Oldest Human Skulls Found

BBC ^ | 6-11-2003 | Jonathan Amos

[John Beresford Tipton]

"Oldest Human Skulls Found"

Saw this headline, and maybe it's because I had a birthday yesterday that ended with the numeral zero, but I instinctively tapped my skull to be sure that it was still in place.

[Dementon]

Ping

[Prof Engineer]

ping

[Norse]

How many Neanderthal fossils have been found? Anyone know?

[Constitution Day]

LOL. Happy belated birthday.

[B.Bumbleberry]

This a very important discovery. If the dating is correct (and dating at this time period is very difficult because it is beyond the range of accurate cabon dating and too late for accurate potassium/argon dating, the two chief dating techniques), it falls right in between earlier Homo erectus and modern human remains. Moreover, Tim White is a highly respected paleoanthropologist.

It would be nice if someone with access could post the entire article. I gave up my subscription to Nature some time ago.

[PatrickHenry]

Everybody be nice. PING. [This ping list is for the evolution side of evolution threads, and sometimes for other science topics. FReepmail me to be added or dropped.]

[r9etb]

The skulls are not an exact match to those of people living today; they are slightly larger, longer and have more pronounced brow ridges.

These minor but important differences have prompted the US/Ethiopian research team to assign the skulls to a new subspecies of humans called Homo sapiens idaltu (idaltu means "elder" in the local Afar language).

I dunno -- it seems like a stretch to define a whole new sub-species on the basis of three skulls that could arguably have come from a single family.

[PatrickHenry]

Article from Nature Magazine: Skulls reveal dawn of mankind.

[Califcon]

I guess God is still playing tricks with us leaving all that old stuff around :sarcasm off:

[Consort]

BS.....His father's skull is older for starters. His ancestor's skull's are a lot older.....BS

[VadeRetro]

I've been holding out for some kind of synthesis of "Out of Africa" and "multi-regional," but OOA is the one with evidence piling up for it these days.

[VadeRetro]

Do you see where your gap-game (previous discussion) has a problem here? While this new find falls older than the ground you have staked as an inexplicable gap, the skulls are too modern to be H. erectus. Thus, your gap is just a hole in the record, no longer a hole that obscures a major transition.

[Junior]

What excites scientists so much is that the specimens fit neatly with the genetic studies that have suggested this time and part of Africa for the emergence of mankind.

An "evolution prediction pans out" bump.

[Junior]

Several hundred.

[Vinnie_Vidi_Vici]

I really feel let down that no one has yet posted a picture of Helen Thomas on this thread!!!!

[js1138]

panning placemarker

[Pearls Before Swine]

The polishing on the skulls, however, suggests this was not simple cannibalism but more probably some kind of ritualistic behaviour.

The polishing makes me think of the "Predator" movies.

[LiteKeeper]

YEC skeptical SPOTREP