Stranger In A New Land (Archaeology)

Scientific American ^ | 11-13-2003 | Kate Wong

[uglybiker]

In related news, carbon dating of James Brown revealed that the entertainer is 7 million years old.

Helen Thomas pic in 5... 4... 3... 2...

[SunkenCiv]

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[SunkenCiv]

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[blam]

Are We All Asians?

Renegade anthropologists rethink where humans came from.

by Susan Kruglinski
From the May 2006 issue, published online May 27, 2006

One of the best-known theories about human evolution—that the ancestors of Homo sapiens originated in Africa before populating the rest of the world 2 million years ago—is coming under fire. In a challenge to conventional wisdom, Robin Dennell of the University of Sheffield in England and Wil Roebroeks of Leiden University in the Netherlands argue that the "out of Africa" interpretation is built on shaky evidence. Maybe, they say, it is time to look to Asia instead.

Roebroeks and Dennell point out that recent fossil finds in the nation of Georgia suggest an Asian origin as much as an African one. "We know so little about Asia—and, for that matter, Africa—that we should be very careful not to turn a hypothesis into a stone-carved truth simply by repeating it too often," Roebroeks says. "We need comparable data sets from both continents."

Anthropologist Spencer Wells, whose genetic research supports a single African origin, welcomes this questioning of the status quo. "That Homo erectus could have origins in Asia would be potentially shocking," he says, "but I think that what Roebroeks and Dennell are saying reflects the state of the field. We certainly don't have enough fossils. Perhaps we are never going to be able to test this hypothesis."

Meanwhile, population geneticist Alan Templeton of Washington University in St. Louis is overturning ideas about human origins from another angle. He has analyzed genetic relationships among diverse groups of people and finds that today's humans show evidence of interbreeding among Homo erectus, Homo sapiens, and other early hominids over a wide span of time, from as far back as 1.5 million years ago until the last hypothesized global migration, around 80,000 years ago. Templeton concludes that the humans who departed from Africa probably interbred with other early humans in Europe and Asia, contradicting the widely held notion that the Africans wiped out existing populations as they moved.

"We don't have a tree of human populations with branches for Europeans and Asians and Arabs," Templeton says. "It's more like a trellis: Things are intertwined."

[blam]

Georgia Fossil Suggests Key Stage Of Human Evolution Was In Europe

Mark Henderson, Science Editor
September 9, 2009

Neanderthal man: a key stage of development may have taken place in Europe

A key stage in human evolution may have taken place on the fringes of Europe and not in Africa as has generally been thought, scientists said yesterday.

Fossils of an ancient human relative, or hominin, from Georgia dated from 1.8 million years ago suggest that the first of our ancestors to walk upright could have done so in Eurasia, the British Science Festival was told.

David Lordkipanidze, director of the Georgian National Museum, said the skulls, fossils and limb bones found at Dmanisi in 1999 and 2001 raise the possibility that Homo erectus, a forerunner of modern humans, evolved in Europe or Asia and later spread back to Africa. He also revealed that a fifth well-preserved skull, the most complete yet, had been discovered at the site.

The Dmanisi fossils, which have been identified either as Homo erectus or a new species, Homo georgicus, have already shown ancient hominins began to leave Africa at least 1.8 million years ago, pushing back the accepted date for the first exodus from the cradle of humanity by several hundred thousand years.

This leaves two possible scenarios for a critical phase in evolution, Professor Lordkipanidze said. Either Homo erectus could have evolved in Africa and then spread to Asia and even Europe, or a more primitive relative might have left Africa and evolved into the more upright, advanced species in Eurasia. “We all agree the first appearance of humans was in Africa but when they left and started global colonisation is a debatable issue,” Professor Lordkipanidze said.

“The prevailing view before Dmanisi was that they left about a million years ago, and had sophisticated tools and quite advanced anatomy and brain capacity. What we’re finding is different.

“The story begins in Georgia. It was always thought the Champions’ League of human evolution took place in Africa, and Europe was in the second league.

“What we are finding changes this. The question is whether the origin of Homo erectus is in Africa or Eurasia? This looked quite stupid a few years ago, and if you asked the question people thought you were a little provocative.

“Today it seems not so stupid. There is a possibility Homo erectus originated in Eurasia and it’s not impossible to think they spread back to Africa.” Modern Homo sapiens evolved from this African population much later, about 200,000 years ago, before beginning a second exodus from Africa about 60,000 years ago.

Chris Stringer, head of human origins at the National History Museum in London, said: “There must have been a primary dispersal out of Africa prior to the date of the Dmanisi fossils, which does raise the question of where Homo erectus evolved. There could certainly have been an Asian phase in human evolution, with Homo erectus later spreading back to Africa.”

He added that there were intriguing similarities between the Dmanisi fossils and the more recent hominins recently discovered at Flores in Indonesia — the diminutive species Homo floresiensis and nicknamed “hobbits”. “The possibility exists the primary dispersal gave rise to the Dmanisi fossils and the hobbits,” Professor Stringer said.

[DogBarkTree]

This would explain why some white folks have no rhythm.

[blam]

"This would explain why some white folks have no rhythm."

And...a number of other things.

[SunkenCiv]

The Neandertal Enigma
by James Shreeve
in local libraries

Frayer'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]

[SunkenCiv]

GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach	join list or digest view topics view or post blog bookmark post a topic subscribe
Note: this topic is from 2002, or 2003, or maybe 2001. Frankly, I forgot to look. Just updating the GGG info, not sending a general distribution. To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list.

[SunkenCiv]

It’s getting to be a big keyword:

http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/dmanisi/index

[blam]

WELL....

(He says as his eyes stare off into the distance and his voice tapers down to silence...)

[SunkenCiv]

[Joe 6-pack]

“...and yet it took 900,000 years to reach Italy from the Caucasus?”

In Soviet Russia, mountains cross you!

[SunkenCiv]

:’)

[dsc]

It’s an odd feeling to come across one’s own post from so many years ago. 2018 ping.

[SunkenCiv]

happens to me all the time, and if I have any memory of it at all, it takes a while to find it. To purloin a phrase, my mind is like a lumber pile, thing wanted always buried.

[blam]

"It’s an odd feeling to come across one’s own post from so many years ago. 2018 ping."

Tell Me.

2021 ping. (18 years ago, I believe)

I just sent this to my neighbor who is all excited about the recent discovery in Israel.

Meet Nesher Ramla Homo: New Early Human Discovered at Israeli Cement Site