Posted on 02/09/2008 6:25:24 PM PST by blam
Tooth Scan Reveals Neanderthal Mobility
By ELENA BECATOROS, Associated Press Writer
A 40,000-year-old tooth is seen in this undated hand out photo released by Greek Culture Ministry. Analysis of the tooth uncovered in southern Greece indicates for the first time that Neanderthals may have traveled more widely than previously thought, paleontologists announced on Friday, Feb. 8, 2008. (AP Photo/Greek Culture Ministry)
(AP) -- Analysis of a 40,000-year-old tooth found in southern Greece suggests Neanderthals were more mobile than once thought, paleontologists said Friday.
Analysis of the tooth - part of the first and only Neanderthal remains found in Greece - showed the ancient human had spent at least part of its life away from the area where it died.
"Neanderthal mobility is highly controversial," said paleoanthropologist Katerina Harvati at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany.
Some experts believe Neanderthals roamed over very limited areas, but others say they must have been more mobile, particularly when hunting, Harvati said.
Until now, experts only had indirect evidence, including stone used in tools, Harvati said. "Our analysis is the first that brings evidence from a Neanderthal fossil itself," she said.
The findings by the Max Planck Institute team were published in the Journal of Archaeological Science.
The tooth was found in a seaside excavation in Greece's southern Peloponnese region in 2002.
The team analyzed tooth enamel for ratios of a strontium isotope, a naturally occurring metal found in food and water. Levels of the metal vary in different areas.
Eleni Panagopoulou of the Paleoanthropology-Speleology Department of Southern Greece said the tooth's levels of strontium showed that the Neanderthal grew up at least 12.5 miles from the discovery site.
"Our findings prove that ... their settlement networks were broader and more organized than we believed," Panagopoulou said.
Clive Finlayson, an expert on Neanderthals and director of the Gibraltar Museum, disagreed with the finding's significance.
"I would have been surprised if Neanderthals didn't move at least 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) in their lifetime, or even in a year ... We're talking about humans, not trees," Finlayson said.
GGG Ping.
Wonder if they could get any DNA from that tooth...
Mummy lice found in Peru may give new clues about human migration
February 07, 2008
Lice from 1,000-year-old mummies in Peru may unravel important clues about a different sort of passage: the migration patterns of America’s earliest humans, a new University of Florida study suggests.
SNIP
...scientists may be able to link the 1,000-year-old lice found in the Western Hemisphere with those in Siberia or Mongolia, confirming existing theories that America’s earliest residents originated there, he said.
Had these immigrants traveled by land masses, there was a very small window of time, about 13,000 years ago, when the glaciers retreated enough to allow passage through the Bering Strait on the way to South America, Reed said. Another proposed theory is a seafaring route, but this would have required sophisticated oceangoing vessels for which no evidence from the time exists, he said.
http://www.physorg.com/news121610555.html
Not really. You are talking about a very advanced, exstinct ape. Neanderthal DNA is typically described as about halfway between ours and that of a chimpanzee.
Further proof that the Neanderthals died out due to lack of a proper Tooth Fairy.
If they’d had access to the Tooth Fairy Network, they’d have had plenty of the loose change that communities can scrape together to get them through the tough times.
Citation please.
The idea that human beings didn’t have seaworthy boats 13,500 years ago has pretty much been abandoned. It’s pretty obvious such boats existed and were in use, possibly since 50,000 years ago when Australia was first settled.
In my anthropology class, they could tell you everything you wanted to know about their lifestyle, social structure and religious practices just from a single tooth. These guys are pikers.
Posted here on FR:
Maybe but, I probably wouldn't like it, lol.
LOL. FReeper Coyoteman (Posts #3 & #7) has a PhD in archaeology and will appreciate that.
“Typically described” by whom? First I’ve ever heard that description...and IMNSHO, it’s a load of bollocks.
...dugouts in the Australia/New Guinea archipelago about 40,000 years ago ..Spain actually predated their invention in the Australia/New Guinea area...
(..am a research fanatic sometimes..sorry am just a layperson on this subject, the story and comment fascinated me..)Thanks
Well, you're right about that part. They were apes, (as are homo-sapiens), and they are extinct.
Neanderthal DNA is typically described as about halfway between ours and that of a chimpanzee.
Now that's a new one. I'm guessing that claim might have been made by the Discovery Institute.
Ahh, something non-political. Nothing like a little dentistry to relax the mind. ;^)
Did I tell you Sassy lost her tooth? Well she had her brother remove it as it hurt. Tooth fairy left her $5. In the morning she said I ONLY got $5 because I didn’t let it fall out. Looks like she thinks the tooth fairy has lots of money. lol.
I would be a little surprised too. 12.5 miles is an easy six hour hike.
btt
I just ate a T-bone steak that was from a mammoth. Mmmm. Burp!
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