#prehistoric humans

[kungseyesfr]

Archaeologists still don't know how to solve the riddle of Göbekli Tepe (12000-10000 BC), in Türkiye; that predates Earth's great civilizations by thousands of years.

( simply history has to be rewritten )

[typhlonectes]

Svante Pääbo Wins Nobel Prize for Unraveling the Mysteries of Neanderthal DNA

The Swedish geneticist used 40,000-year-old bones to sequence the early humans’ genome

The Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine awarded the field’s top prize on Monday to Svante Pääbo, a Swedish geneticist who determined how to extract and analyze DNA from 40,000-year-old Neanderthal bones. Pääbo’s decades of research have made it possible for scientists to begin probing differences between today’s modern humans and their ancient ancestors.

Pääbo, who is 67, has spent decades pioneering and perfecting new methods of extracting Neanderthal DNA, an extremely complex and challenging process. Over time, very old DNA degrades and can become polluted with the DNA of bacteria, and modern scientists can also easily contaminate it with their own genetic material.

But time and again, Pääbo found ways around these and other issues. In 2010, after years of painstaking work, Pääbo and his team published the sequenced Neanderthal genome, a feat that at one time was considered impossible, reports the New York Times’ Benjamin Mueller. As Elizabeth Kolbert wrote in her book The Sixth Extinction, the process was like trying to reconstruct a “Manhattan telephone book from pages that have been put through a shredder, mixed with yesterday’s trash, and left to rot in a landfill...”

Read more:  https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/svante-paabo-wins-nobel-prize-for-unraveling-the-mysteries-of-neanderthal-dna-180980883

Video:  The science part of the interview starts at 2:35.

Images:  Painting by Charles R. Knight, photo by Thilo Parg CC.

[enbycrip]

ID: a Facebook post by Em Jay:

“Do any of you remember when I was posting about the recent scientific revelation that Cheddar Man was actually very dark-skinned and how pale skin is soooo much of a newer phenomenon (according to studies, pale skin began appearing in the human genome roughly 4,000 years ago as opposed to the previous assumption of 40,000 years ago) than originally surmised? A new genome sequencing study adds the famous 'Otzi the Iceman' to the list of incorrectly reconstructed (referring to the long-haired, pale-skinned rendering of him found in the Italian museum next to his real remains) ancient humans, as it has been revealed he was dark skinned and balding! The initial discovery of Otzi the Iceman in 1991 (on the Italian side of the Italian/Austrian border) was of enormous import for the scientific community for several reasons; Otzi is the oldest 'wet mummy' yet found and the clothes and equipment he was unearthed with are incomprehensibly unique as no other organic material from the Copper Age has survived. He also became popular for his 61 tattoos, which are the oldest preserved tattoos known to date. I absolutely love studies/revelations like this because (borrowing a lovely sentiment from co-author of the study Johannes Krause) they truly reflect our own biases in assuming what a person from that time looked like, and to use my own words, challenges many of us to re- examine the appearance of our ancient human ancestors in general. "The Iceman's new genome also reveals he had male-pattern baldness and much darker skin than artistic representations suggest. Genes conferring light skin tones didn't become prevalent until 4,000 to 3,000 years ago when early farmers started eating plant-based diets and didn't get as much vitamin D from fish and meat as hunter-gathers did, Krause says.

“As Ötzi and other ancient people's DNA illustrate, the skin color genetic changes took thousands of years to become commonplace in Europe. 'People that lived in Europe between 40,000 years ago and 8,000 years ago were as dark as people in Africa, which makes a lot of sense because [Africa is] where humans came from," he says. "We have always imagined that [Europeans] became light-skinned much faster. But now it seems that this happened actually quite late in human history!" (excerpt in quotations from Science News article by Tina Hesman Seay) Below are photos of Otzi, the first taken in 1991 shortly after he was discovered by 2 hikers, his naturally mummified body after he was carefully unearthed from the ice and his incorrect/false rendering with pale skin of 2011, and I hope to return to add a correct/more accurate rendering of him if/when a new one is made!”

Photos show 1) a pair of light-skinned, brown-haired hikers with brown beards, dressed in very 1980s clothing, with the exposed body of Otzi in situ in the ice where they found his body; 2) two photographs of Otzi’s preserved body from the top and back, 3) a close-up photo of Otzi’s preserved hand 4) an inaccurate reconstruction of Otzi in life, showing him as a light-skinned white man.

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

RAW DINOSAUR HARDCORE ACTION IN THE SUPER-SEVENTIES -- IN THE MIGHTY MARVEL MANNER.

PIC(S) INFO: Resolution at 894×1363 -- Spotlight on cover art to "Devil Dinosaur" Vol. 1 #1. April, 1978. An early human called Moon Boy partners with a fearsome T-Rex called Devil Dinosaur. Marvel Comics. Artwork by Jack "King" Kirby.

