Paleolithic Papers #31

Genus Homo:

Apparently, there has been selection against the archaic components of the genome when interbreeding hast taken place between modern humans and other hominin species.   

Could cooking have shaped our evolution for the last 2 million years?

More articles about the two previously undetected hominin relatives people seem to have interbred with.

Rock art requires a relatively high density demographic.

Modern Humanity (H. sapiens):

Tetrapod Zoology goes into five "mysterious" cave paintings.

Two Patagonian volcanic caves have evidence of people for the last 19,000 years.

Late Pleistocene fossils of modern humans have been found across the Wallace Line.

Mesolithic fire pits from the Netherlands get studied.

Modern humans occupied the Ethiopian highlands sometime between 31 kya to 47 kya.

An infant burial was found from Late Pleistocene Morocco. 

Human presence evidence from the Upper Paleolithic of Joran.

Ancient tools suggest modern humans spread across Eurasia earlier than previously thought.

Neandertals (H. neanderthalensis):

Studying Neandertal brains may give insights to modern human brain evolution.

The virtual reconstruction of the Apidima-2 skull.

The paleogenetic analysis of the Gibraltar Neandertals shows two different populations separated by time.

Half of Neandertals suffered from surfers ear, strongly implying they spent a lot of time in the water gathering food.

A Neandertal tooth was found in the Zagros Mountains.

Denisovans:

Could the 3 rooted second molar in the first Denisovan mandible be morphological evidence of introgression into modern populations?

Did Denisovans intentionally carve and paint this rock?

Denisovans are starting to come into the paleoanthropological light.

Hobbits (H. floresiensis):

Meet the hobbits of Indonesia.

H. erectus:

The Koobi Fora site in Kenya gets more support for being evidence of early use of fire.

H. naledi:

Meet Homo naledi.

Genus Australopithecus:

A. africanus mothers appear to have nursed their children for at least a year.

Authors of a new paper are arguing StW 573's skull shows it to be a different species than A. africanus.

META:

Hominin fossils seem to indicate early human species had teeth development similar to modern humans.

A single gene mutation 2 million years ago might explain why humans are prone to heart attacks.

There were significant environmental changes in the Middle Pleistocene in Europe.

Paleolithic Papers #29

Genus Homo:

Rock art from Croatia from circa 34,000 years ago is figurative in nature.

Stone tools were recycled to new uses at a cave in Israel during the late Lower Paleolithic.

Hunter gatherers don't live in 'small' societies.

H. sapiens (Modern Humans):

Brain sizes have shrunk 10% in the last 40,000 years.

There is evidence of starchy food cooked in South Africa during the Mesolithic.

Is this the earliest known footprint from a human in the Americas?

H. neanderthalensis (Neandertals):

The Sima de los Huesas hominins get their age bracketed.

The first Neandertal fossil from Serbia has been found.

Could have aridification helped wipe out the neandertals?

Denisovans:

The Denisovans were two populations, at least, and may have actually been two different species.

A Denisovan jaw bone found in Tibet shows Denisovans colonized the 'roof of the world' long before modern humans did.  The jaw bone also starts to show what the Denisovans looked like.

H. antecessor:

H. antecessor was, at least once, a cannibal.

H. heidelbergensis:

Evidence from reexamining bovid remains from South Africa suggest active hunting was import for H. heidelbergensis.

H. luzonensis:

H. luzonensis, a new hominin from Luzon island of the Philippines, has been discovered. This hominin was another miniature standing at about an estimated 1.2m (5 ft). It may have suffered from island dwarfing like H. floresiensis, the so-called Hobbit.  John Hawks comments.

Hualongdong Hominin:

A hominin from China has a mosaic of primitive and modern features.  Some are claiming this is proof of the multiregional hypothesis.

H. erectus:

Evidence of what mammals H. erectus ate in Italy prior to 1.3 million years ago.

The dispersal routes out of Africa for hominins are explored in Sudan looking for stone tools.  John Hawks comments.

H. naledi:

Cranial remains from the Lesedi Chamber of the Rising Star Cave show some variation from the other fossils, but by and large appear to be more of H. naledi.

H. habilis:

The KNM-ER 64060 fossil mandible appears to be from H. habilis rather than H. erectus.

Genus Australopithecus:

A. sediba:

A sediba does not appear to be ancestral to modern humans.

META:

Man the Runner hypothesis is back again.

A troop of chimps deprived a leopard of its kill: how does that help model early hominins?

The history of human evolution can be seen in your face.

How important was the east african coastal forest for human evolution?

Basal ancestors of Humanity were upright apes.

Plovers Lake paleogenetics data might have been contaminated by modern people.

Paleolithic Papers #28

Genus Homo:

How did ancient Homo choose places to do its cave paintings?

