(via wanderlust-in-blue)

commonunity:

aborignal genome rewrites history of human migration.

Genetic information extracted from the lock of hair, which was donated by a young Aboriginal man to a British anthropologist in the 1920s, suggests that instead of leaving Africa in one single migratory movement, humans departed in two separate waves.

An international team of scientists used DNA within the hair to sequence the Aboriginal genome for the first time.

Their results revealed that the man was directly descended from a migration out of Africa into Asia that took place about 70,000 years ago.

The researchers believe this proves that Aborigines were the first group to separate from other modern humans.

Their remarkable findings, published in the journal Science, suggest that modern Aborigines moved out of Africa 24,000 years earlier than the humans who went on to form the populations of Asia and Europe, challenging current theories of a single phase of dispersal from Africa.

posted in the telegraph

noellejt:

Sahelanthropus tchadensis - Cheat sheet, fact sheet, crib notes…

Call it what you will (I’m thinking displacement activity or misplaced productivity or evidence of my insanity) - but, if you download and pay it close attention, feel free (absolutely free!) to proof-read and fact-check and nit-pick.

It includes:

• Quick facts (timespan, region, number of specimens, holotype, discovered by, environment, diet, speculation),
• Diagnostic Features,
• Key Specimens,
• Major Sites,
• & Bibliography (significant publications).

From sources as cited in bibliog, plus Hominen.net, TalkOrigins.org, Google Maps, and Johanson’s From Lucy to Language.

Download as pdf - or ask me for a doc/odf copy.

New Fossils May Redraw Human Family Tree

NY Times articles discussing a NEW ancestor, the Australopithecus sediba.

commonunity:

Researchers working in the Dikika region of Ethiopia have recently uncovered bones dating to between 3.2 and 3.4 million years ago that show all the hallmarks of butchering. The cut marks and percussion marks are suggestive of defleshing and the removal of bone marrow. From a behavioural aspect, it is unclear whether this represents hunting or the scavenging of recently dead animals.

Bone trauma can be an incredible tricky thing to interpret. Trampling, tooth marks from scavenging, direct contact with rocks, among other agents can leave pseudo-cut marks on a bone. The bones were analysed under scanning electron microscope, with the researchers concluding that stone tools were most likely responsible for the cut marks and fracture patterns.

Australopithecus afarensis is the only known hominin to date from this time period and is, for the time being, the best candidate for making these marks. Tool use is seen in both our ape and monkey cousins and it seems likely that A. afarensis also utilised tools. Researchers have shown that A. afarensis would have been capable of the manual dexterity needed to manipulate tools. What is less clear is whether these cut marks were made by stone tools specifically fashioned for butchering or whether these hominins used sharp-edged natural stones. Whether these were fabricated or natural they were still used as tools. However, the dentition of A. afarensis suggests that meat constituted a negligible part of their diet. The large molars and thick enamel of this hominin point to a diet rich in tubers and other vegetation.

posted in adhominin

(via historicalslut)

Hello dear readers. It’s been awhile. Politics and activism has been keeping me busy. I am however still working towards getting another production of my play Prehistoric Love up and running in NYC. More details to come.

In the mean time here is a great article about the domestication of animals in Prehistoric Times. Enjoy! :)

Video of babies talking. They ct like they know what they are saying. Do they? I will spend a lot of time researching language in children for the next phase of my play.

ps- Things are coming along with my play. I plan to have another NYC showing within the next two months. I’ll keep everyone updated!

Two Baboons having sex on a car. No need to explain this one. 

I haven’t been able to post much because of everything going on in the world. I’ve been very intune with The Planet. Humans, Modern Humans have come a long way in terms of Evolving our tools/technology and our intelligence, but we are killing the one thing that actually has given us life, Planet Earth.

In reading more into how we are destroying our planet, I’ve been reading into the Mayan calendar & the Apocalypse. All very interesting stuff. 

It all talks about lifting the veil of the wicked and sending them to trial. I believe the wicked are evil corporations. It also talks about The Reawakening of the Divine Feminine. More on this later.  

Podcast on Consciouness, language, and biligual babies.

Original source here.

Elephants can cooperate together, like Bonobos and Chimpanzees.

Full NPR story here.

casipajaros:

Monty Python - The Story of One Man’s Search for Vengeance in the Raw and Violent world of International Archaeology.

Monty Python. Yes please.

Neanderthals ate veggies… and cooked them too.

Go HERE for more info on BBC News.

The oldest Human Remains found in North American Subartic. 

“The site may provide rare insights into the burial practices of Ice Age people and shed new light on their daily lives.” 

A pit with fish, and animal remains was found along with remains of a cremated three year old prehistoric child, roughly 11,500 years old. There is the potential the cannibalism was involved, or the child was cremated, then buried. The remains are the oldest human remains found on our continent…. More info HERE.