Posted on 04/06/2020 1:34:08 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
When it comes to deciphering our ancient family tree, DNA from fossils is the new gold standard. But after about half a million years, even the best-preserved DNA degrades into illegibility, leaving the story of our early evolution shrouded in mystery. A new study of proteins taken from the tooth of an enigmatic human ancestor reveals their rough place in the family tree -- and shows how ancient proteins can push beyond the limits of DNA.
The new study is "a landmark paper," says Mark Collard, an archaeologist at Simon Fraser University who wasn't involved with the work. "Ancient protein analysis promises to be as exciting as ancient DNA analysis for shedding light on human evolution."
DNA, made of chains of nucleic acids, can remain embedded inside fossilized bones (and prehistoric "chewing gum") for up to about 500,000 years, explains Enrico Cappellini, a geneticist at the University of Copenhagen's Natural History Museum of Denmark. That time frame covers the rise of our species, Homo sapiens, in Africa sometime about 300,000 years ago. But before then, many other kinds of humans roamed Earth, including our close cousins the Neanderthals, and their Siberian kin, the Denisovans. Another early relative is H. antecessor, known chiefly from northern Spain's Gran Dolina cave.
The physical features of H. antecessor have left anthropologists puzzling over its relationships with other early humans. It has big teeth, as do more primitive members of our genus such as H. erectus, but its face shape is remarkably similar to that of modern humans. Some have argued it could be the last common ancestor of Neanderthals, Denisovans, and H. sapiens. Others argue it is actually a member of H. erectus.
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencemag.org ...
Looks like he could be my high school football coach...
Is the new guy "Homo Flubro"?
See 4
Joe Girardi as a baby? (Sorry Joe)
I did the ancestry.com test hoping to find a Neanderthal percentage. Damn Mormons don’t do that test. (I got it as a gift so no loss)
I asked my wife’s cousin’s husband (a Mormon....not generally a Luddite.... an engineer and chiropractor) that I was disappointed. His answer was “might as well want to know your relation to an amoeba”. In my best Steve Martin ‘Well excuse me’
Nancy Pelousy comes immediately to mind
Before or after botox?
When I started studying geology, there were few crackpots running around claiming that the continents were moving, and everything that we knew about our human ancestors was completely based on the differential morphology of a few fossil remains. We’ve come a long way, baby.
After. Before Botox she was even uglier
“My name is not Quaid!”
“He kept talking about Mars, he’s really been there!”
If it gets me any brownie points...I saw the Lucy exhibit in Mexico City.
It's too bad no one has ever dubbed a fossil "Linus", when ya think about it. Not think hard, just think about it. :^)
Lol!
Skeletal remains of Homo antecessor -- an archaic relative of modern humans -- found in Spain. © Prof. José Marìa Bermudez de Castro
A digital recreation of a Homo antecessor fossil found in Spain. Credit: Prof. Laura Martí-Franc&eactue;s
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