Ancient Islanders Get A Leg Up ('Hobbits')

Science News ^ | 5-16-2006 | Bruce Bower

[blam]

Ancient islanders get a leg up

Bruce Bower

From San Juan, Puerto Rico, at the Paleoanthropology Society and Society for American Archaeology meeting

Fossils of a humanlike species dubbed Homo floresiensis that lived on the Pacific island of Flores between 18,000 and 12,000 years ago recently grabbed headlines because scientists deduced that this creature stood no more than 1 meter tall and possessed a surprisingly small brain. Nonetheless, H. floresiensis packed considerable weight on its diminutive frame and possessed far stronger legs than people do today, says William L. Jungers of the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

Jungers and his colleagues used a computed tomography scanner to measure the thickness and shape of three H. floresiensis leg bones from two individuals. Members of that species were shorter than today's tiniest folk, Jungers notes. Still, the ancient individuals had leg bones as thick as those of some modern adults who would have towered over them, he says.

Calculations based on measures of upper-leg-bone lengths and thicknesses showed that these individuals had a leg strength "in another universe," according to Jungers, compared with estimates for Homo sapiens from that time and measurements of modern people.

H. floresiensis adults weighed an estimated 25 to 35 kilograms (55 to 77 pounds). In body size and build, Jungers says, the Flores individuals strikingly resemble Lucy, the 3.2-million-year-old Australopithecus afarensis skeleton from eastern Africa.

Some other investigators suspect that the Flores remains come from small people who had a genetic condition that drastically reduced their brain size.

(SN: 10/15/05, p. 244: Available to subscribers at http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20051015/fob5.asp).

[blam]

GGG Ping.

[conservativewasp]

"this creature stood no more than 1 meter tall and possessed a surprisingly small brain."

A prehistoric liberal? Have we found theor roots?

[SirJohnBarleycorn]

In body size and build, Jungers says, the Flores individuals strikingly resemble Lucy, the 3.2-million-year-old Australopithecus afarensis skeleton from eastern Africa.

Wow -- how did that get through the censors?

[Lekker 1]

...this creature stood no more than 1 meter tall and possessed a surprisingly small brain

[texas_mrs]

creature stood no more than 1 meter tall and possessed a surprisingly small brain

[mlc9852]

Were they human?

[AppyPappy]

These are sometimes called "monkeys".

[texas_mrs]

They actually were much better looking than Helen Thomas

[blam]

"Were they human?"

IMO, yes.

Some say they're Homo-Erectus and the Brocha's Area of their brain was four times larger than Modern Humans.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Blam.

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. Thanks.

Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on or off the
"Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list or GGG weekly digest
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[SunkenCiv]

Multiregionalism keyword topics, as of right now, sorted chrono, minus the current topic:

