Important Fossil Discovery at the Cradle of Humankind

originally posted by: sycomix
a reply to: kykweer

Can't wait to see the gene sequence compared to other known hominids, how close or how far removed are they???

Don't hold your breath.

The team predicts that even in a bone at an ideal preservation temperature of −5 ºC, effectively every bond would be destroyed after a maximum of 6.8 million years. The DNA would cease to be readable much earlier — perhaps after roughly 1.5 million years, when the remaining strands would be too short to give meaningful information.

Source

It is impossible to get readable material if they say it is 2.5 million years old. The best in ideal frozen conditions in the center of backbone not teeth or elsewhere, is 1.5 million years.

So if you see they got dna readings and they also claim older ages than that, they are lying through their grant money sucking teeth.

Isn't he a sweetie.

Carbon dating is based on assumption. You can only assume the earth is millions of years old.You have no proof so to me this is another lie .Assuming is not science.

originally posted by: boymonkey74
Isn't he a sweetie.

If you like the results of clay artists fondling monkey skulls for cash, then I can see how it is cute to you.

Here is a little timeline of our family tree.
Tinsheep don't even bother don't read your posts anymore no point.

A chronology of human evolution

Ardipithecus ramidus (4.4 million years ago) : Fossils were discovered in Ethiopia in the 1990s. Pelvis shows adaptations to both tree climbing and upright walking.

Australopithecus afarensis (3.9 - 2.9 million years ago) : The famous "Lucy" skeleton belongs to this species of human relative. So far, fossils of this species have only been found in East Africa. Several traits in the skeleton suggest afarensis walked upright, but they may have spent some time in the trees.

Homo habilis (2.8 - 1.5 million years ago) : This human relative had a slightly larger braincase and smaller teeth than the australopithecines or older species, but retains many more primitive features such as long arms.

Homo naledi (Of unknown age, but researchers say it could be as old as three million years) : The new discovery has small, modern-looking teeth, human-like feet but more primitive fingers and a small braincase.

Homo erectus (1.9 million years - unknown) : Homo erectus had a modern body plan that was almost indistinguishable from ours. But it had a smaller brain than a modern person's combined with a more primitive face.

Homo neanderthalensis (200,000 years - 40,000 years) The Neanderthals were a side-group to modern humans, inhabiting western Eurasia before our species left Africa. They were shorter and more muscular than modern people but had slightly larger brains.

Homo sapiens (200,000 years - present) Modern humans evolved in Africa from a predecessor species known as Homo heidelbergensis. A small group of Homo sapiens left Africa 60,000 years ago and settled the rest of the world, replacing the other human species they encountered (with a small amount of interbreeding).

www.bbc.co.uk...

(gotta say I love the BBC website).

.

a reply to: chr0naut

right... cause men dont grope around in the dark, they always use tools and lights to let us know they're smart.
how feeble.

originally posted by: nomdeterreur
a reply to: chr0naut

right... cause men dont grope around in the dark, they always use tools and lights to let us know they're smart.
how feeble.

A lot of groping in a lot of dark.

And traversal of squeeze ways and vertical shafts.

I'd guess you've never gone spelunking.

a reply to: IndependentOpinion

From what I understand they found the new hominid species in a very large amount. A burial site created by the species and it's very large. Over a thousand and in every age group. So I doubt wrongly assembled. It's a great find and ongoing for two years. They took there time making sure they learned as much as possible and got it right.

a reply to: Murgatroid

silly creationists

originally posted by: Nochzwei
*SNIP*

That is silly, because all DNA points that not only you are related to humans of Africa, but other apes as well...

Naledi in local language means 'Star', we are not so sure how we relate to this new species and if there was interbreeding between humans and them, let's hope they might get enough data from bones to correctly age and determine DNA with new technique that even worked with contaminated samples.

www.livescience.com...

For those actually interested in learning more about the finds at Rising Star cave a great deal of information can be found at John Hawks' weblog.

posts tagged with "Rising Star"

Rising Star Workshop underway
Explaining my weeks-long blogging hiatus
A number of readers have written to ask about my two-week-long blogging hiatus. I am in Johannesburg working in the new fossil vault with the Rising Star Workshop. I have been going from early morning to evening every day and blogging has taken a back seat to the extraordinary work being done here with the new materials.