H. sapiens (modern humans):

Apparently, Late Pleistocene hunter gatherers survived in Iberian ancestry.

Modern humans originated in South Africa and spread through Africa just before migrating out of the continent.

Researchers have found a narrative piece of art from Paleolithic Europe.

A very bold paper claims Australian Aboriginals arrived in Australia 120,000 years ago.

Neandertals:

A commentary is made on the dating of La Quina Amont.

Neandertals might have had adaptations to the cold like wooly mammoths.

Denisovans:

The first pieces of Denisovan skulls have been verified.

Tongzi Hominin:

The Tongzi hominin's teeth are not like H. erectus teeth like had been previously thought.

H. floresiensis (Hobbits):

The environment of Flores at the time of the Hobbit was explored: it was a grassland!  Or so sayeth the rats.

H. erectus:

How big were the groups in Paleolithic India?

H. erectus purposefully started fires on grasslands.  Time to rethink the anthropocene start, folks.

H. naledi:

The root and pulp morphology of a molar for H. naledi gets examined.

Genus Australopithecus:

The brain sizes of A. afarensis and A. africanus are examined.  Did they grow large from eating bone marrow?

Genus Paranthropus:

Dental caries were found in a molar from a P. robustus.

Comparing the metatarsal of Paranthropus to extent hominoids.

META:

The ability to miniaturize stone tools sets hominins apart from other primates.

Did the slowing of the Antarctic current regulate the glaciation cycle?

Green corridors in the Sahara might have facilitated hominin dispersal.

The grandmother hypothesis might explain why women live longer than men.

Why do humans have wisdom teeth that need to be removed?

Unravelling ancient signals of DNA introgression in modern humans.

Paleolithic Papers #22

Genus Homo:

What restricted hominin living locations in middle Pleistocene China?

Could the evolution of human beings be the root cause of some mental disorders?

H. sapiens:

Discovery of spearheads and other points in Gault, TX indicate a new, previously unknown and unique stone tool tradition that predates the Clovis culture.

The models of how the Americas were populated get a run down.

Modern humans may have arisen from pockets of semi isolated populations in Africa.

Did modern humans dominate the world because we specialized at being generalists?

The modern pygmy population of Flores, Indonesia shows evidence of Denisovan and Neandertal introgression, but not of older hominins.  This (amongst other information) indicates insular dwarfism arose twice on Flores with two different hominin species and the Hobbits are not related to the modern Rampasasa people of Flores.

H. neanderthalensis:

The Krapina Neandertals used their anterior teeth for tasks other than eating based on their tooth fractures.

Neandertals apparently had a different ontogeny went it came to walking.

Some caution is being urged at using microbiota of the mouth as evidence of the interbreeding between modern humans and Neandertals.

Neandertals appear to have fire starting tools.

H. erectus:

Stone tools from China date from 2.1 million years ago, pushing back in time the exit from Africa by 400kya.  The question is which hominin this is.  H. erectus seems the most likely, but that would mean H. erectus is older than we thought.  John Hawks appears to support the idea this is H. erectus and states there is at least one other Chinese site that has similar dates.

There is a pelvis found that is close to modern humans',  but apparently is really from H. erectus given the rest of the skeleton.  It may be the modern human pelvis was part of the normal variation of later H. erectus.

Island dwarfism in canids during the Pleistocene in Java could have implications for H. erectus and the potential evolution of the 'hobbits,' H. floresiensis.

Did...laziness (?!?!) doom H. erectus?

H. habilis:

The use, reuse and creation of tools at the Oldowan technological site HWK EE.

H. naledi:

3 specimens from the Rising Star cave give some insight into the variation in H. naledi.

Genus Australopithecus:

The hominin jaw underwent significant change in the earliest australopithecines.

A. afarensis and A. sediba walked bipedally differently.

The Swartkrans Oldowan site provided some interesting differences between other Oldowan stone tool sites.

META:

A 2 million year long perspective of the hydroclimatic environment of human evolution in Southeast Africa.

Eating bone marrow shaped the evolution of the hominin hand.

Trabecular bone patterning in the human hand hints at changes as to how the hand was used by hominins.

Paleolithic Papers #20

Genus Homo:

Were movable eye brows a significant force in human evolution?

Hominins were not present where megafauna were common, but may have still contributed to the mass extinction.

Where did the Neandertal introgression hypothesis originate?

Just what butchered a rhino in the Philippines 709,000 years ago?

A cave in Kenya gives insight into technological innovation over millennia during the Pleistocene.

The onset of the Achuelean in East Africa is examined.

H. sapiens:

A modern human finger bone has been found in Saudi Arabia dating from over 85,000 years ago.

John Hawks looks back at the idea the Clovis Culture was the first one in the Americas.

The origin of fluted point technology in the ice free corridor in North America.

