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Analysis of bones, from what was once the world's largest bird, has revealed that humans arrived on the tropical island of Madagascar more than 6,000 years earlier than previously thought... A team of scientists led by international conservation charity ZSL (Zoological Society of London) discovered that ancient bones from the extinct Madagascan elephant birds (Aepyornis and Mullerornis) show cut marks and depression fractures consistent with hunting and butchery by prehistoric humans. Using radiocarbon dating techniques, the team were then able to determine when these giant birds had been killed, reassessing when humans first reached Madagascar. Previous research on lemur bones...

This foraging occupation of one site effectively doubles and confirms the length of Madagascar’s known occupational history and thus the time during which people exploited its environments. The rock shelter yielded a stratified assemblage with small flakes, microblades, and retouched crescentic and trapezoidal tools, probably projectile elements, made from cherts and obsidian, some brought more that 200 km. The assemblage from the top layers of the site is well dated to 1050–1350 A.D. This was achieved using carbon dating and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL), as well as ceramic typology imported from the Near East and China. Below this layer is...

An Ancient Link to Africa Lives on in Bay of Bengal By NICHOLAS WADE Inhabitants of the Andaman Islands, a remote archipelago east of India, are direct descendants of the first modern humans to have inhabited Asia, geneticists conclude in a new study. But the islanders lack a distinctive genetic feature found among Australian aborigines, another early group to leave Africa, suggesting they were part of a separate exodus. The Andaman Islanders are "arguably the most enigmatic people on our planet," a team of geneticists led by Dr. Erika Hagelberg of the University of Oslo write in the journal Current...

Taiwan famously features an indigenous population of Austronesian people whose history on the island stretches back 5,000 years. But among these people, oral traditions have referred to another civilisation that seemed to be far older. They were often referred to as “pygmies” or tiny people and were described as having dark skin, curly hair and a diminutive stature. For centuries, they only existed in fables , although they popped up with remarkable consistency over an extremely long period of time. In early October, scientists proved they existed in Taiwan. According to a paper published in World Archaeology, a peer-reviewed journal,...

For a long time, scientists had assumed a gradual expansion of African people through Sinai into both Europe and Asia. Then, bizarrely, it became clear from both genetics and archaeology that Europe was peopled later (after 40,000 years ago) than Australia (before 50,000 years ago). Meanwhile, the geneticists were beginning to insist that many Africans and all non-Africans shared closely related DNA sequences that originated only after about 70,000-60,000 years ago in Africa. So a new idea was born, sometimes called the "beachcomber express," in which the first ex-Africans were seashore dwellers who spread rapidly around the coast of the...

India has recently renewed its attention to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Indian Ocean, which occupy a key location in West-East maritime trade, with a series of infrastructure, economic, and defense projects that experts say will help India and its Indo-Pacific allies.The country is upgrading two airstrips on the islands into full-fledged fighter aircraft bases, according to Aug. 25 media reports, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has begun other development projects in the past few weeks.“The Andaman and Nicobar Islands provide critical access and key entry and exit points for the Indian Ocean. They oversee the Strait...

Indian police believe two American missionaries encouraged John Allen Chau to go to a forbidden island where he was killed by an isolated tribe he was trying to convert, a top investigator said Saturday. Dependra Pathak, head of police in the Andaman and Nicobar islands, told AFP the suspects had left India, and that there was still no sign of the body of Chau -- who was killed last month in a hail of arrows fired by the Sentinelese tribe. "We are investigating the role of at least two Americans, a man and a woman, who met with the man...

An Australian politician known for her staunch anti-immigration policy has praised a remote Indian island tribe for defending their way of life after reportedly killing an American missionary with bows and arrows earlier this month. Sen. Pauline Hanson, of the country’s One Nation Party, filed a motion on Tuesday calling for the Senate to "support the desire of the Sentinelese people to protect their culture and way of life,” Australia’s ABC News reported. "I for one will not be condemning the Sentinelese as racist for keeping their borders closed, nor will I condemn them for their lack of diversity,” Hanson...

The islands of Polynesia were first inhabited around 3,000 years ago, but where these people came from has long been a hot topic of debate amongst scientists. The most commonly accepted view, based on archaeological and linguistic evidence as well as genetic studies, is that Pacific islanders were the latter part of a migration south and eastwards from Taiwan which began around 4,000 years ago. But the Leeds research -- published February 3 in The American Journal of Human Genetics -- has found that the link to Taiwan does not stand up to scrutiny. In fact, the DNA of current...

Research led by the University of Leeds has discovered genetic evidence that overturns existing theories about human migration into Island Southeast Asia (covering the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysian Borneo) - taking the timeline back by nearly 10,000 years. Prevailing theory suggests that the present-day populations of Island Southeast Asia (ISEA) originate largely from a Neolithic expansion from Taiwan driven by rice agriculture about 4,000 years ago - the so-called "Out of Taiwan" model. However an international research team, led by the UK’s first Professor of Archaeogenetics, Martin Richards, has shown that a substantial fraction of their mitochondrial DNA lineages (inherited...

