Posted on 01/12/2005 5:52:22 PM PST by aculeus
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 were excavated to measure an extended family group whose males may be just a few inches taller than the skeleton.
The Guardian has travelled to the village and interviewed three male members of the family, the shortest of whom was 1 metre 25cm (4ft), compared with the estimated 1 metre of the skeleton.
Professor Teuku Jacob of Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta said he would compare the villagers' measurements with those of the bones.
"It is quite possible that there are pygmy people living in the area who are related to the people found in the cave."
The dispute over the bones is dividing evolutionists between those who believe modern humans came "out of Africa" and those who say that they evolved in many parts of the world. But it is now getting personal with both sides hurling insults at each other.
Prof Jacob, who has been accused by the Australian scientists who led the excavation of "kidnapping" the bones from Indonesia's centre of archaeology, said the Australian team had "rushed" their work and lacked expertise.
"I have never known anything like this row before," said Professor Alan Thorne of the Australian National University in Canberra. "People are desperate for new species. There's a lot of politics going on."
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005
Ping.
I thought it was Daschle until I got to the word "intelligent".
Precisely the sort of thing that goes on all the time between "career academics" who spend their entire lives in the "publish or perish" incestuous hellhole that is academia.
Most of them have never held a productive job "out in the real world", and have developed a monstrously inflated sense of self-importance -- to mask a basically worthless existence.
IMHO, a valid 'degree path' should consist of the following:
The only problem is that academia would probably get even worse -- because truly worthwhile people who return to school after working at a productive job are frequently disgusted by what they find when they return to academia.
The world would have far fewer PhDs -- but we would have more Masters and PhDs that I'd be willing to hire!
"Homo floresiensis is... a pygmy version of modern Homo sapiens with a not uncommon brain disease."
let's take a trip back down memory lane...
"The original pieces of bone and skull, including the now distinctive glowering brow-ridge of Neanderthal Man, were discovered by workers in 1856 in a cave in a quarry in the Neander Valley, near Dusseldorf. The bones were odd, thick and curved, and were originally thought to be those of an old invader, a deformed Cossack who had crawled into the cave to die."
http://www.trussel.com/prehist/news107.htm
The dude doesn't look like a "species," he just looks like a pygmy without a shave.
Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on, off, or alter the "Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list --
Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
The GGG Digest -- Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)
Thanks for the ping, but I donno if this is a thread for my list. Lemme wait a while and see if it heats up.
Yeah...but how many of them can they get in a volkswagen?
Milford Wolpoff and Rachel Caspari have long argued that there is only one species, Human. Their works make an interesting counter to the PC out of Africa 90,000 years ago theory. "Race and Human Evolution: A Fatal Attraction" is the book of theirs I have read. It is a particularly thought provoking and non-Racist approach to multilocational (?) evolution. I think they would take the small indonesian fossils in stride and would look at evolution in Africa, where under any current theory, the Human species has existed for the longest period.
Alan Thorpe lead the team that did most of the work on Mungo Man. A very interesting subject.
Alan Thorpe
Where does Mungo Jerry fit on the tree?
See the chart in post #13. Looks like just under Neanderthal Man.
How can you tell the sexual preference of the lad just by looking at skull fragments...... I mean why are all fossils homo ?
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 were excavated to measure an extended family group whose males may be just a few inches taller than the skeleton.
Reminds me of a story about an American anthropologist who flies into Johannesberg for some sort of a conference, walks into a public house for a beer, sits down at the bar, and notices a guy next to him with a head the size of a golf ball. After a few beers and after the guy with the golfball-sized head walked off to throw darts, the American asked the barkeep what the story was and the publican replied something like "Africa is a sort of a dangerous place, mate, and if you don't know how to act, you can get yourself into no end of trouble. For instance, you don't walk up to the witchdoctor's daughter and ask her for a 'little head'....."
Yeah, like nobody saw this "oops, we need to correct that earth shattering news from last year" headline. If they would worry about work verification rather than work edification they would have a better track record. The overzealousness to "announce anything" is too strong in this community to be bothered with the facts...hmmm, sounds kinda like a democratic mantra.
Pardon me. It does appear that you are unable to grasp the joke here.
Your juvenile message is best displayed to the general board in hopes of shaming you from doing such silly sh*t again.
Quite frankly I do not oversestimate my importance to Free Republic.
Perhaps you should do the same. Have a special day.
ok, i am going to school for pharmacy right now, its a 6 yr program, so should i skip a couple years before grad school?
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