Long distance pigment trade and use in Mesolithic Africa.

The environmental conditions at the onset of the Mesolithic in Africa.

Variation in the temporal labyrinth as evidence of out of Africa.

Stone artifacts where recovered from Sulawesi, Indonesia dating from 65,000 years ago, suggesting modern humans arrived much earlier than previously thought.

Genomic research linked North African, subsaharan and Middle Eastern populations during the Late Pleistocene.

A recent paper argues a 5 meter long wooden sculpture from Siberia is from the twilight of the Pleistocene and the oldest known monumental art.

Symbolic emblems from the Middle East hint that the Levantine Aurignacian had a distinct, regional culture.

Modern Humans started making certain types of stone tools over ten thousand years earlier than previously thought.

The ability to focus on details led to a revolution in cave paintings.

Evidence of waves of immigrants into the Southeast Asia come from genetics.

How humans survived the Toba event.

H. neanderthalensis:

Neandertals actually had a rather unique nasal system and breathed primarily through their nose, even when breathing heavily.  Could that have been a cold weather adaptation?  After all, our noses help warm and moisten the air as it comes in.

Scientists are hoping to grow brain organoids using Neandertal DNA and observe differences between Neandertals and modern humans.

Neandertals might have have had Mediterranean maritime odysseys since their tools were found on the island of Crete.

How much insight do artifacts from Crimea give into Neandertal symbolism?

Differences between Neandertal and modern human mandibular ramus are considered.

The 'endocostal ossifications' of the K 2 Neandertal get reconsidered.

H. floresiensis:

The experiences of one of the discoverers of the Hobbit and John Hawks' amplification of that.

H. erectus:

KNM-WT 1500's weight has had important implications for understanding H. erectus growth.

KNM-ER 42700:

KNM-ER 42700 is NOT Homo erectus, but rather a different, unknown hominin species.

H. naledi:

Enamel growth on H. naledi's teeth gets considered.

The complexity of H. naledi's brain is examined.

Genus Australopithecus:

Modern human gait predates the genus Homo.

Human hip joint loading was present in A. africanus and P. robustus.

META:

Our understanding of hominin evolution is shaped by sampling bias.

Developed Olduwan A should be abandoned as a term since there is no difference between it and Olduwan.

A new hominin has been found circa 2 million years ago from Ethiopia. 

What we inherited from our insectivorous ancestors.

Paleolithic Papers #19

Genus Homo:

A British Columbian family found a hominin trackway dating from 90,000 years ago in South Africa.  This was certainly from the genus Homo and probably even H. sapiens.

Bone retouchers from circa 115,000 years ago were found in China.  John Hawks comments on them.

Paleolithic bone tools from northern China are examined.

A lower density of carnivores in Europe might have allowed hominins to thrive.

Almost immediately after the glaciers retreated in Germany, hominins moved in.

H. sapiens:

A Pleistocene Moroccan had its genetic ancestry traced to the Near East and Subsaharan Africa.

The Toba super eruption did not cause a volcanic winter in eastern Africa.

Modern humans seem to have been just fine in South Africa, too.

John Hawks takes a look at the Toba bottleneck.

Cheddar Man, the prehistoric individual found in Britain with modern descendants in the area had dark skin.  By modern standards, he was black.

Can micro amounts of flint in archaeological sites help indicate if there was flint knapping taking place?

Evidence of modern humans has been found that pushes back our species origin by tens of thousands of years.

Major climate and technological change abounded at the dawn of modern humans.

Footprints of human beings have been found off the coast of Canada dating to the Late Pleistocene.

H. neanderthalensis:

The oldest fire forged multi purpose tool dates from 170,000 years ago in Europe.

Brown Bears, Cave Bears and Neandertals were competitors in Pleistocene Europe.  It seems in some cases, Neandertals actually hunted the bears.

The complexity of Neandertal technology gets discussed.

The classic Neandertal La Ferrassie 1 gets a redescription and that includes new pathologies found.

Neandertals seem to have a rather different thorax than modern humans.

Could Neandertal's lack of drawing be related to how they hunted?  Probably mistaken.  See the next line.

The first cave art is probably Neandertal and predates known modern humans arriving in Europe by 20,000 years.  This suggests Neandertals thought like modern people do. (original paper)

The El Sidrón juvenile Neandertal reconstruction has led to some controversy.

Sima de los Huesos Hominin:

The SdlH hominin had legs more like Neandertals than early modern humans based on their cross section.  This would lend support to the idea the SdlH hominins are basal Neandertals or ancestral to Denisovans and Neandertals.

Denisovans:

It appears that Denisovans interbred with modern humans twice.

H. heidelbergensis:

The bite strength of H. heidelbergensis and H. sapiens is compared.

