Evolution Is Not a Linear Thing

You know the graphic, we all know the graphic.

In fact, if you go to Google Images and type in “evolution” it will come up in various renderings—five or six silhouettes (always men) or other figures transforming from ape to human. 

It’s not helpful!

It’s also oversimplifying.

And misleading.

“You know that image of one species leading to another species leading to another species?” asks paleo-anthropologist Ella Al-Shamahi in this 2025 BBC YouTube clip that is part of a series called Time Stamp. “I have problem with that for two reasons. One is obviously you know, where are the women? The second problem I have with that image is that it gives the impression that evolution is just really linear. So one species dies out, gives rise to another species, etcetera, etcetera and we now know that it's just not the case. Human evolution is so much more complicated …  there were loads of us living on the planet at the same time. Different groups were interbreeding. We actually only know the tip of the iceberg of how many human species are out there.”

Photo by Eugene Zhyvchik on Unsplash

Our awareness of the entire family tree is growing—and getting larger and more detailed as the work begins.

Al-Shamahi—who specializes in finding fossils in Palaeolithic caves in unstable and hostile territories, such as Syria, Iraq, and Yemen (according to Wikipedia)—tackles the issue of brain size with a quick question. If brain size is what matters, why aren’t whales and elephants the ones studying evolution in universities today?

Good question!

Says Al-Shamahi: “It's about the organization, in my opinion, of that brain. We seem to have a capacity to copy each other and learn from each other. And also we had the advantage of many, many people …There was a lot of homo sapiens compared to, well, for example, the Neanderthals. That means you have a bigger source of people inventing, copying, perfecting the technology. If you have 50 people in your group, you've all got to get really, really good at everything—hunting, gathering, etcetera, etcetera. Cause you've all got to work really, really hard to survive. If there's 500 of you in your group, suddenly you can stop specializing.”

In a related video that is also part of the Time Stamp series and also narrated by Al-Shamahi, check out the cutting-edge “photogrammetry” and computer-generated imagery that was used to create models of various ancient humans—how they looked, lived, and why they vanished (in all but one case, that is).

Rather than wondering why Homo erectus vanished after 2 million years of roaming the planet, Al-Shamahi thinks they should be celebrated for surviving for so long—even if they did succumb to some climate-related shift in their environment. Homo sapiens, she noted, are only reaching the 300,000 year mark. 

She also walks us through the discovery of Homo floresiensis (the “hobbit”) and how its discovery sent shockwaves through the scientific community in 2005. The remains were found on the island of Flores in Indonesia, she notes, and are at least 700,000 years old (although a precise timeline for Homo floresiensis has yet to be nailed down). The tiny figures lived on an island, she noted, with giant marabou storks, giant rats, and Komodo dragons. Why were these early humans so small while other creatures around them so large? Al-Shamahi points out that we still don’t know precisely why they disappeared from the planet about 50,000 years ago.

Al-Shamahi is an engaging presenter. Akin to Neal DeGrasse Tyson with his passion for the planets, stars and the universe, her energy and enthusiasm make the topic compelling. (But by no means is she the only narrator or presenter in the Time Stamp series.)

Just remember.

Evolution—not a straight line.

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