Slashdot Mirror
Evidence Found for Earliest Modern Humans
Hugh Pickens writes "Researchers at Arizona State University report that they have pushed back the date for the earliest modern humans to 164,000 years ago, far earlier than previously documented. Paleoanthropologists now say that genetic and fossil evidence suggests that modern human species — Homo sapiens — evolved in Africa between 100,000 and 200,000 years ago and in seeking the "perfect site" to explore for remains of the earliest populations, researchers analyzed ocean currents, climate data, geological formations and other data to pin down a location. "The world was in a glacial stage 125,000 to 195,000 years ago, and much of Africa was dry to mostly desert; in many areas food would have been difficult to acquire. The paleoenvironmental data indicate there are only five or six places in all of Africa where humans could have survived these harsh conditions," said Curtis Marean, a professor in ASU's School of Human Evolution and Social Change. Photos from the cave at Pinnacle Point in South Africa show where the team found ochre, bladelets and evidence of shellfish — findings that reveal the earliest dated evidence of modern humans."
Which can be found here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optically_stimulated_luminescence
The cave at Pinnacle Point was featured in a 2003 episode of Horizon titled The Day We Learned to Think .
The original poster's write-up misses the point. It's NOT news that both fossil and genetic evidence points to the development of anatomically modern humans in Africa somewhere in the 100,000 to 200,000 year range, with several important apparently anatomically modern human fossils at the older end of that range.
What is new in this article is the early date for the use of ochre dye, small "complex" tools, and shellfish in the diet which are all taken as evidence for modern-like human cultural behavior at 165,000 years ago.
To date, the most incontrovertible evidence for modern-like cultural behavior dates back to around 45,000 years ago, with some more ambiguous evidence (similar to that presented in the article in question) dating to around 100,000 years ago.
What's not adding up is that you're not considering that until around 10,000 years ago, the Earth was in an ice age, which made survival much more tricky than it is today. Even the areas that weren't covered with ice were much drier at that time, making agriculture nearly impossible.
-- Give me ambiguity or give me something else!
Nowadays, based on genetic evidence, neandertals are usually considered a separate species, Homo neanderthalensis, while we are the type species of our own species, that is H. sapiens sapiens. Cro-magnons are indeed modern humans. Sometimes they are/were considered to be a distinctive subspecies (H. sapiens cromagnon), but I'm not sure about the current status of that school of thought.
The mystery your missing is called infant mortality. In the modern (first) world it's about 2% but in a pre-modern (no science based healthcare) it can be in the ~80% range. Add to that much shorter life spans, ~35 or so, and I think you'll find the answers to your questions.
God (daddy god) sending himself (son) to this world so that he can get himself (jesus) nailed to a cross, where he himself (jesus) is left without himself (daddy god) to be crusified to himself (daddy god), raised by himself (jesus?) to go get back to himself (daddy god) so that he can then send himself (ghost/spirit) back to this world until he himself (jesus) will go back in order to judge the world according to the laws he made up himself (daddy god)
You may want to read the Bible for yourself. What you're referring to is more of a Unitarian view of God (not the Trinitarian ("the one trinity god"). The Triune God is three (I suppose you would call them beings/persons), but still one God. He didn't change into different personality's.
If you have a look at Mark 15:34, when Jesus was on the cross, He cried out "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?". He wasn't talking to himself, but rather his father in heaven.
Also in Mark 14:62, Jesus says "And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.".
If you read through the Bible, you will find answers to the misconceptions you've been told.
"Failure to conform to majority belief does not make you a troll."