Oldest Remains of Human Beings Are Identified

[Rose Siding]

Scientists have determined that human fossils found in Ethiopia in 1967 are 65,000 years older than first thought, from about 195,000 years ago. The revised date, they said, makes the skulls and bones the earliest known remains of modern Homo sapiens.

The research reinforces the theories of an African origin for modern humans, and the earlier date gives the species more time to have evolved the cultural attributes that probably supported its spread to Asia and Europe from Africa. The new date appears to be near the early boundary for modern human emergence, as suggested in recent genetic studies.

The findings were announced today by a research team led by Dr. Ian McDougall of the Australian National University in Canberra and are being described in detail in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature.

Dr. McDougall, a geologist, and his colleagues reported that a re-examination of the sediments in which the fossils were found and the use of more reliable dating methods showed that the two individuals lived 195,000 years ago, give or take 5,000 years, "making them the earliest well-dated anatomically modern humans yet described."

http://nytimes.com/2005/02/16/science/16cnd-human.html?hp&ex=1108616400&en=5604c72d0541816a&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[Blue to the bone]

1. Have they made a link yet to the Chimp-in-Chief?

Just wondering.

[catzies]

3. Welcome to DU! I was thinking they found Strom Thurmond's parents

:hi:

[catzies]

4. Welcome to DU! I was thinking they found Strom Thurmond's parents

:hi:

[Canuckistanian]

5. I think it's the remains of OG Bush

The wealthy ancestor of modern-day Bushes who didn't invent fire, but made a fortune selling "magic fire rocks" that turned out to be lumps of clay.

[Blue to the bone]

9. Or more like the first chimp.....

.......to throw a stone at another. No, wait, he actually had a young chimp do the throwing for him while he took credit for the action.

[not fooled]

18. he he that's HILARIOUS...ancestor of * pulling a scam...

...it's in their DNA.

[BR_Parkway]

2. There go the fundies again, screaming about "junk" science n/t

[laheina]

7. Stratigraphy is a tricky business.

They'll get it ironed out pretty quickly. Not that it will make a difference to the Fundies.

[louis-t]

6. What? Can't be! That would pre-date Adam and Eve!

And don't ye know THERE'S NO PROOF! THERE'S JUST NO PRO-O-O-OF! ALALALALALAL(covering ears) LALALAHHH!!

[VegasWolf]

10. Yes, one baptist misister using the bible caluclated 5,000 plus years

down to the day and month. I thinl god made the world
on Wednesday. Idiots.

[KansDem]

20. Nah, couldn't have been on a Wednesday...

God plays golf on Wednesday...

Not Sunday either; big game on TV and all...


FORE!!!

[ticapnews]

21. The earth was created at nightfall on Sunday, October 23, 4004 BC

Of course, the sun wasn't created until October 27, so I'm not sure how they knew it was nightfall...

And was that Greenwich Mean Time or Eastern Standard?

And if Sunday was the first day, shouldn't Saturday be the day of rest?

Oh that's right, I'm supposed to just have faith and not ask these pesky questions.

This is all based on the calculations of Bishop Ussher, of course.

[bvar22]

8. jeebus hid those bones there...

to test my faith.

jeebus loves rich republicans, or he wouldn't have given them all that money and made them white.

Poor people are evil sinners, that's why jeebus makes them homeless.

[mmonk]

11. Isn't the earth

only around 6000 years old?;-) I think that's what some want to teach our children.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

12. Shhhh...don't tell the fundamentalists

[Bariztr]

13. Intelligent Design?

Well riddle me this IDers who is responsible for this one?

[reprobate]

22. And just who designed the Designer?

[Thtwudbeme]

14. God just put those there to test our faith.

:-)

[dbonds]

15. Correction, Satan must have put the bones there to decieve us.

:P :evilgrin: ;-)

[JitterbugPerfume]

16. well if it is a test

you (fundies) flunked it

[dbonds]

17. Ummm, that was sarcasm. Not a fundie, not a christian.

[LibDemAlways]

23. Yes, Satan is a busy guy.

When he isn't busy destroying the souls who call into the psychic hotline, he's busily planting faux "ancient" bones in Ethiopia.

(I actually had a woman tell me with a straight face last week that psychics are doing the work of Satan and should be avoided at all costs.)

[jdj]

19. I recently flipped through this book that said that

these bones are so old because people back then (and they named names) lived between 500 and 900 years each.

Also, they said that Noah had dinosaurs on the ark, and they survived the flood, but were hunted to extinction after the flood by people who thought they were dragons.(I guess it's okay to be a dinosaur, but don't be a dragon...or something.)

Oh yeah, and they also said that people who built pyramids and towers in ancient times were trying to communicate with "spirits we call demons".

So I wonder what fundies will make of this.

[Occulus]

27. Actually........

That makes me consider something from the medical community.

Telomeres. Those 'caps' at the ends of chromosomes that are thought to have a key role in the aging process.

What if those telomeres- those 'fuses' on the reproductive life of a given cell- were once very much longer than they are today, perhaps signifigantly longer? If true, is it possible that the human life span has in fact been shortening over time, and it's only recently, with modern medicine, that we're able to (albeit artificially) extend life?

Go google the concept of "short telomere extinction"; it's a fascinating theory that fundamentalists wouldn't know anything at all about...

[Guckert]

24. Adam and Eve did not "materialize" out of thin air until 6,000 B.C.

So that cant be right. Remember Dinosaurs are a Lie too...:tinfoilhat:

[Disturbed]

25. Damnit, it cannot be true.

People did not evolve. God made a man out of mud then reached in his chest pulled out a rib and made a woman. See, it's woe man. The translaters of the God book forgot to add the "e". Woman are evil because that Eve tempted Adam to bite out of an apple that had knowledge of good and evil. God didn't want them to have any knowledge, just like the fundies of today don't want people to gain knowledge.

[Guckert]

26. Dont forget the talking snake and the lifespan of 600 years.

Damn that book is pretty cool. and believable too.

[despairing optimist]

28. Are they singing in Hello, Dolly?

[ailsagirl]

29. Man, the fundies must be going WILD!!!!

This kind of talk is verboten!!!!!

:evilgrin: