The Archaeology Channel – Welcome
As many readers of this blog will be aware, The Archaeology Channel is a fantastic resource, which since 2000 has provided a superb and fascinating collection of online archaeology videos from around the world, all of which are free to access, which in this day and age, makes it a rare [...]
Entries from June 2009
June 11, 2009
The Archaeology Channel: Pledge Drive Alert
June 9, 2009
‘On Becoming Modern’ :: Science, June 5th Edition
On Becoming Modern : Ruth Mace 324 (5932): 1280 : Science
The June 5th edition of Science carries a feature which includes two anthropology papers discussing aspects of the late Palaeolithic, one of which examines the role altruism might have played in the evolution of hunter/gatherer (forager) societies as an alternative to warfare, whilst the other [...]
June 4, 2009
An Improved Method On Calibrating The Human Mitochondrial Molecular Clock
The American Journal of Human Genetics has published an article titled, “Correcting for Purifying Selection: An Improved Human Mitochondrial Molecular Clock,” in which a more accurate method of dating ancient human migration, even when no corroborating archaeological evidence exists, is announced.
How does was this done?
The authors started with a sample of 2,000 fully sequenced mtDNA [...]
June 2, 2009
Oldest Known Pottery Found In Yuchanyan Cave, Hunan, China
I’ve admitted that cultural anthropology rarely gets its fair share on this blog, but I must also confess I don’t spread the love with archaeological news. Hopefully you’ll forgive me a bit today, because thanks to Luis, there’s news of the discovery of the oldest known pottery — 17,500-18,300 years old from the Yuchanyan Cave [...]
June 2, 2009
Anoiapithecus brevirostris And The Origins Of Great Apes & Humans
Over at Primatology.net, I’ve written about a new ‘missing link’, Anoiapithecus brevirostris (IPS43000) from Abocador de Can Mata, Spain. I’m cross posting it here for two reasons, one to generate traffic and interest in that post but also to let you know that the specimen which is 11.9 million years old has a wide array [...]
June 1, 2009
New York Times Showcases Paleoanthropological Artist Viktor Deak
About a year and half ago I enrolled in an anthropology seminar even though I was getting a Master’s in Biology. I did so just to keep some sanity amongst the molecules, reactions and abstract names for genes I was immersed in. I thoroughly enjoyed it and wrote up a review on the evolution of [...]
June 1, 2009
Discrepancy Between Cranial & mtDNA Data Of Early Americans Or Sample Size?
There’s an interesting discussion brewing about on Dienekes’ Anthropology Blog about the ancestral discord between the genetics and craniometric traits of native American populations. I wanted to point it out to all in case you don’t subscribe to Dienekes. The discussion revolves around a rather new PLoS One paper addressing the observation that while native [...]