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Neanderthal Facial Length Issue Settled
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Seeking answers to a new Mystery Ape
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The naked ape / As it turns out, clothes do make the man
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Narrow Skulls Clue To First Americans
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Ancient Amazon Settlements Uncovered
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Neanderthal Hunters Rivalled Human Skill
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Migrants Poured Into Britain After Ice Age
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Fossil Hints At Primate Origins (Out-Of-Asia?)
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 10/29/2003 10:44:16 AM EST · 44 replies · 208+ views BBC | 10-29-2003 | PNAS Fossil hints at primate origins The bone is just over a centimetre long An ankle bone discovered in central Burma could be evidence of an ancient ancestor common to many of today's primates, including humans. The 45-million-year-old fossil has features that link it to all of the anthropoids, the grouping of human-like species such as apes and monkeys. If correct, this would tie their line of evolutionary descent to Asia and not Africa as some have suggested. The findings appear in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The PNAS journal presents a paper on the discovery by Laurent...
Neanderthal 'Face' Found Loire
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 12/03/2003 6:38:10 PM EST · 19 replies · 290+ views BBC | 12-3-2003 | Jonothan Amos Neanderthal 'face' found in Loire By Jonathan Amos BBC News Online science staff A bone splinter forms the eyes A flint object with a striking likeness to a human face may be one of the best examples of art by Neanderthal man ever found, the journal Antiquity reports. The "mask", which is dated to be about 35,000 years old, was recovered on the banks of the Loire at La Roche-Cotard. It is about 10 cm tall and wide and has a bone splinter rammed through a hole, making the rock look as if it has eyes. Commentators say the object...
Fossils Bridge Gap in African Mammal Evolution
	Posted by Pharmboy On News/Activism 12/03/2003 7:53:26 PM EST · 1,104 replies · 1,266+ views Reuters to My Yahoo! | Wed Dec 3, 2003 | Patricia Reaney LONDON (Reuters) - Fossils discovered in Ethiopia's highlands are a missing piece in the puzzle of how African mammals evolved, a team of international scientists said on Wednesday. Little is known about what happened to mammals between 24 million to 32 million years ago, when Africa and Arabia were still joined together in a single continent. But the remains of ancestors of modern-day elephants and other animals, unearthed by the team of U.S. and Ethiopian scientists 27 million years on, provide some answers. "We show that some of these very primitive forms continue to live through the missing years, and...
The Samurai And The Ainu (Read This Before Seeing The Movie "The Last Samurai")
	Posted by blam On General/Chat 01/17/2004 5:50:55 PM EST · 78 replies · 5,679+ views Science Frontiers | 1989 | Dr C Loring Brace THE SAMURAI AND THE AINU Findings by American anthropologist C. Loring Brace, University of Michigan, will surely be controversial in race conscious Japan. The eye of the predicted storm will be the Ainu, a "racially different" group of some 18,000 people now living on the northern island of Hokkaido. Pure-blooded Ainu are easy to spot: they have lighter skin, more body hair, and higher-bridged noses than most Japanese. Most Japanese tend to look down on the Ainu. Brace has studied the skeletons of about 1,100 Japanese, Ainu, and other Asian ethnic groups and has concluded that the revered samurai of...
Big Chill Killed Off The Neanderthals
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 01/21/2004 6:26:51 PM EST · 102 replies · 878+ views New Scientist | 1-21-2004 | Douglas Palmer Big chill killed off the Neanderthals 19:00 21 January 04 It is possibly the longest-running murder mystery of them all. What, or even who, killed humankind's nearest relatives, the Neanderthals who once roamed Europe before dying out almost 30,000 years ago? Suspects have ranged from the climate to humans themselves, and the mystery has deeply divided experts. Now 30 scientists have come together to publish the most definitive answer yet to this enigma. They say Neanderthals simply did not have the technological know-how to survive the increasingly harsh winters. And intriguingly, rather than being Neanderthal killers, the original human settlers...
'Your Forefathers Were Not Neanderthals'
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 01/27/2004 11:08:04 AM EST · 331 replies · 1,636+ views IOL | 1-26-2004 | Maggie Fox 'Your forefathers were not Neanderthals' January 26 2004 at 02:30PM By Maggie Fox Washington - You may think your grandparents act like Neanderthals, but United States researchers said on Monday they had strong evidence that modern humans are not descended from them. A computer analysis of the skulls of modern humans, Neanderthals, monkeys and apes shows that we are substantially different, physically, from those early humans. New York University paleoanthropologist Katerina Harvati said Neanderthals should be considered a separate species from Homo sapiens, and not just a sub-species. "We interpret the evidence presented here as supporting the view that Neanderthals...
Neanderthal Extinction Pieced Together
	Posted by LibWhacker On News/Activism 01/27/2004 4:31:28 PM EST · 84 replies · 1,940+ views Discovery Channel | 1/27/04 | Jennifer Viegas Jan. 27, 2004 ó In a prehistoric battle for survival, Neanderthals had to compete against modern humans and were wiped off the face of the Earth, according to a new study on life in Europe from 60,000 to 25,000 years ago. The findings, compiled by 30 scientists, were based on extensive data from sediment cores, archaeological artifacts such as fossils and tools, radiometric dating, and climate models. The collected information was part of a project known as Stage 3, which refers to the time period analyzed. The number three also seems significant in terms of why the Neanderthals became extinct....
Neanderthal Extinction Pieced Together
	Posted by vannrox On News/Activism 01/30/2004 9:27:14 AM EST · 16 replies · 373+ views Discovery News | Jan. 27, 2004 | By Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News Jan. 27, 2004 ? In a prehistoric battle for survival, Neanderthals had to compete against modern humans and were wiped off the face of the Earth, according to a new study on life in Europe from 60,000 to 25,000 years ago. The findings, compiled by 30 scientists, were based on extensive data from sediment cores, archaeological artifacts such as fossils and tools, radiometric dating, and climate models. The collected information was part of a project known as Stage 3, which refers to the time period analyzed. he number three also seems significant in terms of why the Neanderthals became extinct....
Anthropologists Hail Romania Fossil Find (35K Y.O. Humans)
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 03/07/2004 3:49:38 PM EST · 14 replies · 461+ views AP/Yahoo | 3-6-2004 | Alison Mutler Anthropologists Hail Romania Fossil Find Sat Mar 6,11:27 AM ET By ALISON MUTLER, Associated Press Writer BUCHAREST, Romania - Experts analyzing remains of a man, woman and teenage boy unearthed in Romania last year are convinced that the 35,000 year-old fossils are the most complete ever of modern humans of that era, a U.S. scientist said Saturday. International scientists have been carrying out further analysis to get a clearer picture on the find, said anthropologist Erik Trinkaus, of Washington University in St. Louis. But it's already clear that, "this is the most complete collection of modern humans in Europe older...
35,000 year old "modern human" remains Discovered!
