I knew I could find this again.. .. Human history is far older than we realize. Humans in Israel 400,000 Years Ago http://www.jpost.com/Sci-Tech/Article.aspx?id=201076 Homo sapiens lived in Eretz Yisrael 400,000 years ago By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH 26/12/2010 Teeth found near Rosh Haayin older than anything uncovered in Africa. Eight human teeth dating back as far as 400,000 years ago and found at the prehistoric Qesem Cave near Rosh Haayin discovered recently by Tel Aviv University researchers are the worlds earliest evidence of modern man (Homo sapiens). Until now, remains of humans from only 200,000 years ago have been found in Africa, and the accepted approach has been that modern man originated on that continent. Long before the land was called Israel and the residents Jews, Homo sapiens lived here twice as long ago as was previously believed, the researchers wrote in the latest (December) edition of the American Journal of Physical Anthropology. The cave was uncovered in 2000 by Prof. Avi Gopher and Dr. Ran Barkai of TAUs Institute of Archeology. Later, Prof. Israel Hershkowitz of the Department of Anatomy and Anthropology at TAUs Sackler School of Medicine and an international team of scientists performed a morphological analysis on the teeth found in the cave. The examination included CT scans and X-rays indicating the size and shape of the teeth are very similar to those of modern man. The teeth found in the cave are also very similar to evidence of modern man dated to around 100,000 years ago that had previously been discovered in the Skhul Cave on Mount Carmel and the Qafzeh Cave in the Lower Galilee near Nazareth. The Qesem Cave is dated between 400,000 and 200,000 years ago, and archeologists working there believe that the findings indicate significant changes in the behavior of ancient man. This period of time was crucial in the history of mankind from cultural and biological perspectives, and the fact that teeth of modern man were discovered indicates that these changes are apparently related to evolutionary changes taking place at that time, they maintained. Gopher and Barkai noted that the findings that characterize the culture of those who dwelled in the Qesem Cave the systematic production of flint blades, the habitual use of fire, evidence of hunting, cutting and sharing of animal meat, mining raw materials to produce flint tools from subsurface sources and much more reinforce the hypothesis that this was, in fact, innovative and pioneering behavior that corresponds with the appearance of modern man. The specimens, date back to the Middle Pleistocene era, include permanent and deciduous teeth. They were thus placed chronologically earlier than the bulk of fossil hominin specimens previously known from southwest Asia. Although none of the Qesem teeth resemble those of pre-Homo sapiens Neanderthals, a few traits may suggest some affinities with members of the Neanderthal evolutionary lineage, but the balance of the evidence suggests a closer similarity with the Skhul-Qafzeh dental material, said Gopher and Barkai. According to the researchers, the discoveries made in the Qesem Cave may change the perception that has been widely accepted to date in which modern man originated on the continent of Africa. In recent years, archeological evidence and human skeletons have been discovered in Spain and China that are liable to undermine this perception, but the findings now uncovered at Qesem are significant and invaluable, and their early age is undoubtedly an extraordinary archeological discovery, said Gopher and Barkai. As excavations at the cave continue, the researchers hope to uncover additional discoveries that will enable them to confirm the findings published up to now and to enhance their understanding of the evolution of mankind and especially the appearance of modern man.
As the authors themselves state, “Resolution of these alternative scenarios must await further discoveries of additional and more complete Middle Pleistocene remains from southwest Asia.” The identity of the Qesem Cave humans remains unclear, as do their origins. Even if they turn out to be early members of Homo sapiens, this does not automatically mean that our species evolved in Israel first. Instead, such a conclusion would raise several alternative scenarios, including the possibility that there are as-yet-undiscovered deposits of early Homo sapiens fossils in Africa which document an earlier dispersal from Africa distinct from the one around 70,000 years ago. For now, though, the identity of the Qesem Cave humans cannot be conclusively determined. All the grandiose statements about their relevance to the origin of our species reach beyond what the actual fossil material will allow. If they teach us anything, the Qesem Cave teeth remind us how much remains to be discovered about human evolution during the past 500,000 years. Multiple human lineages left Africa and dispersed throughout Europe and Asia, and a combination of fossil and genetic data has thrown significant support to the notion that many of these disparate populations interacted rather intimately with each other. In truth, we are only just beginning to understand how this happened, and there are many specimens – like the Qesem Cave teeth and Skhul/Qafzeh specimens – which will remain suspended in the realm of scientific uncertainty until further discoveries provide us with the proper context to understand them. These complementary discoveries will require months, years, and decades of additional work, but anyone even superficially familiar with the process of science will not be surprised by this. It has only been a century and a half since human prehistory was even regarded as a reality – there is still much work to be done and many amazing discoveries yet to be made. *This was not attributable to the publication of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species in that year, but several serendipitous fossil finds in England and France. As geology, paleontology, and archaeology developed during the early 19th century, many naturalists believed that there was a temporal dividing line between the modern world and that of the great Pleistocene beasts. The 1858 excavation of the UK’s Brixham Cave and examinations of fossil and archaeological sites in France’s Somme Valley, however, confirmed that humans had overlapped with the mammoths, giant hyenas, cave bears, and saber-toothed cats of the Ice Age era. The consensus about human antiquity changed almost overnight. During the 1859 meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science the eminent geologist Charles Lyell announced that there was finally compelling evidence for human prehistory, hinting that Darwin’s forthcoming book – published in November of that year – would further foster inquiries into the subject. For more on this episode in the history of science, see Chapter 10 of Written in Stone and Men Among the Mammoths by A. Bowdoin Van Riper I get it.. Lots more work to be done.......
Fascinating! Love reading this stuff. If only we spent more time and money on research then blowing (*)(*)(*)(*) up......
Heh there was no Israel 100.000 years ago , it would be interesting if those fossils are found to be of our species tho . I don't understand why you quoted my post about bigots , i meant religious freaks like those in Kenya trying to hide the human fossil evidence from people.
This is pretty interesting... I wouldn't say its gospel but food for thought. The Pseudo archaeology Research Archive (PARA) is an online repository for scholarship relating to topics in pseudo archaeology (including various cult, fantastic, and fringe archaeologies, as well as related topics in cultural and physical anthropology). Adopting a healthy skepticism towards pseudo archaeological theories and thinking, we contend that an attitude of critical analysis and empirical rigor is a vital part of the scholarly enterprise. http://pseudoarchaeology.org/
I agree. It's always important to view things with a "healthy skepticism". Like for instance no one who wasn't present at an event and saw something happen with their own eyes ought to make 'definitive' statements/claims about what did or did not happen right? And it's always important for others to take such 'theories' with a grain of salt. I mean that's the only logical thing to do. Having said that I bet they'll find a copy of the JP in the cave.
