Beyond bones & stones
"Hominin - the group consisting of modern humans, extinct human species and all our immediate ancestors (including members of the genera Homo, Australopithecus, Paranthropus and Ardipithecus)." Australian Museum. A lot had happened this year with hominin research and some would redefine conventional understandings of this group. Below is a list of new studies that came... Continue Reading →
Recent archaeological find in Koobi Fora, Kenya suggests that our early ancestors might have dined on "seafood" to compensate for the energy needed for the expansion of the brain. The excavated site dates 1.95 million years ago, which predates Homo erectus, reveals distinct faunal remains (some with evidence of butchery) and Oldowan artifacts. Detailed in... Continue Reading →
I just love saying, "Another Homo in the family"! Anyways, it seems like a new species of Homo has been identified from a partial skull found in Sterkfontein Caves, near Johannesburg by anthropologist Dr. Darren Curnoe from University of New South Wales (School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences) and paleoanthropologist Dr. Phillip Tobias. This specimen, known... Continue Reading →
DNA analysis from a finger bone unearthed from Denisova Cave, Siberia might lead to the discovery of an unknown hominin. Dubbed "X-Woman", information from her mitochondrial DNA suggests that she shared a last common ancestor with modern human and Neanderthals about one million years ago. Since Neanderthals and modern humans split at about 500,000 year... Continue Reading →
Researchers from Stony Brook University Medical Center in New York confirmed that the Hobbits, or Homo floresiensis, are indeed a separate "human" species instead of a population of diseases Homo sapiens. The 7th Human Evolution Symposium, Hobbits in the Haystack: Homo floresiensis and Human Evolution was held this year at Stony Brook. A recent full-body... Continue Reading →
Two interesting articles that went into my inbox today: Modern man a wimp says anthropologist and Darwin Lives! Modern Humans Are Still Evolving. A cover illustration from Australian anthropologist Peter McAllister's new book entitled "Manthropology" and sub-titled "The Science of the Inadequate Modern Male." Photo from REUTERS/Hachette Publishing/Handout. Modern man a wimp says anthropologist from... Continue Reading →
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,... Continue Reading →
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... Continue Reading →
Speaking of the Johansons and fossils ... Earlier this year, I've blogged about the 2009 Human Evolution Leakey Symposium at Stony Brook that I went to. For more about that blog post, click here. The symposium, entitled "Hobbit in the Haystack: Homo floresiensis and Human Evolution" can now be streamed live through the Stony Brook... Continue Reading →
Skull of LB1 (Homo floresiensis, or the hobbit) Photo from Science Museum New analysis by a team led by Australian National University doctoral student Debbie Argue showed that Homo floresiensis, nicknamed hobbits, were early hominin and walked out of Africa to Flores. Their findings supports the argument that Homo floresiensis had a unique wrist anatomy... Continue Reading →
