Indonesian ‘hobbits’ not related to Homo erectus

The most comprehensive study on the bones of Homo floresiensis, a species of tiny human discovered on the Indonesian island of Flores in 2003, has found that they most likely evolved from an ancestor in Africa and not from Homo erectus as has been widely believed.

Artist's impression of Homo floresiensis [Credit: Katrina Kenny, SA Museum]

The study by The Australian National University (ANU) found Homo floresiensis, dubbed "the hobbits" due to their small stature, were most likely a sister species of Homo habilis -- one of the earliest known species of human found in Africa 1.75 million years ago.

Data from the study concluded there was no evidence for the popular theory that Homo floresiensis evolved from the much larger Homo erectus, the only other early hominid known to have lived in the region with fossils discovered on the Indonesian mainland of Java.

Study leader Dr Debbie Argue of the ANU School of Archaeology & Anthropology, said the results should help put to rest a debate that has been hotly contested ever since Homo floresiensis was discovered.

"The analyses show that on the family tree, Homo floresiensis was likely a sister species of Homo habilis. It means these two shared a common ancestor," Dr Argue said.

"It's possible that Homo floresiensis evolved in Africa and migrated, or the common ancestor moved from Africa then evolved into Homo floresiensis somewhere."

A reconstructed skull of Homo floresiensis [Credit: Stuart Hay, ANU]

Homo floresiensis is known to have lived on Flores until as recently as 54,000 years ago.

The study was the result of an Australian Research Council grant in 2010 that enabled the researchers to explore where the newly-found species fits in the human evolutionary tree.

Where previous research had focused mostly on the skull and lower jaw, this study used 133 data points ranging across the skull, jaws, teeth, arms, legs and shoulders.

Dr Argue said none of the data supported the theory that Homo floresiensis evolved from Homo erectus.

"We looked at whether Homo floresiensis could be descended from Homo erectus," she said.

"We found that if you try and link them on the family tree, you get a very unsupported result. All the tests say it doesn't fit -- it's just not a viable theory."

Dr Argue said this was supported by the fact that in many features, such as the structure of the jaw, Homo floresiensis was more primitive than Homo erectus.

"Logically, it would be hard to understand how you could have that regression -- why would the jaw of Homo erectus evolve back to the primitive condition we see in Homo floresiensis?"

Dr Argue said the analyses could also support the theory that Homo floresiensis could have branched off earlier in the timeline, more than 1.75 million years ago.

"If this was the case Homo floresiensis would have evolved before the earliest Homo habilis, which would make it very archaic indeed," she said.

Professor Mike Lee of Flinders University and the South Australian Museum, used statistical modeling to analyse the data.

"When we did the analysis there was really clear support for the relationship with Homo habilis. Homo floresiensis occupied a very primitive position on the human evolutionary tree," Professor Lee said.

"We can be 99 per cent sure it's not related to Homo erectus and nearly 100 per cent chance it isn't a malformed Homo sapiens," Professor Lee said.

Source: Australian National University [April 21, 2017]

byUnknown

in Anthropology, Early Humans, Human Evolution, Indonesia, Ticker

April 21, 2017

Indonesian ‘hobbits’ not related to Homo erectus

The most comprehensive study on the bones of Homo floresiensis, a species of tiny human discovered on the Indonesian island of Flores in 200...

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For early humans, cannibalism more than just a meal

When early humans, including our species, ate their own kind it was more likely for ritual purposes than for a nourishing meal, according to an unusual study released Thursday.

Several clues help archaeologists identify cannibalism from the study of bones, such as the absence 
of the cranial base (to extract the brain) [Credit: Achim Scheidemann/DPA/AFP]

Carving up the human body to calculate the caloric value of each part, the study argues that prehistoric cannibalism -- while less rare than widely assumed -- was a dangerous undertaking offering relatively meagre nutritional rewards.

Kilo for kilo, a wild horse, bear or boar had more than three times the calories in fat and protein than our lean-and-mean human ancestors, who were mostly skin, muscle and bone, according to the research, published in the journal Scientific Reports.

Moreover, human prey -- as wily as the hunter -- would surely put up a good fight before being sliced up into filets.

"I did the study because I wanted to know how nutritional we are compared to these other animals," explained James Cole, a senior lecturer in archaeology at the University of Brighton in England.

Humans are much less nutritional than a boar or a pig [Credit: AFP]

"That might tell us whether we, and other human species, were doing it for the calories, or if there is some other explanation," he told AFP.

The findings help flesh out the idea that cannibalism among homo sapiens -- as well as Neanderthals, homo erectus and other hominins -- was suffused with cultural meaning.

Recent scholarship suggests our ancestors, including Neanderthals, had rich cultures, evidenced by artifacts, jewellery and perhaps language.

"It seems unreasonable to think that early humans wouldn't have had as complex an attitude to cannibalism as we modern humans," Cole said.

"They may have had as many reasons to consume each other as we do."

Author: Marlowe Hood | Source: AFP [April 06, 2017]

byUnknown

in Anthropology, Early Humans, Forensics

April 06, 2017

For early humans, cannibalism more than just a meal

When early humans, including our species, ate their own kind it was more likely for ritual purposes than for a nourishing meal, according to...