H. naledi:

New excavations are underway at the site where H. naledi was discovered.

The teeth of H. naledi are considered with their potential diet in mind.

META:

The paper "The revised stratigraphy of the hominin-bearing site of Kromdraai (Gauteng, South Africa) and associated perspectives " has been retracted by the editors of the journal.

The evolution of eccrine sweat glands in human lineage gets examined.

Hominid brain size grew over time.  John Hawks takes issue with the paper.  (and he also calls homo floresiensis by its name)

Were grass leaves a source of food for hominins?

Did hominins use stone tools to make nightly defensive shelters from Acacia trees?

Hominins risked ischemia when going bipedal.

Hip extensor mechanics and the evolution of walking upright.

Did Pleistocene hominins really bury their dead?

Paleolithic Papers #17

Genus Homo:

The brains of modern humans are different than other primates in particular ways.

Modern Humans (H. sapiens):

Ancient DNA from South Africa pushes back the origins of modern humans.

How did ancient humans organize themselves?  Check their genomes.

Did the first Americans come via the Kelp Highway?  More evidence.

Ancient mitochondrial DNA studies have shown three different groups swept into Labrador and Newfoundland at different times.

Hobbits (H. floresiensis):

How the Hobbit, LB1, was found.

Did Hobbits eat rats?

Denisovans:

John Hawks disagrees when the Denisovans and Neandertals split.

Neandertals (H. neanderthalensis):

New wrist bones from the Neandertals of El Sidron, Spain have been found and studied.

The Mousterian Neandertals of China are discussed.

A high coverage DNA Neandertal genome has been recovered from Vindijia, Croatia.

The interbreeding between modern humans and Neandertals reintroduced older, lost DNA from ancient, older hominins to the modern human genome.

The interaction between Neandertals and modern humans has been modeled.

A paper suggested modern humans replaced Neandertals through immigration.  A response has been posted.

H. heidelbergensis:

Did the sinuses of H. heidelbergensis have a special role or placement? 

H. naledi:

Reviewing the September excavations at the Rising Star Caves.

An H. naledi pelvis is examined and found to have characteristics of Homo and Australopithecus pelvises.

Genus Paranthropus:

P. robustus:

Isotopic analysis of P robustus teeth show the environments and even movements of individuals lived in.

META:

Crocodiles may make similar marks on bones when feeding like those interpreted to be done by stone tools and flakes used for butchery by hominins.

The jaws of hominins and their variation give important clues as to whether or not they belong to a specific species.

There are deep concerns some of the fossils from Europe of hominins were stolen and used in a study.  Even the journal has grown concerned.

Stone tools from late Oldowon from the Olduvai are investigated with new digs.

Pounding tools from the Oldowon to Acheulen transition are examined as well.

Paleolithic Papers #14

Genus Homo:

During the Middle Pleistocene, the Luonan Basin in central China appears to be a refugium for hominids.

How the human pelvis evolved.

Humanity originated in the grasslands.

Mathematical models are attempting to explain the evolutionary growth of the human brain.

Was the reason human remained platigrade when their ancestors came out of the trees was to due to a better fighting stance?

Modern Humans (H. sapiens):

It appears modern humans may have arrived in North America far, far earlier than previously thought, back 130,000 years ago.  This is an extraordinary claim, so approach with caution.  Also, there is no evidence whether this is really modern humans or some other member of the genus Homo.  The reason I list it here is because there is no credible evidence of any other hominin ever in North America.

Australian Aboriginals have been genetically isolated for 50,000 years according to a study of their mitochondrial DNA.

Native American of the northwest have been genetically continuous for at least 10,000 years.

The symbols of Wallacea in Indonesia from the Late Pleistocene.

Life sucked for a teen mom found from Late Pleistocene North America.

Were there multiple waves of migration into the Americas?

Hobbits (H. floresiensis):

Hobbits are more closely related to Homo habilis than Homo erectus.

Neandertals (H. neanderthalensis):

How Neandertal vertebrae were different from modern humans.

Trying to figure out the functional use of the Neandertal arm.

Neandertal diet and subsistence strategies studies have been very, very biased.

How Neandertals gathered wood for their fires.

John Hawks reviews and then calls for caution over the evidence Neandertals might have used 'aspirin' and had a form of penicillin.

A decorated raven bone from Crimea may be a Neandertal artifact.

Could Neandertals have been wiped out by diseases carried by modern humans?

Neandertal trade is documented in a Pleistocene Czech cave.

Has Neandertal cave art been found?

Xuchang Hominins:

Were the Xuchang hominins Neandertals or something else?

Denisovans:

There is a claim of the discovery of a very impressive piece of jewelry associated with the Denisovans during the Pleistocene 40,000 years ago.  I have not seen a peer reviewed journal article.