	Posted by vannrox On News/Activism 03/10/2004 9:10:11 AM EST · 215 replies · 974+ views Yahoo News | Sat Mar 6,11:27 AM ET | By ALISON MUTLER, Associated Press Writer Anthropologists Hail Romania Fossil Find Sat Mar 6,11:27 AM ET Add Science - AP to My Yahoo! By ALISON MUTLER, Associated Press Writer BUCHAREST, Romania - Experts analyzing remains of a man, woman and teenage boy unearthed in Romania last year are convinced that the 35,000 year-old fossils are the most complete ever of modern humans of that era, a U.S. scientist said Saturday. International scientists have been carrying out further analysis to get a clearer picture on the find, said anthropologist Erik Trinkaus, of Washington University in St. Louis. But it's already clear that, "this is the most complete...
How likely is human extinction?
	Posted by Momaw Nadon On News/Activism 04/14/2004 9:15:04 AM EDT · 519 replies · 1,034+ views Mail & Guardian Online | Tuesday, April 13, 2004 | Kate Ravilious Every species seems to come and go. Some last longer than others, but nothing lasts forever. Humans are a relatively recent phenomenon, jumping out of trees and striding across the land around 200 000 years ago. Will we persist for many millions of years to come, or are we headed for an evolutionary makeover, or even extinction? According to Reinhard Stindl, of the Institute of Medical Biology in Vienna, the answer to this question could lie at the tips of our chromosomes. In a controversial new theory he suggests that all eukaryotic species (everything except bacteria and algae) have an...
Neanderthals Matured Faster Than Modern Man -Study
	Posted by Junior On News/Activism 04/28/2004 3:57:48 PM EDT · 88 replies · 385+ views Science - Reuters | 2004-04-28 | Patricia Reaney LONDON (Reuters) - Neanderthals may conjure up images of an uncivilized, brutish species but they were surprisingly early developers, researchers said Wednesday. Although Neanderthals disappeared from Europe about 30,000 years ago, scientists at the French research institute CRNS in Paris have uncovered new details about them by studying teeth fossils. The findings, reported in the science journal Nature, suggest Neanderthals reached adulthood by the age of 15 -- about three years before early modern humans -- probably ate a high calorie diet and were a distinct species from modern humans. "Neanderthals, despite having a large brain, were characterized by a...
The Relationship Between The Basque And Ainu
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 06/25/2004 6:44:16 PM EDT · 82 replies · 3,874+ views High Speed Plus | 1996 | Edo Nyland THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BASQUE AND AINU INTRODUCTION The language of the Ainu bear-worshippers of Northern Japan has generally been considered a language-isolate, supposedly being unlike any other language on earth. A few researchers noticed a relationship with languages in south-east Asia, others saw similarity with the Ostiak and Uralic languages of northern Siberia. The Ainu look like Caucasian people, they have white skin, their hair is wavy and thick, their heads are mesocephalic (round) and a few have grey or blue eyes. However, their blood types are more like the Mongolian people, possibly through many millennia of intermixing. The Ainu...
New Twist On Out-Of-Africa Theory
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 07/14/2004 11:53:47 AM EDT · 111 replies · 3,752+ views ABC Science News | 7-14-2004 | Judy Skatssoon New twist on out-of-Africa theory Judy Skatssoon ABC Science Online Wednesday, 14 July 2004 Homo erectus, the species thought to be the first to leave Africa for Eurasia in the out-of-Africa model of human origin (Image: Science) Early humans made love, not war, according to new DNA analysis presented at a genetics conference that gives a new twist on the out-of-Africa hypothesis of human origins. U.S. researcher Professor Alan Templeton of Washington University, St Louis, debunks the prevailing version of the out-of-Africa hypothesis, which says early humans migrated from Africa and wiped out Eurasian populations. Instead, they bred, he told...
Anthropology profs. debate origin of humans
	Posted by SunkenCiv On Bloggers & Personal 07/17/2004 9:00:38 PM EDT · 3 replies · 236+ views The Michigan Daily | 11-04-97 | David Bricker Anthropology Profs. Milford Wolpoff and Rachel Caspari, who spoke at Rackham West Conference Hall, are leading the increasingly popular charge against the Out of Africa hypothesis, in an intellectual clash that has become anthropology's equivalent of the Battle of Waterloo. The book "Race and Human Evolution: A Fatal Attraction," which Wolpoff and Caspari co-authored, discusses an alternative to Out of Africa known as the Multiregional Evolution (MRE) hypothesis. The theory states that the races of modern humans evolved within their respective continents at the same time.
Baby's First Word Filled Stone Age Papa With Pride
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 07/21/2004 9:31:50 PM EDT · 41 replies · 1,089+ views The Telegraph (UK) | 7-22-2004 | David Derbyshire Baby's first word filled Stone Age Papa with pride By David Derbyshire, Science Correspondent (Filed: 22/07/2004) One of the first words to be uttered by Stone Age babies was probably "papa", according to scientists trying to piece together the origins of human language. Researchers believe the word may have been passed down through the generations from a "proto-language" spoken 50,000 years ago. However, other linguists have argued that "papa", "dada" and "mama" are common in many languages simply because they are the first noises made by babbling babies. A new French study has found that the word "papa" is used...
Data Links Early Settlers To African Diaspora (Taiwan)
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 08/30/2004 2:38:24 PM EDT · 6 replies · 440+ views Taipei Times | 8-29-2004 | Wang Hsiao-wen Data links early settlers to African diaspora DIFFERENT STORIES: While genetic research puts this land on a main route of early humans' dispersion, anthropologists tie early settlements to the Pearl River Delta By Wang Hsiao-wen STAFF REPORTER Sunday, Aug 29, 2004,Page 2 Long before Portuguese sailors put "Formosa" on the world map, and long before Chinese people crossed the dark current to set up home here, this land was inhabited by Austronesian Aborigines for thousands of years. Multigenetic analysis reveals that Austronesian tribes arrived as early as 14,000 years ago. According to Marie Lin (™L?´´<=?), who conducted the research as...
Neanderthal Life No Tougher Than That Of "Modern" Inuits
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 09/03/2004 7:32:47 PM EDT · 16 replies · 656+ views Ohio State University | 9-3-2004 | OSU NEANDERTHAL LIFE NO TOUGHER THAN THAT OF ìMODERNî INUITS COLUMBUS, Ohio ñ The bands of ancient Neanderthals that struggled throughout Europe during the last Ice Age faced challenges no tougher than those confronted by the modern Inuit, or Eskimos. Thatís the conclusion of a new study intended to test a long-standing belief among anthropologists that the life of the Neanderthals was too tough for their line to coexist with Homo sapiens. ìLooking at these fossilized teeth, you can easily see these defects that showed Neanderthals periodically struggled nutritionally,î Guatelli-Steinberg said. ìBut I wanted to know if that struggle was any...
Tribe challenges American origins (South Pacific Rim peoples were 1st Americans)
	Posted by yankeedame On News/Activism 09/08/2004 5:43:26 PM EDT · 21 replies · 541+ views BBC On-Line | Tuesday, 7 September, 2004 | Paul Rincon Last Updated: Tuesday, 7 September, 2004, 14:26 GMT 15:26 UK Tribe challenges American origins By Paul Rincon BBC News Online science staff, at the BA festival The skulls (r) are long and narrow, not in keeping with Native Indians' broader, rounder features. Some of the earliest settlers of America may have come from Australia, southern Asia, and the Pacific, new research suggests. Traditional theories have held that the first Americans originated from northern Asia. Dr Silvia Gonzalez conducted a study of ancient bones found in Mexico and found that they have very different characteristics to Native Americans. The results are...
