ancestors of humans had diverged from other apes 14 million years ago. Biochemical studies upset this view, suggesting that there was an early split between orangutan ancestors and the common ancestors of chimps, gorillas and humans.
Meanwhile, more complete specimens of Ramapithecus were found in 1975 and 1976, which showed that it was less human-like than had been thought. It began to look more and more like Sivapithecus - meaning that the older name must take priority. It could be that Ramapithecus was just the female form of Sivapithecus. They were definitely members of the same genus. It is also likely that they were already separate from the common ancestor of chimps, gorillas and humans, though fossils of this presumed ancestor have not yet been found.