Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Paleolithic Papers #3

Modern Humans (Homo sapiens):

A modified bear bone from 12,500 years ago near the Pleistocene/Holocene boundary pushes back the time of the earliest occupants of Ireland.

There is some contention over the Pleistocene reports of the earliest domestic dogs. A flag raised has been there has been no study of wolf variation at the time and those early dogs might just be wolves rather than domesticated dogs.

DNA sequencing of a modern human from Ust'-Ishim gives some interesting insights.

The Water Canyon site from Pleistocene/Holocene Boundary New Mexico provides some interesting insights to the PaleoIndians of North America.

The latest in a series of transformative studies of DNA from prehistoric Europeans focuses on mitochondrial DNA, bringing fresh surprises and filling in important details of the early stages of a European ancestry stretching back more than 40,000 years.

John Hawks grumps over the comments about the exact number of times archaic human populations and modern humans interbred.


Lezetxiki Hominin (Homo neanderthalensis?):

The humerus of the Lezetxiki Hominin shows affinities with the Pit of Bones hominins (that appears to be early Neandertals and/or Denisovans). If so, this may represent an early Neandertal, too.  It dates from 164 thousand years ago (+/- 9k years).

Denisovans (no species name assigned yet):

Denisovans, Neandertals and modern humans shared an ancestor about a million years ago.  Not counting the introgressions since then.

Hominins (general): 

When and how did hominins become bipedal and lose their hair?

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