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Ancient hominids developed humanlike grip much before toolmaking practice

April 20, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

Washington, Apr 20 (ANI): A tiny fossil thumb bone has indicated that hominids had a humanlike grip at least 6 million years ago, say researchers.

Sergio Almecija of the Autonomous University of Barcelona has said that earliest hominids apparently evolved an upright gait and a relatively sophisticated ability to manipulate objects much before they figured out how to make tools.

This was well before 2.6 million years ago, arguing against the idea that fine motor skills for toolmaking drove the evolution of opposable thumbs.

The researchers studied a bone from the tip of a thumb belonging to Orrorin tugenensis.

At an estimated 6 million years old, Orrorin is the second oldest hominid genus. A more recently identified hominid genus and species, Sahelanthropus tchadensis, may have lived 7 million years ago.

Controversy exists over whether fragmentary Sahelanthropus and Orrorin fossils can be used to identify new hominid genera.

Limb and jaw pieces, as well as teeth, from at least five Orrorin individuals were unearthed in Kenya in 2000.

The thumb fossil indicates that Orrorin had a long enough thumb to meet the tips of the other fingers, allowing for fine manipulation of objects.

“The Orrorin thumb bone is the most humanlike in the available fossil record, other than recent Homo species,” Discovery News quoted Almecija as saying.

By comparing Orrorin”s thumb with thumb bones from a variety of ancient apes and hominids, as well as from living people, Almecija uncovered a pattern, which argues against the current notion that hominids first evolved handier hands as they learned to make stone tools.

No Sahelanthropus thumb bones have been found.

In Almecija”s view, early hominids inherited hands capable of fine manipulation from small-bodied apes that lived in Africa and Europe between 25 million and 5 million years ago.

Hands then assumed a more apelike, less dexterous structure in later hominids, including Ardipithecus and Australopithecus, before again evolving a precision grip in the Homo lineage.

He added that Orrorin”s humanlike thumb calls into question a long-standing assumption that 1.8-million-year-old hand fossils from Homo habilis, unearthed in Africa more than 40 years ago, represent the earliest transition to a precision grip.

The study was presented at the annual meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: 5 million, 6 million, Apes, Autonomous University, bones, controversy, discovery news, fossil record, fossils, gait, genus and species, hominid, hominids, Homo, manipulation, million years, Opposable Thumbs, stone tools, thumb, University Of Barcelona

Farmers grew rice in China’s Yangtze Basin 4,000 years ago

September 19, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, September 18 (ANI): New findings in the form of carbonized rice have indicated that farming in the Yangtze Basin in China existed as early as 4,000 years ago.

According to a report in Epoch Times, excavation in the Xiezi Area of Hubei Province yielded a total of 402 cultural relics, including carbonized rice.

Stone tools, pottery, bronze, jade and porcelain were unearthed, as well as a number of spinning wheels, drop spindles made of clay and other textile tools.

There were also stone mounds and smelting relics such as slag.

A variety of grains and seeds were found, and experts believe there may be carbonized wheat among the plant findings at the site.

The relics were determined to be from the Neolithic Era or New Stone Age at the time of the Shang Dynasty (ca. 1600-1050 B.C.) and Western Zhou Dynasty (ca. 1046-771 B.C.)

The combination of the relics that were found and their stratigraphic age provides valuable information about the diet structure, production methods, and living conditions of the inhabitants of the area during the time of the Shang and Western Zhou dynasties.

Archeological team leader, Luo Yunbin explained that there had been speculation in the past about edible rice production in the Yangtze Basin, but the new findings provide solid physical evidence that there was agricultural development in that area during ancient times. (ANI)

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Four giant stone-age axes found in African lake basin

September 14, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, September 13 (ANI): A team of archaeologists has found four giant stone hand axes from the dry basin of Lake Makgadikgadi in the Kalahari Desert in Africa, dating back to the Stone Age, which suggests that the region was once much drier and wetter than it is today.

The discovery of the axes is part of the finding of thousands of stone tools on the lake bed, which sheds new light on how humans in Africa adapted to several substantial climate change events during the period that coincided with the last Ice Age in Europe.

Researchers from the School of Geography and the Environment at the University of Oxford are surveying the now-dry basin of Lake Makgadikgadi.

Their research was prompted by the discovery of the first of what are believed to be the world’s largest stone tools on the bed of the lake.

Although the first find was made in the 1990s, the discovery of four giant axes has not been scientifically reported until now.

Four giant stone hand axes, measuring over 30 cm long and of uncertain age, were recovered from the lake basin.

Equally remarkable is that the dry lake floor where they were found is also littered with tens of thousands of other smaller stone-age tools and flakes, according to the researchers.

According to Professor David Thomas, Head of the School of Geography and the Environment at the University of Oxford, “Many of the tools were found on the dry lake floor, not around its edge, which challenges the view that big lakes were only attractive to humans when they were full of water.”

“As water levels in the lake went down, or during times when they fluctuated seasonally, wild animals would have congregated round the resulting watering holes on the lake bed,” he said.

