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Is the Mysterious Siberian “X-Woman” a New Hominid Species?
Discover Magazine ^ | March 25, 2010 | Smriti Rao

Posted on 03/25/2010 9:09:33 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet

In 2008, archeologists working at the Denisova Cave in Siberia’s Altai Mountains discovered a tiny piece of a finger bone, believed to be a pinky, buried with ornaments in the cave. Scientists extracted the mitochondrial DNA (genetic material from the mother’s side) from the ancient bone and checked to see if its genetic code matched with the other two known forms of early hominids–Neanderthals and the ancestors of modern humans. What they found was a real surprise. The team, led by geneticist Svaante Paabo of the Max Planck Institute, discovered that the mtDNA from the finger bone matched neither–suggesting there might have been an entirely different hominid species that roamed the planet about 50,000 years ago.

Looking back at the region and the cave, where scientists earlier discovered artifacts from humans and Neanderthals, Paabo thinks that it is possible that all the three species (modern humans, Neanderthals and the mystery hominids) could have possibly met and interacted with each other. The findings, which were published in journal Nature, present an unexpected twist in the story of human evolution and migration.

Scientists say the DNA analysis also suggests that this hominid left Africa one million years ago, in a previously unsuspected migration. Anthropologists generally believe that the exodus from Africa took place in waves, starting with Homo erectus leaving 1.9 million years ago, followed by the Neanderthals between 500,000 and 300,000 years ago, and then by the modern humans who exited about 50,000 years ago. With X-woman, as the Denisova specimen has been nicknamed, the divergence date of one million years is too young to have descended from Homo erectus and too old to have been a descendant of Homo heidelbergensis, another ancient human thought to have originated around 650,000 [BBC]. Paabo and his team are now working to extract nuclear DNA from the Denisova fossil to verify their suspicion that X-woman is indeed from another species.

Physical anthropologist Ian Tattersall, who was not involved in the research, called the Denisova hominid a “significant addition” to our understanding of human evolution. “We are the only hominin around today, so we tend to think that’s how it’s always been. But the evidence is accumulating that the human evolutionary tree is quite luxuriantly branching. There were multiple species that competed in the evolutionary arena, rather than a single lineage that was honed from primitiveness to perfection” [Time].


TOPICS: History; Science; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: anthropology; archeology; cave; caves; denisova; denisovacave; denisovans; evolution; godsgravesglyphs; helixmakemineadouble; neandertal; neandertals; neanderthal; neanderthals; russia; science; siberia; spelunkers; spelunking
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To: pepsi_junkie

BWAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA! Good one! he, he, he....


21 posted on 03/25/2010 7:31:59 PM PDT by April Lexington (Study the constitution so you know what they are taking away!)
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To: Vaquero

Speaking of Bigfoot sightings...


22 posted on 03/25/2010 7:32:49 PM PDT by April Lexington (Study the constitution so you know what they are taking away!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Here's another new hominid species.
23 posted on 04/10/2010 12:49:23 AM PDT by Netizen
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To: Netizen; Quix

ping


24 posted on 04/10/2010 12:57:05 AM PDT by ConservativeMan55
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To: pepsi_junkie

—EX-woman,
—EX-American,
—EX-rational,
—EX-tolerable,
—EX-human,
. . .


25 posted on 04/10/2010 1:35:04 AM PDT by Quix (BLOKES who got us where we R: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/2130557/posts?page=81#81)
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To: ConservativeMan55

Hmmmmmm . . . . crypto zoo-ology?

I keep some tabs on it . . . not a particularly favorite tangent.

There are some who contend that the craft and critters are responsible for bringing various strange critters of many types to roam around and cause confusion etc. from time to time.

Some claim such has been going on for eons.

God knows. I don’t.

I just know Scripture is 1,000% True. When the dust settles and this world and multiverse are wrapped up and tossed on the heap for the new ones . . . Scripture will have proven to have been 1,000% true in every detail.

Lots of things are not as they seem. Lots of purported illusions are realities. Lots of purported realities are illusions.


26 posted on 04/10/2010 1:40:30 AM PDT by Quix (BLOKES who got us where we R: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/2130557/posts?page=81#81)
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27 posted on 04/22/2010 7:08:45 PM PDT by SunkenCiv ("Fools learn from experience. I prefer to learn from the experience of others." -- Otto von Bismarck)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

· join list or digest · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post a topic · subscribe ·

 
Gods
Graves
Glyphs
Thanks 2ndDivisionVet.

Just adding to the catalog, not sending a general distribution.

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list.
GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother, and Ernest_at_the_Beach
 

·Dogpile · Archaeologica · LiveScience · Archaeology · Biblical Archaeology Society ·
· Discover · Nat Geographic · Texas AM Anthro News · Yahoo Anthro & Archaeo · Google ·
· The Archaeology Channel · Excerpt, or Link only? · cgk's list of ping lists ·


28 posted on 04/22/2010 7:09:17 PM PDT by SunkenCiv ("Fools learn from experience. I prefer to learn from the experience of others." -- Otto von Bismarck)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

IBTHTP!
(In Before The Helen Thomas Pic)


29 posted on 04/22/2010 7:12:09 PM PDT by 50cal Smokepole (Effective gun control involves effective recoil management)
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