Atavism: The Secrets of the Past and the Key to the Future
Meaning the return of ancestral features to an organism,
this word has only recently appeared in my vocabulary. I came across it whilst
reading Robert Winston’s ‘The Human Mind’, in which he was describing Cesare Lombroso’s
work. The sentence read ‘He compared these with the skulls of non-human
primates and came to the view that criminals were ‘throwbacks’ – the
consequence of atavism.’ Now, being a fifteen year old, secondary school student,
I haven’t studied evolution in that depth let alone Atavism itself, so
understandably I was not aware of what it was. Therefore I took it upon myself
to research the term in order to gain a better understanding of what Winston
was referring to.
Upon researching Atavism, I found that I was finding it
increasingly interesting and that, not only had I learnt a new word but also that,
Atavism had lead me on to reading articles about topics such as Phylogenetic
ideas, Ontogeny and The Recapitulation Theories. All being rather interesting
topics, I decided I would write about Atavism. I understand that I will
probably not be able to give the most intellectual response; however it was
something I wanted to do.
Living in a social community where being different is now
considered a positive thing, I was not surprised to see the flashes of
pig-like-tails and hair-covered-humans when I searched Atavism. When in modern
day, you can be famous for almost anything, it wasn't the first time I had seen
images of this nature, however I wasn't seeing these images purely for
entertainment. As I previously said, I wanted
to learn about what Atavism was. Consequently, I began to see these images as
not the odd deformities that appear on the pages of the Guinness Book of World
Records, but instead as what they truly were, an anomaly in human evolution. Atavism is a backtrack, a reverse, an anti –
progression, an oddity. However for the exact definition, the Oxford English Dictionary
states the following:
- The reappearance of a characteristic in an organism after several generations of absence, usually caused by the chance recombination of genes.
- An individual or a part that exhibits Atavism. Also called a throwback.
- The return of a trait or recurrence of previous behaviour after a period of absence.
I personally think that this depicts Atavism perfectly. It
tells you with a limited amount of words exactly what it is. However the only
disadvantage of definitions is that they never tell you why. Yes, it briefly
mentions the fact that Atavism is usually caused by the chance recombination of
genes however it doesn’t say why these genes, that haven’t been used in so
long, suddenly reappear. Even though there will always be an element of them
within the organism, surely with these genes being so old, and ‘faint’, there
would be a considerably larger amount of dominant genes, in which case this
ancient gene would be discarded.
Yet it seems as though this is not the case, as we obviously
do have these ‘Ancient Genes’ coming through. In Homo sapiens, it is most commonly
present as an extra nipple or a tail like feature around the bottom of the
back. Although absurd, they do make some form of sense. These were both
features that an ancestor of modern man once had. When it comes down to it,
without these features, we wouldn't be what we are today because somewhere
along the line we will have had to evolve and adapt to different situations in
which we may have not needed a tail anymore. However depending on the time in
which this change occurred will have affected the rest of man’s evolution,
therefore it is a factor that leads us to where we are today. Just like in hundreds of thousands of years’ time, our modern day human, will just be another drawn out
figure in a long line of ape like beings on an evolutionary graph.
Now this idea of the evolutionary graph is normally
portrayed as a horizontal timeline, similar to the image featured on the right.
Defined as the infamous ‘March of Progress’, it shows the slow progression of
man getting taller, the forehead becoming increasingly vertical, and the gradual
transformation of posture. It depicts the natural appearance, or so what we
have presumed was the natural appearance of our ancestors.
This brings me back to the initial point of interest –
Atavism. With the ancestors of man developing in different ways, it means that
they will begin to have different features; one phenotype may have lost a
feature, for example, a tail whilst gaining new features such as opposable
thumbs. Obviously this would have happened over the time period of millions of
years; however it does show a possible theory of how we have grown apart from
the ape like being we once resembled. Below is featured an example of a
polymorph.
With a recombination of genes occurring within an organism, it is using a similar genetic formation as one that has pre – existed in our ancestors. So when an Atavism does occur, it would be interesting to see how the genes changed. By looking at how the genetical structure of our ancestors, through modern day Atavisms, we may be able to understand how we have changed and possibly why this has happened. If we were able to claim that information, a question I would be asking is, if we look at the changes of the past can we predict our future? Will we be able to genetically modify man in order to develop at a quicker rate? What will the ethical voice of reason say in response to this idea of genetically modifying?
When thinking about the future of man, it leads me into
thought processes of whether or not Atavism should be thought of negatively;
perhaps it is just the next step of human evolution. Will we develop to attain
features of animals? I know the next statement is possibly slightly shallow;
however it does raise an interesting thought. In ‘The Amazing Spider Man’ (2012),
the idea of genetic coding is effectively what the film is about. It’s suggesting
the idea of taking combinations of genes from animals that have certain
features in order to enhance the human body. For example the film focuses on
the ability to regenerate limbs. Now, I’m not saying that we should base all
our scientific theories on the Spiderman Films however I do think that it is an
interesting thought.
If we were to be able to incorporate features like
regeneration of the body into humans, we could become extremely powerful
beings. This isn't necessarily a good thing. We have already manipulated the
world, to accustom our needs however this would be the next step. Although,
genetic coding could be used for very sinister reasons, it could also provide
incredible medical enhancements throughout the world. If we were able to grasp
the control of abilities to regenerate or of immunity, it may help us find a
solution in terms of curing diseases such as leprosy.
Relating back to Atavism, the idea that we start to take on
the appearance of our ancestors isn't the only aspect of it. It also includes throwbacks in our
behaviourisms. For example, individuals who demonstrate violent, dominant and
primitive behaviour are likely to have a mental throwback. In which
characteristics reform and produce members of society that according to Cesare
Lombroso are more likely to be capable of participating in criminal activity.
He linked this to their appearance, saying that men who had wider faces, a more
sloped forehead and larger ears, were more likely to be convicted for criminal
behaviour. This is not to say that all mean with appearances that follow this
pattern are hard-core criminals. It was merely a generalisation from data.
Forming a conclusion, I have learnt many a thing throughout
this little exploration into the world of Atavism. Although this is only my
opinion I think that Atavism is a wondrous thing. It could really help us in
the future and has given me an insight into the world of genetics. It may be difficult for the people who possess these Atavisms however, I do think of
them as extremely interesting. I shall leave you with a quote that I thought
was rather thought provoking.
"What is
happening is not random - it’s not cells running amok. It’s cells following an
ancient program." - Paul Davies
For more information on this fascinating topic please look at:
Lauren Frame - 29th October 2013
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