These finds are thrilling IMO and they push back human history.. Imagine what new information will emerge in the next 20 years. Skull Is Possible Link For Neanderthals & Modern Humans TEL AVIV, ISRAELA 55,000-year-old partial modern human skull has been discovered in Israels Manot Cave, making it the first fossil evidence that Homo sapiens were in the region and available to mate with Neanderthals, as recent genetic studies suggest. Neanderthal fossils have been found in caves in Israel and other parts of the Middle East as late as 49,000 years ago, but modern human remains had only been found to date between 120,000 and 80,000 years ago. The new skull was found covered with a thin layer of calcite on a ledge in the cave, so the research team, led by Israel Hershkovitz of Tel Aviv University, was able to date it with the uranium-thorium method. Manot is the first and only human securely dated to 50,000 to 60,000 years ago outside the African continent, Hershkovitz told Science. The team will try to extract DNA from the skull, although the regions hot climate makes its preservation unlikely. DNA information could reveal if the Manot skull represents an ancestor of the modern humans who went on to colonize Europe and Asia. To read more about our close relatives, see "Should We Clone Neanderthals." http://www.archaeology.org/news
http://archive.archaeology.org/1207/trenches/wonderwerk_homo_erectus_south_africa.html Some paleoanthropologists believe that people have been eating cooked food, and therefore making fires, for millions of years. The evidence for this, so far, has been evolutionary changes in hominin skeletons, such as decreasing tooth and jaw sizes. But there has been very little direct archaeological evidence of fire use prior to 700,000 years ago—until now. Francesco Berna of Boston University and a multinational team of researchers have uncovered evidence that Homo erectus was using fire about one million years ago at Wonderwerk Cave in South Africa. Using a technique that allows researchers to conduct microscopic analysis of the chemical composition of a sample, Berna was able to identify burned pieces of bone and plant material in the cave's sediments. The sediment came from an excavation unit that is roughly 100 feet inside the cave, which makes it unlikely that the material was burned by a lightning strike or wildfire. According to Berna, learning to use fire was an important turning point for our species—both evolutionarily and culturally. "Control of fire is a tool for adapting to different environments," he says. "It provides warmth, it provides light...and it keeps away wild animals."
Granny wantin' to know who's Dennis Evans?... Neanderthal genes 'boosted our immunity' Thu, 07 Jan 2016 - We may owe our ability to fight disease to our extinct relatives - the Neanderthals and Denisovans.
I dont know if this came from the book Sapiens or not, but in the book, it is explained that about 4% of our DNA is in fact, Neanderthal (that is, if you are part of the Caucasoid racial stock (European, Middle Eastern, or Indian), and that is what gave these particular people fair skin and their cranial differences. In East Asia, I believe it was Homo Erectus that mixed with Homo Sapiens and a bit of Neanderthal, so that's what gives East Asians their cranial structure and wider noses. In Africa, Homo Sapiens mixed with a wider variety of the other species of Homonids and formed a vastly different race. While all of us are Homo Sapiens, we have a little bit different DNA based on race, but only about 4%. Its really quite interesting.
Years ago it was reported all persons who made it north of the Sahara shared an active immunity gene acquired from Neanderthal. Asians have as much Neanderthal as Euro Folks but, many segments they preserved in their approx 4% are different Neanderthal segments than those preserved in the Euro Folks. Most recently H. erectus is appearing in our hybridized record. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/thigh-bone-adds-mystery-over-14000-year-old-homo-species I said it was so ages ago when it was defined as an "archaic" found in Denisovans and Tibetans. Continuity Through Continuous Hybridization. Well exemplified in, Quest For Fire. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082484/ Problem - why is all Mitochondrial DNA modern, out of Africa and no Neanderthal, etc. is around? For a good time, read up on Male Haplogroup - A00, that is A, zero, zero. It's "prehuman". Moi r > g View attachment 40273 Across an immense, unguarded, ethereal border, Canadians, cool and unsympathetic, regard our America with envious eyes and slowly and surely draw their plans against us.
4% isn't anything when you consider we're living intelligent creatures and we share 50% with a banana... 4% is an extraordinary deviation... "Science" claims we share 98% DNA with Chimpanzees, yet we only share 96% with Neanderthals? So basically according to them we are closer to Chimpanzees than Neanderthals?
