There’s a very interesting new paper, through which prospective readers are free to roam and explore at will, by Alfonso Arribas et al, in which the site of Fonelas, Granada in southern Spain is described, where excavations have revealed that around 1.8 million years ago, a vast suite of mammalian fauna from Asia, Europe and [...]
Entries from September 2009
September 29, 2009
Hobbits Might Not Be A Homo After All
The controversies over the hobbits or Homo floresiensis just refuse to end. It seems that the hobbits might not be a Homo after all. I guess they found the index and ring fingers of the hobbits (Sorry, inside joke. Read this post if you want).
Homo floresiensis (LB1) skull. Photo from Science Museum.
Homo floresiensis, LB1, [...]
September 25, 2009
Can I See Your Fingers Please?
That is what University of Liverpool’s Emma Nelson probably would have said if she were to meet our hominan ancestors in person. Known to hold true in anthropoids (humans, apes and monkeys), the index (second digit) to ring (fourth digit) fingers ratio or 2D:4D is an indication of how much an individual were exposed to [...]
September 24, 2009
Four Stone Hearth 76 @ Afarensis
There’s water on the Moon, and even at lower than expected latitudes on Mars, not to mention a monstrous lightning storm on Saturn that has been on the go since mid-January. But none of that concerns us here, as we Earthlings possess a force of nature of our own which is much nearer to home, [...]
September 23, 2009
Free Out of Africa: Modern Human Origins Special Feature In PNAS
The latest issue of the Proceedings from the National Academy of Science journal hosts a Out of Africa: Modern Human Origins special feature for free online. I recommend you check it out.
Here’s a line up of the content:
Editorial by Richard G. Klein, “Darwin and the recent African origin of modern humans.”
Perspective by Ian Tattersall, “Human [...]
September 16, 2009
Neanderthal Hearths at El Salt Reveal Plant And Fish Remains
Julien at A Very Remote Period Indeed has posted a brief note on what looks to be a very important discovery from southern Spain, where archaeologists investigating Neanderthal occupation levels at a Mousterian site called El Salt, dating back at least 60,000 years, have discovered and analysed fat residues and other remains that indicate Neanderthals [...]
September 15, 2009
Current Anthropology – ‘Rethinking the Origins of Agriculture’ October 2009 Edition
Volume 50, Number 5 of Current Anthropology takes as its theme the continuing debate surrounding one of the most important cultural and technological innovations of modern humans, the mass production and storage of plant foods beginning in earnest after the Natufian era, which has ultimately given rise to what we currently refer to as modern [...]
September 13, 2009
Four Stone Hearth 75 at Ad Hominin
The 75th edition of the anthropology blog carnival named above is now online at Ad Hominin, and as is customary for 4SH, a wide variety of topics are covered by various bloggers, whose recent posts and essays have been compiled into a coherent whole, making this an ideal way to catch up on some informative [...]
September 11, 2009
Flax Fibres Dated to 34,000 Years BP Found at Dzudzuana Cave, Georgia
News of an exciting and illuminating discovery in Georgia, which has revealed that people living 34,000 years ago had mastered the art of making materials from processed wild flax, prompting speculation that such items as ropes, containers and even clothes and shoes were routinely manufactured by anatomically modern humans.
Back in July I wrote a brief [...]
September 11, 2009
The Evolutionary Origin of Man Can Be Traced in the Layers of Defunct Ancestral Alpha Satellites Flanking the Active Centromeres of Human Chromosomes – PLoS Genetics
Here’s a link to a newly published paper at PLoS Genetics, and although my knowledge of centromeres is scant, it seems clear that the authors are confident that their research can effectively demonstrate the timing of past waves of primate evolution going back as far as 35 million years, including periods of heightened activity, as [...]