Did the First Americans Come From, Er, Australia?
	Posted by SunkenCiv On General/Chat 09/06/2004 11:04:53 AM EDT · 29 replies · 552+ views Reuters | Mon Sep 6, 2004 09:24 AM ET | staff Silvia Gonzalez from John Moores University in Liverpool said skeletal evidence pointed strongly to this unpalatable truth and hinted that recovered DNA would corroborate it... She said there was very strong evidence that the first migration came from Australia via Japan and Polynesia and down the Pacific Coast of America. Skulls of a people with distinctively long and narrow heads discovered in Mexico and California predated by several thousand years the more rounded features of the skulls of native Americans. One particularly well preserved skull of a long-face woman had been carbon dated to 12,700 years ago, whereas the...
Divers Find Ancient Skeleton in Mexico
	Posted by NCjim On News/Activism 09/09/2004 11:02:57 PM EDT · 32 replies · 928+ views Associated Press | September 9, 2004 Divers making dangerous probes through underwater caves near the Caribbean coast have discovered what appears to be one of oldest human skeletons in the Americas, archaeologists announced at a seminar that was ending on Friday. The report by a team from Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History exploits a new way of investigating the past. Most coastal settlements by early Americans now lie deep beneath the sea, which during the Ice Age was hundreds of feet lower than now. Researchers at the international "Early Man in America" seminar here also reported other ancient finds -- including a California bone...
Sifting for Clues at W.Md. Dig
	Posted by SunkenCiv On General/Chat 09/15/2004 11:46:53 AM EDT · 4 replies · 227+ views Washington Post | Saturday, September 11, 2004 | Mary Otto Radiocarbon dating of charcoal found elsewhere on this site has suggested people might have camped here and built fires by the north branch of the Potomac River, anywhere from 9,000 years ago to as much as 16,000 years ago... Some tools and bones have been found in Pennsylvania and Virginia that date well before the Clovis era, although scientists debate whether the dating is accurate.
In The Neanderthal Mind
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 09/22/2004 8:32:57 PM EDT · 32 replies · 807+ views Science News | 9-18-2004 | Bruce Bower Week of Sept. 18, 2004; Vol. 166, No. 12 , p. 183 In the Neandertal MindOur evolutionary comrades celebrated vaunted intellects before meeting a memorable demise Bruce Bower Call a person a Neandertal, and no one within earshot will mistake the statement for a compliment. It's a common, convenient way to cast someone as a stupid, brutish lout. From an evolutionary perspective, the invective has no basis in truth, say archaeologist Thomas Wynn and psychologist Frederick L. Coolidge. This interdisciplinary duo, based at the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs, has drawn on a range of scientific research and prehistoric...
Retracing the footprints of time
	Posted by SunkenCiv On General/Chat 09/30/2004 10:56:25 AM EDT · 8 replies · 319+ views Alberta Report (via Web Archive) | September 9, 1996 | Steve Sandford In an otherwise unremarkable gravel bluff on the banks of the Bow River in Calgary, University of Alberta researchers Jiri Chlachula and Alan Bryan believe they have unearthed the remains of what could be the oldest human artifacts in North America, the pair announced this month. If substantiated, the discovery pushes back the known date of human settlement in North America by several thousand years. Other earth scientists are sceptical about the find's authenticity: U of A geomorphologist Rob Young describes it as "based only on pure speculation." ...Comments Prof. Young: "Any dude could have put that rock there."
The Human Family Tree: 10 Adams and 18 Eves
	Posted by neverdem On News/Activism 10/10/2004 11:21:08 PM EDT · 71 replies · 2,648+ views NY Times | May 2, 2000 | NICHOLAS WADE May 2, 2000 The Human Family Tree: 10 Adams and 18 Eves Related Articles Genetics: Gene TherapyGenetics: Genetically Modified FoodsGenetics: The Human Genome ProjectThe New York Times on the Web: Science/HealthMapTracing Human History Through Genetic MutationsChartFollow the LineagesForumJoin a Discussion on DNA Research By NICHOLAS WADE he book of Genesis mentions three of Adam and Eve's children: Cain, Abel and Seth. But geneticists, by tracing the DNA patterns found in people throughout the world, have now identified lineages descended from 10 sons of a genetic Adam and 18 daughters of Eve. The human genome is turning out to be...
Mexico Discovery Fuels Debate About Man's Origins
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 10/11/2004 9:04:15 PM EDT · 30 replies · 1,560+ views Deseret Morning News/Associated Press | 10-3-2004 | John Rice Deseret Morning News, Sunday, October 03, 2004 Mexico discovery fuels debate about man's origins Archeologists are baffled by hominid bones By John Rice Associated Press MEXICO CITY ó For decades, Federico Solorzano has gathered old bones from the shores of Mexico's largest lake ó bones he found and bones he was brought, bones of beasts and bones of men. Mexican professor Federico Solorzano shows the supraorbital arch from the fossil of an early hominid. Guillermo Arias, Associated Press The longtime teacher of anthropology and paleontology was sifting through his collection one day when he noticed some that didn't seem to...
Extinct humans left louse legacy(Homo Erectus and Homo Sapiens)
	Posted by TigerLikesRooster On News/Activism 10/16/2004 6:53:39 AM EDT · 26 replies · 811+ views BBC News | 10/06/04 | Paul Rincon Extinct humans left louse legacy By Paul Rincon BBC News Online science staff The evolutionary history of head lice is tied very closely to that of their hosts Some head lice infesting people today were probably spread to us thousands of years ago by an extinct species of early human, a genetics study reveals. It shows that when our ancestors left Africa after 100,000 years ago, they made direct contact with tribes of "archaic" peoples, probably in Asia. Lice could have jumped from them on to our ancestors during fights, sex, clothes-sharing or even cannibalism. Details of the research appear...
Archaeologist Continues To Dig Up History (Meadowcroft, 16K Year Old)
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 10/17/2004 9:25:09 PM EDT · 11 replies · 642+ views Pittsburglive | 10-17-2004 | Majorie Wertz Archaeologist continues to dig up history By Marjorie Wertz For The Tribune-Review Sunday, October 17, 2004 In the past 30 years archaeologists worldwide have visited the Meadowcroft Rockshelter in Washington County. The general public can now see what's involved in the archaeological dig that has proved the existence of early humans dating back 16,000 years. "The site was opened last year for the first time to the public," said David Scofield, director of Meadowcroft Museum of Rural Life. "We are now in the process of getting an architect to create a design for a permanent roof over the excavation. This...
Vikings/Norse in Minnesota
	Posted by DoloresCobbPhifer On General/Chat 10/26/2004 1:23:31 PM EDT · 10 replies · 303+ views freerepublic.com | 10/26-2004 | DoloresCobbPhifer Did the Vikings Stay... Vatican Files May Offer Clues. / How did the Swedes end up in Minnesota?
Vikings/Norse in Minnesota
	Posted by DoloresCobbPhifer On General/Chat 10/26/2004 1:34:20 PM EDT · 3 replies · 242+ views freerepublic.com | 10/26/2004 | DoloresCobbPhifer Did the Vikings Stay... Vatican Files May Offer Clues. / How did the Swedes end up in Minnesota?
Anthropologist Claims Humans, Neanderthals, Australopithecines All Variations on One Species
