Uncovering the evolution of any set of living creatures is a complex and highly detailed task for scientists, and theories and approaches that may differ over time may indeed change the fossil record. But paleoanthropologist and Stony Brook University Professor Carrie S. Mongle, Ph.D., and co-authors urge investigators to take caution on their findings. They provide researchers investigating the evolutionary past of ancient hominins (a group including humans and our immediate fossil ancestors) an important and foundational message in a recent paper published in Nature Ecology & Evolution. That is—conclusions drawn from evolutionary models are only as good as the data upon which they are based.
