ScienceDaily (Oct. 15, 2008) — The widely held belief that the Nile valley was the most likely route out of sub-Saharan Africa for early modern humans 120,000 year ago is challenged in a new paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
A team led by the University of Bristol shows that wetter conditions reached a lot further north than previously thought, providing a wet 'corridor' through Libya for early human migrations. The results also help explain inconsistencies between archaeological finds.
While it is widely accepted that modern humans originated in sub-Saharan Africa 150-200 thousand years ago, their route of dispersal across the hyper-arid Sahara remains controversial. The Sahara covers most of North Africa and to cross it on foot would be a serious undertaking, even today with the most advanced equipment.
Well-documented evidence shows there was increased rainfall across the southern part of the Sahara during the last interglacial period (130-170 thousand years ago). The Bristol University team, with collaborators from the universities of Southampton, Oxford, Hull and Tripoli (Libya), investigated whether these wetter conditions had reached a lot further north than previously thought.
Anne Osborne, lead author on the paper said: "Space-born radar images showed fossil river channels crossing the Sahara in Libya, flowing north from the central Saharan watershed all the way to the Mediterranean. Using geochemical analyses, we demonstrate that these channels were active during the last interglacial period. This provides an important water course across this otherwise arid region." The critical 'central Saharan watershed' is a range of volcanic mountains formerly considered to be the limit of this wetter region.
The researchers measured the isotopic composition of snail shells taken from two sites in the fossil river channels and from the shells of planktonic microfossils in the Mediterranean. Despite being hundreds of kilometres from the volcanic rocks in the mountains of the Saharan watershed, these shells had a distinctly volcanic 'signature', very different from the other rocks surrounding the sites. Water flowing from these volcanic mountains is the only possible source of this signature.
Dr Derek Vance, senior author on the paper, added: "The study shows, for the first time, that monsoon rains fed rivers that extended from the Saharan watershed, across the northern Sahara, to the Mediterranean Sea. These corridors rivalled the Nile Valley as potential routes for early modern human migrations to the Mediterranean shores."
The similarities between Middle Stone Age artefacts in places like Chad and the Sudan, with those of Libya, strongly support this theory. "We now need to focus archaeological fieldwork around the large drainage channels and palaeo-lakes to test these ideas" said Nick Barton, a contributor to the project from the University of Oxford.
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ScienceDaily (Oct. 7, 2008) — Reconstructing the climate of the past is an important tool for scientists to better understand and predict future climate changes that are the result of the present-day global warming. Although there is still little known about the Earth’s tropical and subtropical regions, these regions are thought to play an important role in both the evolution of prehistoric man and global climate changes.
New North African climate reconstructions reveal three ‘green Sahara’ episodes during which the present-day Sahara Desert was almost completely covered with extensive grasslands, lakes and ponds over the course of the last 120.000 years. The findings of Dr. Rik Tjallingii, Prof. Dr. Martin Claussen and their colleagues will be published in the October issue of Nature Geoscience.
Scientists of the MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Research in Bremen (Germany) and the Alfred-Wegener-Institute in Bremerhaven (Germany) studied a marine sediment core off the coast of Northwest Africa to find out how the vegetation cover and hydrological cycle of the Sahara and Sahel region changed. The scientists were able to reconstruct the vegetation cover of the last 120.000 years by studying changes in the ratio of wind and river-transported particles found in the core. “We found three distinct periods with almost only river-transported particles and hardly any wind dust particles, which is remarkable because today the Sahara Desert is the world’s largest dust-bowl,” says Rik Tjallingii.
He now works at Kiel University, researching within the cluster of excellence 'The Future Ocean’. The scientists explain these periods by an increase of the precipitation that resulted in a much larger vegetation cover resulting in less wind dust and stronger river activity in the Sahara region. The green Sahara episodes correspond with the changing direction of the earth’s rotational axis that regulates the solar energy in the tropical Atlantic Ocean. Periods of maximum solar energy increased the moisture production while pushing the African monsoon further north and increasing precipitation in the Sahara.
To validate their interpretations, the scientist compared their geological reconstruction with a computer model simulation of the Sahara vegetation cover, performed by the research group of Prof. Dr. Martin Claussen. Dr. Claussen is Director of the Max-Planck-Institute of Meteorology in Hamburg and chairs the cluster of excellence ‘Integrated Climate System Analysis and Prediciton’ at the University of Hamburg.
The computer model simulation shows three periods with an almost completely vegetated Sahara at the same time as seen in the geological record. This supports the interpretation of geologists and, in turn, demonstrates the value of computer model results. Additionally, the computer model indicates that only a small increase in precipitation is sufficient to develop a vegetation cover in the Sahara.
Computer model simulations for the future suggest an expansion of the vegetation cover in the Sahara Desert if human-driven climate change leads to aggressive global warming. However, it is difficult to conclude that the Sahara will actually become greener than it is today, as the simulations do not account for the influence of human activity in this area.
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ScienceDaily (Aug. 30, 2007) — The African origin of early modern humans 200,000--150,000 years ago is now well documented, with archaeological data suggesting that a major migration from tropical east Africa to the Levant took place between 130,000 and 100,000 years ago via the presently hyper-arid Saharan-Arabian desert.
This migration was dependent on the occurrence of wetter climate in the region. Whereas there is good evidence that the southern and central Saharan-Arabian desert experienced increased monsoon precipitation during this period, no unequivocal evidence has been found for a corresponding rainfall increase in the northern part of the migration corridor, including the Sinai-Negev land bridge between Africa and Asia.
Passage through this "bottleneck" region would have been dependent on the development of suitable climate conditions.
Vaks et al. present a reconstruction of paleoclimate in the Negev Desert based on absolute uranium series dating of carbonate cave deposits (speleothems). Speleothems only form when rainwater enters the groundwater system and vegetation grows above a cave.
Today the climate in the Negev Desert is very arid and speleothems do not form, but their presence in a number of caves clearly indicates that conditions were wetter in the past. Vaks et al. dated 33 speleothem samples from five caves in the central and southern Negev Desert.
The ages of these speleothems show that the last main period of increased rainfall occurred between 140,000 and 110,000 years ago. The climate during this time consisted of episodic wet events that enabled the deserts of the northeastern Sahara, Sinai, and the Negev to become more hospitable for the movement of early modern humans.
The simultaneous occurrence of wet periods in the northern and southern parts of Saharan-Arabian desert could have led to the disappearance of the desert barrier between central Africa and the Levant.
The humid period in the Negev Desert between 140,000 and 110,000 years ago was preceded and followed by essentially unbroken arid conditions; thus creating a climatic "window" for early modern human migration to the Levant. Vaks et al.'s study suggest that climate change had an important limiting role in the timing of dispersal of early modern humans out of Africa.Posts: 6572 | From: N.Y.C....Capital of the World | Registered: Jun 2008
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Quit whining like a bitch about 'racism' against Africans (one of which, you are not) out of nowhere and prove to us where you find people doing the things you spam that they do.
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In the meantime, this thread is cause for folks to chill with the very fitting for this thread, Anger of the Earth.Posts: 5555 | From: Tha 5th Dimension. | Registered: Apr 2006
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the recent Toronto study wants to say that when our ancestors left africa they were not human at all but came back to africa as human later. That is an interesting twist on the conversation. It is a modification of the out of africa view.
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quote:Originally posted by TheAmericanPatriot: the recent Toronto study wants to say that when our ancestors left africa they were not human at all but came back to africa as human later. That is an interesting twist on the conversation. It is a modification of the out of africa view.
It's a dummy's view, only an idiot who has no knowledge of OOA or just a bigot would believe.
You've already said this in another thread and you were virtually smacked for it and debunked. Why propose this idiocy again?
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Because it is a major academic study. Your propensity to simply dismiss everything you disagree with is remarkable. You might try looking it up on the search engine and reading it like any onther half educated person would do.
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^^^^^I've already done so, which is why I debunked you, nitwit...... This is what I do know about modern humans in Africa, and their modern human behavior, get with the times, you redneck....
Earliest Evidence Of Modern Humans Detected
— Evidence of early humans living on the coast in South Africa, harvesting food from the sea, employing complex bladelet tools and using red pigments in symbolic behavior 164,000 years ago, far earlier than previously documented, is being reported in the journal Nature.
The international team of researchers reporting the findings include Curtis Marean, a paleoanthropologist with the Institute of Human Origins at Arizona State University and three graduate students in the School of Human Evolution and Social Change.
"Our findings show that at 164,000 years ago in coastal South Africa humans expanded their diet to include shellfish and other marine resources, perhaps as a response to harsh environmental conditions," notes Marean, a professor in ASU's School of Human Evolution and Social Change. "This is the earliest dated observation of this behavior."