PIC #2: Resolution at 900×1370 -- FEARSOME!!

MINI-OVERVIEW: "The artwork is far better than most people expect. His eclectic style is well suited to themes of historical science-fiction. Kirby's cover seems hurried, but he compensates with a jarring two-page spread toward the front of the book. One of his signature innovations, the explosive scene provides an exciting start to the series."

Source: https://pencilink.blogspot.com/2008/08/devil-dinosaur-1-jack-kirby-art-cover.html & Comic Book Addiction.

[cypress-punk]

So you think a human and a Neanderthal ever sat together sharing a meal and telling jokes? Do you think they were friends?

[tyrannoninja]

Encino Man

As much as I remember the 1990s teen comedy Encino Man with nostalgic fondness (even if that nostalgia and the soundtrack happen to be more potent than the actual humor), I wonder how much comedic potential you could actually get out of the premise of a prehistoric human being thrown into a modern-day environment.

There would be culture shock for sure, as the prehistoric person would have to learn not only a whole new language but also how to read, write, and use flush toilets. However, if we're dealing with a "Cro-Magnon" Homo sapiens like Brendan Fraser's character Link, they probably wouldn't have much more difficulty with modern life than would current-day hunter-gatherers like the San or Hadza (many of whom do indeed have sustained contact with the outside world through trade and interaction with tourists and anthropologists). Our hypothetical Paleolithic transplant might wonder what the hell a smartphone is at first, but they'd probably be just as capable of learning how to use it as any Millennial.

Also, unlike Link, they'd have a language of their own instead of just grunting or parroting what their modern correspondents say.

It isn't that you couldn't tell a fascinating fish-out-of-water story about a prehistoric person in the modern world. But we might not be laughing at much at their incompetence or animalistic tendencies as we might expect from a movie like Encino Man.

That said, other hominin species like the Neanderthals or Denisovans could conceivably have a more difficult time adapting to modern society depending on how much their native cognition differed from Homo sapiens (which I admit remains unclear), and earlier species like Homo erectus or Homo habilis would almost certainly struggle even more due to, well, being more primitive. Anything predating the genus Homo would probably come across more like one of the apes you would see at the zoo than a person.

As an aside, it should go without saying that the humans who would have lived in California during the last glacial period wouldn't have looked that much like Brendan Fraser, as much as I adore the dude.

[oakandgumtrees]

living in australia really fucks with your sense of the scale of human prehistory

because aboriginal people have been here for at least 65,000 years

so when you hear that the oldest cave art in england is 13,000 years old, instead of being awed by the vast expanse of human time and our ability to connect with our ancestors through the art they left behind, you're just like

pshh

only THIRTEEN thousand?

babies

[mental-mona]

TL;DR female physiology works in women's favor when it comes to chasing big game for long periods of time, and the archaeological record suggests that women were just as involved in hunting as men. Amazing what happens when we remove our patriarchal preconceptions of history!

[diegomaranan]

Recent analyses of physiological and archaeological evidence, published in American Anthropologist, suggest that females hunted just as much as males did during the Paleolithic era. In fact, they were well-suited to long-distance hunting, largely thanks to the benefits of estrogen. Additionally, Neanderthal remains show a sex-equal distribution of bone injuries consistent with hunting. Both males and females were buried with similar items and weapons, suggesting that there was not such a stark division of labor.

[melcowpland]

Boncuklu Tarla - Oldest Human Settlement c11,000BC!

At school we were taught that until about 6000BC humans were hunter gatherers, or cave men. It was the stone age with small family groups roaming and hunting. Of course there is evidence to support this but it seems this story, like many others we have been told is not being updated with new information, especially if that information might cause a hiccup in post modern perceptions of reality…

[catrocketship]

sometimes I scroll until I feel something and then I can go do something else and today this is the thing that made me feel something

Something about this makes me weirdly emotional

[alex51324]

You were right, OP.  

today i learned that there are cave paintings of bats and i think you all deserve to see them

[artifacts-and-arthropods]

2,300-Year-Old Plush Bird from the Altai Mountains of Siberia, c.400-300 BCE: this figure was crafted with a felt body and reindeer-fur stuffing, all of which remains intact

This plush bird was sealed within the frozen barrows of Pazyryk, Siberia, for more than two millennia, where a unique microclimate enabled it to be preserved. The permafrost ice lense formation that runs below the barrows provided an insulating layer, preventing the soil from heating during the summer and allowing it to quickly freeze during the winter; these conditions produced a separate microclimate within the stone walls of the barrows themselves, thereby aiding in the preservation of the artifacts inside.

This is just one of the many well-preserved artifacts that have been found at Pazyryk. These artifacts are attributed to the Scythian/Altaic cultures.

Currently housed at the Hermitage Museum.