Skull discovery could fill origins gap

Yahoo (Reuters) ^ | Fri Mar 24, 11:02 AM ET

[The_Victor]

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - A hominid skull discovered in Ethiopia could fill the gap in the search for the origins of the human race, a scientist said on Friday.

The cranium, found near the city of Gawis, 500 km (300 miles) southeast of the capital Addis Ababa, is estimated to be 200,000 to 500,000 years old.

The skull appeared "to be intermediate between the earlier Homo erectus and the later Homo sapiens," Sileshi Semaw, an Ethiopian research scientist at the Stone Age Institute at Indiana University, told a news conference in Addis Ababa.

It was discovered two months ago in a small gully at the Gawis river drainage basin in Ethiopia's Afar region, southeast of the capital.

Sileshi said significant archaeological collections of stone tools and numerous fossil animals were also found at Gawis.

"(It) opens a window into an intriguing and important period in the development of modern humans," Sileshi said.

Over the last 50 years, Ethiopia has been a hot bed for archaeological discoveries.

Hadar, located near Gawis, is where in 1974 U.S. scientist Donald Johnson found the 3.2 million year old remains of "Lucy," described by scientists as one of the greatest archaeological discoveries in the world.

Lucy is Ethiopia's world-acclaimed archaeological find. The discovery of the almost complete hominid skeleton was a landmark in the search for the origins of humanity.

On the shores of what was formerly a lake in 1967, two Homo sapien skulls dating back 195,000 years were unearthed. The discovery pushed back the known date of mankind, suggesting that modern man and his older precursor existed side by side.

Sileshi said while different from a modern human, the braincase, upper face and jaw of the cranium have unmistakeable anatomical evidence that belong to human ancestry.

"The Gawis cranium provides us with the opportunity to look at the face of one of our ancestors," he added.

[Gumlegs]

I hope he'd drunk three pints and had a bag of peanuts.

[Dimensio]

So... that leaves vegetable or mineral. Which is it? :-)

There is also kingdom Monera, however it is unlikely that a person with an adequate grasp of biology would classify humans in that fashion.

[Gumlegs]

If some of the responses here are an indication, "vegetable" is quite generous.

[Scotsman will be Free]

Years ago when I was interested in anthropology folks talked about finding the "missing link". I'm not surprised that it's considered "anitquated" today.

[dread78645]

I hope he'd drunk three pints and had a bag of peanuts.

Beer-thirty placemark

[ahayes]

Dna does not evolve does it? It only mutates into a disease?

I get the impression you don't know a lot about DNA and evolution.

Your DNA is made of non-coding regions interspersed with coding regions, which are the genes. Each gene produces a gene product (ignoring alternative splicing for the moment!), which usually is a protein. Some of these proteins are the proteins we usually think of, like enzymes. However, a great number of them have their role in interacting with the DNA to cause certain genes to either be transcribed to RNA more often or to be transcribed less often.

If you got a group of people and looked at the DNA sequences for one of their genes, you would find that they weren't all alike. Probably a few people would share one sequence, a few would share a different one, and then others would have a third variant. Each variant sequence for the gene is called an allele. Most genes have multiple possible alleles. New alleles arise through mutation of existing ones.

It is also possible to add new genes. There are several mechanisms for doing this. One of the most common is duplication--a region of the DNA is accidentally duplicated, usually leaving a copy of the gene next to the old gene. When this happens there are two copies of the gene, and one of the copies can then mutate freely and in the end produce a product with an entirely different function than the parent gene. We can see this with the HOX genes and hemoglobin family, for example.

In order to produce the protein product, the DNA is first transcribed into RNA. Then the RNA is translated into a protein. Each triplet of bases codes for one amino acid, and there is a lot of redundancy in the code. Because of this a mutation doesn't necessarily change the protein product at all. Many mutations are silent. Others are harmful, and others are beneficial.

So once again, if we don't become extinct we will eventually evolve into something else. However, it's hard to say what that might be without being able to see millions of years into the future.