“It’s likely that early human populations would have seen this area as a prolific hunting ground when food resources in the region were more concentrated than at times when the regional climate was wetter and food was more plentiful and the lake was full of water,” he added.

The research team has investigated islands on the floor of the lake – remnants of former sand dunes – which suggest the region’s climate has also been both windier and markedly drier than it is today.

“The interior of southern Africa has usually been seen as being devoid of significant archaeology. Surprisingly, we have found and logged incredibly extensive Middle Stone Age artefacts spread over a vast area of the lake basin,” Professor Thomas said. (ANI)

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9,000-year-old fishing basket gives fresh perspective on early Irish life

September 6, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Dublin, September 6 (ANI): Construction work during roadwork in different counties in Ireland has revealed the remains of a 9,000-year-old fishing basket, along with other ancient artifacts, which give a fresh perspective on early Irish life.

According to a report in The Irish Times, the 9,000-year-old fishing basket was found at Clowanstown in Co Meath, a monastic bell-making facility was discovered at Clonfad in Co Westmeath and an “exceptional” raised wooden trackway was found close to the Dromod-Roosky bypass.

Archaeologist Dr Farina Sternke said that an excavation at Tullahedy in Co Tipperary had uncovered the remains of a palisade encircling a natural mound, which had been altered over time via the dumping of several layers of glacial soil.

“It was the first known major Neolithic landscaping project of its kind in Ireland,” said Dr Sternke.he excavations also uncovered 3,335 lithic finds or stone tools, including 144 polished stone axeheads and fragments.

Archaeologists Caitríona Moore and Chiara Chirotti said excavations at Eldercloon Co Longford as part of the Dromod-Roosky bypass on the N4 had uncovered “an extremely well-preserved complex of wooden trackways and platforms” located in a raised bog.

The structures varied from large multi-phase trackways to small, simple structures built across short stretches of wetlands.

Radiocarbon dating suggested there was 4,000 years of activity starting in the Neolithic period.

Also recovered from the complex were the remains of bowls, spears and three wheels, including a portion of an unfinished block wheel which has been dated to the late Bronze Age (2200 BC-600 BC).

It is believed to be the oldest wheel found in Ireland.

A later sign of industry was the discovery of a facility to manufacture church bells, at Clonfad Co Westmeath.

According to Paul Stevens of archeologists Valerie J Keeley Ltd, the excavation produced one of the largest metalworking assemblages ever recovered from an Irish site of this date and type.

NRA archaeologist Richard O’Brien suggested that a number of large beads found at excavation sites across the country may be “whorls”.

These are short, generally circular perforated objects used to give balance to spindles used to spin textiles.

The use of whorls pre-dated the spinning wheel and would have been popular in clothes making for about 3,500 years prior to the 15th or 16th centuries. (ANI)

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Fashion may have emerged 80,000 years ago in form of shell beads

August 28, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, August 28 (ANI): A new study by an international team of researchers from France, South Africa, Germany, Israel and the UK has confirmed that 80,000-year-old shell beads found in caves in North Africa represent some of the earliest evidence of the use of personal ornamentation, which also points to the dawn of modern human behaviour.

According to a report carried out by the Planet Earth Online, the beads provide evidence that the people alive at the time were acting much like modern humans.

“There is a problem with linking anatomically modern humans with behaviourally modern humans,” said Professor Nick Barton of the University of Oxford UK, and one of the authors of the study. “These people may have looked like us, but were they behaving the same?” he added.

The presence of the beads suggests the people who made and wore them behaved in ways we would recognize.

Using symbolic items like shell beads to communicate ideas about the wearer requires skills found only in modern humans, including a well-developed language and the ability to use abstract concepts.

The researchers analyzed 25 beads from four sites in North Africa from the Middle Palaeolithic period.

The beads, consisting of the shells of sea snails called Nassarius, had been transported some distance from the marine environment in which they’re usually found, and showed evidence of deliberate alterations.

“We found evidence they had been strung together as in a necklace or bracelet,” said Barton.

The shells had been deliberately perforated using stone tools and the researchers found distinctive wear patterns which suggested they had been rubbing together.

Wear marks around the perforations indicated the shells had been threaded on a string.

Several had also been covered with a pigment called red ochre and one shell showed evidence of heating, possibly to alter its colour.

As to what purpose the coloured beads served, Barton said, “What they were signalling, we’re not entirely sure. Possibly, they were an insurance policy, if you had shared access to certain resources and wanted to identify yourself to members of another group.”

The beads may also have let wearers identify members of the same social group, preventing unnecessary conflicts.

Alternatively, the beads might have provided personal information about the wearer, such as the wearer’s position in the social hierarchy, or that they had passed through puberty and into adulthood.

These beads might have also represented the origins of today’s fashions. (ANI)

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Fashion may have emerged 80,000 years ago in form of shell beads

August 26, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, August 26 (ANI): A new study by an international team of researchers from France, South Africa, Germany, Israel and the UK has confirmed that 80,000-year-old shell beads found in caves in North Africa represent some of the earliest evidence of the use of personal ornamentation, which also points to the dawn of modern human behaviour.