[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

[Norse]

How many Neanderthal fossils have been found? Anyone know?

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[Vinnie_Vidi_Vici]

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

[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

[biblewonk]

The oldest human skull would be Adam's and it would be 6000 years old.

[FourtySeven]

Hmmm.......now I wonder how the creationists are going to label this skull:

1. Simply an ape that has never been discovered before or...

2. Clearly just another human skull, with deformities and damage that makes it appear not human.

Yes, we're all familiar with that now tired shell game.

"There are NO transitional fossils in the record! NEVER have been", typical Creationist says.

"Ok, what about this skull 'X'?", typical response by an Evolutionist.

"Oh CLEARLY that's just another kind of ape, or the damage is too severe to say it's NOT a simple human skull, or..."...basically ANY response to deny that the ORIGINAL question was answered, at least to any OBJECTIVE eye.

[tbpiper]

Oldest Human Skulls Found

Somewhere in the Senate would be my guess.

[728b]

http://www.sacred-texts.com/atl/ataw/ataw309.htm

[exmarine]

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).

Hahaha. A subspecies of humans? That's a laugh considering they have no DNA and the reconstruction was likely as fraudulent as the reconconstruction of the Neanderthal skulls. A recent book written by a trained orthodontist who examined the Neanderthal skulls showed that their reconsruction was fraudulent in that the jaws did not have the proper occlusions (an ortho ought to know!) - they were altered to create an apelike appearance.

Let's see...Piltdown Man, Peking Man, Nebraska Man, Java Man, Lucy, and now Homo Sapien Idaltu. BWAHAHAHAHAHA.

[Nebullis]

Nice find.

How do the creationists explain these almost-in-the-image-of-God fossils? God's sense of humor or his way of lying to fool the infidels?

[farmfriend]

ping

[Dog Gone]

The skulls were found in fragments, at a fossil-rich site first identified in 1997, in a dry and dusty valley.

As opposed to any of those wet and dusty valleys in the region, I'm assuming.