MOSTRECENT ANCIENT DISCOVERIES FREE

Since scientists fully sequenced the first ancient human genome in 2010, data from thousands of individuals have shed new insights on our speciesвЂ™ origins and early history. Many recent discoveries have been made possible by the new science of ancient DNA. Christina Warinner, CC BY-ND Ancient DNA reveals old relationships The rise of biomolecular archaeology means new opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration among field- and lab-based scientists. Today, human evolution looks less like DarwinвЂ™s tree and more like a muddy, braided stream. Just this year, researchers reported a new species from the Philippines.ДЄnthropologists are realizing that our Homo sapiens ancestors had much more contact with other human species than previously thought. From enigmatic вЂњhobbitsвЂќ on the Indonesian island of Flores to the Denisovans in Siberia, our ancestors may have encountered a variety of other hominins when they spread out of Africa. This century has also brought unexpected discoveries from Europe and Asia. This raises doubts that our species emerged in any single place. Fossils discovered in Morocco have pushed that date back to 300,000 years ago, consistent with ancient DNA evidence. Archaeologists previously thought Homo sapiens evolved in Africa around 200,000 years ago, but the story has become more complicated. Perspectives on our own species have also changed. Human fossils are outgrowing the family tree Just 20 years ago, no one could have imagined what scientists know two decades later about humanityвЂ™s deep past, let alone how much knowledge could be extracted from a thimble of dirt, a scrape of dental plaque or satellites in space. Even since the turn of the 21st century, human origins textbooks have been rewritten over and over again.

This discovery shifted the focus of human origins research from Europe and Asia onto Africa, setting the stage for the last century of research on the continent and into its вЂњ Cradles of Humankind.вЂќДЇew people back then wouldвЂ™ve been able to predict what scientists know about evolution today, and now the pace of discovery is faster than ever. The Taung Child, our first encounter with an ancient group of proto-humans or hominins called australopithecines, was a turning point in the study of human evolution.

In 1924, a 3-year-old childвЂ™s skull found in South Africa forever changed how people think about human origins.

MOSTRECENT ANCIENT DISCOVERIES FREE

Tue, Janu 17:53 936 48be62e941b44f04afae568c3213dbe7 3 Science & Tech archaeological-site,archaeology,Science,history,The-Conversation Free

Mostrecent ancient discoveries