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Howdy Folks, I am back with a shiny new display name and have just returned from field school in the Turkana Basin of northern Kenya, a place known for its rich paleontological, paleoanthropological, archaeological, and geologic records. It is also a place with a unique environment, a desert with a massive alkaline lake surrounded by pastoralist peoples who are linguistically and culturally diverse. I haven’t posted for a while, so I thought why not leave a summary of what I’ve been doing! After a 14 hour plane ride from New York to Nairobi, we were able to stay in the city for two days to get used to the time difference and make any last minute purchases in a mall. We were able to visit the Kenyan National Museum, whose collection of casts really allowed me to find my inner primate.
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"Cradle of Humankind" fossils can now be dated Maddie Bender, Earth Magazine, February 5, 2019 https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/cradle-humankind-fossils-can-now-be-dated The paper is: Pickering, R., Herries, A.I., Woodhead, J.D., Hellstrom, J.C., Green, H.E., Paul, B., Ritzman, T., Strait, D.S., Schoville, B.J. and Hancox, P.J., 2019. U–Pb-dated flowstones restrict South African early hominin record to dry climate phases. Nature, 565(7738), p.226. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0711-0 A related paper is: Dirks, P.H., Berger, L.R., Roberts, E.M., Kramers, J.D., Hawks, J., Randolph-Quinney, P.S., Elliott, M., Musiba, C.M., Churchill, S.E., de Ruiter, D.J. and Schmid, P., 2015. Geological and taphonomic context for the new hominin species Homo naledi from the Dinaledi Chamber, South Africa. Elife, 4, p.e09561. https://cdn.elifesciences.org/articles/09561/elife-09561-v1.pdf Yours, Paul H.
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Little Foot ushers in some tumultuous times in Human Evolution
Miocene_Mason posted a topic in Fossil News
It’s an exciting time to be watching paleoanthropology unfold! Since the 1990’s, the paleoanthropological community has been waiting for Little Foot the Australopithecus to make its debut. Following increased pressure to allow teams other than the one that discovered it to examine the amazing remains, (Background ) the skeleton has been open for examinations and the original team headed by Ron Clarke has been releasing and pre-releasing papers this month. The flurry of activity has been met with some opposition, especially by Lee Berger, the man behind the excavation of Au. sediba and H. naledi. Berger and John Hawks have recently released a paper (“Australopithecus prometheus is a Nomen nudum,” I’m not sure if it’s open access but if you message Lee Berger on Facebook he will send you a PDF) which prevents the skeleton from bearing the name Au. prometheus if it is proposed as a new species. He has also pointed out that the skeleton is younger than it has been made out to be (Here’s why), and doesn’t like the preprints and things that have yet to be fully peer reviewed, stating publicly: “I suspect the #littlefoot papers will become a historical teaching moment, but not for the right reasons.” He believes more comparative analysis is nessecary. I bet you we will see Lee release some major papers on Little Foot in the near future. Don Johansson, Lucy’s discoverer, weighed in as well: “This controversy should not distract from Ron Clarke's discovery and years of dedication to cleaning this specimen and making it available to science. Unlike some other discoveries that have been rushed into print and hastily excavated, Little Foot is an example of responsible science. Whether it is a new species is, at this point, not the issue, since detailed comparative work, assessing all the South African Australopithecus species is necessary to evaluate that premise. An excellent example of how science progress is the revaluation of A. sediba, a proposed new species. After further careful study and comparative analysis it has been shown to belong to A. africanus (the initial suggestion the sediba was a new species failed to take into account that the type specimen was immature and not adult). Congratulations to Ron Clarke this monumental achievement is a fitting culmination of a stellar career. What paleoanthropologist wouldn't be thrilled to have been responsible for the oldest, most complete skeleton of a human ancestor--Little Foot” Here, Johansson agrees with Berger that more comparative analysis is necessary and that it is premature to name a species but takes a swipe at Berger’s assessment of Au. sediba. He supports Clarke and the time he took to excavate and study. Here is another article on it.- 2 replies
