|
Sima De Los Huesos
The Sima de los Huesos hominins are a 430,000 year old population of "pre-Neanderthals" from the archaeological site of Atapuerca, archeological site of Atapuerca, Spain. They are in the "Neanderthal clade", but fall outside of ''Homo neanderthalensis''. When first published in 1993, these 29 individuals represented about 80% of the Middle Pleistocene human fossil record, and they preserve every bone in the human body. The unprecedented completeness of the remains sheds light on Neanderthal evolution, the classification of contemporary fossils, and the range of variation that could exist in a single Middle Pleistocene population. Exhumation of the Sima de los Huesos hominins began in the 1980s, under the direction of Emiliano Aguirre, and later Juan Luis Arsuaga, Eudald Carbonell, and José María Bermúdez de Castro. As a pre-Neanderthal population, the Sima de los Huesos hominins display a mosaic of classic Neanderthal traits (apomorphy and synapomorphy, apomorphies) as well as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Miguelón
Miguelón is the popular nickname for a human skull of the Sima de los Huesos hominins, classified as belonging to the "Neanderthal clade". One of the best preserved skulls in the human fossil record, it has been estimated to date to 430,000 years ago. It is one of more than 5,500 fossils belonging to early human populations which have been found in the Sima de los Huesos ("pit of bones") site in the Sierra de Archaeological Site of Atapuerca, Atapuerca in northern Spain. The excavators suggest that this concentration of bones in the pit may represent the practice of burial by the inhabitants of the cave. A competing theory cites the lack of small bones in the assemblage and suggests that the remains were washed into the pit by natural agents. Evidence in the form of genetic analysis suggests that the Sima de los Huesos hominins were ancestral to later Neanderthals. Subsequently, there is debate about whether to include them within ''Homo heidelbergensis'' or whether they repr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stone Tool
Stone tools have been used throughout human history but are most closely associated with prehistoric cultures and in particular those of the Stone Age. Stone tools may be made of either ground stone or knapped stone, the latter fashioned by a craftsman called a flintknapper. Stone has been used to make a wide variety of tools throughout history, including arrowheads, spearheads, hand axes, and querns. Knapped stone tools are nearly ubiquitous in pre-metal-using societies because they are easily manufactured, the tool stone raw material is usually plentiful, and they are easy to transport and sharpen. The study of stone tools is a cornerstone of prehistoric archaeology because they are essentially indestructible and therefore a ubiquitous component of the archaeological record. Ethnoarchaeology is used to further the understanding and cultural implications of stone tool use and manufacture. Knapped stone tools are made from cryptocrystalline materials such as chert, f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cave Painting
In archaeology, cave paintings are a type of parietal art (which category also includes petroglyphs, or engravings), found on the wall or ceilings of caves. The term usually implies prehistoric art, prehistoric origin. These paintings were often created by ''Human, Homo sapiens'', but also Denisovan, Denisovans and Neanderthal, Neanderthals; other species in the same ''Homo'' genus. Discussion around prehistoric art is important in understanding the history of ''Homo sapiens'' and how human beings have come to have unique abstract thoughts. Some point to these prehistoric paintings as possible examples of creativity, spirituality, and sentimental thinking in prehistoric humans. The oldest known are more than 40,000 years old (art of the Upper Paleolithic) and found in the caves in the district of Maros (Sulawesi, Indonesia). The oldest are often constructed from hand stencils and simple geometric shapes.M. Aubert et al., "Pleistocene cave art from Sulawesi, Indonesia", ''Nature'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atapuerca Mountains
The Atapuerca Mountains () is a karst topography, karstic hill formation near the village of Atapuerca, Province of Burgos, Atapuerca in the province of Burgos (Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile and Leon), northern Spain. In a still ongoing excavation campaign, rich fossil deposits and stone tool Assemblage (archaeology), assemblages have been discovered which are attributed to the earliest known Hominina, hominin residents in Western Europe. This "exceptional reserve of data" has been deposited during extensive Lower Paleolithic presence, as the Atapuerca Mountains served as the preferred occupation site of ''Homo erectus'', ''Homo antecessor'', ''Homo heidelbergensis'' and ''Homo neanderthalensis'' communities. The earliest specimen so far unearthed and reliably dated confirm an age between 1.2 million and 630,000 years. Some finds are exhibited in the nearby Museum of Human Evolution, in Burgos. Regional geography Encompassing , the Atapuerca Mo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Monograph
A monograph is generally a long-form work on one (usually scholarly) subject, or one aspect of a subject, typically created by a single author or artist (or, sometimes, by two or more authors). Traditionally it is in written form and published as a book, but it may be an artwork, audiovisual work, or exhibition made up of visual artworks. In library cataloguing, the word has a specific and broader meaning, while in the United States, the Food and Drug Administration uses the term to mean a set of published standards. Written works Academic works The English term ''monograph'' is derived from modern Latin , which has its root in Greek. In the English word, ''mono-'' means and ''-graph'' means . Unlike a textbook, which surveys the state of knowledge in a field, the main purpose of a monograph is to present primary research and original scholarship. This research is presented at length, distinguishing a monograph from an article. For these reasons, publication of a monograph ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atapuerca Map