	Posted by bondserv On News/Activism 01/03/2005 12:41:39 AM EST · 83 replies · 9,163+ views Creation-Evolution Headlines | 01/01/2005 | Creation-Evolution Headlines Anthropologist Claims Humans, Neanderthals, Australopithecines All Variations on One Species† †01/01/2005 According to a news story in the UK News Telegraph, all fossil hominims, including modern humans, Australopithecines, Neandertals and the recent Indonesian ìhobbit man,î belong to the same species: Homo sapiens.† Reporter Robert Matthews wrote about Maciej Henneberg (U of Adelaide) and his argument, based on skull sizes and body weights for 200 fossil specimens, that all known hominim bones fit within the range of variation expected for a single species.† Henneberg made the startling claim in the Journal of Comparative Human Biology, where he said, ìAll hominims appear...
New species may have relatives in next villlage
	Posted by aculeus On News/Activism 01/12/2005 8:52:22 PM EST · 22 replies · 766+ views The Guardian (UK) | January 13, 2005 | John Vidal A growing number of scientists are challenging the sensational discovery last year of a new species of one-metre-tall intelligent humans whose 13,000-year-old bones were said to have been found in an Indonesian cave. According to some leading anthropologists in Australia, Indonesia and elsewhere, Homo floresiensis is not "one of the most important discoveries of the last 150 years" as was widely reported last October, but a pygmy version of modern Homo sapiens with a not uncommon brain disease. Now a leading critic of the Homo floresiensis theory is to send researchers to a village near the cave where the bones...
Bones of contention(Discovery of a new species of human astounds the world,but is it what it seems?)
	Posted by nickcarraway On News/Activism 01/13/2005 4:08:28 AM EST · 22 replies · 1,554+ views Guardian (U.K.) | Thursday January 13, 2005 | John Vidal The discovery of a new species of human astounded the world. But is it what it seems? John Vidal went to remotest Flores to find out If you want to understand human evolution, it may be worth starting with Johannes Daak from the remote village of Akel in the heavily forested centre of the Indonesian island of Flores. Johannes, from the Manggarai ethnic group, reckons he is 100 years old and says he owes his longevity and enduring strength to having only ever known one woman. He says he owes his stature to his ancestors. Johannes is no more than...
London - Red hair may be the genetic legacy of Neanderthals...
	Posted by IGBT On News/Activism 01/16/2005 3:47:07 PM EST · 357 replies · 17,760+ views Planet Save.com | 1/14/05 | Planet Save.com London - Red hair may be the genetic legacy of Neanderthals, according to a new study by British scientists. Researchers at the John Radcliffe Institute of Molecular Medicine in Oxford were quoted by The Times as saying the so-called "ginger gene" which gives people red hair, fair skin and freckles could be up to 100 000 years old. They claim that their discovery points to the gene having originated in Neanderthal man who lived in Europe for 200 000 years before Homo sapien settlers, the ancestors of modern man, arrived from Africa about 40 000 years ago. Rosalind Harding, the...
Genes Promoting Fertility Are Found in Europeans
	Posted by 4mor3 On News/Activism 01/16/2005 8:11:46 PM EST · 25 replies · 874+ views New York Times | January 16, 2005 | Nicholas Wade Researchers in Iceland have discovered a region in the human genome that, among Europeans, appears to promote fertility, and maybe longevity as well. Though the region, a stretch of DNA on the 17th chromosome, occurs in people of all countries, it is much more common in Europeans, as if its effect is set off by something in the European environment. A further unusual property is that the region has a much more ancient lineage than most human genes and the researchers suggest, as one possible explanation, that it could have been inserted into the human genome through interbreeding with one...
Amazing hominid haul in Ethiopia
	Posted by aculeus On News/Activism 01/19/2005 5:22:02 PM EST · 47 replies · 1,136+ views BBC News | January 19, 2005 | Unsigned Fossil hunters working in Ethiopia have unearthed the remains of at least nine primitive hominids that are between 4.5 million and 4.3 million years old. The fossils, which were uncovered at As Duma in the north of the country, are mostly teeth and jaw fragments, but also include parts of hands and feet. All finds belong to the same species - Ardipithecus ramidus - which was first described about a decade ago. Details of the discoveries appear in the latest issue of Nature magazine. Scientists say features of a phalanx, or foot bone, unearthed at the site show the hominid...
Fossils Push Human Emergence Back To 195,000 Years Ago
	Posted by tricky_k_1972 On News/Activism 02/19/2005 11:44:08 AM EST · 46 replies · 1,101+ views TERRADAILY | Feb 17, 2005 | Salt Lake City UT (SPX) Fossils Push Human Emergence Back To 195,000 Years Ago Omo I skeletal parts (National Museum of Ethiopia) The bones of an early member of our species, Homo sapiens, known as Omo I, excavated from Ethiopia's Kibish rock formation. The bones are kept in the National Museum of Ethiopia. When the first bones from Omo I were found in 1967, they were thought to be 130,000 years old. Later, 160,000-year-old bones of our species were found elsewhere. Now, scientists from the University of Utah, Australian National University and Stony Brook University have determined that Omo I lived about 195,000 years ago...
Australian Scientist Disputes 'Hobbit' Findings (Stop evolution lies - petition)
	Posted by Truth666 On General/Chat 03/06/2005 4:19:07 PM EST · 26 replies · 705+ views sci-tech-today.com | March 6, 2005 An Australian academic who has examined the skeletal remains of a three-foot hominid discovered in an Indonesian cave and nicknamed a "hobbit" disputed Friday a report that they represent a new species of human. Professor Maciej Henneberg, head of anatomy at Adelaide University, said he thought the bones found in 2003 on Indonesia's Flores island were simply those of a normal human stunted by a viral disease, microcephaly -- a conclusion rejected in the earlier report by another team of scientists. That team analyzed the find and said the partial skeleton was evidence of a new, dwarf species of human....
New Evidence Challenges "Out-of-Africa" Hypothesis of Modern Human origins
	Posted by TigerLikesRooster On News/Activism 04/28/2005 10:33:06 AM EDT · 38 replies · 1,219+ views Red Nova | 04/27/05 New Evidence Challenges "Out-of-Africa" Hypothesis of Modern Human origins New evidence challenges "Out-of-Africa" hypothesis of modern human origins WUHAN, April 27 (Xinhua) -- Chinese archaeologists said newly found evidence proves that a valley of Qingjiang River, a tributary on the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, might be one of the regions where Homo sapiens, or modern man, originated. The finding challenges the "Out-of-Africa" hypothesis of modern human origins, according to which about 100,000 years ago modern humans originated in Africa, migrated to other continents, and replaced populations of archaic humans across the globe. The finding comes from a large-scale...
Neanderthal femur from France
	Posted by SunkenCiv On General/Chat 05/10/2005 1:49:02 AM EDT · 10 replies · 290+ views Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences | March 31, 2005 | CÈdric Beauval et al In 2002, a Neandertal partial femoral diaphysis was discovered at Les Rochers-de-Villeneuve (Vienne, France). Radiocarbon dated to 40,700 14C years before present, this specimen is one of the most recent Middle Paleolithic Neandertals. The diaphysis derives from an archeological level indicating alternating human and carnivore (mostly hyena) occupation of the cave, reinforcing the close proximity and probable competition of Middle Paleolithic humans with large carnivores for resources and space. Morphological aspects of the diaphysis and ancient DNA extracted from it indicate that it is aligned with the Neandertals and is distinct from early modern humans. However, its midshaft cortical bone...