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Scientifically Significant Fossils Vanish, Masol, Siwalik Frontal Range, Punjab, India
Oxytropidoceras posted a topic in Fossil News
Scientifically vital fossils vanish, Masol’s claim to fame in danger Siddarth Banerjee | TNN | April 30, 2018 https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chandigarh/scientifically-vital-fossils-vanish-masols-claim-to-fame-in-danger/articleshow/63969904.cms 2.6-million-year-old ‘priceless’ fossil on sale for just Rs 4500 Sidharth Banerjee | TNN | July 24, 2017 https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/2-6-million-year-old-priceless-fossil-on-sale-for-just-rs-4500/articleshow/59729760.cms Some papers are: Chapon-Sao, C., Abdessadok, S., Tudryn, A., Malassé, A.D., Singh, M., Karir, B., Gaillard, C., Moigne, A.M., Gargani, J. and Bhardwaj, V., 2016. Lithostratigraphy of Masol paleonto-archeological localities in the Quranwala Zone, 2.6 Ma, northwestern India. Comptes Rendus Palevol, 15(3-4), pp. 417-439. https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01323986/ Malassé, A.D., Moigne, A.M., Singh, M., Calligaro, T., Karir, B., Gaillard, C., Kaur, A., Bhardwaj, V., Pal, S., Abdessadok, S. and Sao, C.C., 2016. Intentional cut marks on bovid from the Quranwala zone, 2.6 Ma, Siwalik Frontal Range, northwestern India. Comptes Rendus Palevol, 15(3-4), pp. 317-339. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/292209224_Intentional_cut_marks_on_bovid_from_the_Quranwala_zone_26_Ma_Siwalik_Frontal_Range_northwestern_India https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Anne_Dambricourt_Malasse Malassé, A.D., Singh, M., Karir, B., Gaillard, C., Bhardwaj, V., Moigne, A.M., Abdessadok, S., Sao, C.C., Gargani, J., Tudryn, A. and Calligaro, T., 2016. Anthropic activities in the fossiliferous Quranwala Zone, 2.6 Ma, Siwaliks of Northwest India, historical context of the discovery and scientific investigations. Comptes Rendus Palevol, 15(3-4), pp.295-316. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/292077679_Anthropic_activities_in_the_fossiliferous_Quranwala_Zone_26Ma_Siwaliks_of_Northwest_India_historical_context_of_the_discovery_and_scientific_investigations https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Anne_Dambricourt_Malasse Gargani, J., Abdessadok, S., Tudryn, A., Sao, C.C., Malassé, A.D., Gaillard, C., Moigne, A.M., Singh, M., Bhardwaj, V. and Karir, B., 2016. Geology and geomorphology of Masol paleonto-archeological site, Late Pliocene, Chandigarh, Siwalik Frontal Range, NW India. Comptes Rendus Palevol, 15(3-4), pp.379-391. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281291986_Geology_and_Geomorphology_of_Masol_paleonto-archeological_site_Late_Pliocene_Chandigarh_Siwalik_Frontal_Range_NW_India https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Anne_Dambricourt_Malasse Gaillard, C., Singh, M., Malassé, A.D., Bhardwaj, V., Karir, B., Kaur, A., Pal, S., Moigne, A.M., Sao, C.C., Abdessadok, S. and Gargani, J., 2016. The lithic industries on the fossiliferous outcrops of the Late Pliocene masol formation, Siwalik frontal range, northwestern India (Punjab). Comptes Rendus Palevol, 15(3-4), pp.341-357. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/293332452_The_lithic_industries_on_the_fossiliferous_outcrops_of_the_Late_Pliocene_Masol_Formation_Siwalik_Frontal_Range_north-western_India_Punjab https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Claire_Gaillard2 Yours, Paul H. -
Field Guide to Pleistocene Hookups (and Homo floresiensis Lecture)
Oxytropidoceras posted a topic in Fossil News
Infographic: Field guide to Pleistocene hookups John Hawks Webblog, December 21, 2013 http://johnhawks.net/weblog/topics/humor/field-guide-pleistocene-hookups-2013.html "inaugural infographic, illustrating what we know about mating relationships from ancient DNA" The homepage is either http://johnhawks.net/weblog/ or http://johnhawks.net/weblog/articles.html . Also, there is an interesting lecture about Homo floresiensis at: Great Beasts of Legend: The Hobbits of Flores Island: Myth, Magic, Majesty of Homo floresiensis Penn Museum, February 6, 2017 [www.youtube.com] Yours, Paul H. "The past is never dead. It's not even past." William Faulkner, Act 1, Scene III, Requiem for a Nun (1951)