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Science behind the news

Last Saturday, The Daily Herald contained a story out of the U.S. that researchers have found archaeological evidence of ancient human occupation of a south-central Oregon cave that dates back to 14,300 years ago. The earliest known human occupation of North America had been 13,100 years ago prior to that discovery.

Then on Thursday came an article about cave paintings in Indonesia that have been dated to be at least 40,000 years old. Previously the assumption was that Africa and Europe held the oldest human art, but this new date from the Far East indicates the impulse to express oneself artistically may have developed independently in several locations at more or less the same time.

Africa, specifically Ethiopia, still holds the record for the oldest anatomically modern human remains. Two fossilized bodies known as Oma 1 and Oma 2 (found in the Oma River Valley) have been dated to be 200,000 years old. Older humanoid fossils date back as far as 4 million years (Ardipithecus) and the famous hominid fossil "Lucy" (discovered in the 1970s) dates to 3.2 million years old.

As we consider the implications of all this diverse evidence, it becomes harder and harder to deny that humanity has been around for a very long time. There is even unmistakable evidence of stone tool use by our ancestors in Africa 3.4 million years ago. Researchers from the Academy of Science in California found in Ethiopia two large mammal bones that clearly had been cut and hacked by stone tools in the effort to consume the meat.

New evidence pours in from researchers across the globe. Fossil, bone and artifact evidence can be dated using many different techniques, the best-known being the measurement of the amount of decay of minor amounts of radioactive elements in the molecular structure of materials. Following the trails of artifacts and even artwork tells how early humans behaved, thought and where they migrated. Studying how languages are linked and how they evolved gives another interesting hint at our history. Most recently, the science of DNA analysis gives clear relationships from the family tree of all living things.

The story of mankind is becoming clearer, but the traditional "Out of Africa" theory is being modified. It has stated that modern humans evolved in Africa about 200,000 years ago and migrated out of Africa in waves beginning about 70,000 years ago. Now, with so much new evidence accumulating, it appears the starting date for the migrations has to be pushed back, way back.

Evidence being reported from China indicates that early man was well across Asia by 70,000 years ago. Scientists have discovered teeth that may be Homo Sapiens dating from between 70,000 and 125,000 years ago. Even more unexpected, in Israel there are fragments of early human skulls that may date to as early as 150,000 years ago. DNA or genetic data seems to indicate an exodus out of Africa about 130,000 years ago.

The thinking is that the migratory groups would have followed the coastline, walking or perhaps using boats, and continued along the Arabian Peninsula, into India and eventually into Indonesia and Australia. Those traveling into Siberia eventually would make their way into North America, following herds of mammoths, caribou, muskoxen or other prey. Geologists have found that during the Pleistocene Ice Age there occurred two periods of warming that exposed the Bering land bridge, allowing the migration to happen: from 75,000 to 45,000, and again from 25,000 to 14,000 years ago.

This idea of following the coastline and using boats to "hop" along portions is gaining popularity. It may be that the groups that migrated into the Americas did something similar. Perhaps in addition to walking across a land bridge to North America, people may have arrived by traveling slowly along the coast in boats.

Recent finds on the Channel Islands off California have fueled this belief. Specialized projectile tips dating at 12,000 years have been found with hundreds of bird bones and other evidence of a well developed maritime lifestyle.

BOX---- Clovis Points: Fluted Arrowheads and Spearheads

Since 1926 archaeologists have considered the earliest evidence of humans in the new world to be 13,100 years ago, a time known as the Clovis Era. First discovered in the area around Clovis, New Mexico, in the western United States, distinctive arrowheads with serrated edges on two sides are found at prehistoric sites throughout North America. This indicates the technological skills to produce these well-designed tools were taught and spread throughout the communities through trade.

INSERT ARROWHEAD PICTURE----CLOSE BOX-----

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References/Research:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22329813.000-human-exodus-may-have-reached-china-100000-years-ago.html#.VDa6tfldVb6

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100811135039.htm

http://smithsonianscience.org/2011/03/californias-channel-islands-may-have-once-held-north-americas-earliest-seafaring-economy/

http://io9.com/more-evidence-undermines-the-out-of-africa-theory-of-1619420466

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ardipithecus

http://imnh.isu.edu/digitalatlas/geog/native/text/history.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clovis_culture

http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/africa/oldest_art/index.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Late_Glacial_Maximum

The Daily Herald, volume 24, #118, pg 23.

The Daily Herald, volume 24, #122, pg 43.