The world"s earliest #Baboon was located in #MalapaCave -- and it"s the first of this kind of find - http://clapway.com/2015/08/23/earliest-baboon-specimen-found-in-malapa-cave-131/

In the years that the Malapa Cave has been producing archaeological finds for the scientific community, it has once again provided another fossil for scientists to ponder. News about the earliest baboon specimen that was found in Malapa Cave came to light on the 19th of August.

WHAT LIES IN THE MALAPA CAVE?

The press release on this discovery discusses that the fossil specimen was the earliest baboon species found to date. The earliest baboon specimen dated as far back as around two million years ago.

Previous finds within the Malapa Cave include the Australopithecus sediba which marked a new species of human ancestry. Although this new earliest baboon specimen does not contribute to what is known about the human ancestry and evolution, it marks another find in the cave’s book.

THE EARLIEST BABOON SPECIES

The earliest baboon fossil specimen was a partial cranium that was described in the paper released in the PLOS journal as the only non-hominin fossil to be recovered in the Malapa Cave location as of yet. But the finding of this fossil in a cave where only hominin fossils had been found previously is not much of a surprise to researchers of the study. One researcher noted that baboons and hominin species have co-existed at various points in history and are evident in several fossil finds in Africa.

This little interesting nugget contributes greatly to the overall baboon evolution in South Africa and helps science gauge when the modern baboon began to mark its appearance with a better timeline. Researchers also mentioned that the divergent of the baboons of the bygone era began to the modern baboons of today began around 1.8 to 2.2 million years ago, around the same time the new fossil was estimated to be.

Also, the paper also mentions that the earliest baboon specimen had some indications of similarities in the anatomy to the modern baboon. The find is also exceedingly fortunate as previous finds were brittle or heavily fragmented, preventing intense study on the fossils.

It is the hope of the researchers that future fossils of the earliest baboon specimen will be found.

---

 

For the best of Clapway this week, check out New in Review:

 

Earliest Baboon Specimen Found in Malapa Cave

French Young Adults Excavate 560,000-Year-Old Tooth in Arago Cave - http://clapway.com/2015/07/29/french-young-adults-excavate-560000-year-old-tooth-in-arago-cave-346/

History of the Arago Cave

The area of the Arago Cave is probably most well-known for the finding of the Tautavel Man fossil. The fossil was one of the oldest fossils found to date. Until this past week.

The cave was thought to be occupied around 700,000 to 35,000 years ago, as the findings have resulted in a variety animal, human bones, and tools. All a different age that suggests the cave was occupied at various points in the past.

It would make sense, as the cave is overlooking a valley which can make for a bird’s eye view below, and make watching the local game a lot easier. Also interesting in the finds is that the species of humans that lived here were capable of speaking as revealed by various skulls. Later experts agreed that the characteristics found were of a pre-Neanderthal Homo erectus, one group before the emergence of Neanderthals as we know it.

The finding of the 560,000-year-old tooth

Which is why the finding of the 560,000-year-old tooth was so significant. The tooth that was found completely isolated from any other fossil with no nearby skull it belonged to was dated to be 100,000 years older than the Tautavel Man.

This was found this past Thursday, when two young French archaeologists began working on the area. There, the 560,000-year-old tooth was found and revealed to be a worn down incisor.

Finding this ancient tooth was truly a great find and very fortuitous as most fossils that date from 500,000 to 800,000 are a rare commodity in Europe, especially since no burials were done then. The 560,000-year-old tooth helps to fill in the blanks for the archaeology community about that point in time. It can also tell a lot about the lifestyle existing during that time. The person that was supervising the excavation site was Amélie Vialet, a paleoanthropologist.

The site of the Arago Cave has been a point of interest for scientists and have turned up many interesting finds about that lost prehistoric era. At the moment–although it is highly doubtful–the team is hoping to find the body the 560,000-year-old tooth belonged to in order to get more information on the people who lived before the Neanderthals.

---

 

Protect your devices with really strong protection:

French Young Adults Excavate 560,000-Year-Old Tooth in Arago Cave

New Study Suggests Different Origins of Native Americans - http://clapway.com/2015/07/26/new-study-suggests-different-origins-of-native-americans796/

The Origins of Man

The exact history of how we came to be is one that is still quite unclear and constantly revised. Many cultures around the world hold their own creation stories about the creation of the world and how the people came to be. But we all have one thing in common, the Earth.

This is why the Human Genome Project went underway in 2005 to help map out the genetic trail across the world. What little is known about the map thus far can be found on here on the National Geographic website.

the origins of native americans

But also in a documentary/book that features geneticist and anthropologist Spencer Wells called the Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey. As mentioned, the story was made into a documentary as well, detailing the journey of tracing the trail across the world.

The origins of Native Americans came about in the last few minutes of the film. It suggested that the origins of Native Americans point to Siberia, based on blood analysis.

A new study shows evidence for a different story of the origins of Native Americans

Up to then, that’s all we really knew about the genetic trail of humankind and recently a new study was published on the 21st of this month. This study was published in Nature that suggested a different story for certain groups of people in the Americas.

In the study, the origins of Native Americans, more specifically the ones in South America by the Amazon, may share more traits with the indigenous people of Australia, New Guineans, etc. This interesting note was not seen in other natives from the North or Central Americas.

Of course, such a finding was interesting, surprising and threw off everything that was known thus far from the Genome project. So further and more intensive studies were conducted on the area where the link showed up.

interesting ramifications of study

The results showed that the finding was not a fluke, but also suggested the link may be older than the migration into the Americas. But to gauge which group came first, where from, and other such questions, they need to get a DNA sample from the remains of that group of people.

As you can imagine, there have not been any found as of yet. But since there is a link to Australians, looking at remains from there may be an option as well. All this new research tells us is that perhaps it wasn’t just a one-way stop that the Americas came to be populated.

---

 

want to wake up to your favorite scents?

New Study Suggests Different Origins of Native Americans