Posted on 06/24/2007 6:39:42 PM PDT by blam
Rise of man theory ‘out by 400,000 years’
Dalya Alberge, Arts Correspondent
June 25, 2007
Our earliest ancestors gave up hunter-gathering and took to a settled life up to 400,000 years earlier than previously thought, according to controversial research.
The accepted timescale of Man’s evolution is being challenged by a German archaeologist who claims to have found evidence that Homo erectus — mankind’s early ancestor, who migrated from Africa to Asia and Europe — began living in settled communities long before the accepted time of 10,000 years ago.
The point at which settlement actually took place is the first critical stage in humanity’s cultural development.
Helmut Ziegert, of the Institute of Archaeology at Hamburg University, says that the evidence can be found at excavated sites in North and East Africa, in the remains of stone huts and tools created by upright man for fishing and butchery.
Professor Ziegert claims that the thousands of blades, scrapers, hand axes and other tools found at sites such as Budrinna, on the shore of the extinct Lake Fezzan in southwest Libya, and at Melka Konture, along the River Awash in Ethiopia, provide evidence of organised societies.
He believes that such sites show small communities of 40 or 50 people, with abundant water resources to exploit for constant harvests.
The implications for our knowledge of human evolution — and of our intellectual and social beginnings — are “profound” and a “staggering shift”, he said.
Professor Ziegert used potassium argon isotopic dating, stratigraphy and tool typology to compile his evidence. He will publish his findings this month in Minerva, the archaeology journal.
The news divided scholarly opinion yesterday.
Sean Kingsley, an archaeologist and the managing editor of Minerva, said: “This research is nothing less than a quantum leap in our understanding of Man’s intellectual and social history. For archaeology it’s as radical as finding life on Mars.
“As a veteran of over 81 archaeological surveys and excavations . . . Ziegert is nothing if not scientifically cautious, which makes the current revelation all the more exciting.”
But others were far from convinced. Paul Pettitt, senior lecturer in palaeolithic archaeology at the University of Sheffield, said: “Are they truly the remains of huts and not a natural phenomenon? Do they really date 400,000 years or are they much more recent? The site formation, age and implications are all questionable.”
He said that Homo erectus was a highly mobile hunter, that human remains can accumulate for a number of reasons and that the evidence to be published by Minerva does not indicate a year-round settlement.
Further scepticism was voiced by Paul Bahn, an archaeologist who specialises in the palaeolithic period. Although he believes that Homo erectus was quite advanced and capable of building durable structures, occasionally coming together in large groups, he remains to be convinced about settlements.
He said: “Homo erectus could have been there for a few days. He wouldn’t have carried the tools around. Inevitably, they accumulate. If hunter-gatherers found no cave or rock shelter, it makes sense that they might have built a shelter for a few days or seasonally. Just the fact that they’re made out of stone doesn’t mean they were permanent settlements.
Nick Barton, a lecturer in palaeolithic archaeology at the Institute of Archaeology at the University of Oxford, said: “No unequivocal dating evidence is presented except that based on the typology of the artefacts. It is entirely possible that the site represents a palimpsest of material spanning the palaeolithic to the neolithic.”
Homo erectus — a species that has been recognised since the late 19th century — lived from about 1.6 million to 200,000 years ago, ranging widely from Africa and Asia to parts of Europe. Most of the anatomical differences between Homo erectus and Homo sapiens relate to the skull and teeth, with the former having a jutting browridge, a wide nose and large teeth.
Professor Ziegert said: “The first archaeological revolution in fact was not triggered by anatomically ‘modern humans’ in the neolithic, or indeed in the technological and cultural revolution associated with the upper palaeolithic, but by Homo erectus, upright Man, an altogether different ancestral species making waves at the dawn of humanity.”
After decades of fieldwork, Professor Ziegert is convinced that future discoveries will uphold his conclusions. Under his direction, the University of Hamburg has scheduled a further programme of excavations at Budrinna and Melka Konture over the next four years.