Further, the researchers report that co-occurring with this diet expansion is a very early use of pigment, likely for symbolic behavior, as well as the use of bladelet stone tool technology, previously dating to 70,000 years ago.
These new findings not only move back the timeline for the evolution of modern humans, they show that lifestyles focused on coastal habitats and resources may have been crucial to the evolution and survival of these early humans.
Searching for beginnings
After decades of debate, paleoanthropologists now agree the genetic and fossil evidence suggests that the modern human species -- Homo sapiens -- evolved in Africa between 100,000 and 200,000 years ago.
Yet, archaeological sites during that time period are rare in Africa. And, given the enormous expanse of the continent, where in Africa did this crucial step to modern humans occur?
"Archaeologists have had a hard time finding material residues of these earliest modern humans," Marean says. "The world was in a glacial stage 125,000 to 195,000 years ago, and much of Africa was dry to mostly desert; in many areas food would have been difficult to acquire. The paleoenvironmental data indicate there are only five or six places in all of Africa where humans could have survived these harsh conditions."
In seeking the "perfect site" to explore, Marean analyzed ocean currents, climate data, geological formations and other data to pin down a location where he felt sure to find one of these progenitor populations: the Cape of South Africa at Pinnacle Point.
"It was important that we knew exactly where to look and what we were looking for," says Marean. This type of research is expensive and funding is competitive. Marean and the team of scientists who set out to Pinnacle Point to search for this elusive population, did so with the help of a $2.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation's Human Origins: Moving in New Directions (HOMINID) program.
Their findings are reported in the Nature paper "Early human use of marine resources and pigment in South Africa during the Middle Pleistocene."
The Middle Stone Age, dated between 35,000 and 300,000 years ago, is the technological stage when anatomically modern humans emerged in Africa, along with modern cognitive behavior, says Marean. When, however, within that stage modern human behavior arose is currently debated, he adds.
"This time is beyond the range of radiocarbon dating, yet the dates on the finds published here are more secure than is typical due to the use of two advanced and independent techniques," Marean says.
Uranium series dates were attained by Bar-Matthews on speleothem (the material of stalagmites), and optically stimulated luminescence dates were developed by Jacobs. According to Marean, the latter technique dates the last time that individual grains of sand were exposed to light, and thousands of grains were measured.
Migrating along the coast
"Generally speaking, coastal areas were of no use to early humans -- unless they knew how to use the sea as a food source" says Marean. "For millions of years, our earliest hunter-gatherer relatives only ate terrestrial plants and animals. Shellfish was one of the last additions to the human diet before domesticated plants and animals were introduced."
Before, the earliest evidence for human use of marine resources and coastal habitats was dated about 125,000 years ago. "Our research shows that humans started doing this at least 40,000 years earlier. This could have very well been a response to the extreme environmental conditions they were experiencing," he says.
"We also found what archaeologists call bladelets -- little blades less than 10 millimeters in width, about the size of your little finger," Marean says. "These could be attached to the end of a stick to form a point for a spear, or lined up like barbs on a dart -- which shows they were already using complex compound tools. And, we found evidence that they were using pigments, especially red ochre, in ways that we believe were symbolic," he describes.
Archaeologists view symbolic behavior as one of the clues that modern language may have been present. The earliest bladelet technology was previously dated to 70,000 years ago, near the end of the Middle Stone Age, and the modified pigments are the earliest securely dated and published evidence for pigment use.
"Coastlines generally make great migration routes," Marean says. "Knowing how to exploit the sea for food meant these early humans could now use coastlines as productive home ranges and move long distances."
Results reporting early use of coastlines are especially significant to scientists interested in the migration of humans out of Africa. Physical evidence that this coastal population was practicing modern human behavior is particularly important to geneticists and physical anthropologists seeking to identify the progenitor population for modern humans.
"This evidence shows that Africa, and particularly southern Africa, was precocious in the development of modern human biology and behavior. We believe that on the far southern shore of Africa there was a small population of modern humans who struggled through this glacial period using shellfish and advanced technologies, and symbolism was important to their social relations. It is possible that this population could be the progenitor population for all modern humans," Marean says.
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Discovery Of The Oldest Adornments In The World
ScienceDaily (June 18, 2007) — The discovery of small perforated sea shells, in the Cave of Pigeons in Taforalt, eastern Morocco, has shown that the use of bead adornments in North Africa is older than thought. Dating from 82 000 years ago, the beads are thought to be the oldest in the world. As adornments, together with art, burial and the use of pigments, are considered to be among the most conclusive signs of the acquisition of symbolic thought and of modern cognitive abilities, this study is leading researchers to question their ideas about the origins of modern humans. The study was carried out by a multidisciplinary team made up of researchers at CNRS, working with scientists from Morocco, the UK, Australia and Germany.
It was long thought that the oldest adornments, which were then dated as being 40 000 years old, came from Europe and the Middle East. However, since the discovery of 75 000 year-old carved beads and ochers in South Africa, this idea has been challenged, and all the more so with the recent discovery in Morocco of beads that are over 80 000 years old. The discoveries all indicate the presence of a much older symbolic material culture in Africa than in Europe or the Middle East.
Dated at 82 000 years old, the beads, which were unearthed by archaeologists in the Cave of Pigeons in Taforalt, north-east Morocco, consist of 13 shells belonging to the species Nassarius gibbosulus. The shells have been deliberately perforated, and some of them are still covered with red ocher. They were discovered in the remains of hearths, associated with abundant traces of human activity such as stone tools and animal remains . The mollusks were found in a stratigraphic sequence formed of ashy sediments. They were dated independently by two laboratories using four different techniques, which confirmed an age of 82 000 years.
Led by Abdeljalil Bouzouggar, researcher at the National Institute of Archaeological and Heritage Sciences (INSAP, Morocco)and Nick Barton of the University of Oxford (UK), a multidisciplinary team has been carrying out an in-depth study of the site for the past five years. Two CNRS researchers have been especially involved in the study of the shells: Marian Vanhaeren and Francesco d'Errico, belonging respectively to the 'From prehistory to the present: culture, environment and anthropology' unit (PACEA, CNRS / Université Bordeaux 1 / INRAP / Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication) and the 'Archaeologies and sciences of Antiquity' unit (ArScAn, CNRS / Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication / Universités Paris 1 and 10).
They were thus able to reveal that the shells had been gathered when dead, on the beaches of Morocco, which at that time were located over 40 km from the Cave of Pigeons. By taking into account the distance of the coast at that time and the comparison with natural alteration of shells of the same species on today's beaches, the two scientists inferred that prehistoric humans had selected, transported and very probably perforated the shells and colored them red for a symbolic use. Moreover, some shells showed traces of wear, which suggests that they were used as adornments for a long time: they were very likely worn as necklaces or bracelets, or sewn onto clothes.
Noticing that the beads belong to the same species of shell and bear the same type of perforation as those uncovered in previous excavations at the paleolothic sites at Skhul in Israel and at Oued Djebbana in Algeria , Marian Vanhaeren and Francesco d'Errico were thus able to confirm the validity of these two discoveries. Everything therefore seems to indicate that 80 000 years ago the populations of the eastern and southern Mediterranean shared the same symbolic traditions. To back up this hypothesis they point to other sites in Morocco where Nassarius gibbosulus beads from the same period are also found.
In addition, the two researchers point out that there is a remarkable difference between the oldest beads from Africa and the Near East on the one hand, and from Eurasia on the other. Unlike Africa and the Near East, where only one or two types of shell are found, in Eurasia from the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic onwards tens or even hundreds of different types of beads have been described.
Reference: 82,000-year-old shell beads from North Africa and implications for the origins of modern human behavior, Abdeljalil Bouzouggar, Nick Barton, Marian Vanhaeren, Francesco d'Errico, Simon Collcutt, Tom Higham, Edward Hodge, Simon Parfitt, Edward Rhodes, Jean-Luc Schwenninger, Chris Stringer, Elaine Turner, Steven Ward, Abdelkrim Moutmir, and Abdelhamid Stambouli. PNAS, 4 Juin 2007, 10.1073.
Additional Information
1) Among the stone tools associated with the shells there are sharp biface points that are typical of Aterian technology in North Africa. They were probably used as spearheads. The animal bones were left-over food remains and are mainly identified as wild horses and hares.
2) A stratigraphic sequence is a sequence of strata.