Denisovan (and Neandertal) DNA has been recovered from cave sediments.  We can now know whether or not a caveman excretes in a cave (cue bear in woods ref).

The Xujiayao hominid from the middle Pleistocene may be a Denisovan.

H. naledi:

New remains of H. naledi appear to date the age of the hominin cousin to between 250 to 335 thousand years ago, making the human family tree look even MORE bushy.

H. heidelbergensis:

Remains from Portugal appear to be ancestral to Neandertals.

H. erectus:

The pelvis shape of H. erectus is described.

Members of the genus Homo have been hunting as groups prior to the rise of Neandertals.

Genus Australopithecus:

Analysis of the Laetoli footprints strongly suggests a human-like gait.

Using children to try to figure out the body sizes of small hominids.

The environment of Turkana, east Africa is described from 2 million years ago to 1.4 million years ago.

A. afarensis:

How A. afarensis gave birth.

The human-like spine existed in A. afarensis.

A. sebida:

Was A. seiba actually very closely related to A. africanus?

Genus Sahelanthropus:

The environment for Sahelanthropus appears to have been a largely forested.  Australopithecus  bahrelghazali as well.

Genus Graecopithecus:

Was Graecopithecus the oldest known post LCA hominin? If so some of the earliest hominins lived outside of Africa proper.

Last Common Ancestor:

bonobos are a better analog for the last common ancestor of apes than chimpanzees.

Paleolithic Papers #8

Genus Homo:

How China's hominin fossils are rewriting what we know about human evolution.

Robustness in limb bones can effect when we think Pleistocene and Holocene hominins died.

Modern humans are the ultimate super predator.

Modern Humanity (Homo sapiens):

Cultural and technological change was not driven by climate change for humanity.

Human cultural paleodiversity gets examined.

The impact of humans on the environment since the Pleistocene.


Neandertals (Homo neanderthalensis):

The first evidence of cannibalism in Neandertals has been found.

Paranasal sinuses are a bad sign of climate adaptation.

Neandertal brain development was similar to modern humans.

Hobbits (Homo floresiensis):

Evidence of fire in Indonesia's home of the Hobbits dates from 41,000 years ago. Is this a sign of modern humans on the island? or...?  (paper link)

Homo erectus:

H. eretus walked like modern humans.

Genus Australopithecus:

A. africanus:

A. africanus feet were not like modern human or ape feet.

An A. africanus pelvis was reconstructed with an eye to both locomotion and obstetrics. 

META:

Variation in bones for populations needs to be taken into account for fossil hominins.

Viruses have greatly influenced human evolution.

Paleolithic Papers #7

Genus Homo:

There seems to have been a dietary shift in the evolution of the genus Homo from Australopithecus.

A decorated Nautilus shell from 42,000 years ago from Indonesia has been found.

Modern Humans (Homo sapiens):

Tracking the stone tools across the Kalahari during the Mesolithic.

What does the 'Still Bay' Mesolithic stone tools imply for human demographics?

What does cut mark evidence mean for Late Pleistocene societies?

Where is the evidence of women and children in the Stone age?

The argument for coastal foraging being important for early modern humans gets revisited.

The 'Deep Skull' from Pleistocene South East Asia has revealed some surprises. For example, the person its from is not related to Australian Aborigines. 

Sima de los Huesos hominin:

The Sima de los Huesos hominin probably died violently.

Hobbits (Homo floresiensis):

John Hawks talks about the recent discovery of ancestors of Hobbit ancestors.

Homo erectus:

Visiting the site of the oldest known hominins outside of Africa in Georgia.

Homo naledi:

The academic bun fight over whether or not the bodies of H naledi were placed deliberately continues.

John Hawks weighs in on the bun fight and defends the idea the bodies were placed intentionally.  He also gives a recap of a seminar on the latest on H. naledi.

The phylogenetic position of H. naledi is explored.

Genus Australopithecus:

The implications of the paleoecology and their impacts on the evolution of australopithecines.

Australopithecus afarensis:

Lucy's feet are consistent with the Laetoli footprints. 

Paleolithic Papers #6: The Ancient Ancestry of the Hobbit

Genus Homo:

Did Human-like intelligence develop to take care of helpless infants?

Or some other source?

Why Humans may have bigger brains than apes.

Modern human ancestry is complicated by extinct hominins interbreeding with modern populations.

Modern Humans (Homo sapiens):

There was immigration back to Africa during the Paleolithic.

A significant find of cave art dating from around the end of the Pleistocene was found in Spain.

Human remains from the Late Pleistocene have been found in Congo.

A potential pre Clovis site in South Carolina has been found.   Given its claimed age, this might fall into the extraordinary claim territory.

Modern humans from Paleolithic Europe had a higher percentage of Neandertal DNA and were replaced by the farmers coming from Anatolia. 

