Archive for June 30th, 2007
1.2 Million Year-old Tooth Found At Atapuerca, Spain
Although this is currently being billed as the oldest evidence yet of archaic mankind in Europe, there are other finds, especially from Murcia in the south of Spain which date back to 1.3 million years, and possibly (a disputed) 1.7 million years.
Nevertheless, the find at Atapuerca is still remarkable, and is vivid testament to the extraordinary length of time that humans have been visiting or occupying this site…
Jose Maria Bermudez de Castro, co-director of research at the Atapuerca site said the molar, discovered on Wednesday in the Atapuerca Sierra in the northern province of Burgos, could be as much as 1.2-million years old.
“The tooth represents the oldest human fossil remain of western Europe. Now we finally have the anatomical evidence of the hominids that fabricated tools more than one million years ago,” the Atapuerca Foundation said in a statement.
“Since it is an isolated fossil remain, it is not possible at this point to confirm which Homo species this tooth belongs to,” the foundation added, but said first analyses “allow us to suppose it is an ancestor of Homo antecessor (pioneer).”
In 1994 at the nearby Gran Dolina site several Homo antecessor fossils were uncovered, suggesting human occupation of Europe around 800 000 years ago, whereas scientists had previously believed the continent had only been inhabited for around half a million years.
Although they’re still waiting for conclusive dating analysis to be carried out, they seem fairly confident of their dates from the geological context in which the tooth was found. It’s reported that the ‘well worn‘ molar probably belonged to an individual aged between 20 and 25 years, and was found in the Sima del Elefante along with the fossilised remains of ‘bison, deer and bear as well as birds and a mouse.‘
The date of 1.2 million years fits within the time-frame of the Orce and Cueva Victoria finds in Murcia, and the only species of archaic human around at the time was Homo erectus, who was in fact the true pioneer of the Lower Palaeolithic. Read the rest of this entry »
Four Stone Hearth 18 at Clioaudio July 4th
Before I forget, as I did last time round, Alun at Clioaudio (mentioned in the previous post regarding his podcast) is hosting the next edition of 4SH, and is calling for contributions – I quote from his site,
The Anthropology blog carnival Four Stone Hearth comes to Clioaudio on the 4th of July. I’ll be attempting to collect best archaeology, biological anthropology, linguistics and social anthropology posts of the fortnight from the 20th of June to the 3rd of July. If you’ve read or written something you’d like to see included then send me an email to the address above. i.e alun.m.salt@gmail.com
You can see the most recent editions of the Four Stone Hearth at Hominin Dental Anthro and Testimony of the Spade
If you want to be sure I get to read your email before I compile the carnival, it needs to arrive before 17:00 GMT on the 3rd of July.
So if you have the time and inclination, please feel free to contribute something of your own, or even from something else.
Whilst I’m in compilatory? mode, I thought I’d mention Amalgamated Friday, written each week by Kris Hirst at About.com: archaeology, comprising a weekly collection of some of the best stories and articles from Web and blogosphere, and is published at her site every Friday – she invariably has plenty of good links which are worth checking out. (TJ)
Podcast Round-up
Podcasting has arrived in a big way, as a cursory glance at the iTunes directory will confirm – if you can think of a science related topic, the chances are that someone somewhere will probably be talking about it. On that note, here’s a quick look at some which may be of interest to readers here – some are those I listen to, others were recommended to me by Carl at Hot Cup of Joe,
(and who also contributes to Anthropology.net), so many thanks to him for his suggestions. All shows listed below are available for free via iTunes, but if you don’t use that application, I’ve provided a link to each of the sites, from where you can either listen or download direct.
All In The Mind – ABC
This show from Australia looks at issues involving psychology, with their two most recent shows looking at ‘mental surveillance’, discussing the unregulated domain of brain scanning in courts, our understanding of criminality, our susceptibility to becoming smokers or alcoholics based on our brain patterns, and a whole lot more – very well presented, and plenty to ponder over exactly how much free will we actually have.
Here we have the weekly news from Archaeologica, who also run an excellent daily news service from their site.
n.b. The Archaeology Channel have an excellent range of video material on their site, the latest edition of which features an interview with Dr. Louise Leakey, yet another member of that famous family, discussing her work at Lake Turkana – also, be sure to check through their extensive archives for some very good presentations.
ClioaudioThis is produced by Alun Salt, formerly of Archaeoastronomy, and although still in its early days, has already covered some very interesting topics, including the debate between archaeologists and pagans, regarding how we should treat the ancient remains of individuals who are discovered during the course of digs or other excavations.
One of Carl Feagan’s recommendations, a show which evidently looks at the ongoing debate between science and religion – at the time of writing I haven’t had time to listen, but looking through their past show summaries, it looks as though there is a wealth of good material to catch up on.
One of many from the BBC, this comes out quite often, sometimes twice in the same week. Each show features 3 separate reporters submitting a 10-minute piece from around the world, taking a look at people and places who wouldn’t necessarily make it into the headline news, but who nevertheless provide us with fascinating insights into any number of topics. Read the rest of this entry »