3) These beads were attributed by the same authors to archeological strata at the site dating back 100 000 years, based on geochemical analysis of material stuck to the shells. However, the date of the first digs at the site (which were carried out in the 1930's) made it impossible to formally prove the stratigraphic provenance of the objects. This study resulted in an article in Science in June 2006.
4) The bead found at this site came from an archeological stratum more than 40 000 years old, and was dates thanks to stone tools found in the same location: the tools are typical of the period dating from 60 000 to 90 000 years before the modern era.
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This lecture was delivered by Dr. Ian Tattersall at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on the occasion of the symposium "Genesis: Exploration of Origins" on March 7, 2003. This symposium was held in conjunction with the special exhibition, "Genesis: Ideas of Origin in African Sculpture," and was made possible through the support of The Ford Foundation.
"The most remarkable early evidence of symbolic activity in Africa comes in the form of the recent find of engraved ochre plaques, such as this one, from Blombos Cave on the southern coast of Africa (Fig. 10). This is an unequivocally symbolic object, even if we cannot directly discern the significance of the geometric design that the plaque bears; and it is dated to around 70,000 years ago, over 30,000 years before anything equivalent is found in Europe.
To evidence such as this can be added suggestions of a symbolic organization of space at the site of Klasies River Mouth (Fig. 11), also near the southern tip of Africa, at over 100,000 years ago. Pierced shells, with the strong implication of stringing for body ornamentation, are known from Porc-Epic Cave in Ethiopia at around 70,000 years ago. Bone tools of the kind introduced much later to Europe by the Cro-Magnons, are found at the Congolese site of Katanda, dated to perhaps 80,000 years ago. Blade tool industries, again formerly associated principally with the Cro-Magnons, are found at least sporadically at sites in Africa that date to as much as a quarter of a million years ago. Also in the economic/technological realm, such activities as flint-mining, pigment-processing and long-distance trade in useful materials are documented in Africa up to about 100,000 years ago. These and other early African innovations are reviewed by McBrearty and Brooks (2000)."
------------------ 82,000-year-old shell beads from North Africa and implications for the origins of modern human behavior Abdeljalil Bouzouggar, Nick Barton, Marian Vanhaeren, Francesco d’Errico, Simon Collcutt, Tom Higham, Edward Hodge, Simon Parfitt, Edward Rhodes, Jean-Luc Schwenninger, Chris Stringer, Elaine Turner, Steven Wardo, Abdelkrim Moutmir, and Abdelhamid Stambouli
The first appearance of explicitly symbolic objects in the archaeological record marks a fundamental stage in the emergence of modern social behavior in Homo. Ornaments such as shell beads represent some of the earliest objects of this kind. We report on examples of perforated Nassarius gibbosulus shell beads from Grotte des Pigeons (Taforalt, Morocco), North Africa. These marine shells come from archaeological levels dated by luminescence and uranium-series techniques to 82,000 years ago. They confirm evidence of similar ornaments from other less well dated sites in North Africa and adjacent areas of southwest Asia. The shells are of the same genus as shell beads from slightly younger levels at Blombos Cave in South Africa. Wear patterns on the shells imply that some of them were suspended, and, as at Blombos, they were covered in red ochre. These findings imply an early distribution of bead-making in Africa and southwest Asia at least 40 millennia before the appearance of similar cultural manifestations in Europe.
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World's Oldest Ritual Discovered -- Worshipped The Python 70,000 Years Ago
A startling archaeological discovery this summer changes our understanding of human history. While, up until now, scholars have largely held that man's first rituals were carried out over 40, 000 years ago in Europe, it now appears that they were wrong about both the time and place.
Associate Professor Sheila Coulson, from the University of Oslo, can now show that modern humans, Homo sapiens, have performed advanced rituals in Africa for 70,000 years. She has, in other words, discovered mankind's oldest known ritual.
The archaeologist made the surprising discovery while she was studying the origin of the Sanpeople. A group of the San live in the sparsely inhabited area of north-western Botswana known as Ngamiland.
Coulson made the discovery while searching for artifacts from the Middle Stone Age in the only hills present for hundreds of kilometers in any direction. This group of small peaks within the Kalahari Desert is known as the Tsodilo Hills and is famous for having the largest concentration of rock paintings in the world.
The Tsodilo Hills are still a sacred place for the San, who call them the "Mountains of the Gods" and the "Rock that Whispers".
The python is one of the San's most important animals. According to their creation myth, mankind descended from the python and the ancient, arid streambeds around the hills are said to have been created by the python as it circled the hills in its ceaseless search for water.
Sheila Coulson's find shows that people from the area had a specific ritual location associated with the python. The ritual was held in a little cave on the northern side of the Tsodilo Hills. The cave itself is so secluded and access to it is so difficult that it was not even discovered by archaeologists until the 1990s.
When Coulson entered the cave this summer with her three master's students, it struck them that the mysterious rock resembled the head of a huge python. On the six meter long by two meter tall rock, they found three-to-four hundred indentations that could only have been man-made.
"You could see the mouth and eyes of the snake. It looked like a real python. The play of sunlight over the indentations gave them the appearance of snake skin. At night, the firelight gave one the feeling that the snake was actually moving".
They found no evidence that work had recently been done on the rock. In fact, much of the rock's surface was extensively eroded.
When they saw the many indentations in the rock, the archaeologists wondered about more than when the work had been done. They also began thinking about what the cave had been used for and how long people had been going there. With these questions in mind, they decided to dig a test pit directly in front of the python stone.
At the bottom of the pit, they found many stones that had been used to make the indentations. Together with these tools, some of which were more than 70,000 years old, they found a piece of the wall that had fallen off during the work.
In the course of their excavation, they found more than 13,000 artifacts. All of the objects were spearheads and articles that could be connected with ritual use, as well as tools used in carving the stone. They found nothing else.
As if that were not enough, the stones that the spearheads were made from are not from the Tsodilo region but must have been brought from hundreds of kilometers away.
The spearheads are better crafted and more colourful than other spearheads from the same time and area. Surprisingly enough, it was only the red spearheads that had been burned.
"Stone age people took these colourful spearheads, brought them to the cave, and finished carving them there. Only the red spearheads were burned. It was a ritual destruction of artifacts. There was no sign of normal habitation. No ordinary tools were found at the site. Our find means that humans were more organised and had the capacity for abstract thinking at a much earlier point in history than we have previously assumed. All of the indications suggest that Tsodilo has been known to mankind for almost 100,000 years as a very special place in the pre-historic landscape." says Sheila Coulson.
Sheila Coulson also noticed a secret chamber behind the python stone. Some areas of the entrance to this small chamber were worn smooth, indicating that many people had passed through it over the years.
"The shaman, who is still a very important person in San culture, could have kept himself hidden in that secret chamber. He would have had a good view of the inside of the cave while remaining hidden himself. When he spoke from his hiding place, it could have seemed as if the voice came from the snake itself. The shaman would have been able to control everything. It was perfect." The shaman could also have "disappeared" from the chamber by crawling out onto the hillside through a small shaft.
While large cave and wall paintings are numerous throughout the Tsodilo Hills, there are only two small paintings in this cave: an elephant and a giraffe. These images were rendered, surprisingly, exactly where water runs down the wall.
Sheila Coulson thinks that an explanation for this might come from San mythology.
In one San story, the python falls into a body of water and cannot get out by itself. The python is pulled from the water by a giraffe. The elephant, with its long trunk, is often used as a metaphor for the python.
"In the cave, we find only the San people's three most important animals: the python, the elephant, and the giraffe. That is unusual. This would appear to be a very special place. They did not burn the spearheads by chance. They brought them from hundreds of kilometers away and intentionally burned them. So many pieces of the puzzle fit together here. It has to represent a ritual." concludes Sheila Coulson.
It was a major archaeological find five years ago that made it possible for Sheila Coulson to date the finds in this little cave in Botswana. Up until the turn of the century, archaeologists believed that human civilisation developed in Europe after our ancestors migrated from Africa. This theory was crushed by Archaeologist Christopher Henshilwood when he published his find of traces from a Middle Stone Age dwelling in the Blombos Cave in Southern Cape, South Africa.
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'Modern' Behavior Began 40,000 Years Ago In Africa, Evidence Suggests
-- Excavations from the Enkapune Ya Muto (EYM) rock shelter in the central Rift Valley of Kenya offer the best evidence yet that modern human behavior originated in Africa more than 40,000 years ago. They also suggest that by that time our earlier selves sealed social alliances and prevailed over others by giving token gifts, in this case, beads. So says archaeologist Stanley Ambrose, a professor at the University of Illinois.
