Becoming Human

Two 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.

A 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:

Announced 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.

Plio-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.

Widespread cranial injuries characterized both Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans and thus are not unique to American football, a study in the journal Nature concludes.

Cueva 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.

A 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.

Last January we reported the discovery of a maxilla found in Israel which placed the arrival of Homo sapiens in Israel, out of Africa, 50,000 years earlier than understood from earlier evidence.  Our report read, “Previously scientists postulated the earliest  Homo sapiens emerged from Africa into the Levant was 120,

A scientific paper and accompanying commentary in the July 11 issue of the journal Nature report the discovery in southern China of stone tools dated to 2.1 million years ago. For many years the oldest evidence of human ancestors outside of Africa were found at Dmanisi in the Republic of Georgia and dated around 1.8 million years ago (mya).

In the journal Science this week, staff writer John Cohen, in a repoort entitled "Neanderthal brain organoids come to life",  summarizes work being done on replicating Neanderthal brains, on an  extremely small scale, at two research labs. Quoting from the article,