Anthropology.net

Just a very quick post to let everyone know there’s a 7 part update on Homo floresiensis available at YouTube, as mentioned over at The Panda’s Thumb; this from Jim Foley…

A few months ago I attended a talk by Professor Colin Groves of the Australian National University: ‘An update on Homo floresiensis, a.k.a. the “Hobbit”’ (available on YouTube in seven installments: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7). As is well known, there has been an unusually bitter scientific debate over the last couple of years as to whether the hobbit is indeed a new species, or just a small microcephalic human. The term ‘microcephaly’ covers a range of conditions which cause unusually small brain sizes. (Disclaimer: Groves is not a disinterested participant in this debate, having coauthored a paper which argues against the microcephalic interpretation.)

Groves went over a long list of unusual features of the hobbit. The limb bone ratios are unlike those of any apes or humans. They are also very robust: in spite of their small size, hobbits would have been remarkably strong. The arms are too long for humans, and they had unusually large feet (like Tolkien’s hobbits!). The lower jaw lacks a chin, a feature found in all humans (even people who look chinless), and that is also true of a second jaw which has been found. The upper end of the humerus has a twist not found in modern humans, but which was then found in the Turkana BoyHomo erectus/ergaster skeleton once it was looked for. Groves’ conclusion: all of these features make it overwhelmingly unlikely that the hobbit was just a small microcephalic human.

The second paragraph is particularly relevant – most of the controversy so far has centred around the cranial elements of LB1, but the post-cranial features are if anything, more complex and enigmatic than might be apparent from the mainstream coverage – the Hobbit’s evolutionary past is as yet far from clear, and it looks certain that there will be further twists and turns in this strangest of discoveries; as far as I know, work at Liang Bua should be in progress right now, and the world will be waiting with bated breath for further revelations from within its depths.

I’m currently reading Professor Mike Moorwood and Penny van Oosterzee’s book, ‘A New Human‘, which is definitely worth the read – Kambiz made mention in an earlier post of the dispute that erupted concerning the way in which the skull was allegedly mishandled whilst in the care of Professor Jacob, and although I haven’t read that part yet, the rest of what I have read is fascinating stuff. (TJ)

(via Afarensis)

ps: I’m having a few issues with formatting at WP, which means one or two posts might look a bit untidy, especially ‘quotes’, but hopefully I’ll iron these out in due course – Kambiz usually sorts these out for me, but in his absence, one or two errors might creep in.

On-line Iranian Anthropological and Documentary Film Archive and Database

Society for Iranian Anthropology, SIRA (www.anthropology-iran.org) with the collaboration of Ethnodoc create jointly a new online database and archive for Iranian anthropological and documentary films.

We accept anthropological and documentary films (regarding Iran) made by academic scholars and independent filmmakers who trained in anthropology and cinematography. But films interesting for the subject and originality are also welcome.

Films received by SIRA will be included in the Ethnodoc film archive on the web site www.ethnodoc.org and will be add to Visualanthropology.net newsletter too. This online database is searchable.

For more information about submitting your film(s) or any other inquiries, please
contact directly:

Dr.P.Khosronejad

Junior Research Fellow at The Middle East Centre

St.Antony’s College, University of Oxford.

pedram.khosronejad@sant.ox.ac.uk

News of a notable find from a remarkable cave, comprising no less than five pieces of portable art, dating as far back as the Aurignaican, which have recently been unearthed from the Swabia region of Germany, home of the famous Vogelherd Cave, wherein finds have been made in the past…

Archaeologists at the University of Tübingen have recovered the first entirely intact woolly mammoth figurine from the Swabian Jura, a plateau in the state of Baden-Württemberg, thought to have been made by the first modern humans some 35,000 years ago. It is believed to be the oldest ivory carving ever found. “You can be sure,” Tübingen archaeologist Nicholas J. Conard told Spiegel Online, “that there has been art in Swabia for over 35,000 years.”

In total, five mammoth-ivory figurines from the Ice Age were newly discovered at the site of the Vogelherd Cave in southwestern Germany, a site known to contain primitive artefacts since it was excavated in 1931 by the Tübingen archaeologist Gustav Reik. Over 7,000 sacks of sediment later, archaeologists were again invigorated by the discoveries.

Among the new finds are well-preserved remains of a lion figurine, fragments of a mammoth figurine and two as-yet-unidentified representations. These, the University of Tübingen Web site explains, “count among the oldest and most impressive examples of figurative artworks from the Ice Age.” Read the rest of this entry »