Paleogenetics in Australia gets more controversial with claims Mungo Man did NOT have earlier populations contributing to its genome.

PaleoIndians did NOT come south through corridors in the glaciers of North America.

Neandertals (Homo neanderthalensis):

Neandertals are getting a revision. 

How Neandertals grew.

The Mousterian still appears to be chronological.

Neandertals built a subterranean monument (John Hawks take, paper).

Hobbits (Homo floresiensis):

Hobbit fossils dating from 700k years ago during the Middle Pleistocene have been found.  This pushes back the dawn of H. floresiensis by hundreds of thousands of years ago. The bit that needs a big flashing neon sign for this is the Hobbit predates modern humanity.  It may be the Hobbits are from a very early expansion of Homo erectus.

The research helps prove that the Hobbit is NOT suffering from Down's Syndrome.

Genus Australopithecus:

There were multiple species of hominin running around at the time of Lucy. 

Are more fossils just complicating things?

META:

Stronger evidence that hominins did evolve on the grasslands.

Paleolithic Papers #4

Australopithecus afarensis:

More afarenesis fossils have been found, including two infants,in Kenya.

Genus Homo:

The nose plays an important part of the conditioning of the air for the lungs.

Did nearby supernova affect human evolution?

Where did early humans get their brain feeding nutrients?

Homo naledi:

Did H. naledi really purposefully bury its dead in the cave in Africa?

Homo erectus:

The biogeography of the dispersion of erectus out of Africa.

Neandertals (Homo neanderthalensis):

The differences between Neandertals and modern humans are being attributed to the differences in diet.

Hobbits (Homo floresiensis):

Hobbits were older than previously thought.

Some are speculating the new dates would imply modern humans wiped out the Hobbits.

John Hawks talks about what the new paper on the Liang Bua's stratigraphy does and does not answer.  It ought to be noted Hawks is calling the Hobbits Homo floresiensis now.

Modern Humans (Homo sapiens):

There was a long layover in Beringia when the PaleoIndians migrated to the New World from Asia.

Puppies of the Paleolithic sounds like a title to a kids book or an odd band, but is entirely accurate in this case.

There is a map of which populations have Denisovan and Neandertal genes.

Some have questions about the introgression of Denisovans and Neandertals into modern humans.

Modern human Y chromosomes do not have Neandertal genes.

There is a hot topic of whether or not warfare is inherent to modern humans.  Some argue it is.  Others believe it is not.  A study in Japan of Holocene hunter gatherers claims to support that war is not a basal part of humanity.

Even the Hobbit's Skull Shows its NOT Homo sapiens

What do cranial bones of LB1 tell us about Homo floresiensis?

Authors:

Balzeau et al

Abstract:

Cranial vault thickness (CVT) of Liang Bua 1, the specimen that is proposed to be the holotype of Homo floresiensis, has not yet been described in detail and compared with samples of fossil hominins, anatomically modern humans or microcephalic skulls. In addition, a complete description from a forensic and pathological point of view has not yet been carried out. It is important to evaluate scientifically if features related to CVT bring new information concerning the possible pathological status of LB1, and if it helps to recognize affinities with any hominin species and particularly if the specimen could belong to the species Homo sapiens.

Medical examination of the skull based on a micro-CT examination clearly brings to light the presence of a sincipital T (a non-metrical variant of normal anatomy), a scar from an old frontal trauma without any evident functional consequence, and a severe bilateral hyperostosis frontalis interna that may have modified the anterior morphology of the endocranium of LB1. We also show that LB1 displays characteristics, related to the distribution of bone thickness and arrangements of cranial structures, that are plesiomorphic traits for hominins, at least for Homo erectus s.l. relative to Homo neanderthalensis and H. sapiens. All the microcephalic skulls analyzed here share the derived condition of anatomically modern H. sapiens. Cranial vault thickness does not help to clarify the definition of the species H. floresiensis but it also does not support an attribution of LB1 to H. sapiens. We conclude that there is no support for the attribution of LB1 to H. sapiens as there is no evidence of systemic pathology and because it does not have any of the apomorphic traits of our species.

Based on Jaws & Teeth, Homo floresiensis ('Hobbit') Was a Separate Species

An ancient, 3-foot-tall (0.9 meters) human whose diminutive stature has earned it the nickname "hobbit" has puzzled evolutionary scientists since its little bones were discovered on the Indonesian island of Flores. Some have suggested the individual was a Homo sapiens with some miniaturizing disorder.

Now, teeth from the hobbit suggest it belonged to a unique species rather than a modern human with a growth disorder. The new research also suggests hobbits may share a direct ancestor with modern humans.

