Category: History

bbc.com

Scientists studying the Drimolen Cave Complex, a place full of informative fossils, provide new evidence that human evolution was not a linear process.
This, and other studies that have been posted in recent weeks, shows that there were several types of ancient hominins living together in Africa.
One of the findings shows that homo erectus, previously assumed to come from Eastern Africa, actually lived in South Africa, too.
Homo erectus may have been the first species to migrate out of Africa into the rest of the world, and studies like this help us understand how it happened.

Bulleted by Michał Słupski
on April 7, 2020

phys.org

First ancestor of most animals, including humans, has been discovered—Ikaria wariootia had a mouth, anus, gut, and a bilaterian body plan.
Bilateral symmetry was a critical step in evolution, enabling organisms to move purposefully, but so far the first organism to develop it wasn’t known.
Ikaria wariootia was discovered through careful analysis of 555 million-year-old samples.
It was a wormlike creature, up to 7mm (0.27in) long, with a distinct head and tail, as well as faintly grooved musculature.
This discovery confirms what evolutionary biologists previously predicted.

Bulleted by Michał Słupski
on March 24, 2020

45,000 years ago, during the Paleoithic era, some humans settled in the Bale Mountains (~4,000 meters) to survive the last ice age.
This shows that humans started living at high altitudes much earlier than previously believed.
Melting glaciers gave them water, and they hunted giant mole rats with obsidian tools.
The discovery might be an explanation for why some people living in Ethiopia today are able to prosper in low oxygen levels.

Bulleted by Michał Słupski
on August 9, 2019

Historian uses signature analysis to confirm that two letters regarding the Armenian genocide were written by Bahaettin Shakir, one of the orchestrators of the tragedy.
The analysis was carried out by a leading Turkish historian, on documents from the Ottoman Archives.
1.5 million Armenians were exterminated during and after World War I, but present day Turkey continues to contest the figures and the “orchestrated genocide” label.
The denial hinges on poor archives from that period, and the UN urges the Turkish government to reinvestigate the tragedy, establish truth and make reparations.

Bulleted by Michał Słupski
on July 25, 2019

Nuclear DNA was retrieved from 10 skeletons buried in Ashkelon, an ancient port city in Israel.
It fits a scenario in which southern european people fled collapsing Bronze Age societies, travelling to the eastern Mediterranean coast 3,000 years ago.
These people would be the Philistines, know from the Old Testament for fighting with Israelites.
The DNA came from 3 late Bronze Age individuals buried ~3,600 years ago, 4 early Iron Age infants buried ~3,300 years ago, and 3 late Iron Agers from ~3,100 years ago.
Larger ancient DNA studies might help to pin-point the Philistines’ origins more precisely.

Bulleted by Michał Słupski
on July 4, 2019

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