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Earliest dated rock art in Southern Africa depicts shamans' journey to world of spirits

For years, archaeologists have known that southern Africa is home to very rich and well-understood rock art produced by hunter-gatherers in the Later Stone Age, but they had been unable to date these creations precisely.

Example of fine-line Later Stone Age paintings studied by the archaeologists
[Credit: Bonneau/Antiquity]

Using an innovative approach, researchers have now come up with new dates, which suggest that in south-eastern Botswana, rock art was created as far back as 5723–4420 cal BP – the oldest such evidence found to date in Southern Africa. Their complete findings are now published in the Journal Antiquity.

Hunter-gatherer rock art in Southern Africa is made up both of paintings and engravings, which were produced by ancient communities associated with the present-day San (bushmen) culture. A lot of research has been successfully conducted about how to interpret this art.

"Thanks to studies conducted between the 18th and 20thby the Dutch and British settlers as well as current ethnographic research, we have a good understanding of San rock art. They painted to represent what the Shamans had seen during their journeys in the world of the spirits so that the rest of the population could see it", lead author Adelphine Bonneau, post-doctoral fellow at Laval University (Canada), told IBTimes UK.

"They also thought that rocks represented a veil between the world of humans and the spiritual world, and so rock art was thought to help them communicate with the spirits".

Despite these interesting insights, researchers have been limited in their work by the impossibility to accurately and directly date the artworks.

The difficulty of dating rock art

Dating rock art directly is about coming up with a precise date for when it was created. This often entails taking a piece of the painting out to study it – potentially damaging it.

Painting of a fish of Later Stone Age tradition in the Thune Valley, Botswana 
[Credit: Bonneau/Antiquity]

"With current dating methods, we need large samples – sometimes hundreds of milligrams of painting – which often means completely destroying these artworks. We also have to consider that in many cases, the art wasn't protected inside caves and rock shelters but created on outdoors rocks exposed to the elements and to human activity, which means that paintings are often in a bad state and cannot be dated", Bonneau explained.

The most common dating method is radiocarbon dating (Carbon-14 dating) but for it to be used, there needs to be traces of carbon in the paintings. Additionally, where charcoal was used to create paintings, there is always the possibility that the artists used charcoal that had been left over from many years before, so the painting may appear older than it really is.

All of these obstacle have made it hard to establish precise dates for rock art found in Southern Africa. Paintings in the Apollo 11 cave in Namibia have been dated to 25,000 years ago, but these results are highly controversial. Elsewhere, archaeologists have only been able to set very broad time constraints.

A new method to date rock paintings

The authors of this study have, for the first time, attempted to date southern African rock art with a technique known as accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dating. The idea is to use the same principles as traditional radiocarbon dating, but a much smaller sample of painting is necessary.

Painting of an eland of Later Stone Age tradition in the Phuthiatsana Valley, Lesotho 
[Credit: Bonneau/Antiquity]

The team worked at 14 sites in three regions of southern Africa - the Thune Dam area of south-eastern Botswana, the Metolong Dam catchment of western Lesotho and the Maclear District of South Africa's Eastern Cape Province.

To increase the chances of AMS radiocarbon dating working, the scientists came up with an innovative and rigorous scientific protocol. They first collected very small painting samples (around 0.5mm2), after requesting the authorisation of the San people who still use the rock art during rituals.

They used these fragments to learn about the paintings' overall composition, to select those with a higher likelihood of being successfully dated. It also allowed them to identify paintings made up of carbon derived from short-lived organic materials rather than from charcoal, to avoid the issue that the charcoal used in paint may be significantly older than the painting event itself.

Finally, the scientists used advanced chemical techniques to clean up the samples, to avoid them being polluted by radiocarbon contaminants.

Following these strict steps allowed them to establish the first direct dates for rock art in South Africa. They identified the oldest paintings documented to date in the region – rock art in Botswana dating from about 5723–4420 cal BP.

"This is a really novel approach as far as African rock art (and Southern Africa in particular) is concerned, with vastly improved protocols for ensuring the highest quality results. The techniques developed have potential to be used elsewhere in the world. More than their actual age, what is important here is that we are now sure of these paintings' dates".

Cave painting by the San people depicting an elephant hunt in South Africa 
[Credit: iStockphoto/Gary Bedell]

Learning about San culture

The findings could also improve scientists' knowledge of the hunter-gatherer society that produced the art, and of the San culture living in Southern Africa.

Until this study, it had been impossible to associate any of the rock art with specific archaeological artefacts found close by. With the art now more accurately dated, it will be possible to study how potteries and other objects evolved in parallel to rock art.

"These dates are only the beginning of these investigations, but they open up the possibility of initiating a dialogue between the art of the San and their archaeological remains. Since rock art reflected their spiritual world, we may get new insights on their society and the cultural and spiritual connections they shared with other tribes", Bonneau said.

Author: Léa Surugue | Source: International Business Times [April 05, 2017]

byUnknown

in Africa, Archaeology, Early Humans, South Africa

April 05, 2017

Earliest dated rock art in Southern Africa depicts shamans' journey to world of spirits

For years, archaeologists have known that southern Africa is home to very rich and well-understood rock art produced by hunter-gatherers in ...

Read More