The 18,000-year-old fossil remains of the hobbit were discovered in 2003. Since then, scientists have suggested that the hobbit, which had a brain about the size of a grapefruit, was a unique branch of the human lineage Homo, dubbed Homo floresiensis. However, other researchers have argued the hobbit was really a modern human with microcephaly, a condition that leads to an abnormally small head, a small body and some mental retardation.

To learn more about the hobbit, scientists have now performed the first comprehensive analysis of the ancient human's teeth. The researchers compared the 40 known hobbit teeth with those from 490 modern humans from Asia, Oceania, Africa and Europe, as well as from a variety of extinct hominins, such as Homo habilis, which is suspected to be among the first makers of stone tools. (Hominins consist of humans and their relatives dating after the split from the chimpanzee lineage.)

The researchers found hobbit teeth were as small as those from short modern humans. However, other features of these teeth looked completely dissimilar from those of modern humans.

The hobbit teeth displayed a unique mosaic of primitive traits seen in early hominins mixed with more-advanced traits seen in later hominins, the researchers said. For instance, the canine and premolar teeth looked primitive, whereas the molar teeth looked advanced, or as if they had emerged later in the evolution of Homo sapiens, the scientists said.

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New Geoarchaeological Finds in Liang Bawah, the Cave Beneath

Geoarchaeological finds below Liang Bua (Flores, Indonesia): A split-level cave system for Homo floresiensis?

Authors:

Gagan et al

Abstract:

We report on new geoarchaeological finds in a recently discovered cave-chamber (Liang Bawah, “Cave Underneath”) positioned below Liang Bua on the island of Flores, Indonesia, where the type specimen for Homo floresiensis was recovered from Late Pleistocene sediment. At the rear of Liang Bua, a 23-m-long shaft, inclined at 60°, leads to a lower chamber measuring 23 m × 24 m × 5 m high (about half the size of Liang Bua). Stone artefacts and bones were found shallowly buried in rubble at the base of the shaft, and around a 5-m-high mud mound that fills the northwest sector of Liang Bawah. We recovered 17 stone artefacts made from chert and volcanics, and more than 220 well-preserved bone elements belonging to endemic giant rats, pigs, primates, small murid rodents, bats and introduced species. Multi-collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (MC-ICPMS) analysis of uranium and thorium in carbonate coatings on four bones yielded ages of ~ 240–180 ka (endemic giant rat femur), ~ 110–60 ka (unidentified phalanx), ~ 33–23 ka (pig skull fragment), and ~ 7–3 ka (giant rat femur), which overlap with the ~ 95 to 17 ka occupation of Liang Bua by H. floresiensis. The ~ 33–23 ka age of the pig skull fragment indicates that Sus sp. may have dispersed into island Southeast Asia earlier than previously recognised. The passageway at the rear of Liang Bawah, and a currently buried front entrance, represent two possible transport paths for cultural and faunal material to the cave-chamber. Analysis of the geomorphic evolution of Liang Bawah shows that it may have been a Late Pleistocene depocentre for material transported from the occupation chamber of Liang Bua, and a repository for human subsistence refuse, or pit-fall trap, via the rear passage. These physical attributes, and the antiquity of the faunal remains found thus far, indicate that Liang Bawah could contain an archive of the Late Pleistocene and, potentially, remains of H. floresiensis.

Hobbits Come up VERY Different Species in new bayesian Phylogenic Analysis

Bayesian analysis of a morphological supermatrix sheds light on controversial fossil hominin relationships

Authors:

Dembo et al

Abstract:

The phylogenetic relationships of several hominin species remain controversial. Two methodological issues contribute to the uncertainty—use of partial, inconsistent datasets and reliance on phylogenetic methods that are ill-suited to testing competing hypotheses. Here, we report a study designed to overcome these issues. We first compiled a supermatrix of craniodental characters for all widely accepted hominin species. We then took advantage of recently developed Bayesian methods for building trees of serially sampled tips to test among hypotheses that have been put forward in three of the most important current debates in hominin phylogenetics—the relationship between Australopithecus sediba and Homo, the taxonomic status of the Dmanisi hominins, and the place of the so-called hobbit fossils from Flores, Indonesia, in the hominin tree. Based on our results, several published hypotheses can be statistically rejected. For example, the data do not support the claim that Dmanisi hominins and all other early Homo specimens represent a single species, nor that the hobbit fossils are the remains of small-bodied modern humans, one of whom had Down syndrome. More broadly, our study provides a new baseline dataset for future work on hominin phylogeny and illustrates the promise of Bayesian approaches for understanding hominin phylogenetic relationships.

Academic Bun Fight! Homo floresiensis Did NOT Have Down's Syndrome! Did so!

No, it did not!