Ambrose, an expert on stone tools, paleoecology and stable isotope biogeochemistry, has found that his EYM site "contains perhaps the earliest example of what we think of as an Upper Paleolithic stone-tool technology, and then later in time, ostrich eggshell-bead technology -- the earliest evidence for ornamentation, which may imply a new kind of adaptive social system."
In one of the oldest layers, Ambrose found the stone tools -- "possibly the oldest example of Later Stone Age or European equivalent Upper Paleolithic stone-tool technology. The blade-based tools are at least 46,000 years old, but may be as much as 50,000 years old -- older than the oldest previously known industry of its kind, from Israel."
Above the earliest Later Stone Age stone tools, he found the beads. Dated by radiocarbon to about 40,000 years ago, the beads "are the oldest directly dated ornaments in the world," Ambrose said. Ornaments are widely considered an important class of evidence for modern human behavior. Moreover, among modern hunter-gatherers, the beads are not only used as ornaments, but are the most common kind of gift in a formal system of delayed reciprocity, which has further implications for the evolution of a social safety-net system."
It has been argued, Ambrose said, that human adaptability to risky environments involves "being able to have relationships with people that you can rely on when resources in your area fail."
"The ancient beads may thus symbolize a mechanism for increased social solidarity and adaptations to risky environments. They may be a symbolic currency for exchange and obligations that can be saved for times of need -- like money in the bank. People who have this social security system would compete better with others -- the Neanderthals, for example -- who didn't. So, this improved system of regional networks of social solidarity may have allowed modern humans, when they left Africa, to outcompete and replace the Neanderthals."
The evidence of exchange networks is the long-distance movement of materials over distances greater than a band of hunter-gatherers might move over the course of a year, Ambrose said, "So, you find shells in Upper Paleolithic Europe moving as much as 600 kilometers."
"This site seems to provide dating evidence that the transition to modern human behavior and technology occurred earliest in East or Equatorial Africa and spread from there."
Ambrose's findings appeared in the April issue of the Journal of Archaeological Science.
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Also as we can see from below Earliest humans resembled modern populations in Ethiopia and Soutern Sudan today.... So much for those ancient imaginary East African "Caucasoids".
Earliest Known Human Had Neanderthal Qualities Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News
Aug. 22, 2008 -- The world's first known modern human was a tall, thin individual -- probably male -- who lived around 200,000 years ago and resembled present-day Ethiopians, save for one important difference: He retained a few primitive characteristics associated with Neanderthals, according to a series of forthcoming studies conducted by multiple international research teams.
The extraordinary findings, which will soon be outlined in a special issue of the Journal of Human Evolution devoted to the first known Homo sapiens, also reveal information about the material culture of the first known people, their surroundings, possible lifestyle and, perhaps most startling, their probable neighbors -- Homo erectus.
"Omo I," as the researchers refer to the find, would probably have been considered healthy-looking and handsome by today's standards, despite the touch of Neanderthal.
"From the size of the preserved bones, we estimated that Omo I was tall and slender, most likely around 5'10" tall and about 155 pounds," University of New Mexico anthropologist Osbjorn Pearson, who co-authored at least two of the new papers, told Discovery News.
Pearson said another, later fossil was also recently found. It too belonged to a "moderately tall -- around 5'9" -- and slender individual."
"Taken together, the remains show that these early modern humans were...much like the people in southern Ethiopia and the southern Sudan today," Pearson said.
Building On Leakey's Work
Parts of the Omo I skeleton were first excavated in 1967 by a team from the Kenya National Museums under the direction of Richard Leakey, who wrote a forward that will appear in the upcoming journal.
Leakey and his colleagues unearthed two other skeletons, one of which has received little attention. Two of the three skeletons found at the site have been a literal bone of contention among scientists over the past four decades. Reliable dating techniques for such early periods did not exist in the late 60's, and the researchers could not agree upon the identity of the two skeletons.
From 1999 to the present, at least two other major expeditions to the southern Ethiopian site -- called the Kibish Formation -- have taken place, with the goal of solving the mysteries and learning more about what the area was like 200,000 years ago.
As evidenced by photographs showing the researchers followed by armed guards, work at this location proved challenging.
"It took us five plus days to get there from Addis," paleobiologist Josh Trapani of the Smithsonian Institution and the University of Michigan told Discovery News. "Once there, we had intense heat, hyenas outside camp, crocodiles in the river, many insects and two remarkable and very different groups of people, the Mursi and the Nyangatom on opposite sides of the river who were our partners in some of this work."
Primitive, Yet Still Like Us
The ordeals proved successful, as the scientists have recovered new bones for Omo I, some of which perfectly fit into place with the remains Leakey unearthed over 40 years ago.
Several scientists analyzed the bones, including a very detailed, comparative look at the shoulder bone by French paleontologist Jean-Luc Voisin. They concluded that, without a doubt, Omo I represents an anatomically modern human, with bones in the arms, hands and ankles somewhat resembling those of other, earlier human-like species.
"Most of the anatomical features of Omo are like modern humans. Only a few features are similar to more primitive hominids, including Neanderthals and Homo erectus," explained John Fleagle, distinguished professor in the Department of Anatomical Sciences at Stony Brook University in New York.
"Omo II is more primitive in its cranial anatomy," he added, "and shares more features with Homo erectus and fewer with modern humans."
Unlikely Neighbors
New dating of the finds determined that Omo II lived at around the same time and location as Omo I, indicating that Homo sapiens may have coexisted with Homo erectus, a.k.a. "Upright Man," who is believed to have been the first hominid to leave Africa.
Fleagle explained the detailed nature of the latest dating techniques that place both skeletons at around the 200,000-year-old period.
He said both skeletons were recovered from rocky geological layers, with "Adam" unearthed just above a layer of volcanic rock. Precise dates can then be calculated because "when volcanic rocks form, they start a radiometric clock that ticks at a regular rate."
Fleagle added, "By looking at the ratio of parent minerals and daughter minerals you can calculate when the rocks were initially formed."
Material Culture In A Different Environment
Anthropologist John Shea sifted through the Kibish dirt and rocks hoping to find evidence for early material culture.
He found it.
"The assemblages are dominated by relatively high-quality raw materials procured as pebbles from local gravels," Shea determined, adding that he unearthed stone tools flaked on both sides, hand axes, picks and spear-shaped objects. It appears that most were not retouched. So, once the early modern humans crafted their tools, they likely left them as is.
Trapani, who conducted a study on fossil fish at the site, said later-dated barbed bone points recovered from the site look remarkably like catfish spines, which "may be purely coincidental." Or, "alternatively, perhaps the spines impressed early hunters with their potential utility as flesh-piercing hunting implements."
Trapani added, "This may have come about through simple visual inspection or, perhaps -- more likely -- through painful lesson."
Living High on the Hog
Supporting Trapani's findings that large catfish, as well as Nile perch and other fish, were in abundance, studies on the site's geology indicate that conditions were wetter 200,000 years ago.
Yet another study, on the large mammal fauna at Kibish, found the humans were surrounded by big game.
Smithsonian Institution archaeobiologist Zelalem Assefa identified hippos, giraffes, elephants, horses, rhinos, numerous other hoofed mammals and more.
"In terms of settlement strategy, the early modern humans at Kibish might have practiced some type of seasonal based settlement strategy -- possibly following the movement of big game," Assefa told Discovery News.
Perhaps his two most unusual finds were that very few remains for non-human primates and carnivores were found, which puzzles the researchers, but may suggest that the first known humans didn't have many, if any, animal predators.
Secondly, Assefa was surprised to find duiker (a small, shy antelope that usually prefers forest cover) and giant forest hog remains. The giant forest hog is the largest wild pig on Earth, weighing as much as 600 pounds. Since other parts of the site were probable grasslands, the presence of these two animals suggests a riparian forest must have also been nearby.
An Unfinished Story
Although Omo I may be the world's "Adam" for now, it's possible that modern humans emerged even earlier at some other place in Africa.
"We only have evidence for what we have found," Fleagle said, adding that there "almost certainly were modern individuals before Omo I."
He explained that Ethiopia's geology has deposits suitable to bone preservation and discovery, which is perhaps why so many fossil hominids have been excavated there over the years.
"Paleontology is a very opportunistic science," he concluded. "When we have a record of fossils in one place, we can reconstruct what happened there, but it is impossible to say what was going on in places from which there is no fossil record."