Seafood Was The Spur For Man's First Migration
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 05/12/2005 8:26:39 PM EDT · 36 replies · 923+ views The Telegraph (UK) | 5-13-2005 | Roger Highfield Seafood was the spur for Man's first migration By Roger Highfield, Science Editor (Filed: 13/05/2005) The lure of a seafood diet may explain why the first people left Africa, according to a genetic analysis published today that overturns the conventional picture of the very first migration of modern humans. The international project shows - contrary to previous thinking - that early modern humans spread across the Red Sea from the Horn of Africa, along the tropical coast of the Indian Ocean towards the Pacific in just a few thousand years. And it suggests that the first migratory wave probably included...
400,000-Year-Old Stone Tools Discovered In Mazandaran (Iran)
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 06/08/2005 2:08:52 PM EDT · 98 replies · 1,824+ views Mehr News | 6-8-2005 400,000-year-old stone tools discovered in Mazandaran TEHRAN, June 8 (MNA) -- Recent discoveries by a team of archaeologists indicate that the coast of the Caspian Sea in Mazandaran Province was home to the earliest hominid habitation in that region. Archaeologist Ali Mahforuzi said on Wednesday that 400,000-year-old stone tools discovered in the valleys of Shuresh near the Rostam Kola, Huto, and Kamarband caves are the oldest ever found in the area. The previous studies had dated human settlement in the region to have begun about 50,000 years ago. ìThe recent studies conducted by a joint team of archaeologists from the...
Faithful Ancestors
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 06/17/2005 11:33:25 AM EDT · 155 replies · 2,483+ views Science News Magazine | 6-11-2005 | Bruce Bower Faithful AncestorsResearchers debate claims of monogamy for Lucy and her ancient kin Bruce Bower A weird kind of creature strode across the eastern African landscape from around 4 million to 3 million years ago. Known today by the scientific label Australopithecus afarensis, these ancient ancestors of people may have taken the battle of the sexes in a strange direction, for primates at any rate. True, no one can re-create with certainty the court and spark that led to sexual unions between early hominids. Nothing short of a time machine full of scientifically trained paparazzi could manage that trick. All is...
Footsteps in time that add 30,000 years to history of America
	Posted by freedom44 On News/Activism 07/05/2005 12:59:36 AM EDT · 56 replies · 1,211+ views Times Online UK | 7/4/05 | Lewis Smith THE discovery of human footprints, preserved by volcanic ash, have put back the likely date that the American continent was colonised by Man by almost 30,000 years, British scientists say. The prints, found by the scientists at the edge of a lake in Mexico, are thought to be about 40,000 years old. Their discovery upsets the widely accepted theory that Man first reached America across a land bridge, now covered by the Bering Sea, 11,500 years ago. Casts of the footprints reveal that a community of Homo sapiens lived in the Valsequillo Basin, near Puebla in central Mexico. Their feet...
Neanderthal Genome May Be Reconstructed
	Posted by malakhi On News/Activism 07/06/2005 1:10:07 PM EDT · 122 replies · 1,874+ views AP via Yahoo! | 7/6/05 | Not given German and U.S. scientists have launched a project to reconstruct the Neanderthal genome, the Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology said Wednesday. The project, which involves isolating genetic fragments from fossils of the prehistoric beings who originally inhabited Europe, is being carried out at the Leipzig-based institute. [snip] "Firstly, we will learn a lot about the Neanderthals. Secondly, we will learn a lot about the uniqueness of human beings. And thirdly, it's simply cool," Rubin said. [snip]
Minatogawa People (An Asian Neanderthal?)
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 07/24/2005 8:01:11 PM EDT · 10 replies · 614+ views University Of Tokyo | 7-24-2005 | Hisoa Baba/Banri Endo Postcranial Skeleton of the Minatogawa Man Hisao Baba* and Banri Endo** *Department of Anatomy, Dokkyo University School of Medicine; **Department of Anthropology, Faculty of Science, The University of Tokyo GENERAL DISCUSSION Estimation of the Stature The stature of the Minatogawa man was estimated according to the methods of Peason (1899) and of Fujii (1960). The estimated statures using the femora by Fujii's method are 1532, 1499, 1556, 1499 mm in MI, MII, MIII, MIV, respectively. The value for MIII seems too great when the relative shortness of her tibia is taken into account. In estimating statures by Peason's formula, various...
Neanderthal Teeth Grew No Faster Than Comparable Modern Humans'
	Posted by DaveLoneRanger On News/Activism 09/19/2005 5:11:50 PM EDT · 62 replies · 1,277+ views Ohio State Research | Monday, September 19, 2005 | Staff (Embargoed until 5 p.m. ET, Monday, September 19, 2005, to coincide with publication in the online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.) COLUMBUS , Ohio ñ Recent research suggested that ancient Neanderthals might have had an accelerated childhood compared to that of modern humans but that seems flawed, based on a new assessment by researchers from Ohio State University and the University of Newcastle . They found that the rate of tooth growth present in the Neanderthal fossils they examined was comparable to that of three different populations of modern humans. And since the rate of...
The Roots Of Civilization Trace Back To ... Roots
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 09/19/2005 6:25:13 PM EDT · 27 replies · 609+ views Eureka Alert | 9-19-2005 | Mark Cassutt Contact: Mark Cassutt cassu003@umn.edu 612-624-8038 University of Minnesota The roots of civilization trace back to ... roots MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL- About five to seven million years ago, when the lineage of humans and chimpanzees split, edible root plants similar to rutabagas and turnips may have been one of the reasons. According to research by anthropologists Greg Laden of the University of Minnesota and Richard Wrangham of Harvard University, the presence of fleshy underground storage organs like roots and tubers must have sustained our ancestors who left the rain forest to colonize the savannah. They have published their research in...
Big chill killed off the Neanderthals
	Posted by george76 On News/Activism 09/21/2005 3:22:31 PM EDT · 74 replies · 1,575+ views New Scientist | 24 January 2004 | Douglas Palmer IT IS possibly the longest-running murder mystery of them all. What, or even who, killed humankind's nearest relatives, the Neanderthals who once roamed Europe before dying out almost 30,000 years ago? Suspects have ranged from the climate to humans themselves, and the mystery has deeply divided experts. Now 30 scientists have come together to publish the most definitive answer yet to this enigma. They say Neanderthals simply did not have the technological know-how to survive the increasingly harsh winters. And intriguingly, rather than being Neanderthal killers, the original human settlers of Europe almost suffered the same fate. Ice cores recovered...
27,000 Year-Old Grave of Two Babies Found (Austria)
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 09/24/2005 6:27:17 PM EDT · 75 replies · 2,362+ views Reuters/Yahoo News | 9-24-2005 Reuters - Fri Sep 23,11:08 AM ET A more than 27,000 year-old grave with the bodies of two babies is pictured near Krems in Lower Austria September 23, 2005. Archaeologists of the Prehistoric Commission of the Austrian Academy of Scienses (OeAW) excavated the bodies which were covered with an omoplate of a mammoth. This is the oldest grave ever found in Austria. REUTERS/HO/OeAW Praehistorische Kommission
More bones of hobbit-sized humans discovered
