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Balangoda Man
Balangoda Man refers to hominins from Sri Lanka's late Quaternary period. The term was initially coined to refer to anatomically modern ''Homo sapiens'' from sites near Balangoda that were responsible for the island's Mesolithic 'Balangoda Culture'. The earliest evidence of Balangoda Man from archaeological sequences at caves and other sites dates back to 38,000 BCE, and from excavated skeletal remains to 30,000 BC, which is also the earliest reliably dated record of anatomically modern humans in South Asia. Cultural remains discovered alongside the skeletal fragments include geometric microliths dating to 28,500 BC, which together with some sites in Africa is the earliest record of such stone tools. Balangoda Man is estimated to have had thick skulls, prominent supraorbital ridges, depressed noses, heavy jaws, short necks and conspicuously large teeth. Metrical and morphometric features of skeletal fragments extracted from cave sites that were occupied during different pe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hominini
The Hominini (hominins) form a Tribe (biology), taxonomic tribe of the subfamily Homininae (hominines). They comprise two extant genera: ''Homo'' (humans) and ''Pan (genus), Pan'' (chimpanzees and bonobos), and in standard usage exclude the genus ''Gorilla (genus), Gorilla'' (gorillas), which is grouped separately within the subfamily Homininae. The term Hominini was originally introduced by Camille Arambourg (1948), who combined the categories of ''Hominina'' and ''Simiina'' pursuant to John Edward Gray, Gray's classifications (1825). Traditionally, chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans were grouped together, excluding humans, as pongidae, pongids. Since Gray's classifications, evidence accumulating from genetic phylogeny confirmed that humans, chimpanzees, and gorillas are more closely related to each other than to the orangutan. The orangutans were reassigned to the family Hominidae (great apes), which already included humans; and the gorillas were grouped as a separate tr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Old World
The "Old World" () is a term for Afro-Eurasia coined by Europeans after 1493, when they became aware of the existence of the Americas. It is used to contrast the continents of Africa, Europe, and Asia in the Eastern Hemisphere, previously thought of by the Europeans as comprising the entire world, with the "New World", a term for the newly encountered lands of the Western Hemisphere, particularly the Americas. Etymology In the context of archaeology and world history, the term "Old World" includes those parts of the world which were in (indirect) cultural contact from the Bronze Age onwards, resulting in the parallel development of the early civilizations, mostly in the temperate zone between roughly the 45th and 25th parallels north, in the area of the Mediterranean, including North Africa. It also included Mesopotamia, the Persian plateau, the Indian subcontinent, China, and parts of Sub-Saharan Africa. These regions were connected via the Silk Road trade route, and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Middle Pleistocene
The Chibanian, more widely known as the Middle Pleistocene (its previous informal name), is an Age (geology), age in the international geologic timescale or a Stage (stratigraphy), stage in chronostratigraphy, being a division of the Pleistocene Epoch within the ongoing Quaternary Period. The Chibanian name was officially ratified in January 2020. It is currently estimated to span the time between 0.7741 annum, Ma (774,100 years ago) and 0.129 Ma (129,000 years ago), also expressed as 774.1–129 ka. It includes the transition in palaeoanthropology from the Lower Paleolithic, Lower to the Middle Paleolithic over 300 ka. The Chibanian is preceded by the Calabrian (stage), Calabrian and succeeded by the Late Pleistocene. The beginning of the Chibanian is the Brunhes–Matuyama reversal, when the Earth's magnetic field last underwent reversal. Its end roughly coincides with the termination of the Penultimate Glacial Period and the onset of the Last Interglacial period (correspondin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Narmada Man
The Narmada Human, originally the Narmada Man, is a species of extinct human that lived in central India during the Middle and Late Pleistocene. From a skull cup discovered from the bank of the Narmada River in Madhya Pradesh in 1982, the discoverer, Arun Sonakia classified it was an archaic human and gave the name Narmada Man, with the scientific name ''H. erectus narmadensis''. Analysis of additional fossils from the same location in 1997 indicated that the individual could be a female, hence, a revised name, Narmada Human, was introduced. It remains the oldest human species in India. The Narmada Valley became a fossil attraction in the early 19th century following the discovery of a dinosaur, '' Titanosaurus.'' Discovery of stone tools prompted a search for early human fossils, but over a century of research was in vain. The discovery of the Narmada Human is remarked as the moment that "brought the Narmada Valley back into palaeoanthropological focus." The fossil had been var ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh (; ; ) is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and the largest city is Indore, Indore. Other major cities includes Gwalior, Jabalpur, and Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, Sagar. Madhya Pradesh is the List of states and union territories of India by area, second largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India by population, fifth largest state by population with over 72 million residents. It borders the states of Rajasthan to the northwest, Uttar Pradesh to the northeast, Chhattisgarh to the east, Maharashtra to the south, Gujarat to the west. The area covered by the present-day Madhya Pradesh includes the area of the ancient Avanti (India), Avanti Mahajanapada, whose capital Ujjain (also known as Avantika) arose as a major city during the second wave of Indian urbanisation in the sixth century BCE. Subsequently, the region was ruled by the major dynasties of India. The Maratha Confederacy, Maratha Empire dominated the maj ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Middle Palaeolithic