1891
— The year in which evidence of Homo erectus was first discovered, in central Java, Indonesia
Just remember to count for the production of heavy elements which evidently has taken two or three stellar generations prior to the formation of the Sun for them to have formed and been incorporated in the Earth.
A younger universe theory needs to account for this beyond the idea that God just snapped his “finger” and made it happen. Research into the processes that gave us nuclear weapons indicate this scenario is simply not so.
Zappa said (in an interview in ‘High Times’ I think it was) that Hendrix’ peak was “Manic Depression”. From a technical standpoint Zappa was better, and he has a much larger body of surviving work, but I’d rather listen to Hendrix. If I had a time machine, I’d sneak into one Zappa show, but sneak into all of Hendrix’. :’)
The problem with fossil evidence is in using it as either a final word, or as evidence for a particular geographic origin. Fossilization is rare. And of course, ultimately, it has to be both fragmentary, and in an indefinite relationship with living forms. Some are much closer and less controversial, of course:
http://www.public.asu.edu/~camartin/plants/Plant%20html%20files/cycasrevoluta.html
The European population exploded with the introduction of the potato from Peru in the 1500's.
Ireland is the only modern country today that has less people than it had in 1840...
A direct result of the Irish potato famine.
Really? Who do you think God is? He is outside of time. Time means literally nothing to Him. When He made the earth was there a black sky or were there stars in the night? Light that would have had to have traveled years to get here. Were the animals fully formed or were they embryos? Was it deception on His part for carbon-14 decay or were there other environmental forces at work? Who resurrected a 2007 post anyways?
What I’m turning over in my mind is whether permanent quarters are feasible for large numbers of ancestral people before the birth of agriculture. Not sure how many places would have prey to hunt and edible plants on a year-round basis.
Surprising most people do not realize 'food' is a luxury.
Wanted to send you a link of Hendrix' hits which included Manic Depression but all found was one link with Manic Depression included in Hendrix' hits and the link was full of commercials. Dang commercials ... My intentions were good ...
A well-sited place would be used as a camp by any groups passing through. So now it could exhibit the signs of a ‘permanent’ site but would have been occupied only temporarily by different groups over and over.
Possibly that’s the case here.
A question that has haunted me since first introduction to theory of perhaps this planet has experienced a nuclear conflict, in the past. If there was a nuclear conflict, in the past, does that explain the dinosaurs ascension to the top of the ‘food’ chain?
Abiogenesis is a belief, biogenesis is the law. No matter how much handwaving is done.
We stayed for Hendrix at Woodstock. Would have gone home and gotten a shower if it was Zappa.
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Manic Depression good. Purple Haze great.
remembrances of the music always went a little then a little more toward the deep end ... as in, the music was always a little more deeper than that (that being what was known) ... Highway Chile ... so many great songs during that time. A remembrance of a conversation back during the nineties ... the 20 something said I envy your generation because of the great music your generation grew up with. Walked a little taller that day ... and Thanked the 20 something.
God indeed made the universe. But it seems you’re throwing out a lot of stuff out of sequence.
God made the universe a natural environment, subject to physical laws He established “In the beginning”.
And you still haven’t answered with a better theory of where the heavy elements came from.
A lot might depend on whether fire was used for preservation, or even just drying. Esquimos dry fish, any tribe living on a river with periodic great abundance of fish like salmon in the northwest, or herring and shad on the Chesapeake Bay and Potomac could have had fish weirs, nets, enclosures, etc., none of which would preserve over hundreds of thousands of years or even tens of thousands. With a guaranteed supply of preservable food as well as regularly available plant and flesh food, settlements might have been rebuilt over centuries or millenia. This may be one reason there have been interesting finds tens of thousands year old along the Danube, also older than expected finds along the Potomac.
Wow!! What a great list. Thanks SC.
Palaeolithic / Paleolithic European, Russian and Australian Archaeology / Archeology Sites
http://donsmaps.com/indexsites.html
fyi
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