Mandibular evidence supports Homo floresiensis as a distinct species

Authors:

Westaway et al

Abstract:

Henneberg et al. (1) and Eckhardt et al. (2) present another pathology-based alternative to the hypothesis that the “hobbit” fossils from Liang Bua, Indonesia, represent a distinct hominin species, Homo floresiensis. They contend that the Liang Bua specimens are the remains of small-bodied humans and that the noteworthy features of the most complete specimen, LB1, are a consequence of Down syndrome (DS). Here, we show that the available mandibular evidence does not support these claims.

Absence of chins in the two mandibles recovered at Liang Bua, LB1 and LB6, is a key issue (1, 3). That these specimens lack chins has been argued to preclude their attribution to Homo sapiens, because a chin is widely accepted to be a defining characteristic of our species (3). Henneberg et al. reject this argument on the grounds that a chin is often absent in living Australo-Melanesians. However, the evidence they present does not support their assertion regarding Australo-Melanesian mandibular morphology. One of two studies they cite has not been peer reviewed (the publication is just a conference abstract), whereas the other one has been severely criticized (4). Henneberg et al. also imply that a mandible from Roonka, Australia, supports their claim, but a CT scan of this specimen shows that it has a positive chin (Fig. 1). Thus, there is no reason to believe that living Australo-Melanesians often lack chins and therefore no reason to overturn Brown and Tomoko’s (3) assessment that the absence of chins in LB1 and LB6 precludes their attribution to H. sapiens.

Yes, it did!

Reply to Westaway et al.: Mandibular misrepresentations fail to support the invalid species Homo floresiensis

Authors:

Eckhardt et al

Abstract:

Flawed arguments (1) ignoring our foundational paper (2) and disparaging “another pathology-based alternative” fail to support an invalidly invented hominin species.

Homo floresiensis (Hf) fails scientifically, apart from the biomedical diagnosis of its abnormality (2). Endocranial volume of 380 mL, never duplicated, was greater than 13% too low by identical techniques used to measure 430 mL, ignored until matched by skeptics within 1% (3). Stature of 1.06 m, underestimated by greater than 17% to greater than 27% (2), corrects to within the range of living Rampasasa, affirmed independently (4). Abnormal LB1 craniofacial asymmetry, originally unreported, lacks taphonomic distortion as confirmed even by our critics (3). Given hundreds of disorders producing small brain and short stature and asymmetry (2), Hf is an invalid taxon independent of any particular diagnosis.

Return of the Hobbit Wars: LB1 was Developmentally Abnormal?

Rare events in earth history include the LB1 human skeleton from Flores, Indonesia, as a developmental singularity, not a unique taxon

Authors:

Eckhardt et al

Abstract:

The original centrally defining features of “Homo floresiensis” are based on bones represented only in the single specimen LB1. Initial published values of 380-mL endocranial volume and 1.06-m stature are markedly lower than later attempts to confirm them, and facial asymmetry originally unreported, then denied, has been established by our group and later confirmed independently. Of nearly 200 syndromes in which microcephaly is one sign, more than half include asymmetry as another sign and more than one-fourth also explicitly include short stature. The original diagnosis of the putative new species noted and dismissed just three developmental abnormalities. Subsequent independent attempts at diagnosis (Laron Syndrome, Majewski osteodysplastic primordial dwarfism type II, cretinism) have been hampered a priori by selectively restricted access to specimens, and disparaged a posteriori using data previously unpublished, without acknowledging that all of the independent diagnoses corroborate the patent abnormal singularity of LB1. In this report we establish in detail that even in the absence of a particular syndromic diagnosis, the originally defining features of LB1 do not establish either the uniqueness or normality necessary to meet the formal criteria for a type specimen of a new species. In a companion paper we present a new syndromic diagnosis for LB1.

Return of the Hobbit Wars: LB1 had Down's Syndrome?

Evolved developmental homeostasis disturbed in LB1 from Flores, Indonesia, denotes Down syndrome and not diagnostic traits of the invalid species Homo floresiensis

Authors:

Henneberg et al

Abstract:

Human skeletons from Liang Bua Cave, Flores, Indonesia, are coeval with only Homo sapiens populations worldwide and no other previously known hominins. We report here for the first time to our knowledge the occipitofrontal circumference of specimen LB1. This datum makes it possible to link the 430-mL endocranial volume of LB1 reported by us previously, later confirmed independently by other investigators, not only with other human skeletal samples past and present but also with a large body of clinical data routinely collected on patients with developmental disorders. Our analyses show that the brain size of LB1 is in the range predicted for an individual with Down syndrome (DS) in a normal small-bodied population from the geographic region that includes Flores. Among additional diagnostic signs of DS and other skeletal dysplasiae are abnormally short femora combined with disproportionate flat feet. Liang Bua Cave femora, known only for LB1, match interlimb proportions for DS. Predictions based on corrected LB1 femur lengths show a stature normal for other H. sapiens populations in the region.