Atapuerca may refer to: * Atapuerca, Province of Burgos, the town next to the archaeological site ** Atapuerca Mountains and the associated archaeological site of Atapuerca, an ancient karstic region of Burgos, Spain, containing the earliest known hominin fossils in Western Europe *** Archaeological site of Atapuerca * Battle of Atapuerca The Battle of Atapuerca was fought on 1 September 1054 at the site of Piedrahita ("standing stone") in the valley of Atapuerca between two brothers, King García Sánchez III of Navarre and King Ferdinand I of Castile. The Castilians won and ..., a medieval battle between the Kingdom of Castile and the Kingdom of Navarre * 27952 Atapuerca, an asteroid discovered in 1997 {{Disambig, geo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Control Of Fire By Early Humans
The control of fire by early humans was a critical technology enabling the evolution of humans. Fire provided a source of warmth and lighting, protection from predators (especially at night), a way to create more advanced hunting tools, and a method for cooking food. These cultural advances allowed human geographic dispersal, cultural innovations, and changes to diet and behavior. Additionally, creating fire allowed human activity to continue into the dark and colder hours of the evening. Claims for the earliest definitive evidence of control of fire by a member of ''Homo'' range from 1.7 to 2.0 million years ago ( Mya). Evidence for the "microscopic traces of wood ash" as controlled use of fire by ''Homo erectus'', beginning roughly 1 million years ago, has wide scholarly support. Some of the earliest known traces of controlled fire were found at the Daughters of Jacob Bridge, Israel, and dated to ~790,000 years ago. At the site, archaeologists also found the oldest ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Panthera Fossilis
''Panthera fossilis'' (also known as ''Panthera leo fossilis'' or ''Panthera spelaea fossilis'') is an extinct species of Felidae, cat belonging to the genus ''Panthera,'' known from remains found in Eurasia spanning the Middle Pleistocene and possibly into the Early Pleistocene. Although often historically considered a subspecies of the living lion (''Panthera leo''), ''Panthera fossilis'' is currently considered either a distinct species to be ancestral to or a Chronospecies, chronosubspecies of ''Panthera spelaea'' (commonly known as the cave lion or steppe lion). In comparison to Late Pleistocene ''Panthera spelaea'' specimens, ''Panthera fossilis'' tends to be considerably larger, up to , considerably exceeding modern lions in size, and making them among the largest cats to have ever lived, along with the South American sabertooth ''Smilodon populator''. Taxonomic history The species was first described by Wilhelm von Reichenau in 1906 from remains Excavation (archaeology) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Competitive Exclusion Principle
In ecology, the competitive exclusion principle, sometimes referred to as Gause's law, is a proposition that two species which compete for the same limited resource cannot coexist at constant population values. When one species has even the slightest advantage over another, the one with the advantage will dominate in the long term. This leads either to the extinction of the weaker competitor or to an evolutionary or behavioral shift toward a different ecological niche. The principle has been paraphrased in the maxim "complete competitors cannot coexist". History The competitive exclusion principle is classically attributed to Georgy Gause, although he actually never formulated it. The principle is already present in Darwin's theory of natural selection. Throughout its history, the status of the principle has oscillated between ''a priori'' ('two species coexisting ''must'' have different niches') and experimental truth ('we find that species coexisting do have different niches' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Origin Of Language
The origin of language, its relationship with human evolution, and its consequences have been subjects of study for centuries. Scholars wishing to study the origins of language draw inferences from evidence such as the fossil record, archaeological evidence, and contemporary language diversity. They may also study language acquisition as well as comparisons between human language and systems of animal communication (particularly other primates). Many argue for the close relation between the origins of language and the origins of modern human behavior, but there is little agreement about the facts and implications of this connection. The shortage of direct, empirical evidence has caused many scholars to regard the entire topic as unsuitable for serious study; in 1866, the Linguistic Society of Paris banned any existing or future debates on the subject, a prohibition which remained influential across much of the Western world until the late twentieth century. Various hypotheses ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grave Goods
Grave goods, in archaeology and anthropology, are items buried along with a body. They are usually personal possessions, supplies to smooth the deceased's journey into an afterlife, or offerings to gods. Grave goods may be classed by researchers as a type of votive deposit. Most grave goods recovered by archaeologists consist of inorganic objects such as pottery and stone and metal tools, but organic objects that have since decayed were also placed in ancient tombs. If grave goods were to be useful to the deceased in the afterlife, then favorite foods or everyday objects were supplied. Oftentimes, social status played a role in what was left and how often it was left. Funerary art is a broad term but generally means artworks made specifically to decorate a burial place, such as miniature models of possessions - including slaves or servants - for "use" in an afterlife. (Ancient Egypt sometimes saw the burial of real servants with the deceased. Similar cases of human sacrifice of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