	Posted by aculeus On General/Chat 10/11/2005 11:34:12 AM EDT · 84 replies · 1,550+ views Reuters | October 11, 2005 | By Patricia Reaney LONDON (Reuters) - Australian scientists said on Tuesday they have discovered more remains of hobbit-sized humans which belong to a previously unknown species that lived at the end of the last Ice Age. Professor Mike Morwood, of the University of New England, in Armidale, Australia, stunned the science world last year when he and his team announced the discovery of 18,000-year-old remains of a new human species called Homo floresiensis. The partial skeleton discovered in a limestone cave on the remote Indonesian island of Flores in 2003 was of a tiny adult hominid, or early human, only one meter (3...
Anthropologists Uncover Ancient Jawbone
	Posted by NormsRevenge On News/Activism 10/11/2005 12:47:00 PM EDT · 19 replies · 708+ views ap on Yahoo | 10/11/05 | Joseph B. Verrengia - AP Scientists digging in a remote Indonesian cave have uncovered a jaw bone that they say adds more evidence that a tiny prehistoric Hobbit-like species once existed. The jaw is from the ninth individual believed to have lived as recently as 12,000 years ago. The bones are in a wet cave on the island of Flores in the eastern limb of the Indonesian archipelago, near Australia. The research team which reported the original sensational finding nearly a year ago strongly believes that the skeletons belong to a separate species of early human that shared Earth with modern humans far more recently...
New finds of human ancestor jumble evolutionary puzzle
	Posted by Crackingham On News/Activism 10/13/2005 11:12:50 AM EDT · 167 replies · 2,486+ views Christian Science Monitor | 10/13/5 | Peter N. Spotts In their study of the evolutionary ladder, scientists have found that modern humans rubbed elbows with some colorful cousins. But few have been as puzzling as a purported cousin unearthed on the Indonesian island of Flores. The partial skeleton, first reported last October, was stunning. Estimated to stand just over three feet tall, it offered the tantalizing possibility that a new species of mini-human lived 18,000 years ago. But some researchers dismissed the find as a pygmy or the result of a physical defect. Now the research team that gave the world the hobbit-like Homo floresiensis has found what it...
On Human Diversity: Why has the genetics community discarded so many phenotypes?
	Posted by Pharmboy On News/Activism 10/25/2005 11:03:25 PM EDT · 60 replies · 1,279+ views The Scientist | 10-24-05 | Armand M. Leroi HEAD CASES: The physical phenotypic differences between this Sudanese skull (right) and this European skull (left) are apparent. (From J.L.A. de Quatrefages, E.T. Hamy, Crania ethnica: les Cranes des races humaines, Baillere et fils: Paris, 1882.) Henry Flower became director of the British Museum of Natural History in 1884, and promptly set about rearranging exhibits. He set a display of human skulls to show their diversity of shape across the globe. A century later, the skulls had gone, and in their place was a large photograph of soccer fans standing in their terraces bearing the legend: "We are all...
African cousins behind extinction of Indians 70,000 years ago!
	Posted by CarrotAndStick On News/Activism 11/06/2005 4:00:32 AM EST · 50 replies · 1,020+ views New Kerala.com & ANI | 05 Nov 2005 Washington : Scientists have said that that the arrival of modern humans from Africa to South Asia some 70,000 years ago may have led to the extermination of the native populations. Researchers from the University of Cambridge have said that the arrival of Homo sapiens in regions like India and other parts of South Asia had most probably led to conflicts and competition between the Homo sapiens and the indigenous hominids (Homo heidelbergensis), leading to the latterís extinction over the years. ìWhile the precise explanations for the demise of the archaic populations is not yet obvious, it is abundantly clear...
Prehistoric skull found in dump may be missing common ancestor of apes & humans
	Posted by dead On News/Activism 11/07/2005 11:35:20 AM EST · 186 replies · 2,822+ views The Guardian | Monday November 7, 2005 | Dale Fuchs in Madrid Palaeontologists excavating a dump outside Barcelona have found a skull dating back 14m years that could belong to a common ancestor of apes and humans. The nearly intact skull, which has a flat face, jaw and teeth, may belong to a previously unknown species of great ape, said Salvador Moya, the chief palaeontologist on the dig. "We could find a cradle of humanity in the Mediterranean," he said. A routine land survey for a planned expansion of the Can Mata dump in Els Hostalets de Pierola turned up the first surprise in 2002: a primate's tooth. Since then, scientists from...
Kennewick Man, Meet Your Distant Cousins
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 11/07/2005 6:24:22 PM EST · 58 replies · 1,627+ views Seattle Times | 11-7-2005 | Kate Riley Kennewick Man, meet your distant cousins By Kate Riley Monday, November 7, 2005 - Page updated at 12:00 AM COLUMBIA, S.C. ó Discerning the story of America's prehistoric past is a bit like groping through an unfamiliar room in the dark. One learned scientist's tattooing tool is another's piece of rock. Ask them to agree how long it has been there and you're bound to set off an argument that makes Seattle's whether-to-monorail conflict seem like a tea party. So it goes with evolving thought in archaeology. We all know the prevailing theory. Our children's high-school textbooks talk about the...
Ancient drought 'changed history'
	Posted by TigerLikesRooster On News/Activism 12/08/2005 6:58:46 AM EST · 39 replies · 1,126+ views BBC | 12/07/05 | Roland Pease Ancient drought 'changed history' By Roland Pease BBC science unit, San Francisco The sediments are an archive of past climate conditions Scientists have identified a major climate crisis that struck Africa about 70,000 years ago and which may have changed the course of human history.The evidence comes from sediments drilled up from the beds of Lake Malawi and Tanganyika in East Africa, and from Lake Bosumtwi in Ghana. It shows equatorial Africa experienced a prolonged period of drought. It is possible, scientists say, this was the reason some of the first humans left Africa to populate the globe. Certainly,...
Scientists Find A DNA Change That Accounts For White Skin
	Posted by RWR8189 On News/Activism 12/16/2005 1:05:07 AM EST · 205 replies · 3,897+ views Washington Post | December 16, 2005 | Rick Weiss Scientists said yesterday that they have discovered a tiny genetic mutation that largely explains the first appearance of white skin in humans tens of thousands of years ago, a finding that helps solve one of biology's most enduring mysteries and illuminates one of humanity's greatest sources of strife. The work suggests that the skin-whitening mutation occurred by chance in a single individual after the first human exodus from Africa, when all people were brown-skinned. That person's offspring apparently thrived as humans moved northward into what is now Europe, helping to give rise to the lightest of the world's races. Leaders...
Gene That Determines Skin Color Is Discovered, Scientists Report
	Posted by Pharmboy On News/Activism 12/16/2005 5:34:23 AM EST · 101 replies · 1,630+ views NY Times | December 16, 2005 | NICHOLAS WADE A gene that is responsible for the pale skin of Europeans and the dark skin of Africans has been discovered by scientists at Pennsylvania State University. The gene comes in two versions, one of which is found in 99 percent of Europeans and the other in 93 to 100 percent of Africans, the researchers report in today's issue of Science. The gene is unusual because with most human genes, different versions are generally shared, though one version may be more common in one race than another. One exception is the Duffy null allele, a version of a gene that prevents...
Not Out Of Africa But Regional Continuity
