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.
I spent most of my graduate school years studying evolution.
But go ahead and explain it all to me.
“I expectorate at least an honorable mention.”
I’m not even going to give that lip service.
I think I’m going to extract myself from any further participation on this thread; it’s grown a bit long in the tooth.
Me too. We’ve obviously bit off more than we could eschew.
Tooth mobility is usually considered a problem, especially in adults, probably even in adult neanderthals.
Timeo Danaos dentes ferentes
I have a filling you're correct.
I have a filling you're correct.
You guys with your tongue in cheek humor have chewed up the whole thread. Its just getting unpalatable!
Pharynx a lot! I'll uvula alone now.
Vi Veri Veniversum Vivus Vici
“I have a filling you’re correct.”
I’d have to say I agree with your prosthesis.
True to your screen name, your bark is worse than your bite. Your argument that our toothisms are unpalatable is simply a gnawn-starter.
“We’ve obviously bit off more than we could eschew.”
“I have a filling you’re correct.”
“You guys with your tongue in cheek humor have chewed up the whole thread. Its just getting unpalatable!”
These puns are bad enough on their own. Let’s not amalgamate them.
Quod sum, tu eris.
LOL
Quod tu es, ego fui, quod nunc sum et tu eris !!
Oldie but goodie;
Quantum materiae materietur marmota monax si marmota monax materiam possit materiari?
Dentitio optima pessima sicut occlusio doctoris boni falsa.
LMAO !
Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam.
Mons gemitur mus marmotaque nascitur sed saxifragus caput meum est quod erat demonstratum ad infinitum inimicis amicisque ad occasionem irascibilitatis meae.
Melior verbum tuum dies secundus februari?
Ya got me........:o)
Sentio aliquos togatos contra me conspirare
There was a young dentist named Haverty
Struck off the register for depravity.
Of a patient he became rather fond
but was caught using an inappropriate wand
to fill quite the wrong cavity.
Coyoteman is obviously the winner of the PEW That's Pun Entry of the Week award.
Johnny, please use the word "motif" in a sentence.
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