September 1st, 2019
Coastwise hypothesis confirmed?
September 01, 2019A paper in the journal Science this week offers evidence of the as yet oldest human occupational site in the New World. The site is Cooper's Ferry in Idaho and radio carbon dating yields an age range of 16560 to 15280 years ago. The authors, Davis et al.
July 23rd, 2019
A. africanus dietry history indicated
July 23, 2019A technique to tease out the dietary history of fossilized hominins has been used with some of the more recent hominins in the human lineage, such as H. sapiens and H. neanderthalensis.
July 23rd, 2019
A. africanus dietry history indicated
July 23, 2019A technique to tease out the dietary history of fossilized hominins then has been used with some of the more recent hominins in the human lineage, such as H. sapiens and H. neanderthalensis. In a paper published in the 15 July Edition of the journal nature, a team led by Renaud Joannes-Boyau reports on the use of this technique with two fossil specimens from the species A.
July 17th, 2019
Reexamined fossils yield startling results
July 17, 2019Two fossils found in Apidima Cave southern Greece, in the early 70s have yielded startling results after undergoing reanalysis, according to a paper published in this week’s edition of the journal Nature and named Apidima 1 and 2. The paper is entitled “Apidima Cave fossils provide earliest evidence of Homo sapiens in Eurasia” by Harvati et al.
May 4th, 2019
New high altitude hominin found
May 04, 2019A widely reported hominin jawbone, found in a Tibetan cave and dated to 160,000 years ago, was announced this week. The fossil jawbone was identified as" Dennisovan", according to the investigative team. The dating of the jawbone was ascertained by the UT (uranium-thorium) method.
This fossil is significant in a number of respects:
April 13th, 2019
New hominin species announced
April 13, 2019Announced in the April 10 edition of the journal Nature is a new species of genis Homo, named Homo luzonensis. The attribution is based on a small number of post cranial bones and seven teeth. The latter show both primitive and derived characteristics. The remains are dated to approximately 67,000 years ago by the Uranium thorium (UT) method.
December 16th, 2018
Earliest known North African artifacts
December 16, 2018Plio-Pleistocene artifacts have been found in Algeria, according to a paper in the journal Science this week. Heretofore, late Pliocene-early Pleistocene stone tools were known from East Africa exclusively. In a paper headed “1.9-million- and 2.4-million-year-old artifacts and stone tool–cutmarked bones from Ain Boucherit, Algeria”, Sahnouni et, al. disclose their findings.
November 25th, 2018
Cranial injiries compared
November 25, 2018Widespread cranial injuries characterized both Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans and thus are not unique to American football, a study in the journal Nature concludes.
November 25th, 2018
Symbolic Neamderthal artifacts?
November 25, 2018Cueva de los Aviones is a cave system in Spain in which have been found decorated sea shells. These have been dated to 115,000 years ago and are attributed to he Neanderthal occupiers of the site, it was announced in the journal Science Advances of 22 February 2018.
Dating was accomplished by Uranium series technology.
November 11th, 2018
Paleolithic cave art in Borneo
November 11, 2018A paper appearing in the journal Nature this week announces the discovery of figurative cave art dated to approximately 40,000 years ago. In addition there was also found a hand stencil (the outline of a human hand) dated to 51,000 years ago. These are the earliest finds of figurative rock art, according to the authors of the paper, M. Albert et al.