Posted on 02/23/2006 10:22:51 AM PST by nickcarraway
Our ancestors colonised Europe and wiped out their Neanderthal cousins even faster than we thought, says a study published today.
Argument has raged for years about whether our ancestors from Africa outsurvived, killed or bred with the Neanderthals, who were stronger, bulkier and shorter but had equally large brains.
Now developments in radiocarbon dating suggest that many of the dates published over the past 40 years are likely to underestimate the true ages of the samples.
Prof Paul Mellars, of the University of Cambridge, describes today in the journal Nature how better calibration of radiocarbon ages have led to revisions of radiocarbon dates in the crucial 40,000 to 50,000 year time period when modern humans are thought to have arrived in Europe.
Applying the new dates suggests that their period of co-existence with Neanderthals was much shorter than thought. "They were racing across Europe," said Prof Mellars. "Before we thought it took them around 4,000 years to get from the Balkans to the western Atlantic coast. Now it looks like it could have been 2,500 years."
ping
Thanks, will add, but not ping, because, alas...
Humans vs. Neanderthals: Game Over Earlier
LiveScience | 22 February 2006 | Associated Press
Posted on 02/23/2006 1:25:12 AM EST by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1583943/posts
To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. Thanks.The Neandertal EnigmaFrayer's own reading of the record reveals a number of overlooked traits that clearly and specifically link the Neandertals to the Cro-Magnons. One such trait is the shape of the opening of the nerve canal in the lower jaw, a spot where dentists often give a pain-blocking injection. In many Neandertal, the upper portion of the opening is covered by a broad bony ridge, a curious feature also carried by a significant number of Cro-Magnons. But none of the alleged 'ancestors of us all' fossils from Africa have it, and it is extremely rare in modern people outside Europe." [pp 126-127]
by James Shreeve
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2500 years qualifies as a blitz?
Sorry, I searched about five article title ands couldn't find one.
They were sidetracked by Euro Disney.
No harm done. :')
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=godsgravesglyphs
ping
I really don't understand why this is a suprise to anybody. Even an out of shape person could make their way across Europe in about a month if they were dedicated to it, and a casual explorer could have made it from Turkey to Britain in just a few months. Since we ARE a naturally curious species, it's almost unbelievable to think that there wouldn't have been explorers back then trying to find out what was over the next hill or beyond that next valley. They probably had a reasonable idea of where the liveable areas were in about a century, so a growing population would have naturally expanded across the continent relatively quickly.
Europeans fully colonized the much larger North American continent in under 400 years, and we had massive mountain ranges, burning deserts, and a huge population of hostile natives to contend with. The first inhabitants of Europe had far less land and far fewer obstacles to overcome.
Sure, if you don't have a car.
susie
...on giant tortoises.
Human technology at that time was simply not advanced enough to overcome all the obstacles.
Perhaps Neanderthals were particularly tasty.
Hey, I'm a little jealous. Lot more discussion than in the one I started. Here's something from last month, one of Blam's, and naturally a good one:
Neanderthal Man Floated Into Europe, Say Spanish Researchers
The Guardian (UK) | 1-16-2006 | Giles Tremlett
Posted on 01/16/2006 6:13:24 PM EST by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1559199/posts
If only they'd had FedEx.
If their radio-carbon methods have now been shown to be 1,500 years off in their dating, then that would mean that the Shroud of Turin was not made in the 1500s, but in...hmmmm...let me see heree.....1500 - 1500 = "The time of Christ"
tada!
The 1500 years is cumulative, IOW, by the time one gets to 30,000 years, the error is 1500 -- or so they say. Basing it as they do on proxy sources; since those sources maintain the carbon more reliably, what can be said is, there's no way to calibrate older dates, because the material actually being dated (old campfire or what have you) won't contain or retain the carbon ratios in the same way. However, using this yardstick, the error in the Turin thingee would be in the area of 25 years.
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