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Modern Behavior of Early Humans Found Half-Million Years Earlier Than Previously Thought
Science Daily ^ | Dec. 23, 2009 | via The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Posted on 12/27/2009 9:39:01 AM PST by Salman

Evidence of sophisticated, human behavior has been discovered by Hebrew University of Jerusalem researchers as early as 750,000 years ago -- some half a million years earlier than has previously been estimated by archaeologists.

The discovery was made in the course of excavations at the prehistoric Gesher Benot Ya'aqov site, located along the Dead Sea rift in the southern Hula Valley of northern Israel, by a team from the Hebrew University Institute of Archaeology. Analysis of the spatial distribution of the findings there reveals a pattern of specific areas in which various activities were carried out. This kind of designation indicates a formalized conceptualization of living space, requiring social organization and communication between group members. Such organizational skills are thought to be unique to modern humans.

Attempts until now to trace the origins of such behavior at various prehistoric sites in the world have concentrated on spatial analyses of Middle Paleolithic sites, where activity areas, particularly those associated with hearths, have been found dating back only to some 250,000 years ago.

(Excerpt) Read more at sciencedaily.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: earlyman
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Please note this in not a story about the theory of evolution. The people in question were already 100% human.
1 posted on 12/27/2009 9:39:05 AM PST by Salman
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To: Salman

Thanks for the link - fascinating and thought-provoking discovery. I wonder how they collected the fish they they ate. Nets and fishhooks wouldn’t have lasted 750K years.


2 posted on 12/27/2009 9:45:27 AM PST by worst-case scenario (Striving to reach the light)
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To: worst-case scenario

“Nets and fishhooks wouldn’t have lasted 750K years.”

Clearly, they were made by the even more advanced “Paleo-Plastic Age” humans that supplied them.


3 posted on 12/27/2009 9:48:41 AM PST by jessduntno (I think "you'll get what you deserve" is a promise. A socialist thinks it is a threat.)
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To: Salman
Modern Behavior of Early Humans Found Half-Million Years Earlier Than Previously Thought.

I have been saying this for a long, long time now.

4 posted on 12/27/2009 9:49:30 AM PST by library user
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To: Salman

Ask Helen, she was there....

5 posted on 12/27/2009 9:52:06 AM PST by central_va ( http://www.15thvirginia.org/)
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To: Salman

Picture of Helen Thomas in 5, 4, 3, 2...


6 posted on 12/27/2009 9:52:15 AM PST by SIDENET ("If that's your best, your best won't do." -Dee Snider)
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To: worst-case scenario

By hand? Using stone weirs? Or looking for those stuck on the rocks of streams, like migrating salmon.


7 posted on 12/27/2009 9:52:38 AM PST by tbw2 (Freeper sci-fi - "Humanity's Edge" - on amazon.com)
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To: SIDENET; central_va

LOL!


8 posted on 12/27/2009 9:52:55 AM PST by brytlea (Jesus loves me, this I know.)
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To: central_va
LOL!

You beat me by 9 seconds.

I should have typed faster.

9 posted on 12/27/2009 9:53:18 AM PST by SIDENET ("If that's your best, your best won't do." -Dee Snider)
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To: Salman

“Such organizational skills are thought to be unique to modern humans”

And bees and ants, and mole-rats, and beavers, and . . .


10 posted on 12/27/2009 9:55:37 AM PST by Born to Conserve
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To: Salman

They appear to be Neopaleolithic! ;-)


11 posted on 12/27/2009 9:56:59 AM PST by blackminorca
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To: Salman
Well, in that period, they would have been homo erectus, not homo sapiens.
12 posted on 12/27/2009 9:57:57 AM PST by proxy_user
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To: Salman
Modern Behavior of Early Humans ...
Was there a Walmart involved?

13 posted on 12/27/2009 10:01:05 AM PST by oh8eleven (RVN '67-'68)
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To: worst-case scenario
If a bone would last that long, so would the early fishhooks.

Nothing more than a small straight bone with a line tied in the center, most often sharp at both ends.

Push that down the throat of a minnow and when the fish eats it the tension on the jerked line will jam the bone sideways in the fish's mouth/stomach.

14 posted on 12/27/2009 10:04:17 AM PST by Beagle8U (Free Republic -- One stop shopping ....... It's the Conservative Super WalMart for news .)
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To: Salman

do people really believe this crap? i guess im in the minority who belive in a young earth


15 posted on 12/27/2009 10:05:07 AM PST by remaxagnt (`)
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To: Salman
Modern Behavior of Early Humans Found Half-Million Years Earlier Than Previously Thought

Well, where to start with this nonsensical headline?

First, let's look at the meaning of "modern." I'm sure I don't have to go copy and paste source code from some online dictionary, here. The meaning is clear. And clearly, behaviors deemed modern have been rendered no longer modern by this discovery, should it withstand scrutiny, if and when such scrutiny might ever be applied.

Now, on to assumptions of time. It seems these folks really have a problem estimating age and any related timeline. So much so, that age and timelines are constantly being revised. Constantly. One would think, given the nature of honest intellectual inquiry, that such revisions might on occasion fall in a direction that does not favor the status quo. It's quite odd, rather like flipping a coin and coming up nothing but heads, for going on 150 years now.

Peculiar, isn't it? Dealing strictly with the misuse of the language and that alone, you might get the impression that somebody is trying to sell us something.

16 posted on 12/27/2009 10:08:05 AM PST by RegulatorCountry
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To: remaxagnt

No, you’re not alone at all.


17 posted on 12/27/2009 10:12:27 AM PST by brushcop (SFC Sallie, CPL Long, LTHarris, SSG Brown, PVT Simmons KIA OIF lll&V, they died for you, honor them)
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To: remaxagnt

No, you’re not alone. Especially here. :)


18 posted on 12/27/2009 10:13:08 AM PST by RaceBannon (OBAMA'S HEALTH CARE IS SHOVEL READY...FOR SENIORS!!:: NObama. Not my president.)
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To: brushcop

Unfortunately.


19 posted on 12/27/2009 10:39:40 AM PST by stormer
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To: RegulatorCountry
One would think, given the nature of honest intellectual inquiry, that such revisions might on occasion fall in a direction that does not favor the status quo. It's quite odd, rather like flipping a coin and coming up nothing but heads, for going on 150 years now.

1. How does lengthening the timeline by a factor of three "favor the status quo"?

2. You sound like you think new discoveries should shorten the timeline sometimes. But think about it: say the estimate is that something's been around for 250,000 years. So someone discovers 100,000-year-old evidence of that something: is that a surprise? Does it change anything? No, we already knew that. You only hear about the discoveries that change our knowledge, not all the ones that just confirm it.

20 posted on 12/27/2009 10:54:44 AM PST by Ha Ha Thats Very Logical
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