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 12/16/2005 2:03:02 PM EST · 21 replies · 559+ views The Bradshaw Foundation | Alan Thorne Not Out of Africa but regional continuityA challenging idea about Human Evolution by Alan Thorne Mungo Lady Mungo Lady was delivered to Alan Thorne in a small cheap suitcase in 1968 when he was 28 years old. Her burned and shattered bones were embedded in six blocks of calcified sand. The field researchers who dug her up in a parched no-man's-land in southeastern Australia suspected that shewas tens of thousands of years old. 600 Bone Chips Almost every day for the next six months, he painstakingly freed her remains from the sand with a dental drill, prizing out more than...
Redating The Latest Neanderthals In Europe
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 01/05/2006 6:34:12 PM EST · 8 replies · 548+ views Washington University-St Louis | 1-5-2006 | Neil Schoenherr Redating of the latest Neandertals in Europe By Neil Schoenherr Jan. 5, 2006 ó Two Neantertal fossils excavated from Vindija Cave in Croatia in 1998, believed to be the last surviving Neandertals, may be 3,000-4,000 years older than originally thought. Erik Trinkaus An international team of researchers involving Erik Trinkaus, Ph.D., the Mary Tileston Hemenway Professor of Anthropology in Arts & Sciences; Tom Higham and Christopher Bronk Ramsey of the Oxford University radiocarbon laboratory; Ivor Karavanic of the University of Zagreb; and Fred Smith of Loyola University, has redated the two Neandertals from Vindija Cave, the results of which have...
New analysis shows three human migrations out of Africa, Replacement theory 'demolished'
	Posted by PatrickHenry On News/Activism 02/10/2006 5:54:05 AM EST · 120 replies · 2,512+ views Washington University in St. Louis | 02 February 2006 | Tony Fitzpatrick A new, more robust analysis of recently derived human gene trees by Alan R. Templeton, Ph.D, of Washington University in St Louis, shows three distinct major waves of human migration out of Africa instead of just two, and statistically refutes ‚Äî strongly ‚Äî the 'Out of Africa' replacement theory. That theory holds that populations of Homo sapiens left Africa 100,000 years ago and wiped out existing populations of humans. Templeton has shown that the African populations interbred with the Eurasian populations ‚Äî thus, making love, not war. "The 'Out of Africa' replacement theory has always been a big controversy," Templeton...
Early Human Ancestors Walked On The Wild Side
	Posted by blam On General/Chat 02/16/2006 1:14:54 PM EST · 14 replies · 367+ views Eureka Alert - ASU | 2-16-2006 | Garu Schwartz - Skip Derra Contact: Skip Derra skip.derra@asu.edu 480-965-4823 Arizona State University Early human ancestors walked on the wild side Tempe, Ariz. -- Arizona State University anthropologist and Institute of Human Origins researcher Gary Schwartz, along with fellow anthropologist Dan Gebo from Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, have studied fossil anklebones of some early ancestors of modern humans and discovered that they walked on the wild side. It seems some of our earliest ancestors possessed a rather unsteady stride due to subtle anatomical differences. Schwartz and Gebo's findings will be published in the April 2006 edition of the American Journal of Physical Anthropology, but the...
Semi-News: Neanderthals Lived in Iranian Cave
	Posted by John Semmens On Bloggers & Personal 05/04/2006 3:45:18 PM EDT · 13 replies · 146+ views AZCONSERVATIVE | 28 Apr 2006 | John Semmens The latest excavations by an Iranian and French joint team at prehistoric caves of Kermanshah, west of Iran, revealed them to have been early settlements of Neanderthals who used to live there about 85,000 to 40,000 years ago. Current whereabouts any remaining Neanderthals are a matter of speculation. Nevertheless, many are convinced that they are now running the Iranian government.
Evolutionary Back Story: Thoroughly Modern Spine Supported Human Ancestor
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 05/07/2006 11:48:57 AM EDT · 23 replies · 453+ views Science News | 5-7-2006 | Bruce Bower Evolutionary Back Story: Thoroughly modern spine supported human ancestor Bruce Bower Bones from a spinal column discovered at a nearly 1.8-million-year-old site in central Asia support the controversial possibility that ancient human ancestors spoke to one another. WIDE OPEN. A recently discovered Homo erectus vertebra from central Asia (left) displays a larger spinal cord canal than does a corresponding bone (right) from a skeleton that had been found in Kenya. Meyer Excavations in 2005 at Dmanisi, Georgia, yielded five vertebrae from a Homo erectus individual, says anthropologist Marc R. Meyer of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. The finds occurred...
Neanderthals And Humans: Perhaps They Never Met
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 05/08/2006 2:29:20 PM EDT · 34 replies · 1,204+ views Live Science | 5-8-2006 | Robin Lloyd Neanderthals and Humans: Perhaps They Never Met By Robin Lloyd Special to LiveScience posted: 08 May 2006 The number of years that modern humans are thought to have overlapped with Neanderthals in Europe is shrinking fast, and some scientists now say that figure could drop to zero. Neanderthals lived in Europe and western Asia from 230,000 to 29,000 years ago, petering out soon after the arrival of modern humans from Africa. There is much debate on exactly how Neanderthals went extinct. Theories include climate change and inferior tools compared to those made by modern humans. Anthropologists also disagree on whether...
New Scientist : Many human genes evolved recently ( As recent as 15,000 years ago )
	Posted by SirLinksalot On News/Activism 05/08/2006 5:59:09 PM EDT · 82 replies · 1,008+ views New Scientist | 03/07/2006 | Melissa Lee Phillips Many human genes evolved recently 01:00 07 March 2006 NewScientist.com news service Melissa Lee Phillips Human genes involved in metabolism, skin pigmentation, brain function and reproduction have evolved in response to recent environmental changes, according to a new study of natural selection in the human genome. Researchers at the University of Chicago, US, developed a statistical test to find genomic regions that evolution has favoured over the last 15,000 years or so ñ when modern humans dealt with the end of the last ice age, the beginning of agriculture, and increased population densities. Many of the 700 genes the researchers...
Experts Find Rare Romani DNA In Norwich Anglo Saxon Skeleton
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 05/13/2006 1:43:55 PM EDT · 49 replies · 1,124+ views 24 Hour Museum | 5-12-2006 | Sarah Morley EXPERTS FIND RARE ROMANI DNA IN NORWICH ANGLO SAXON SKELETON By Sarah Morley 12/05/2006 The recent discovery of Romani DNA in an Anglo Saxon skeleton has made experts re-think the nature of the city's early population. Picture courtesy Sophie Cabot. © HEART Experts from Norfolk Archaeology Unit based at Norwich Castle have discovered a rare form of mitochondrial DNA identified as Romani in a skeleton discovered during excavations in a large area of Norwich for the expansion of the castle mall. The DNA was found in an 11th century young adult male skeleton, and with the first recorded arrival of...
Neanderthal Yields Nuclear DNA
	Posted by blam On General/Chat 05/16/2006 6:33:16 PM EDT · 16 replies · 591+ views BBC | 5-16-2006 Neanderthal yields nuclear DNA Neanderthals died out about 29,000 years ago The first sequences of nuclear DNA to be taken from a Neanderthal have been reported at a US science meeting. Geneticist Svante Paabo and his team say they isolated the long segments of genetic material from a 45,000-year-old Neanderthal fossil from Croatia. The work should reveal how closely related the Neanderthal species was to modern humans, Homo sapiens. Details were presented at a conference at New York's Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and reported by News@Nature. It is a significant advance on previous research that has extracted mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA)...

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