------------
A description of the Omo I postcranial skeleton, including newly discovered fossils
Osbjorn M. Pearson
Journal of Human Evolution
August 2008
"While it once may have been reasonable to interpret the presence of these ‘‘Neandertal-like’’ features in Eurasian early modern humans as potential evidence of gene flow from neighboring and contemporaneous Neandertal populations, the presence of these features in Omo I raises the distinct possibility that Eurasian early modern humans inherited these features from an African ancestor rather than Neandertals." Posts: 6572 | From: N.Y.C....Capital of the World | Registered: Jun 2008
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quote:To validate their interpretations, the scientist compared their geological reconstruction with a computer model simulation of the Sahara vegetation cover, performed by the research group of Prof. Dr. Martin Claussen. Dr. Claussen is Director of the Max-Planck-Institute of Meteorology in Hamburg and chairs the cluster of excellence ‘Integrated Climate System Analysis and Prediciton’ at the University of Hamburg.
The computer model simulation shows three periods with an almost completely vegetated Sahara at the same time as seen in the geological record. This supports the interpretation of geologists and, in turn, demonstrates the value of computer model results. Additionally, the computer model indicates that only a small increase in precipitation is sufficient to develop a vegetation cover in the Sahara.
Computer model simulations for the future suggest an expansion of the vegetation cover in the Sahara Desert if human-driven climate change leads to aggressive global warming.
Ancient Egyptian proverb:
A phenomenon always arises from the interaction of complementaries. If you want something look for the complement that will elicit it. Set causes Horus. Horus redeems Set.Posts: 5555 | From: Tha 5th Dimension. | Registered: Apr 2006
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^^^Pray tell, whatever do you mean by there was never an out of Africa?
Posts: 6572 | From: N.Y.C....Capital of the World | Registered: Jun 2008
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quote:Originally posted by Alive-(What Box): Quit whining like a bitch about 'racism' against Africans (one of which, you are not) out of nowhere and prove to us where you find people doing the things you spam that they do.
Ahhh...there you go Aliveboy, suck on Whiskey's d**k some more...harder...harder..harder!...show him he can count on you to come to his defense anytime! LOL
Posts: 4165 | From: jamaica | Registered: May 2008
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^^Stop being the homo you are, atleast conduct yourself with some normal behavior show that you can control your homo tendencies, that you atleast have some restraint.
Come to my defense for what? Especially against someone like you? All of your posts are worthless. Lmao
Posts: 6572 | From: N.Y.C....Capital of the World | Registered: Jun 2008
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Ahhh...there you go Aliveboy, suck on Whiskey's d**k some more...harder...harder..harder!...show him he can count on you to come to his defense anytime! LOL
^Notice this is like the dozenth time ako has posted detailing a graphic homo-erotic scene [is he drifting off?] - to say the least. lol.
Hey ako. Not sure if you diserve this response cuz I thought I warned you but perhaps you did not see it. This is your final warning .
Not sure how telling you, argay & co. to stop spamming inanely behind members' posts equates to that psychologically telling, homo erotic, slightly edited queer call you keep spamming me for whatever reason, but, for your information, I'm not interested in whatever the in the hell you were gettin at.
Perhaps your apr-ass-cee buddies from the link I posted above divorced you. If you want to ask a guy out, or are desperate to play cyber-sex, you can feel free to go start a thread @ queer-search or something.
Posts: 5555 | From: Tha 5th Dimension. | Registered: Apr 2006
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Excellent articles, Knowledge! No doubt such findings on the Sahara will greatly improve our knowledge on African history and human history at large.
A couple of things:
First, the article claims that the Nile Valley is widely believed to be the route for OOA, while it has discovered an alternative route via the Central Sahara and out of Libya; however I thought the prevailing belief in the scientific community was not a northern route at all but a direct eastern route from the Horn to Southern Arabia??
Second, this part here --- "The similarities between Middle Stone Age artefacts in places like Chad and the Sudan, with those of Libya, strongly support this theory."--- automatically reminds me of Cruciani's findings of African expansions into the Mediterranian and southern Europe! I think this is just more than coincidence. Posts: 26286 | From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Registered: Feb 2005
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It's just unfortunate that as usual, when we have an intelligent and scholarly thread such as this the moronic trolls show up like hungry vultures to try and ruin it.
quote:Originally posted by argyle104: For someone who delusions himself to be a scholar, this Knowledgeiskey718 sure is dependent upon others to tell him what to think.
How so? Like all scholars, Knowledge merely presents new findings. These findings aren't even entirely conclusive. Of course as usual you know not what you say.
quote:No wonder he's racist against non-Ancient Egyptian Africans.
How so? Can you please cite evidence of such racism? I asked you many times before to cite evidence of my supposed racism but you haven't because you can't. Can you please stop lying about Knowledge, I, or anyone else being racist when it's obvious YOU are the racist loser who projects his guilt onto others!
quote:Oh the world of the faux keyboard scholar.
The only faux scholar in here are YOU and your boyfriends. Like all scholars we come here to learn and present information, you and your boyfriends only come here to troll and cause trouble!
quote:Originally posted by TheAmericanPatriot: the recent Toronto study wants to say that when our ancestors left africa they were not human at all but came back to africa as human later. That is an interesting twist on the conversation. It is a modification of the out of africa view.
And praytell which Toronto study is this? From what university or academic group? As usual you cite nameless sources and make baseless assumptions. The concensus in academia, professor, is that modern humans originate in Africa! Note that the topic article of this thread speaks of early modern humans not non-human hominid ancestors!
quote:Originally posted by akoben: Ahhh...there you go Aliveboy, suck on Whiskey's d**k some more...harder...harder..harder!...show him he can count on you to come to his defense anytime! LOL
^^ All I gotta say is what do you expect from the homo-nazi b**ch??
Posts: 26286 | From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Registered: Feb 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Djehuti: First, the article claims that the Nile Valley is widely believed to be the route for OOA, while it has discovered an alternative route via the Central Sahara and out of Libya; however I thought the prevailing belief in the scientific community was not a northern route at all but a direct eastern route from the Horn to Southern Arabia??
Maybe that had to do with the fact that they then didn't have another good explanation (besides possibly Egypt) of how the aboriginal Eurasians' ancestors left Africa.
Does the Egypt route lack alot of evidence? I'm aware that there were a group of people who migrated to what is now Isreal and died out. I'm also aware that there was a really old skeleton found in Egypt, but not many, I'm guessing, since the Horn and now Libyan routes are favored.
Also, I had it Eurasians' OOA ancestors traveled via the Southern coastline of the Arabian peninsula (to the rest of the world).
Posts: 5555 | From: Tha 5th Dimension. | Registered: Apr 2006
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Indeed what Dj said about the route from East Africa, directly towards southern Arabia is more plausible, this parent post(article) simply indicated that there were alternative routes in which Africans could of advanced OOA.
Point is, you have to read the other articles I've posted as well, which indicate, that findings, such as a green sahara, are not new to science.
The article challenges, doesn't refute the notion of Africans trekking out of East Africa, the article basically puts early humans(Africans) all over North Africa at the time of dispersal OOA, indeed it provides an alternative route OOA, but as we see anthropological, as well genetic evidence, consist of findings which confirm a route via the horn of Africa, into southern Arabia.
There is no anthropological evidence of humans inhabiting Europe when Africans dispersed OOA over 60kya, earliest evidence (besides Skhul/Qafzeh) is in the "near east" as well, then a route(beachcombing) along the shores towards southern Asia into the Oceanic Islands. The multidisciplinary approach indicates East Africa as the place of origin for modern humans, and proves said route of OOA populations as well.
What this article does, is provide more evidence of a green Sahara and the elimination of the invisible propagated boundary otherwise known as sub-saharan Africa.
Posts: 6572 | From: N.Y.C....Capital of the World | Registered: Jun 2008
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^ Indeed, I couldn't agree more and that is what can't emphasize enough-- that 'Sahara' does not limit indigenous (black) Africans! This is why it is so tiring to hear folks like 'patriot' always associate blacks to south of the Sahara only!
And again I find this part extremely interesting: "The similarities between Middle Stone Age artefacts in places like Chad and the Sudan, with those of Libya, strongly support this theory."
^^ I am willing to bet those mesolithic findings have alot to do with early Afrasian speakers of those areas, perhaps the proto-Berber speakers and not to mention the western desert ancestors of the Egyptians who invented mummification such as Uan Muhuggiag! And considering these ancient river channels exited Libya in the Gulf of Sidra, they might have even played apart in the neolithic expansion of Africans into the Mediterranean!
