Stone man.
This partial skull of a 500,000-year-old human was found in a slab of travertine from a quarry like this one in Turkey.
Credit: John Kappelman/University of Texas, Austin
Posted on 12/07/2007 11:02:48 PM PST by neverdem
Stone man.
This partial skull of a 500,000-year-old human was found in a slab of travertine from a quarry like this one in Turkey.
Credit: John Kappelman/University of Texas, Austin
Workers at a travertine factory near Denizli, Turkey, were startled recently when they sawed a block of the limestone for tiles and discovered part of a human skull. Now, it appears they unwittingly exposed fossilized remains of a long-sought species of human that lived 500,000 years ago, researchers say. Although only four skull fragments were found, the fossil also reveals the earliest case of tuberculosis.
The Middle East has long been an important crossroads for human travelers. "It's been clear for some time that earlier hominids must have dispersed into Europe from western Asia and/or Africa, and Turkey sits squarely on the likely route," says paleoanthropologist Philip Rightmire of Harvard University, who was not a member of the team. Paleontologists have spent decades prospecting in Turkey for remains of a direct human ancestor, Homo erectus, which was the first hominid to migrate out of Africa. Although scientists have uncovered fossils of H. erectus that lived 1.7 million years ago in nearby Georgia, they have found few fossils of humans in this region that are between 1.7 million and 120,000 years old.
After the factory manager contacted a researcher at the local university, he alerted the rest of the team, which included researchers in France, Germany, and the United States. They report in the current issue of the American Journal of Physical Anthropology that the find most closely resembles H. erectus. However, Rightmire says it could also be a member of H. heidelbergensis, a species found in Europe that is thought to be the direct ancestor of Neandertals.
Regardless of its identity, lead author John Kappelman of the University of Texas, Austin, says the skull bears scars that are a "dead ringer" for those created by the Leptomeningitis tuberculosa bacterium, which causes a form of tuberculosis (TB) that attacks the brain's membranes. The scars represent the earliest signs of the disease in humans, says Kappelman. Previously, the oldest evidence of TB came from Egyptian and Peruvian mummies that were several thousand years old.
TB's presence might also provide clues about what this early human looked like and how it adapted to new habitats. If the hominid was dark-skinned, for example, it might have had trouble getting enough vitamin D as it migrated north, because dark-skinned people absorb less of the sunlight needed to make vitamin D than do light-skinned people. And when humans have vitamin D deficiency, their immune systems can be less vigilant, perhaps making dark-skinned migrants out of Africa more vulnerable to diseases such as TB as they headed to less sunny climates, says Kappelman.
"This is a hugely important discovery," says paleoanthropologist Clark Larsen of Ohio State University, Columbus, because infectious disease may reveal new challenges facing early humans as they moved into temperate regions. Kappelman hopes that the rest of the skull will be located eventually. "There was bone in the other slab we don't have," he says. "Someone may find the lottery prize of H. erectus preserved in their tile countertop."
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LOLO! That’s cold. I’m trying to be serious.
Well, I don’t have any limestone tiles. Out of luck.
Seriously though, this is an important and fascinating discovery. The oldest known TB case jumping from several thousand years ago to half a million years ago - big step in this field.
DNA studies indicate that we’re not even related to neanderthals, much less any sort of more primitive hominid.
What about the Red heads?
Scientist Discover World’s Oldest Bike Helmet.
International scientists were forced to reconsider conventional views of the history of bike riding when a 500,000 year old bike helmet was discovered in a Turkish quarry. . . .
There is vanishingly little genetic diversity in the present human race including red heads. Neanderthal DNA by way of contrast is typically described as roughly halfway betweeen ours and that of a chimpanzee. In other words, the neanderthal who was the most advanced hominid, was basically a glorified ape despite his rough resemblance to us. Everybody who studies this stuff pretty much agrees this rules the neanderthal out as a plausible human ancestor and that has to rule the others out as well.
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Author Ann Gibbons? That's cute. ;') Thanks Blam for the ping, and neverdem for the topic. Duplicate topic though it may be, that graphic is cool. |
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False.
In other words, the neanderthal who was the most advanced hominid, was basically a glorified ape despite his rough resemblance to us.
False.
Everybody who studies this stuff pretty much agrees this rules the neanderthal out as a plausible human ancestor...
Neanderthal has not been considered a plausible ancestor for decades, but not because of the DNA studies--which have taken place only in the last 10 or so years.
... and that has to rule the others out as well.
False.
You really need to study some of this before you post your opinions. Virtually everything you said is wrong.
Do you take ignorance pills?
No, but I did study fossil man and evolution, and related subjects, in grad school.
Unless things have changed considerably, your positions (above) are wrong.
No, but I did study fossil man and evolution, and related subjects, in grad school.
Same thing pretty much...
Your exchange is part of the reason I usually just read the article and leave when a thread relates to Crevo/Evo.
I’m out of here. Please continue to insult each other.
Me: No, but I did study fossil man and evolution, and related subjects, in grad school.
Same thing pretty much...
No, they are not. If you are arguing from religious belief, you should just say so. Don't pretend what you are doing is science.
I’m out of here. Please continue to insult each other.
I have posted no insults -- I don't need to insult anyone. I have simply pointed out that a position stated on a previous post is false with respect to science.
And I have ignored the insults that were directed at me. (I'm an "evo" so I'm used to being insulted.)
Have you NEVER insulted anyone on one of these Crevo/Evo threads?
Be honest...
Humans have only been here @ 7000 years. It cracks me up to see those 6 and 7 digit numbers.
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