A new study provides fresh insights into the life of early modern humans before they left Africa following a massive comparative study of stone tools.
Posted on 08/21/2014 9:55:57 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Researchers have carried out the biggest ever comparative study of stone tools dating to between 130,000 and 75,000 years ago found in the region between sub-Saharan Africa and Eurasia. They have discovered there are marked differences in the way stone tools were made, reflecting a diversity of cultural traditions. The study has also identified at least four distinct populations, each relatively isolated from each other with their own different cultural characteristics.
The research paper also suggests that early populations took advantage of rivers and lakes that criss-crossed the Saharan desert. A climate model coupled with data about these ancient water courses was matched with the new findings on stone tools to reveal that populations connected by rivers had similarities in their cultures. This could be the earliest evidence of different populations 'budding' across the Sahara, using the rivers to disperse and meet people from other populations...
The researchers from the University of Oxford, Kings College London and the University of Bordeaux took over 300,000 measurements of stone tools from 17 archaeological sites across North Africa, including the Sahara. For the first time they combined the stone tool data with a model of the North African environment during that period, which showed that the Sahara was then a patchwork of savannah, grasslands and water, interspersed with desert. They also mapped out known ancient rivers and major lakes, building on earlier research by Professor Nick Drake, one of this paper's co-authors. By modelling and mapping the environment, the researchers were then able to draw new inferences on the contexts in which the ancient populations made and used their tools...
(Excerpt) Read more at phys.org ...
A new study provides fresh insights into the life of early modern humans before they left Africa following a massive comparative study of stone tools.
Hogwash. Pure conjecture—just so you know how I “feel” about this issue. People need a job, and writing anything that appears authoritative will work to keep them employed. A worthless piece of “research.”
Your post? Yes, I agree, hogwash and pure conjecture.
Finally, proof for a hypothesis I have advanced for years!
Fred Flintstone and Betty Rubble: their eyes have pupils.
Barney Rubble and Wilma Flintstone: eyes like Raggedy Ann.
Scary, shark-like eyes, staring, staring ...
Anyway, there obviously was intermarriage between different tribes, diversity, cavewymon, social justice, speaking truth to power and all that good science s***.
Lake Victoria, Africa's largest lake, is home to more than 300 species of cichlids. These fish, which are popular in aquariums, are deep-bodied and have one nostril, rather than the usual two, on each side of the head... what's surprising is that Lake Victoria was bone dry not very long ago, suggesting that all the cichlids in it have evolved in a remarkably short time. Seismic profiles and cores of the lake taken by a team headed by Thomas C. Johnson of the University of Minnesota, reveal that the lake dried up completely about 12,400 years ago. This means that the rate of speciation of cichlid fishes has been extremely rapid: something on average of one new species every 40 years! ..."My work suggests that the actual duration of the burst that produced the current fauna was much shorter than even the 12,400 years that the lake has been recently full of water," Kaufman says. "It is likely that many of the species formed during the refilling of the lake. However, they appear to be derived from a diversity of lineages that evolved during previous episodes during which there was a large lake in the basin..."
The Betty vs Wilma question was (at an age-appropriate time) as controversial as the Mary Ann vs Ginger (or Mrs Howell) question. Daughter Judy by contrast had no competition.
Yes. The old adage of “don’t believe everything you read” is true and has been defenestrated. We are no longer taught to think and read critically, looking up citations and making sure truth prevails. Truth is no longer the objective; conformity is the norm as everyone is afraid of going against the grain for fear of looking stupid. The status quo —i.e. “political correctness” is a very strong motivator against the individual thinker.
But when you think about it, this has been the norm throughout history. Consider Copernicus, Galileo, Newton, Kepler, Luther, etc. Just a thought.
You forgot Darwin. oops.
“We’ve been sharing our culture with them all morning.” —Leonidas at Thermopylae
How much is that lunch box worth?
More Darwinian crap. Typical junk science that leads to nowhere.
Too many artifacts in Peru prove otherwise.
We didn't come from cave man, but we're devolving into them. Want proof? Go buy a cup of coffee for 8 bucks!
You’re reacting to the deliberate insertion of politically correct language, “culturally diverse.” However, the fact of the matter is that there are different styles and possibly methods of tool-making evident in the artifacts, so there were different populations. It’s unfortunate that the temptation to retrofit modern notions of diversity was too great for the author to resist, as it debases all that was written. There were obviously diverse cultures present though, despite the freighted meaning.
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