Posts: 26286 | From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Registered: Feb 2005
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Our extensive sampling across North Africa reveals that the T1 haplogroup is almost fixed across this region (Fig. 2). Nevertheless, 63 different sequences with the T1 motif are observed, producing a total nucleotide diversity in North Africa (1.76%, SD 0.15) slightly higher than observed in the Middle East (1.65%, SD 0.14) or in Anatolia (1.48%, SD 0.13), where all four major haplogroups are found.These observations, together with the fact that T1haplotypes are very rare in the Middle East and Anatolia, appearconsistent with the previously suggested hypothesis (7, 11) that African cattle were independently domesticated. This hypothesis, however, also would imply that Northern African and Near Eastern aurochsen were genetically differentiated even without major barriers limiting their dispersion (with the former being mainly T1-like and the latter being non-T1-like) or that the African and Near Eastern domestication processes were very different (with the former producing a much more intense bottleneck than the latter). As far as genetic data are concerned, the simpler hypothesis of an introduction in Africa of few T1-like cattle domesticated in the Near East, and their subsequent demographic expansion and genetic diversification appears more parsimonious. Regardless of the origin of the African breeds, T1 mtDNA sequences are clearly a distinctive feature of their genetic composition. The distribution of the T1 haplogroup outside Africa thus can be used to understand the relationships between cattle breeds across the Mediterranean, and an interesting pattern seems to emerge in Europe (Fig. 2): T1sequences are relatively common (with frequencies ranging from 5% to 30%) in different breeds from Portugal, Spain, Italy, and Greece. The presence of T1 mainly along the Mediterranean shores of Europe (near Africa), but not in central and northern Europe, is suggestive of the occasional introduction of cattle by boat from North Africa into southern Europe and is difficult to reconcile with any gene flow process unrelated with the sea. But when did this process occur? The presence of T1 haplotypes previously observed in Portugal was attributed to historical migration due to North African, possibly Moorish, conquerors (19). However, even if 63 and 11 different T1 haplotypes are observed in Africa and Europe, respectively, only two of them are present in both regions. In addition, (i) T1 haplotypes can be found well beyond the area of maximum Moorish expansion, (ii) recent introductions of exotic cattle are usually male mediated (not affecting mtDNA) (34), and (iii) one T1 haplotype has been recently observed in a sample of 16 Bronze Age cattle remains from Spain. So, the hypothesis of a recent and geographically restricted introduction of African cattle does not seem sufficient to explain the T1 distribution in Europe. On the contrary, DNA data are compatible with earlier gene flow into several Mediterranean regions. There is evidence of early diffusion of cattle pastoralism by people crossing arms of sea (21–23), and, hence, the same process may have led to the dispersal in Europe of breeds carrying the T1 haplotype.
Conclusions The modern and ancient mtDNA sequences we presenthere do not support the currently accepted hypothesis of a single Neolithic origin in the Near East. The processes of livestock domestication and diffusion were certainly more complex than previously suggested, and our data provide some evidence in favor of the hypothesis that the origin of European cattle is multiple. Breeds domesticated in the Near East andintroduced in Europe during theNeolithic diffusionprobably intermixed, at least in some regions, with local wild animals and with African cattle introduced by maritime routes. As a consequence, European breeds should represent a more diverse and important genetic resource than previously recognized, especially in the Southern regions.
Posts: 6572 | From: N.Y.C....Capital of the World | Registered: Jun 2008
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seen in the proper context: ---> Well-documented evidence shows there was increased rainfall across the southern part of the Sahara during the last interglacial period (130-170 thousand years ago). <---
...is moot, since there are no non african hom sapiens until 70kya, and those are in australia.
...there are no western eurasians until 40 kya. [only neanderthal lives in Europe at this time]
this is fundamental fact, since during the time of the actual outmigration of non africans, the sahara was not wet, but rather *extremely dry*, so the article author seems to be a bit confused.
Also many anthropologists no longer think the nile valley to levantine was a viable corridor for outmigration, but rather that the horn - arabia - and southern asia was much more probable.
i doubt the article author even understands this.
article is misleading.
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quote:Originally posted by Knowledgeiskey718: ^^^Pray tell, whatever do you mean by there was never an out of Africa?
You heard what I said! I'm tired of all these stupid scientist looking for an 'Out-of-Africa' story. Migrations took place, but there was never an 'Out-of-Africa' journey in which different pockets of Africans left "Africa" during specific chapters in life's history and populated the earth.
Posts: 2088 | Registered: Feb 2007
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quote:You heard what I said! I'm tired of all these stupid scientist looking for an 'Out-of-Africa' story. Migrations took place, but there was never an 'Out-of-Africa' journey in which different pockets of Africans left "Africa" during specific chapters in life's history and populated the earth.
Oh really? Pray, do tell how you would explain this?
The field of paleoanthropology is known for its hotly contested debates, and one that has raged for years concerns the evolutionary origin of modern people. A number of genetic studies (especially those on the mitochondrial DNA) of living people indicate that modern humans evolved in sub-Saharan Africa and then left between 65,000 and 25,000 years ago to colonize the Old World. However, other genetic studies (generally on nuclear DNA) argue against this African origin and exodus model. Instead, they suggest that archaic non-African groups, such as the Neandertals, made significant contributions to the genomes of modern humans in Eurasia. Until now, the lack of human fossils of appropriate antiquity from sub-Saharan Africa has meant that these competing genetic models of human evolution could not be tested by paleontological evidence.
The skull from Hofmeyr has changed that. The surprising similarity between a fossil skull from the southernmost tip of Africa and similarly ancient skulls from Europe is in agreement with the genetics-based "Out of Africa" theory, which predicts that humans like those that inhabited Eurasia in the Upper Paleolithic should be found in sub-Saharan Africa around 36,000 years ago. The skull from South Africa provides the first fossil evidence in support of this prediction.
European early modern humans and the fate of the Neandertals Erik Trinkaus*
"The skull is large and robust. The maximum estimated length and breadth of the neurocranium, as well as most measurements of the facial skeleton,lie at or exceedtwo standard deviations (SD) of the means for modern African males,whereas they lie within these limits for Late Pleistocene crania from Eurasia and North Africa(table S3)."
"As a result of an ongoing cleansing of the fossil record through direct radiometric dating, a series of obviously modern, and in fact Late Upper Paleolithic or Holocene, human remains have been removed from consideration (7). This cleansing has helped to dilute the impression that the earliest modern humans in Europe were just like recent European populations.
Thus, Hofmeyr is seemingly primitive in comparison to recent African crania in a number of features, including a prominent glabella; moderately thick, continuous supraorbital tori; a tall, flat, and straight malar; a broad frontal process of the maxilla; and comparatively large molar crowns.
Posts: 6572 | From: N.Y.C....Capital of the World | Registered: Jun 2008
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quote:Migrations took place, but there was never an 'Out-of-Africa' journey in which different pockets of Africans left "Africa" during specific chapters in life's history and populated the earth.
^ that's exactly what happened.
Homo sapiens - our ancestors - originated in Africa 150 thousand years ago.
At this time, there are no homo sapiens anywhere else on earth.
All non Africans are descendant from Africans who migrated out of Africa beginning about 70 thousand years ago.
If you disagree with this, then GRAB A SHOVEL and get to digging.
When you find a skeleton of homo-sapiens somewhere other than Africa as old as the oldest African homo-sapiens...you'll be famous.
Shouldn't be too hard.
Or... just stay here on Egyptsearch and talk smack.
Hmm. Wonder which path she'll choose.... Posts: 15202 | Registered: Jun 2004
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quote:Migrations took place, but there was never an 'Out-of-Africa' journey in which different pockets of Africans left "Africa" during specific chapters in life's history and populated the earth.
^ that's exactly what happened.
Homo sapiens - our ancestors - originated in Africa 150 thousand years ago.
At this time, there are no homo sapiens anywhere else on earth.
All non Africans are descendant from Africans who migrated out of Africa beginning about 70 thousand years ago.
If you disagree with this, then GRAB A SHOVEL and get to digging.
When you find a skeleton of homo-sapiens somewhere other than Africa as old as the oldest African homo-sapiens...you'll be famous.
Shouldn't be too hard.
Or... just stay here on Egyptsearch and talk smack.
Hmm. Wonder which path she'll choose....
I will continue to talk smack. There is no such thing as 'homo-sapiens' since there is no pre-existing being before the HUMAN BEING. Explain to mean how can someone "originate" in 'Africa' and explain the 150 thousand years ago.
Posts: 2088 | Registered: Feb 2007
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quote:You heard what I said! I'm tired of all these stupid scientist looking for an 'Out-of-Africa' story. Migrations took place, but there was never an 'Out-of-Africa' journey in which different pockets of Africans left "Africa" during specific chapters in life's history and populated the earth.
Oh really? Pray, do tell how you would explain this?
