- 4606 - ANCIENT MAN - where did they originate? - An 86,000-year-old human bone found in Laos cave hints at 'failed population' from prehistory. The discovery of a skull and shin bone fragment in a cave in Laos pushes back the earliest known date of Homo sapiens in Southeast Asia. Researchers at Tam Pà Ling cave in Laos have found a fragment of a human shinbone that is up to 86,000 years old.
-------------------------------- 4606 - ANCIENT MAN - where did they originate?
- The finding comes from the cave of Tam Pà
Ling, or “Cave of the Monkeys”, which sits at around 3,840 feet above sea level
on a mountain in northern Laos. Human bone fragments previously found in the
cave were 70,000 years old, making them some of the earliest evidence of humans
in this area of the world.
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- The bones were fragments of the front of a
skull and a shin bone and were likely washed into the Tam Pà Ling cave during a
monsoon. Even though the bones were fractured and incomplete, the researchers
were able to compare their dimensions and shape with other bones from early
humans, finding that they most closely matched Homo sapiens rather than other
archaic humans, such as Homo erectus, Neandertals or Denisovans.
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- The researchers used “luminescence dating”
of nearby sediments and “uranium-series
dating “of mammalian teeth
from the same layers to produce an age range for the human remains.
Luminescence dating is a technique that measures the last time crystalline
materials, such as stones, were exposed to sunlight or heat, while U-series
dating is a radiometric technique that, similar to carbon-14 dating, measures
the decay of uranium over time into thorium, radium and lead.
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- The skull, they estimated, was up to
73,000 years old, and the shin bone dates back as far as 86,000 years ago. This early date is a remarkable finding,
particularly because researchers have long debated the timing of Homo sapiens'
arrival in Asia.
-
- Little to no anthropological research was
done in Laos since the second world war.
Debates about human colonization of Southeast Asia have taken place for
decades as researchers have attempted to understand how and when humans crossed
straits and seas to eventually end up in Australia. Mainland southeast Asia really sits at the
crossroads of East Asia and island SE Asia/Australia.
-
- The team used luminescence dating of nearby
sediments and uranium-series dating of mammalian teeth from the same cave layer
to date the human fossils. While the
genetic and stone tool evidence amassed to date strongly supports a single,
rapid dispersal of Homo sapiens from Africa some time after 60,000 years ago,
studies such as this one are producing evidence for earlier migrations, many of
which may have been dead ends.
-
- Perhaps this was a group that dispersed to
Southeast Asia and died out before they were able to contribute genes to
today's human gene pool. No stone
tools or other clues about these humans' lifestyles have been found in Tam Pà
Ling. But archaeologists working on the prehistory of Asia have long suspected
that, even before 65,000 years ago, ancient humans were capable of reaching
islands and making sea crossings to populate seemingly remote parts of the
world.
-
- From when our ancient relatives began
walking on two feet to the first known medical amputation on Homo sapiens,
here's what we learned about our human ancestors. Humans are exceptionally diverse, but we all
have something in common: We're Homo sapiens, and we share a common ancestor.
But the story of how we arose, spread around the globe and acted along the way
is still emerging as scientists find new clues.
-
- The discovery of a 1.5 million-year-old
vertebra from Israel hints that early humans migrated out of Africa not in one
but multiple waves. It's unknown which human species the bone belongs to.
Although there is just one human species today, there used to be multiple
species in the genus Homo.
-
- Previously, researchers found evidence that
a now-extinct human species left Africa for Eurasia at least 1.8 million years
ago, and there's evidence that modern humans left Africa as early as 270,000
years ago. Now, the discovery of this vertebra (the oldest human bone ever
found in Israel), reveals that humans likely left the African continent
multiple times.
-
- Doing your own family tree is hard enough;
now, researchers have attempted to do a family tree for all of humanity to see
how everyone is related. In their investigation, the scientists looked at
thousands of genome sequences from 215 populations from around the globe
including from ancient and modern humans, as well as our ancient human
relatives.
-
- A computer algorithm looked at genetic
variations among genomes, enabling the team to see who was descended from and
related to whom. After approximating where these ancestors lived, the
researchers created a map for this gargantuan family tree. As one might expect,
it all goes back to Africa.
-
- Bipedalism was common among the earliest
known species of humankind, not only on the ground but also in trees. It
coexisted with other types of movement in a tree environment, including
quadrupedal (four-legged) movement using firm hand grips, clearly differing
from that of gorillas and chimpanzees, which use the back of their phalanges
for support ("knuckle walking").
