Thick Skull a Survival Trait

Waffle Iron writes "This article at cnn.com reports: 'Scientists say the bulky craniums of the human ancestor, homo erectus, may have helped the species survive some aggressive mating rituals. After studying fossils in a region called Dragon Bone Hill in China, anthropologist Russell Ciochon of the University of Iowa concluded males of the species were clubbing one another over the head, probably to win females.' However, the geekier cavemen may have won out at the end. The article goes on to say: '...evolution eventually favored a lighter skull to accommodate a heavier and larger brain'."

Comments

Me.. No smart?

[E1ven]

Me.. have big skull... Thicker than most friends... This.. Mean me no smart?
Years learning UNIX wasted. Me sad....
Is.. Causal relationship between big skull and dumb man found?

Me tell my college friends who crush beer cans on they head that they are evolving themselves.

I guess I go post a grits now...

Damn

[BoomerSooner]

I thought that was a picture of my dead grandfather for a minute. I guess all italians look like monkey's as they get older!

Coworkers

[schnits0r]

So that means my coworkers have a higher survival rate?

Someone had to say it, It might as well have been me.

Re:TNG

[PD]

the human ancestor, homo erectus

Ron Jeremy came to mind, actually.

Simpsons pot game

[Bowling Moses]

My roommate and I have thrown several parties for friends of ours who finally got their PhD's. There's more concentrated drunken nerdliness at these things than probably is legal, and at several of them the pot game (from the Simpsons) happens. Two grad students or newly-minted PhD's grab pots from our kitchen and bash heads. So far only one real injury: a cracked but not broken nose (the pots escape undamaged). So if the thicker skull of H. erectus was due to ritualized violence does that mean that the street preacher who came to campus last month was right when he called us a bunch of degenerates?

Re:Simpsons pot game

[TomorrowPlusX]

So if the thicker skull of H. erectus was due to ritualized violence does that mean that the street preacher who came to campus last month was right when he called us a bunch of degenerates?

Yes, but that would require him to accept... gasp... evolution.

The dirtiest word of all!

*Tnok* *Squee!*

[NanoGator]

"Scientists say the bulky craniums of the human ancestor, homo erectus, may have helped the species survive some aggressive mating ritual"

So we Slashdotters all have thin skulls because... oh man, I've been burned by Darwin!

Ob Simpsons

[xleeko]

We know the true name of this condition ...

Dr Hibbert: You have an absolutely unique genetic condition known as "Homer
Simpson syndrome".
Homer: [moaning] Oh, why me?

Dr Hibbert: Why, I could wallop you all day with this surgical two-by-four
without ever knocking you down.

--From "The Homer They Fall"

aggressive mating rituals

[Big Sean O]

Y'all seem to think that it's only the males who benefit from having thick skulls.

It benefits women too, vis--vis the headboard. There's nothing like a coital concussion to kill the romance.

Fight Club != mating ritual

[lawpoop]

So a buch of cave guys played skull bashing games. What does this have to do with mating? My guess is that while 'the guys' were off in the woods, spanking each other, chanting "thank you sir, may I have another?!", the smart, sensitive caveguys had started a band with instruments they built, wrote love songs and poetry, cried and wept, and seduced women .

"Hm. Son like poetry. Not want go hunting with guys. Uses bow make music. Son remind me of that nerd Grog. Hey! Hm. Idea gone."