Posted on 11/03/2010 5:02:12 PM PDT by Cardhu
They are rarely held up as examples of refined, gentle behaviour.
Now scientists have found evidence that cavemen really were the violent and competitive knuckleheads depicted in movies and cartoons.
A study of fossilised remains suggests that our ancient ancestors had far higher levels of the male sex hormone testosterone than people living today.
If the findings are confirmed, it means they were more aggressive and promiscuous than modern men - and that tens of thousands of years of evolution have had a civilising influence on the human race.
The study was carried out by British and Canadian scientists who worked out the testosterone levels of extinct apes and ancestors by looking at the length of fossilised finger bones.
Past studies have shown that exposure to testosterone in the womb can make humans and apes more aggressive and more promiscuous.
The same hormones also alter the way babies develop physically in the womb.
Boys exposed to high levels tend to have a longer ring finger relative to their index finger, while in males exposed to lower levels, the two fingers tend to be a similar length.
The scientists worked out the ratio of the two finger lengths for a range of ancient hominins - or ancient members of the family tree - including four Neanderthals and an early modern human from 70,000 years ago.
They also studied the finger lengths of an ape-like ancestor called Australopithecus afarensis which lived three million years ago and an even older species called Ardipithecus ramidus from 4.4 million years ago.
Although the researchers only looked at a handful of specimens, the findings suggest that Neanderthals and early humans were more testosterone fuelled than modern men.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
btt
OMG & LOL
I just *had* to actually read this article.
(Bay-Bay)
I do stand corrected as the tribe they found seemed to be more advanced that the main characters seeking fire.
Those people did have a squeaky bird like language as I remember from about 40 years ago.
Guess what????
(Like it's a surprise....)
I suppose you want a grant, now that you have discovered the cause of the ring finger length discrepancy.
Duuude...incredibly documentary!
Just tell me Fred’s shoe size....
There’s a reason they called my exwife “Gieco”.
· join list or digest · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post a topic · subscribe · |
|||
Antiquity Journal & archive Archaeologica Archaeology Archaeology Channel BAR Bronze Age Forum Discover Dogpile Eurekalert LiveScience Mirabilis.ca Nat Geographic PhysOrg Science Daily Science News Texas AM Yahoo Excerpt, or Link only? |
|
||
· Science topic · science keyword · Books/Literature topic · pages keyword · |
GIGO. This is an utterly stupid study and the conclusions are simply imaginary.
Prof. Raybbr, you’ve mixed up your specimens again.
That one is marked Homo Sapiens Sapiens.
There was a scene in one of the Tarzan movies where a native runs up to the chief, babbles in a foreign tongue then falls over dead. When the movie was shown in Kenya everyone laughed at that part because he was saying in Swahili “I’m not getting paid enough for this”.
Second, there has never been an "ape-like ancestor(TM)" for humans. DNA studies rule the Neanderthal out as a plausible ancestor for humans (genetic gap too wide) and all other hominids were FURTHER REMOVED from us THAN the Neanderthal. That leaves nothing on this planet which we could have evolved FROM. Trying to claim that we and hominids had some common ancestor is idiotic; that's like claiming that dogs could not be descended from wolves, so therefore they must have descended directly from fish.
There is no possibility of modern man having evolved from anything. You have three choices which actually are possible: we were created ex-nihilo here and recently; we were brought here from elsewhere; we were genetically re-engineered from one of the hominids, but that's it, there are no other viable possibilities.
“Now guys, y’all check the length of your index finger versus your ring finger.”
Uh . . .
Well.
This could explain a lot.
Damn .... it's way longer than my index finger .... guess I'm doomed to a life of competition and violence.
As men, we’re allowing ourselves to be castrated due to lower levels testosterone. Which of course, lowers them further.
What is GIGO?
Short *trigger* finger due to no guns.
Does this mean that women have been checking out the size of men’s fingers and thumbs and giggling about size for millions of years?
Perhaps that almost universal female reaction across cultures is another inheirited gene trait.
And our ancestors who developed the opposable thumb were no doubt the sexy Fabio boy toys of their time.
Okay, I’m in big trouble. My ring finger is longer on my right hand, but the shorter on my left.
Maybe it doesn’t matter since I’m a woman. I hope.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.