[decimon]

Caption: Lower premolars and canine teeth found at the Qesem cave site in Israel are raising new questions about the origins of modern man. If linked directly to Homo sapiens, it could mean that modern man either originated in what is now Israel or may have migrated from Africa far earlier that is presently accepted, says Binghamton University anthropologist Rolf Quam.

Credit: Rolf Quam

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[decimon]

Time to chews ping.

[llevrok]

Yup. Teeth

[Cicero]

Very interesting.

The origin of humans in Africa has been the dominant theory for some time. First, I think, because it ties in with the Darwinian view of a rise from more primitive beginnings. And Africans were, in the Darwinian view, the most primitive peoples. Second, and more politically correct as the intellectual culture evolved, it makes Africa more important.

But the samples are really extremely small. It’s only blind luck that bones and teeth survive in one place but not in another, or happen to be found in one place but not another.

So, we should keep in mind that all these broad reconstructions are only theories, and theories without a really firm statistical basis.

The traditional understanding of the biblical account is that God created Adam and Eve around 4004 BC. So 200-400,000 years doesn’t fit that time pattern very well. But it would be interesting if they moved closer to the traditional geographical pattern.

[Uncle Miltie]

My daughter is one of Quam’s star anthropology undergraduate students.

She worked at The Mammoth Site in South Dakota last summer, she’s digging human bones in Peru this summer, and aiming for a Phd.