The field of paleoanthropology is known for its hotly contested debates, and one that has raged for years concerns the evolutionary origin of modern people. A number of genetic studies (especially those on the mitochondrial DNA) of living people indicate that modern humans evolved in sub-Saharan Africa and then left between 65,000 and 25,000 years ago to colonize the Old World. However, other genetic studies (generally on nuclear DNA) argue against this African origin and exodus model. Instead, they suggest that archaic non-African groups, such as the Neandertals, made significant contributions to the genomes of modern humans in Eurasia. Until now, the lack of human fossils of appropriate antiquity from sub-Saharan Africa has meant that these competing genetic models of human evolution could not be tested by paleontological evidence.
The skull from Hofmeyr has changed that. The surprising similarity between a fossil skull from the southernmost tip of Africa and similarly ancient skulls from Europe is in agreement with the genetics-based "Out of Africa" theory, which predicts that humans like those that inhabited Eurasia in the Upper Paleolithic should be found in sub-Saharan Africa around 36,000 years ago. The skull from South Africa provides the first fossil evidence in support of this prediction.
European early modern humans and the fate of the Neandertals Erik Trinkaus*
"The skull is large and robust. The maximum estimated length and breadth of the neurocranium, as well as most measurements of the facial skeleton,lie at or exceedtwo standard deviations (SD) of the means for modern African males,whereas they lie within these limits for Late Pleistocene crania from Eurasia and North Africa(table S3)."
"As a result of an ongoing cleansing of the fossil record through direct radiometric dating, a series of obviously modern, and in fact Late Upper Paleolithic or Holocene, human remains have been removed from consideration (7). This cleansing has helped to dilute the impression that the earliest modern humans in Europe were just like recent European populations.
Thus, Hofmeyr is seemingly primitive in comparison to recent African crania in a number of features, including a prominent glabella; moderately thick, continuous supraorbital tori; a tall, flat, and straight malar; a broad frontal process of the maxilla; and comparatively large molar crowns.
This shyt is nothing but CLAIMS. Another case of Hocus Pocus science.
Posts: 2088 | Registered: Feb 2007
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Indeed and "smack" is all your talk is actually worth.
quote:This shyt is nothing but CLAIMS. Another case of Hocus Pocus science.
Claims? Lmao. Prove it, how do you say they're simply claims, without explaining why? I'll take your attitude and interpret it as a bigot in denial, or probably just too dumb to understand science.
Is this your position? Will your intellect allow you to actually debate with full and well thought out posts, on why Out of Africa is false?
Or are you just going to be some lame troll and disagree just to receive an argument? Because YOU by your lonely self does not believe in science?
Actually it's multidisciplinary approached situation, in which has proven Out Of Africa. Genetics, anthropology, archaeology etc...proves that modern humans arose in Africa, and spread out from there to populate the world.
From Cavalli-Sforza: Genes, Culture, and Human Evolution. Pg 187.
quote: ..."In other words, all non-Africans carry M168. Of course, Africans carrying the M168 mutation today are the descendants of the African subpopulation from which the migrants originated.... Thus, the Australian/Eurasian Adam (the ancestor of all non-Africans) was an East African Man."
Posts: 6572 | From: N.Y.C....Capital of the World | Registered: Jun 2008
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quote:Explain to mean how can someone "originate" in 'Africa'
^ by being born, in africa. do you want me to explain sexual reproduction too?
quote:and explain the 150 thousand years ago.
^ i've already explained this, in the previous post.
if you don't understand you may quote me and ask questions.
don't be the retarded rude student in class who asks the teacher to repeat just because she isn't listening.
this is how you flunked 3rd grade science in Kentucky to begin with, and so disappointed your parents. remember???
Posts: 15202 | Registered: Jun 2004
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^ And again, I ask why do you even bother engaging folks who not only don't have any scientific understanding but dismiss science altogether as "hocus pocus"??!! LOLPosts: 26286 | From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Registered: Feb 2005
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.. archealogical data (Wendorf 2001, Wettstrom 1999) suggests that the peoples of the Sahara had already independently domesticated cattle in the early Holocene eastern Sahara, followed by the gradual adoption of grain cultivation, or gradual adoption of Near Eastern domesticates into an already established foraging and subsistence economy, rather than an influx of outsiders bringing benefits to the indigenes.[99]
According to archaeologist F. Wendorf, who excavated the region, the legacy of the ancient peoples "is seen in the "prominence of cattle in the religious belief system of Pre-dynastic Egypt continuing into the Old Kingdom." Wendorf argues that the presence of domesticated cattle is likely an indigenous development based on mtDNA analysis of wild stocks, and that the excavation of indigenous grains- sorghums and millets, along with other plants, along with the absence of Southwest Asian domesticates, indicates a measure of indigenous development in place.
The climate driven move into Egypt by these ancient desert dwellers, it is held, may have been "a critical factor in the rise of social complexity and the subsequent emergence of the Egyptian state in Upper Egypt (Hoffman 1979; Hassan 1988). If so, Egypt owes a major debt to those early pastoral groups in the Sahara; they may have provided Egypt with many of those features that still distinguish it from its neighbors to the east." [114]
Also cattle seems to have played a prominent role in indigenous religion:
"Frankfort (1978) in his study of Egyptian and Mesopotamian religions and political systems argued that the Egyptian belief system arose from an East African substratum and was not introduced from Mesopotamia.[171]
Central to indigenous development was cattle as one central focus of the belief systems of the Old Kingdom. Concepts such as defication of cattle, a cow as the "mother of the sun" or the Egyptian pharaoh as a god (rather than an intermediary to the gods as in Mesopotamia), suggest strong native roots in the Nile Valley and East Africa rather than an outside influx.
The pharoah as sons of Horus, who was in turn son of Hathor the cow goddess, depictions of Horus as a strong bull, the images of bulls in many depictions of the stars, dead pharaohs sometimes being described as 'the Bull of Heaven' and the Old Kingdom concept of Min, the god of rain, who is associated with a whitle bull and to whom the annual harvest is dedicated all indicate connections with indigenous predynastic cultures, with little significant need for outside influence from Mesopotamia or elsewhere to shape their development. [172]
If anything cattle based religious beliefs seem to have been more firmly rooted in northeast Africa than in Mesopotamia, according to even the following ancient Encyclopedia article blurb from way back in 74:
"A large number of gods go back to prehistoric times. The images of a cow and star goddess (Hathor), the falcon (Horus), and the human-shaped figures of the fertility god (Min) can be traced back to that period. Some rites, such as the "running of the Apil-bull," the "hoeing of the ground," and other fertility and hunting rites (e.g., the hippopotamus hunt) presumably date from early times.. Connections with the religions in southwest Asia cannot be traced with certainty."
"It is doubtful whether Osiris can be regarded as equal to Tammuz or Adonis, or whether Hathor is related to the "Great Mother." There are closer relations with northeast African religions. The numerous animal cults (especially bovine cults and panther gods) and details of ritual dresses (animal tails, masks, grass aprons, etc) probably are of African origin. The kinship in particular shows some African elements, such as the king as the head ritualist (i.e., medicine man), the limitations and renewal of the reign (jubilees, regicide), and the position of the king's mother (a matriarchal element). Some of them can be found among the Ethiopians in Napata and Meroe, others among the Prenilotic tribes (Shilluk)."[170] (Encyclopedia Britannica 1984 ed. Macropedia Article, Vol 6: "Egyptian Religion" , pg 506-508)
refs
99) S. Keita, P. Newman and C. Ehret, "The Origins of Afro-Asiatic", SCIENCE VOL 306 3 DECEMBER 2004, pp. 1682-1684
114) Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 17, 97-123 (1998), "Nabta Playa and Its Role in Northeastern African Prehistory," Fred Wendorf and Romuald Schild
171) Frankfort, H. 1978 "Kingship and the gods. A study of ancient Near Eastern religion as the integration of society and nature." Univ. of Chicago Press, Chicago.
172) ^ J. McKim Malville, Fred Wendorf, Ali A Mazar and Romauld Schild 'Megaliths and Neolithic astronomy in southern Egypt', Nature (Vol. 392, no. 2, April 1998). See also: Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 17, 97-123 (1998), "Nabta Playa and Its Role in Northeastern African Prehistory," Fred Wendorf and Romuald Schild
Based on the post, and Wendorf's older analysis, how should we see the domestication question inside the Nile Valley itself? Is it a mixed type model? With cattle being domesticated by the Saharans and then some cross-breeding with stocks obtained from the Near East, or just straight indigenous Nile Valley domestication? How about grains? Wendorf I think says certain grain type wild grasses were being harvested or cultivated in the Sahara for a long time, before Near East domesticates appeared.
