Posted on 08/12/2011 5:44:04 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
The Denisova cave had already yielded a fossil tooth and finger bone, in 2000 and 2008. Last year, Pääbo's DNA analysis suggested both belonged to a previously unknown group of hominins, the Denisovans. The new bone, an extremely rare find, looks likely to belong to the same group...
The primitive morphology of the 30,000 to 50,000-year-old Denisovan finger bone and tooth indicates that Denisovans separated from the Neanderthals roughly 300,000 years ago. At the time of the analysis, Pääbo speculated that they came to occupy large parts of east Asia at a time when Europe and western Asia were dominated by Neanderthals. By 40,000 years ago, Homo sapiens was also moving around much of the region. But the Denisovans remain known only from the finger and tooth fossils -- not enough information to formally assign them to their own species.
That may change with analysis of the newly discovered toe bone. It was found in the same layer of the cave floor as the finger bone, by Maria Mednikova at the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow... her studies show the finger and toe bones belonged to distinct people. In addition, the toe bone is stocky and its shape is somewhere between that of a modern human and a typical Neanderthal.
Others are less convinced. Erik Trinkaus at Washington University in St Louis, Missouri, who has written extensively on hominin foot bone morphology, says the bone's sturdy appearance is interesting but inconclusive from a taxonomic perspective... Pääbo is fast building a reputation for revealing Homo sapiens' promiscuous past. He has shown that humans and Neanderthals interbred, as did humans and Denisovans.
(Excerpt) Read more at newscientist.com ...
The Neandertal EnigmaFrayer's own reading of the record reveals a number of overlooked traits that clearly and specifically link the Neandertals to the Cro-Magnons. One such trait is the shape of the opening of the nerve canal in the lower jaw, a spot where dentists often give a pain-blocking injection. In many Neandertal, the upper portion of the opening is covered by a broad bony ridge, a curious feature also carried by a significant number of Cro-Magnons. But none of the alleged 'ancestors of us all' fossils from Africa have it, and it is extremely rare in modern people outside Europe." [pp 126-127]
by James Shreeve
in local libraries
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- Walter Sobchak
Seriously, very interesting article. :)
I read this when it was linked through Archaeology Magazine’s news page the other day.
One bone does not a species make
Call for Mr Morris...paging Dick Morris.
If the bones of a person with birth defects, like the elephant man, had been found in a cave, and analyzed by some of the people who like to jump to conclusions about “new discoveries”, then the elephant man would’ve been described as an entirely new species of humans.
That taxomimy is offensive. I am NOT french!
Gideon Mantell would disagree...
Why are there so many that want to tear down humanity like Obama destroying Americanism?Is that directed at me?
Rudolph Virchow said the same thing about Neandertal — his eventually deteriorated into claiming that the remains were of a 17th c Cossack with rickets. It didn’t hold up, and in fact, it didn’t make any sense even then.
I had buddies who died face down in the mud so we could enjoy this family restaurant!
I’ve been a little remiss on posting GGG topics, and this summer has been a rich one for such articles.
You hit the nail on the head.
Thank you.
NO! Science seems to be on a mission to tear apart humanity whether is is energy, evolution, global warming...
"You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me? Then who the hell else are you talking... you talking to me? Well I'm the only one here. Who the **** do you think you're talking to? Oh yeah? OK."
One of my top five comedies of all time. I’m laughing pretty hard right now.
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