(20 May 2014 | Tags: Rising Star, Hawks sightings)
Rising Star: Updates on the week's activities
Becca Peixotto reports from the field on cave conditions and progress.
Becca Peixotto has two updates on the Rising Star Expedition blog today, describing some of the excavation activities this week. In “What’s new at this week’s excavation”, she highlights the smaller scale of the dig and gives some insight about how the cave has changed at the end of this rainy South African summer.

(29 Mar 2014 | Tags: Rising Star)
Rising Star: Targeted excavation this week
An update on what is going on underground at Rising Star.
I’m not in South Africa this week but I am following closely as a small team of excavators is underground in the Rising Star site. I’ve posted the agenda for the week’s work at the Rising Star Expedition blog: “A critical piece of the hominin puzzle”.

(26 Mar 2014 | Tags: Rising Star)
Johannesburg update
Checking in from Rising Star and the Wits fossil collection
I imagine my static website for the past three weeks left many people wondering if the Science Cafe led to my untimely demise. “Who Sciences Harder” indeed!

(22 Feb 2014 | Tags: Hawks sightings, Rising Star, travel, Human Evolution: Past and Future)
Paleoanthropologists wanted for Rising Star Workshop
Looking for early career scientists to participate in the analysis of more than 1000 hominin fossil specimens.
Many people all over the world followed the Rising Star Expedition as excavation proceeded through November of last year. If you haven’t checked it out, the project blog at the National Geographic website gives a great sampling of the experience.

(19 Jan 2014 | Tags: Rising Star, careers, open science)
Rising Star Expedition: Into the collection
Rising Star team advance scientist Elen Feuerriegel has another new post on the Rising Star Expedition blog, discussing her work with the collection after the close of excavations: “A Bone in Hand Is Worth Ten in a Book”.

(13 Dec 2013 | Tags: open access, Rising Star, open science)
Rising Star: Lee Berger tells the story
The latest entry on the Rising Star Expedition blog is a link to the National Geographic Weekend radio show, in which Lee Berger tells the story of the discovery from beginning to end. “A Voice From the Cave: Lee Berger on the NG Weekend Radio Show”

(09 Dec 2013 | Tags: Rising Star)
Rising Star: Malapa and darkness
My most recent post on the Rising Star Expedition blog describes the team’s “Field Trip to Malapa”. Some context from another early hominin site:

(27 Nov 2013 | Tags: Rising Star, Malapa)
Rising Star: The view from a caver/scientist
Today’s post on the Rising Star Expedition blog is by one of our six advance scientists, Elen Feuerriegel: “The View From a Caver/Scientist”.

(23 Nov 2013 | Tags: teaching, Rising Star, open science, science communication)
Rising Star: What we know and don't know
Today’s blog post on the Rising Star Expedition blog provides an FAQ about the expedition’s results so far: “What We Know and Don’t Know So Far”.

(20 Nov 2013 | Tags: Rising Star, open access, open science)
Photo: Setting planet over Rising Star
I’ve been posting Venus pictures the last couple of months as it rises in the evening sky. I swear I had no idea I’d be working on an excavation called “Rising Star” when I started this. But last night’s sky was exceptionally appropriate:

(18 Nov 2013 | Tags: Rising Star, photos)
Go into Rising Star with the cavers
I just love the work of the National Geographic blogger Andrew Howley and the filmmakers onsite. This video shows the two cavers who discovered the advance chamber and gives an incredible viewpoint of their work inside the cave: “First Look Inside the Fossil Cave (Expedition Update)”

(18 Nov 2013 | Tags: Rising Star)
Rising Star: In the hot seat
My first Rising Star Expedition update has been posted on the expedition blog: “In the hot seat”.

(16 Nov 2013 | Tags: Rising Star, open access, open science)
Setting a course for the Rising Star
I will be flying to South Africa on Friday to take (an exceedingly small) part in a unique excavation just getting started in the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site, the “Rising Star Expedition”. The name refers to a new cave site, where a recovery excavation project is just starting under the direction of Lee Berger. The University of the Witwatersrand has a story about the expedition: “Rising Star Expedition launched”.

(06 Nov 2013 | Tags: Hawks sightings, South Africa, travel, Rising Star)

John Hawks:Rising Star tag page