Thankfully,
I see, I did qualify the last of my four posts last year on the rise of this earth
of ours, and the spread of its peoples ... that more would come to light.
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| Photo of Homo - see Wikipedia |
When I
went up to London the other day I had time to spare in Eastbourne before the
train left, as I’d hedged my bets re the flooding etc making sure I’d arrive in
town for my appointment.
I
browsed the newsagents picking up the New Scientist which appeared to have a
few interesting blog-type articles in it ...
... one
of which relates to the isolation of the tribes of Africa, once their species
had started to migrate north populating the rest of the world after
inter-breeding with the Neanderthals they encountered in the Middle East and
further north.
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| Mitochrondial DNA-chart showing large migrations of human populations ... NB it is a map of the world - for easier viewing check out Wiki and the photo data |
At the
time of my earlier posts in 2013 I’m sure I briefly thought well what about
those peoples left behind ... letting them just get on with it ... til modern
humans eventually emigrated back into Africa: how brazenly ridiculous can I
be?!
The
article I spotted is titled ‘The Return
to Africa that Time Forgot’ reminding me of my previous posts ... it
had been established that our homo
sapiens species migrated out of Africa 65,000 years ... but what else
happened ...
 |
| my iphone photo - see better picture in the actual New Scientist article |
... other
migrations had occurred during those 65,000 years and that western Eurasian
genes had entered the African populations sometime between 900 and 3,000 years
ago, hinting at important human migrations in historic times, that barely
registered in written records.
The
article (link below) refers to the ancient stories that seem to offer anecdotal explanations
for the genetic findings ... viz the Bible and the Koran ...
So we
all have a genetic legacy of Neanderthal in us, to a lesser or greater degree,
including the sub-Saharan tribes or peoples
... confirming that early humanity did U turns too ... and returned to
their African roots.
Now
here’s my new dilemma ... my original posts only referred to us: homo
sapiens ... yet there are four (main) human species in the story of our
British evolution ... as I found out from my
research and in Wikipedia:
homo antecessor (earliest
known human species): discovered in Spain
and so named in 1997; lived approx 1.2 – 0.8 million years ago.
homo heidelbergensis
(sometimes called homo rhodesiensis):
found in Europe, Africa and China.
Discovered, so named in 1908; lived approx 0.6 – 0.35 million years ago.
homo neanderthalensis (Neanderthal
man): found in Europe and Western Asia.
Discovered, so named in the mid 1800s; lived approx 0.35 – 0.03 million
years ago.
homo sapiens (modern
man): found worldwide. Discovered, so named in about 1758; living from about
200,000 years ago ... and still going strong, I think!
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| Map from Wiki showing Happisburgh during the early Pleistocene age; note the land bridge to Europe: still connected 800,000 years ago |
To add
to the excitement of our British evolution, recently it was announced that
human footprints had been found in Happisburgh, Norfolk ... dating back 800,000
years – our ancestors from the homo antecessor
period.
Prior
to this discovery, the oldest footprint in the UK was only 7,500 years old ...
one of our homo sapiens ancestors.
To tie
all this together The Natural History Museum has a new exhibition entitled “Britain:
One Million Years of the Human Story”.
At the
entrance to the exhibition we will be able to see casts of the four human species
in our evolution.
As the
notes to the exhibition highlight – catch a glimpse of the drama and treasure you
will find in our evolutionary story.
On the
Natural History Museum site – there are films showing:
- how the four homo casts were made ...
- how the team of scientists uncovered and recorded our 800,000 year old homo antecessor footprints ...
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| Eddie Izzard |
... and
as I described in those earlier posts, where Eddie Izzard was used as an
example with his Neanderthal features, there are films showing the tracing of
Neanderthal DNA in other celebrities, such as Bill Bailey, Clive Anderson and
Alice Roberts.
I’m
really looking forward to seeing this Exhibition and looking back at Britain
long before the Romans, Saxons and Vikings arrived ...
Then
just to add to the general mix ... The Vikings (Vikings: Life and Legend) are coming
to the British Museum ... I gather they arrive on 6th March 2014!
Science
in all its disciplines just amazes me about how much is accessible to be
researched, to be recorded ... I love this learning ...the internet offers so
many possibilities to us, while I'm lucky to live near enough to London for regular visits.
NewScientist article by Catherine Brahic
NaturalHistory Museum Site – promoting the exhibition: Britain, One Million Years of
the Human Story ... check out the films here ...
Wikipedia
Homo page
The first of my four posts last year: Ice House Earth, Greenhouse Earth and those in-between times ... our planet and its peoples ... part 1/4
Hilary
Melton-Butcher
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