Posts: 5905 | From: The Hammer | Registered: Aug 2008
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^ Indeed, I couldn't agree more and that is what can't emphasize enough-- that 'Sahara' does not limit indigenous (black) Africans! This is why it is so tiring to hear folks like 'patriot' always associate blacks to south of the Sahara only!
You aint kidding about the Sahara. Ironically, when folks try to differentiate people like the Ethiopians and Somalis from "sub-Saharan" populations, they are contradicting thmselves because Ethiopians and Somalians are already below the Sahara. Throw in the DNA links and its a wrap. Knowledge's map is right on target. If you were to overlay that on a modern political map, and use the standard race categories, then Timbuktu, a lot of Chad, the Sudan, amd even parts of Senegal etc are "non-African". Perhaps they are the home of mysterious Caucasoids or "Hamites" with black skin. http://geocities.com/nilevalleypeoples/subsaharanpropmap4.jpg
And again I find this part extremely interesting: "The similarities between Middle Stone Age artefacts in places like Chad and the Sudan, with those of Libya, strongly support this theory." I am willing to bet those mesolithic findings have alot to do with early Afrasian speakers of those areas, perhaps the proto-Berber speakers and not to mention the western desert ancestors of the Egyptians who invented mummification such as Uan Muhuggiag!
No doubt. There is support for your view also from Wendorf whose excavations on the Nabtra plateau in the Sahara show "the emergence of a regional ceremonial center with megalithic alignments, stone circles, cattle burials, and other large-scale constructions."
According to Wendorf, these Saharan dwellers were among the prime movers in Egypt's development, for their move into the Nile Valley represents "a critical factor in the rise of social complexity and the subsequent emergence of the Egyptian state in Upper Egypt (Hoffman 1979; Hassan 1988). If so, Egypt owes a major debt to those early pastoral groups in the Sahara; they may have provided Egypt with many of those features that still distinguish it from its neighbors to the east."
Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 17, 97-123 (1998), "Nabta Playa and Its Role in Northeastern African Prehistory," Fred Wendorf and Romuald Schild http://geocities.com/nilevalleypeoples
And considering these ancient river channels exited Libya in the Gulf of Sidra, they might have even played apart in the neolithic expansion of Africans into the Mediterranean!
Never heard of those river channels until I saw the map here. They would provide another potential route for population dispersal.
-------------------- Note: I am not an "Egyptologist" as claimed by some still bitter, defeated, trolls creating fake profiles and posts elsewhere. Hapless losers, you still fail. My output of hard data debunking racist nonsense has actually INCREASED since you began.. Posts: 5905 | From: The Hammer | Registered: Aug 2008
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From Cavalli-Sforza: Genes, Culture, and Human Evolution. Pg 187.
quote: -------------------------------------------- ..."In other words, all non-Africans carry M168. Of course, Africans carrying the M168 mutation today are the descendants of the African subpopulation from which the migrants originated.... Thus, the Australian/Eurasian Adam (the ancestor of all non-Africans) was an East African Man."
Dang. Gotta save this quote. There it is, from Cavalli-Sforza himself. But wasn't he one of those suggesting elsewhere that people like Ethiopians were an anomaly- blacks with white skin, or blacks who spoke the language of whites?
According to Keita, one of his studies or that of a collaborator/co-writer on gene and language flow for example, repeatedly excluded African data not meeting assigned racial categories, removing Chadic, Omotic and Cushitic speakers to create the impression that Ethiopians are an anomaly, i.e. Africans who speak the language of Caucasians. (The Persistence of Racial Thinking and the Myth of Racial Divergence, S. O. Y. Keita, Rick A. Kittles, American Anthropologist, New Series, Vol. 99, No. 3 (Sep., 1997), pp. 534-544) http://geocities.com/nilevalleypeoples
-------------------- Note: I am not an "Egyptologist" as claimed by some still bitter, defeated, trolls creating fake profiles and posts elsewhere. Hapless losers, you still fail. My output of hard data debunking racist nonsense has actually INCREASED since you began.. Posts: 5905 | From: The Hammer | Registered: Aug 2008
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posted
How do the new routes impact Sforza's claim on pg 188 of Knowledge's reference that:
"It is quite possible that the ancestor carrying the M169/M89 combination was the last man to leave Africa, because at that time, a climate change severely desertified the Sahara region, effectively closing the door to further major migrations until much later."
Seems to me that the "last man out" theory based on Saharan climate is thrown into doubt by this new evidence of multiple routes and broad-based Saharan fertility. Comments?
Posts: 5905 | From: The Hammer | Registered: Aug 2008
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posted
^ Once again...there are no 'new routes' for out of Africa migration.
This article is talking about the saharan climate from long before the OOA outmigrations.
The author of the article either doesn't understand this, or is being misleading.
quote:early modern humans 120,000
^ there are no homo sapiens outside of Africa from 120,000 years ago. There are no homo sapiens in Europe - until 40 thousand years ago, which is in turn a time of a completely different climate, which then moots the whole point of the article.
Posts: 15202 | Registered: Jun 2004
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- this is why you flunked 3rd grade biology in rural Kentucky where you grew up.
you *do* realize this, don't you?
There is no such thing as H O M O S A P I E N S. There are no beings before the human being and there will be no being after the human being. You scientists, afrocentrists, eurocentrists, and megalomanics can ditch the 'Homosapien' bull.
Posts: 2088 | Registered: Feb 2007
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quote:Explain to mean how can someone "originate" in 'Africa'
^ by being born, in africa. do you want me to explain sexual reproduction too?
quote:and explain the 150 thousand years ago.
^ i've already explained this, in the previous post.
if you don't understand you may quote me and ask questions.
don't be the retarded rude student in class who asks the teacher to repeat just because she isn't listening.
this is how you flunked 3rd grade science in Kentucky to begin with, and so disappointed your parents. remember???
You didn't answer neither question. Being 'born' in Africa doesn't make one "originate" from 'Africa'. If that is the case, the offsprings of these so-called "Africans" who supposedly left and populated the world were not Africans at all since they was born elsewhere.
Posts: 2088 | Registered: Feb 2007
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quote:Originally posted by rasol: ^ Once again...there are no 'new routes' for out of Africa migration.
This article is talking about the saharan climate from long before the OOA outmigrations.
The author of the article either doesn't understand this, or is being misleading.
quote:early modern humans 120,000
^ there are no homo sapiens outside of Africa from 120,000 years ago. There are no homo sapiens in Europe - until 40 thousand years ago, which is in turn a time of a completely different climate, which then moots the whole point of the article.
lol I was so excited about that 'potential greening of the Sahara' thing that I didn't notice the 120 kya part.
Posts: 5555 | From: Tha 5th Dimension. | Registered: Apr 2006
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- this is why you flunked 3rd grade biology in rural Kentucky where you grew up.
you *do* realize this, don't you?
There is no such thing as H O M O S A P I E N S. There are no beings before the human being and there will be no being after the human being. You scientists, afrocentrists, eurocentrists, and megalomanics can ditch the 'Homosapien' bull.
Frustrated rant. Posts: 3423 | From: the jungle - when y'all stop playing games, call me. | Registered: Jul 2006
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quote:Originally posted by rasol: ^ Once again...there are no 'new routes' for out of Africa migration.
This article is talking about the saharan climate from long before the OOA outmigrations.
The author of the article either doesn't understand this, or is being misleading.
quote:early modern humans 120,000
^ there are no homo sapiens outside of Africa from 120,000 years ago. There are no homo sapiens in Europe - until 40 thousand years ago, which is in turn a time of a completely different climate, which then moots the whole point of the article.
lol I was so excited about that 'potential greening of the Sahara' thing that I didn't notice the 120 kya part.
There was a green sahara during the holocene, which is very important to understand, because it actually does relate to the reality of human migrations throughout north africa.
Posts: 15202 | Registered: Jun 2004
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posted
I think he/she is talking about Creation. I believe that is her/his point???
quote:Originally posted by Bettyboo:
quote:Originally posted by rasol:
quote:There is no such thing as 'homo-sapiens'
- this is why you flunked 3rd grade biology in rural Kentucky where you grew up.
you *do* realize this, don't you?
There is no such thing as H O M O S A P I E N S. There are no beings before the human being and there will be no being after the human being. You scientists, afrocentrists, eurocentrists, and megalomanics can ditch the 'Homosapien' bull.
Posts: 12143 | From: When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable | Registered: Jun 2007
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Interesting. Very good find, Knowledgeiskey718.
Go take out your faggot azz aggressions elsewhere like usual.
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All I gotta say is what do you expect from the 
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