TheKurp Posted June 13, 2003 Share Posted June 13, 2003 So it appears that humans did not evolve from Neanderthals. However this is not to say that if you trace your lineage back far enough you won't find a Neanderthal somewhere on that family tree. Unless of course you dispute the possibility that Neanderthals and humans did the two-step tango. Skulls of oldest known humans found in Africa Discovery breaks Neanderthal link By Tim Friend USA TODAY Paleontologists in Africa have unearthed the skulls of three of the first humans -- two adults and a child who were undergoing the final transition from a pre-human form to the faces we see in the mirror today. Discovery of the 160,000-year-old skulls -- the oldest known fossils of modern humans -- proves conclusively, expedition leaders say, that humans originated in Africa and did not evolve from Neanderthals, a separate species that vanished from Europe about 30,000 years ago. The skulls found in the Middle Awash region of Ethiopia retain only minor features of earlier, more ape-like ancestors -- primarily a deeper face and longer braincase -- says Tim White, co-director of the Laboratory for Human Evolutionary Studies in the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California-Berkeley. He prepared and pieced together fossil skull fragments with Berhane Asfaw of the Rift Valley Research Service in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Sharp, flake-type stone tools were found near the skulls, along with the remains of a butchered hippopotamus, says Yonas Beyene of the Ethiopian Authority for Research and Conservation of the Cultural Heritage. He says the tools represent a technological advance over the bulky hand ax tools that were used for more than 1 million years. Unusual markings on the skulls indicate the first humans practiced a form of ancestor worship that involved handling skulls of the dead, White says. Similar practices, including cannibalism, were found in the early 20th century among tribes in New Guinea. The surfaces of the child's skull were worn smooth from handling. The opening at the base of the skulls may have been widened either to remove the brains for an ancestral meal or to make room for a pole on which to display the skull, or both. One of the adult skulls has parallel cut marks around the perimeter. White says not a single human bone from the rest of the bodies was found anywhere near the site. This suggests the skulls were not part of a burial. The Middle Awash region has become the most productive site in the world for the discovery of human and pre-human fossils. The new skulls add to a line of fossils dating back nearly 6 million years. ''The skulls link all modern people with a whole series of earlier fossils from Africa. Now we have a very good chain of evidence'' on human origins, White says. The discovery is reported in today's Nature. The fossils were dated by Paul Renne, Berkeley Geochronology Center; Bill Hart, Miami University of Ohio; and Giday Wolde Gabriel of Los Alamos National Laboratory. Evidence has mounted over the past 20 years that all modern humans originated in Africa. Scientists estimate that these humans migrated from Africa 100,000 to 120,000 years ago. The counterargument is that anatomically modern humans evolved simultaneously in Africa, Asia and Europe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Evil Genius Posted June 13, 2003 Share Posted June 13, 2003 Suffice to say, I am sure that more than a few of us here that are neanderthals...anyone want to own up? Call it a coming out of the primordial ooze closet... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Posted June 13, 2003 Share Posted June 13, 2003 And here, I thought this was going to be another "You're either with us, or a Neanderthal" thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheKurp Posted June 13, 2003 Author Share Posted June 13, 2003 Now that you mention it Larry, I do have my own theories about which branch of the tree Republicans evolved from. I was going to lay out my reasoning in intricate detail but thought better of it for fear GlennX would turn the tables on me and accuse me of bigotry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn X Posted June 15, 2003 Share Posted June 15, 2003 Originally posted by TheKurp Now that you mention it Larry, I do have my own theories about which branch of the tree Republicans evolved from. I was going to lay out my reasoning in intricate detail but thought better of it for fear GlennX would turn the tables on me and accuse me of bigotry. Kurp, you love me so much it hurts. Just admit it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
panel Posted June 15, 2003 Share Posted June 15, 2003 So, we didn't come from Neanderthals, we were the guys that wiped them out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riggo-toni Posted June 15, 2003 Share Posted June 15, 2003 My fearless predictions: Within 50 years, most of the theories on evolution will either be replaced or completely revised. Within 15 years, the medical community will "find" that there really is no link between high cholesterol and heart attacks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BayouBrave86 Posted June 16, 2003 Share Posted June 16, 2003 I saw a Neanderthal child at Wal-Mart about a year back. Had an outward forhead and had the bushiest eyebrows I had ever seen on a child. He looked like some reject from the Flinstones. Scared the **** out of me. He was sitting in the cart of one of the Wal-Mart baskets. I would say he was about 3 or 4 year olds with a head full of hair. My friends and I stood there amazed for at least a minute. Didn't see the childs parents though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kilmer17 Posted June 16, 2003 Share Posted June 16, 2003 How does this explain Patrick Ewing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.