[John 6.66=Mark of the Beast?]

What proof the there that it takes millions of years to evolve into something else? Is there any record of this happening?

[andysandmikesmom]

Do you know that the idea of anesthesia came from a scientist reading Genesis and seeing how God put Adam into a deep sleep?

Do you have a reference for this claim? I was not aware of this particular aspect of the history of anesthesia..

---

Frankly, I was also curious about this assertion about anesthesia...just did a brief Google search and found this rather long, but interesting article about a dentist with an open, scientific mind, who was concerned with the pain his dental patients often experienced with tooth extractions...with this concern in mind, he noticed the effects of nitrous oxide(laughing gas) on someone in the audience of a 'side show' promoter...a chance encounter....nothing about a scientist reading Genesis and seeing how God put Adam into a deep sleep...just a scientist being in the right place at the right time, to witness something which he thought might become medically important and revolutionary...read the link...its informative and interesting, tho a bit long, but worth the read...
http://www.dent.ucla.edu/pic/visitors/anesthesia.html

[furball4paws]

LOL welcome back Gummy.

[I'm ALL Right!]

That does it. I am getting cremated. I do not want someone digging me up in 100,000 years and calling me a homo.

ROTFLOL!!!!

...Not that there's anything WRONG with that.

[VadeRetro]

"DNA mutates into a disease" placemarker.

[furball4paws]

When I see those kind of things I weep for humanity.

[VadeRetro]

When all you know of biology is a half-remembered creationist pamphlet left tacked up on a laundromat cork-board across from a motel in Kansas circa 1978, it's hard to avoid making a gaffe or two.

[jennyp]

I had heard that the scientist who first tried ether as an anesthetic faced opposition from those who cited the Genesis passage about God condemning people to a life of pain. (Or am I thinking of the first doctor to try ether on women during childbirth? Something like that.)

[Fester Chugabrew]

I would like to know more about the cranial morphology to see what they are referring to.

Me too. I'd like to know if the cranium has eight bones just like mine and every other person living in Ethiopia today.

[Fester Chugabrew]

Someone should give all these archeologists cameras so they could take pictures of their new finds . . .

The idea sells better when we can have an artist's rendition of the way things were.

[VadeRetro]

Funny, your message board is Indiana, not Ethiopia.

[jennyp]

The idea sells better when we can have an artist's rendition of the way things were.

Keep reading... :-)

[Coyoteman]

We are talking about a transition from ape to man (correct?) which means from animal to mankind.

So, the transitional species would be a kind of both, now wouldn't he/it?

So the evolutionists are looking for something that is neither completely animal or human.

Take a look at the following.

First, the chart: note the position of Australopithecus africanus.

Then go to the bottom and meet Mrs. Ples.

So, you have what you were asking for. Neither ape nor human. Good enough?

Source: http://wwwrses.anu.edu.au/environment/eePages/eeDating/HumanEvol_info.html

---

Fossil: Sts 5 Site: Sterkfontein Cave, South Africa (1)

Discovered By: R. Broom & J. Robinson 1947 (1)

Estimated Age of Fossil: 2.5 mya * determined by Stratigraphic, floral & faunal data (1, 4)

Species Name: Australopithecus africanus (1, 2)

Gender: Male (based on CAT scan of wisdom teeth roots) (1, 30) Female (original interpretation) (4)

Cranial Capacity: 485 cc (2, 4)

Information: No tools found in same layer (4)

Interpretation: Erect posture (based on forward facing foramen magnum) (8)

Nickname: Mrs. Ples (1)

See original source for notes:
http://www.mos.org/evolution/fossils/fossilview.php?fid=24

[fortheDeclaration]

I take it, then, that you buy the WJB assertion that humans are not mammals?

Once again, the evolutionist likes playing with words.

The fact is that man can have mammal characteristics but not be an animal, just like a Whale is not an animal, but a fish.

On the Changing Definition of the Term "Species" (#211) http://www.icr.org/index.php?module=articles&action=view&ID=338