John Allen Chau was killed last week by North Sentinel islanders who apparently shot him with arrows and then buried his body on the beach, police say. But even officials don't travel to North Sentinel, where people live as their ancestors did thousands of years ago, and where outsiders are seen with suspicion and attacked. "It's a difficult proposition," said Dependera Pathak, director-general of police on India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands, where North Sentinel is located. "We have to see what is possible, taking utmost care of the sensitivity of the group and the legal requirements." ..." Police are consulting...

An American man was killed on an island inhabited by a tribe known to resist outside contact in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. And, his body still lies there. The American was identified as 27-year-old John Allen Chau, who sources said was a Christian missionary who wanted to convert the Sentinelese tribe that inhabits the island where he was killed. Chau was killed by members of this tribe, which is protected under Indian law, a senior police officer told India Today TV. The officer stressed that the Sentinelese must be left alone and that any forced contact with the outside...

John Allen Chau, the American missionary who was killed by an isolated tribe on a remote Indian island, reportedly wrote in his journal hours before his death, “God, I don’t want to die.” Chau, 26, of Vancouver, Wash., chronicled his last days while traveling to the Andaman Islands. He was intent on making contact with the Sentinelese tribe on North Sentinel Island, according to his journals shared by his mother with The Washington Post. “You guys might think I’m crazy in all this but I think it’s worthwhile to declare Jesus to these people,” he wrote in a last note...

Located far into the Bay of Bengal in the Indian Ocean, North Sentinel Island is one of the most isolated places on earth. Approximately the size of Manhattan, this remote island is home to the Sentinelese tribe, the most dangerous tribe in the world. The North Sentinel island made headlines in 2006 after the tribe murdered two fishermen who had illegally approached the island. After the incident, a 3-mile zone has been imposed around the island, and the Sentinelese have since kept a low profile. The Indian government, who previously tried to establish a relationship with the tribe, have since...

Those who visit North Sentinel Island are unlikely to leave alive due to the island’s murderous inhabitants. North Sentinel Island lies in the Bay of Bengal off of the coast of India, and its white beaches and clear blue sea make it the perfect destination for any tourist in search of breathtaking scenery. According to Wackulus, the island is one of the last remaining uncivilized areas of the earth. But North Sentinel Island is still inhabited by natives who have remained trapped in time and have lived the same way for thousands of years — so much so that, when...

CNN) -- Idiotic TV shows and all the latest apps bumming you out on the 21st century? Ready for some "me time" on the world's remotest islands? Forget golden sands and swaying palms -- the reality of solitude is different as these terrifyingly distant landfalls demonstrate. ... Bear Island 400 miles off Europe's north coast Bjornoya, better known as Bear Island, is the southernmost island in the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, 400 miles north of mainland Europe -- but only on paper, given that it's almost 150 miles south of the Norwegian island chain with which it's lumped. It's been...

PORT BLAIR, India (Reuters) – One of the world's oldest dialects, which traces its origins to tens of thousands of years ago, has become extinct after the last person to speak it died on a remote Indian island. Boa Sr, the 85-year-old last speaker of "Bo," was the oldest member of the Great Andamanese tribe, R.C. Kar, deputy director of Tribal Health in Andaman, told Reuters on Friday. She died last week in Port Blair, the capital of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which were hit by a devastating tsunami in 2004. "With the death of Boa Sr and the extinction...

Death of Boa Sr, last person fluent in the Bo language of the Andaman Islands, breaks link with 65,000-year-old culture The last speaker of an ancient tribal language has died in the Andaman Islands, breaking a 65,000-year link to one of the world's oldest cultures. Boa Sr, who lived through the 2004 tsunami, the Japanese occupation and diseases brought by British settlers, was the last native of the island chain who was fluent in Bo. Taking its name from a now-extinct tribe, Bo is one of the 10 Great Andamanese languages, which are thought to date back to pre-Neolithic human...

<p>Eight members of a remote Indian tribe have died after drinking a chemical they mistook for alcohol.</p> <p>The dead men from the tiny Onge tribe swigged the brown liquid which washed ashore in a bottle.</p> <p>There are fewer than 100 members of the Onge left. They are the last remaining hunter-gatherers and live on the Andaman and Nicobar islands.</p>

Skin painted bright red, heads partially shaved, arrows drawn back in the longbows and aimed square at the aircraft buzzing overhead. The gesture is unmistakable: Stay Away. Behind the two men stands another figure, possibly a woman, her stance also seemingly defiant. Her skin painted dark, nearly black. The apparent aggression shown by these people is quite understandable. For they are members of one of Earth's last uncontacted tribes, who live in the Envira region in the thick rainforest along the Brazilian-Peruvian frontier. Thought never to have had any contact with the outside world, everything about these people is, and...