The Middle Paleolithic (or Middle Palaeolithic) is the second subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age as it is understood in Europe, Africa and Asia. The term Middle Stone Age is used as an equivalent or a synonym for the Middle Paleolithic in African archeology. The Middle Paleolithic broadly spanned from 300,000 to 50,000 years ago. There are considerable dating differences between regions. The Middle Paleolithic was succeeded by the Upper Paleolithic subdivision which first began between 50,000 and 40,000 years ago. Pettit and White date the Early Middle Paleolithic in Great Britain to about 325,000 to 180,000 years ago (late Marine Isotope Stage 9 to late Marine Isotope Stage 7), and the Late Middle Paleolithic as about 60,000 to 35,000 years ago. The Middle Paleolithic was in the geological Chibanian (Middle Pleistocene) and Late Pleistocene ages. According to the theory of the recent African origin of modern humans, anatomically modern humans began migrati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chert
Chert () is a hard, fine-grained sedimentary rock composed of microcrystalline or cryptocrystalline quartz, the mineral form of silicon dioxide (SiO2). Chert is characteristically of biological origin, but may also occur inorganically as a precipitation (chemistry), chemical precipitate or a diagenesis, diagenetic replacement, as in petrified wood. Chert is typically composed of the petrified remains of siliceous ooze, the biogenic sediment that covers large areas of the deep ocean floor, and which contains the silicon skeletal remains of diatoms, Dictyochales, silicoflagellates, and radiolarians. Precambrian cherts are notable for the presence of fossil cyanobacteria. In addition to Micropaleontology, microfossils, chert occasionally contains macrofossils. However, some chert is devoid of any fossils. Chert varies greatly in color, from white to black, but is most often found as gray, brown, grayish brown and light green to rusty redW.L. Roberts, T.J. Campbell, G.R. Rapp Jr., ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quartz
Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The Atom, atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon–oxygen Tetrahedral molecular geometry, tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical formula of Silicon dioxide, SiO2. Quartz is, therefore, classified structurally as a Silicate mineral#Tectosilicates, framework silicate mineral and compositionally as an oxide mineral. Quartz is the second most abundant mineral in Earth's continental crust, behind feldspar. Quartz exists in two forms, the normal α-quartz and the high-temperature β-quartz, both of which are chiral. The transformation from α-quartz to β-quartz takes place abruptly at . Since the transformation is accompanied by a significant change in volume, it can easily induce microfracturing of ceramics or rocks passing through this temperature threshold. There are many different varieties of quartz, several of which are classifi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
International Union Of Prehistoric And Protohistoric Sciences
The International Union of Prehistoric and Protohistoric Sciences (''Union internationale des sciences préhistoriques et protohistoriques'' – UISPP) is a learned society, linked through the International Council for Philosophy and Human Sciences to UNESCO, and concerned with the study of prehistory and protohistory. In the words of its constitution: :''The UISPP is committed to promote prehistoric and protohistoric studies by the organisation of world congresses, through the creation of scientific commissions dedicated to specific themes, by supporting excavations of international significance, scholarly publications of international scope, conferences or any other learned meeting''. The UISPP, as an international association of scholars, is founded on the principle of the universality of science. It firmly upholds academic freedom, recognizing that the study of humanity is relevant to all contemporary societies. In this spirit, the UISPP staunchly opposes any form of discr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paleontology
Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure geologic time, and assess the interactions between prehistoric organisms and their natural environment. While paleontological observations are known from at least the 6th century BC, the foundation of paleontology as a science dates back to the work of Georges Cuvier in 1796. Cuvier demonstrated evidence for the concept of extinction and how life of the past was not necessarily the same as that of the present. The field developed rapidly over the course of the following decades, and the French word ''paléontologie'' was introduced for the study in 1822, which was derived from the Ancient Greek word for "ancient" and words describing relatedness and a field of study. Further advances in the field accompanied the work of Charles Darwin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hambantota District
Hambantota District ( ''hambantoṭa distrikkaya''; ''Ampāntōṭṭai māvaṭṭam'') is a Districts of Sri Lanka, district in Southern Province, Sri Lanka. It is one of 25 districts of Sri Lanka, the second level administrative division of the country. The district is administered by a District Secretariat headed by a Government Agent (Sri Lanka), District Secretary (previously known as a Government Agent (Sri Lanka), Government Agent) appointed by the Government of Sri Lanka, central government of Sri Lanka. Hambantota District is located on the southeastern coast of Sri Lanka. It has an area of and a very dry climate. The district capital is Hambantota town; the administrative headquarters are there as well as the center of salt production. Other prominent towns include Tangalle, Ambalantota, Sooriyawewa, Tissamaharama, and Beliatta. Before modern development took place after the country gained independence in 1948, the agriculture in the district was characterised by swi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adam's Bridge
Adam's Bridge, also known as Rama's Bridge or ''Rama Setu'', is a chain of natural limestone shoals between Pamban Island, also known as Rameswaram Island, off the southeastern coast of Tamil Nadu, India, and Mannar Island, off the northwestern coast of Sri Lanka. Geological evidence suggests that the bridge was formerly a land connection between India and Sri Lanka. The feature is long and separates the Gulf of Mannar (southwest) from the Palk Strait (northeast). Some regions of the bridge are dry, and the sea in the area rarely exceeds in depth, making it quite difficult for boats to pass over it. Etymology Ibn Khordadbeh's '' Kitāb al-Masālik wa-l-Mamālik'' () refers to the structure as ''Set Bandhai'' (lit. Bridge of the Sea). The name Adam's Bridge appeared probably around the time of Al-Biruni (). This appears to have been premised on the Islamic belief that Adam's Peak — where the biblical Adam fell to earth — is located in Sri Lanka, and that Adam cross ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
