Now that I’m working in the anthropology department and we’re teaching human evolution, I wonder how many anthropologists looking for ancient hominids must have found modern human remains instead. You didn’t find a fossil of human evolution… but you did find the remains of a person. Isn’t that meaningful, too? And also… they are so similar to us, that it’s not unlikely that so many remains that could have been key to understanding human evolution have been misidentified as just humans (which raises the question “weren’t they just human” but I digress)
There’s an interesting story about Sahelanthropus (a hominid similar to chimpanzees who walked upright about 6 millions ago in modern Chad). When it was discovered, the remains presented wear and tear from wind and sun exposure, which was wierd because they were found buried. It was then the anthropologist noticed it was buried with its head facing towards Mecca, like in proper Muslim burial practice. Muslim nomads must have found the remains of Sahelanthropus, they would have thought it was a human, and decided to give it a proper burial, even if they didn’t know its story or who was it life, they thought those bones deserved to rest.