Archaeologica.org

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0005151 Here is the original study, including the abstract. The population size is estimated to have grown to 200,000. Even that seems low. Some are finding fault with this study, but we'll have to see how it shakes out. I instincti...

http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2009/413/2?rss=1 Humans descended from apes that lived in trees, but researchers have been battling over whether the earliest humans remained agile climbers when they started walking upright on the ground. A new study concludes that early humans may...

http://www.sciencealert.com.au/news/20090604-18994.html I couldn't think of any other place to put this post. I, like this article, think that "junk" DNA holds the secrets to human adaptability. I don't know if this article has it right or not, but I think it will bring on a firestorm of ...

Interesting article Beag. I read the comments that followed as well, including the one about HSS versus HSN gestation periods, the writer completely missed the point that gestation plus nursing normally controls reproduction rate. Roy. Quite true Roy. It's true that nursing a baby stimulates the ho...

http://www.sciam.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=how-similar-was-neandertal-behavior-2009-04-06 Min posted this article in the Mythology forum in a discussion there. I think it's a good one and I'm putting it here for future follow-up. Similar articles have been coming out in the last 9 mont...

I think it might be quite possible that blades, as it were, have been around off and on over the millenia, going back further than any recent find. I don't think it would be uncommon for an enterprising individual to accidently discover processes for making them, then never passing on that knowledg...

When did our ancestors develop the higher portions of brain matter that come into play during abstract thought processes such as imagination, forethought and religious experience? You'll find that one of the recurring themes around here is the notion that Neanderthal and Erectus are not considered ...

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/clovis/

A Nova presentation this coming Tuesday on PBS. This show will present evidence for the Holocene Comet.

Check local listings.

Could very well be Min. There are members here that know more about the subject than I do. Maybe they'll offer an opinion. I seem to remember that Native Americans had high prow canoes also.

http://www.museum.wa.gov.au/collections/maritime/march/documents/No.%20216%20Indigenous%20depicts.pdf This is a long PDF, but it has a lot of pics of rock art in Australia that depict watwrcraft. Most of them do not appear to be that ancient to me, and some are obvious depictions of 19th century sh...

It usually depends on when their last common ancestor lived. A Bison and a Cow were recently separated from an animal like an Auroch, which lived 50,000 yrs ago. Compare that with the millions of years separating a bear and a seal. They've gone their separate ways and would never breed. It would be ...

The future looks interesting IMO. Indeed. We have a bit of a wait on the rest of the Neanderthal Genome to be released. I have no idea why they've chosen to do that, but they have been pretty secretive lately. Late in 2007 they announced that the samples in all 3 labs were contaminated. They were a...

I don't think there is an intelligence gene, but if there is I believe all humans have it.

The Inuit are just Asians I think, not a physically distinct group.

Nice Scandinavians Min.

Sorry - supper called. There is a very small per cent difference between any two human beings, unless they are identical twins. It's slightly larger between people of different races. The last I heard about Neanderthal was that we are 99.5 % identical, which is really close. And that actually falls ...

The late arrival of HSS into Europe has been explained as their having first settled in central Asia after leaving Africa, Yep, that is said to have happened at a series of sites at Kostenski, along the Don river in Russia. But we actually know very little about what happened there. Only two teeth ...