Archaeologica.org

Michelle has posted todays news and it includes yet another article on the Dminisi find. This one states that they are indeed early H. Erectus.

http://www.nature.com/news/2007/070917/ ... 917-6.html

The work, led by researchers from the Georgian National Museum in Tbilisi, describes three-dozen fossils from the skeletons of four primitive Homo erectus individuals found in recent years at Dmanisi in Georgia, central Asia.

H. erectus is thought to have migrated across Asia after coming out of Africa, where the oldest relative of man is traced to nearly 7 million years ago. H. erectus fossils have been found from Africa across Asia as far as Indonesia. Typically there are only a few scattered fossils at one location. A single site with so many bones from so many individuals is rare. And they date back to very soon after H. erectus's exodus from Africa.

Erectus actually appears to be far and away the most sucessful Homo, so why did he become extinct? Did he become extinct?
Part of the reason here for the total support amongst pros for OOA seems to be PC and a guilt complex about our past history.

I'm sick of this guilt routine.

I didn't do it.

Digit, here is what "they" say this year. This chart has Erectus going extinct. These charts are put together by the OOA folks,aka, the club. They change it every year, so they obviously don't have a f**kin' clue.

If anyone can locate the article, Doubting Dmanisi, it is a fantastic primer for this premier site of the 21st century.

The lower limbs were more advanced than the upper limbs - amazing; born to wander. On the other hand, these guys had fangs, big canines, something they find with Australopithecus. This link has lots of pictures, including the one where the sabertooth's fangs fit into the poor guy's skull -- an oldy but goody.
http://donsmaps.com/dmanisi.html
Cowabunga.

Some time back Beag I was reading an article on the subject of Erectus and the writer agreed that it was almost impossible to distinguish late Erectus from HSS.
If that is so is it extinct or are we Erectus, if the development is a straight line, presently contested of course, any division is purely artificial.
Min, you're sick of th guilt thing? I've even been blamed for the death of the Christ!

Frankly Chris I would have expected the change from Australopithecus to Homo would show a mixture of traits.
I can't see a change of such a magnitude being acoplished in one fell swoop.

Yeah, I agree about the one fell swoop thing, that it didn't happen. It is just so cool to see actual bone evidence of this process in action. This discovery is right up there with the "strapping youth" moment of Richard Leakey and the young erectus a couple decades back. Everything about Dmanisi is cool. The archaeologists were shined on when they first showed the big guns the jawbone in 1991. Instead, and this fits in with the other comment, there was bandied about at this same conference the idea that everybody from Erectus onwards is the same species. What a kick that would be. That would make everyone since and including erectus differentiated only by race.
Chris

Here is the article Chris was talking about:

Doubting Dmanisi by Pat Shipman from American Scientist

http://www.americanscientist.org/templa ... &print=yes

Min, you're sick of th guilt thing? I've even been blamed for the death of the Christ!

Thus, when Gabunia and Justus presented their finds at Senckenberg, every listener in the audience knew that the Homo erectus lineage hadn't gotten out of Africa until 1 million years ago.

Ah, yes....screw the evidence! Stick with the theory.

MichelleH wrote:Here is the article Chris was talking about:

Doubting Dmanisi by Pat Shipman from American Scientist

http://www.americanscientist.org/templa ... &print=yes

If anyone can locate the article, Doubting Dmanisi, it is a fantastic primer for this premier site of the 21st century.

I just finished reading this - rather quickly - and it's really good. I need to read it again, slowly, but it appears to be a new view on Erectus altogether.

Yeah. Adam could never be 1.8 million yrs old. There weren't even dinos then!

Hey Michelle,
You found it!! All I had was the first of about four pages.

btw I love this: We've Got Fossils - We win ~ Lewis Black

hardaker wrote:Hey Michelle,
You found it!! All I had was the first of about four pages.

btw I love this: We've Got Fossils - We win ~ Lewis Black

Our boss lady can find just about anything, Chris!