The following post doesn't directly have much to do with anthropology. Indirectly, it sure does, especially to those out there that study human population expansions and the Pleistocene-Holocene transition or even anthropologists interested in prehistoric paleoenvironments and the context of how people were living and what they were doing during that time. Anyways, this post... Continue Reading →
More on Vajda’s Siberian-Na-Dene Language Link
National Geographic News has just published an article about the recent symposium in Alaska regarding a possible connection between Yeniseic languages in Siberia and Na-Dene languages in the Americas. John Roach's article, Siberian, Native American Languages Linked -- A First, highlights the recent work of Edward Vajda, who defended his connection during the February symposium.... Continue Reading →
What is unique about the human arcuate fasciculus… and what does it have to do with language?
Despite the fact that I've seen some really impactful primate related research lately, I've completely neglected updating Primatology.net with it. I can't believe it has been almost three months since I've posted there! I should really resume posting there. Actually, I was considering putting up this following blog post over there, since it has to... Continue Reading →
Four Stone Hearth 37 – The Pulp SciFi Edition @ Hot Cup of Joe
There's a brand new - and very stylish - edition of the anthropology blog carnival, Four Stone Hearth, which should be visible in the night sky, depending on local weather conditions - but if not, you'll definitely be able to see and read it by clicking on Hot Cup of Joe, where there is the... Continue Reading →
Four Stone Hearth 37, Wed. March 26th – Call For Submissions
Hot Cup of Joe will be the venue for the upcoming 4SH, this Wednesday, March 26th, so if you'd like to send something along, you can do so via submit@fourstonehearth.net, or directly to Carl at cfeagans AT gmail DOT com, with FSH in the subject line.
I Love Lucy
Major kudos goes out to Simon of HENRY, who found this awesome shirt: Even though that ain't Lucy's skull -- she wasn't found with a complete one... I still want one on these shirts! Actually, I drew this skull in 2006!
A Multivariate Analysis of Orrorin tugenensis and the Ancestry of Bipedalism
Tomorrow's issue of the Science will host a reinvestigation of the famous (or infamous?) Orrorin tugenensis. The study, "Orrorin tugenensis Femoral Morphology and the Evolution of Hominin Bipedalism," comes from William Jungers and Brian Richmond. Their shtick is that their results indicate Orrorin's bipedality was like that of early Australopithecus. This conclusion, albeit not too... Continue Reading →
Correlating genetic and morphological evidence to pinpoint a divergence time for Neandertals and modern Humans
A couple days ago, I introduced a new paper by Weaver et al. which continues investigating the effect of genetic drift in modern human vs. Neandertal craniofacial differences. I didn't have access to the paper then, but now I do and I wanted to share my thoughts and ideas of it with you. The premise... Continue Reading →
An upcoming study on Homo floresiensis says they are a separate species
Another PNAS study to share with y'all, this time I caught the announcement via ScienceNOW. ScienceNOW says the paper is out today, but I can't find it. Go figure. So all I got to run with is this news report. The authors of this paper are Adam Gordon, Lisa Nevell, and Bernard Wood. They compared... Continue Reading →
Weaver, Roseman and Stringer back at it with Neandertals, Natural Selection and a time of divergence
Today's early issue of PNAS includes a paper by Tim Weaver, Charles Roseman and Chris Stringer who revisit the chance or natural selection issue in regards to Neandertal and modern human speciation. You may remember they published a paper in August of 2007, in which they basically concluded that natural selection really didn't have anything... Continue Reading →