-
- Walking on our own two feet is quite a
feat, one that was pulled off by our ancestors as far back as 7 million years
ago. The discovery was made when researchers studied a thigh bone and a pair of
forearm bones from the 7 million-year-old Sahelanthropus tchadensis, which may
be the oldest-known hominin, a relative of humans dating from the period after
our ancestors split off from those of modern apes. It appears that S.
tchadensis, who was found in Chad, both walked on two feet and also climbed
trees.
-
- Oldest-known human relative in Europe is a
1.4 million-year-old jawbone was discovered in Spain. It may belong to the
oldest-known human relative in Europe. The upper jawbone has features that
showcase the evolutionary pattern of the human face, suggesting that it's
closer to modern humans than it is to ape-like primates.
-
- It's possible that this jawbone belongs to
Homo antecessor, whose position in the human family tree is controversial but
may be a cousin of modern humans and Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis).
Until this finding, the oldest-known human relative in Europe dated to 1.2
million years ago.
-
- Four different Australopithecus crania that
were found in the Sterkfontein caves, South Africa. The Sterkfontein cave fossils was dated to 3.4 to 3.6 million years
ago, far older than previously thought. The new date overturns the long-held
belief that South African Australopithecus is a younger offshoot of East
African Australopithecus afarensis.
-
- A new analysis of old, human-like bones
revealed they may be more than 1 million years older than previously thought.
The new date range, 3.4 million to 3.7 million years old, of these
Australopithecus bones from Sterkfontein, South Africa, improves the odds that
this species gave rise to humans.
-
- Sterkfontein is known for its
“Australopithecus africanus” remains, but it's unclear if the studied bones
belong to this species. If true, the
finding could rewrite our understanding of how humans arose: The fossils would
predate the iconic "Lucy" fossil, a 3.2 million-year-old
Australopithecus afarensis in East Africa whose species was a prime contender
for being our direct ancestor.
-
- Researchers in Laos uncovered an ancient
molar that may have belonged to a Denisovan girl who lived up to 164,000 years
ago. Not much is known about the
Denisovans, but along with Neanderthals, they're the closest extinct relatives
of modern humans. Precious few fossils exist from these humans, who are named
after Denisova Cave in southern Siberia where their first-known remains were
found. Over the years, their bones have also been found in China. Now, the
discovery of a 164,000-year-old tooth from Laos reveals that the Denisovans
also lived in Southeast Asia at low altitudes where it was warm and humid.
-
- The oldest medical amputation on record is
prehistoric, dating to a Stone Age patient who lost a leg in Borneo 31,000
years ago. A skilled surgeon cut off a child's leg, whose stump showed signs of
healing. That child hunter-gatherer went on to live for another six to nine
years after the surgery, according to an analysis of the individual's tooth
enamel. Previously, the oldest medical amputation on record dated to 7,000
years ago.
-
- A massive icy barrier that stood up to 300
stories tall may have blocked the way of the people who left Eurasia to become
the first Americans. The existence of this frigid obstacle suggests that these
people didn't cross the Bering land bridge from Asia to America on foot, but
rather sailed on boats along the coast.
-
- Researchers came to this conclusion after
analyzing 64 geological samples from six locations across the ancient bridge
area. They found that the ice-free corridor didn't completely open until about
13,800 years ago, a confusing date given that other evidence suggests the first
Americans arrived much earlier and that the Clovis culture found in New Mexico
was already established at that time.
-
- Little kids today love running around and
splashing in muddy puddles, and children from the last ice age were no
different. Researchers found about 30 footprints from young children on top of
track marks left by a giant sloth, one of the big creatures that once lived in
the Americas. These 11,000-year-old prints, found in what is now New Mexico,
suggest that the sloth's prints had become muddy, creating a prime spot for
jumping.
-
- Thousands of years ago, ancient humans and
animals left their footprints on a coastal stretch in England that researchers
are calling a superhighway. Some of the tracks are about 8,500 years old, just
a few thousand years after the last ice age ended.
-
- In addition to humans, researchers found
the tracks of aurochs (an extinct ox species), red deer, wild boars, wolves,
lynx and cranes. Based on the configuration of some of the human footprints,
it's possible that these ancient people were hunting the species of animals
whose prints are also preserved.
-
-
November 12, 2024 ANCIENT
MAN - where did they originate? 4606
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