Friday, October 21, 2016

Paleolithic Papers #10

Homo:

The hybrid individuals from different species of hominins might be easily identifiable.

There is now evidence supporting hominin 'hanky panky' between lineages through STDs.  Yes, STDs.

Introgression happened a lot more often than previously thought in the hominin lineage.

H. sapiens:

What species of horse was around during the painting of the Pasley Caves?

The reason some cave paintings of bison showed long horns and others short horns has been explained.

Cave etchings from 14,500 years ago, at the twilight of the Pleistocene have been found in Lekeitio, Spain.

Modern human DNA indicates a single Out of Africa event was the primary one.

Modern human teeth were found in the same cave where the Hobbits were.

Humans may not be able to live past 125 years.

Australian Aborigines genomic history has been profiled showing a divergence from Eurasians between 30,000 to 70,000 years ago.  Australian Aborigines are claimed to be the world's oldest culture.  I think this ignores the past papers stating the San people of Africa have been genetically divergent since around 100,000 years ago.

A new modern human track site has been found in Africa from 19.000 years ago.

H. neanderthalensis:

Châtelperronian hominins have been genetically tested and found to be Neandertals.

It appears antlers, rhino horns and fire were used in burials by Neandertals.

Neandertals seem to have had better teeth than we, modern humans, do.  John Hawks makes a commentary on the article.

Neandertal ossicles (ear bones) were different but as good as modern humans.

Did Neandertal introgression compromise the European immune system?

H. habilis:

OH-65 gives the earliest evidence of right handedness in hominins.

Paranthropus:

P. robustus

P. robustus teeth were recovered from Swartkrans Cave, South Africa.  These suggest more variability in dimorphism than previously thought.

Australopithecus:

Calculating the bite strength of fossil hominins, especially australopithecines.

A. afarensis:

Did Lucy die from falling from a tree (the paper)?

A new specimen of A. afarensis was found from Nefuraytu, Ethiopia.

A. sediba:

The earliest known cancer in a hominin was found in A. sediba.

John Hawks refutes lichen grew on A. sebida bones.

The mandible ramus shape suggests A. sebida was a single, but variable species.

A. sediba's jaws were very australopithecine, but the rest of the cranium was rather different.

META:

Is the human lineage innately violent (paper)?

The difference in gaits between members of the genuses Australopithecus & Homo.

Hunting for Stone Age sites in the Olduvai Gorge using drones.

Monkeys have been found making stone flakes for tools, creating some questions about the earliest hominin stone tools.

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