Greetings The Unleashed!
A happy, healthy and prosperous New Year to you all. This week I have a final look back at last year, taking a look at some of the best discoveries found in the story of human evolution.
2023 could likely be viewed as a coming-of-age story for our Neanderthal cousins, as they further shed their brutish image, revealing themselves as skilled hunters and perhaps surprising artists. We learned so much about the Neanderthals capabilities, that some researchers even started to question whether they were really a separate species to us!
There were also revelations about our own lineage stretching back further, blurring the lines between species and rewriting the timeline of our emergence.
We marveled at the ingenuity of early hominins who built structures before we thought possible, and glimpsed the glimmer of complex cultural practices in societies we once deemed primitive.
So let’s dive in to some of the biggest discoveries in human evolution from 2023…
Humans were not the only ancient artists…
The Oldest Art in the World Wasn’t Made By Homo sapiens
One of the most hotly debated questions in the history of Neanderthal research has been whether they created art. In the past few years, the consensus has become that they did, sometimes. But, like their relations at either end of the hominid evolutionary tree, chimpanzees and Homo sapiens, Neanderthals’ behavior varied culturally from group to group and over time.
Their art was perhaps more abstract than the stereotypical figure and animal cave paintings Homo sapiens made after the Neanderthals disappeared about 30,000 years ago. But archaeologists are beginning to appreciate how creative Neanderthal art was in its own right.
Homo sapiens are thought to have evolved in Africa from at least 315,000 years ago. Neanderthal populations in Europe have been traced back at least 400,000 years.
As early as 250,000 years ago, Neanderthals were mixing minerals such as haematite (ochre) and manganese with fluids to make red and black paints – presumably to decorate the body and clothing.
Research by Palaeolithic archaeologists in the 1990s radically changed the common view of Neanderthals as dullards. We now know that, far from trying to keep up with the Homo sapiens, they had a nuanced behavioral evolution of their own. Their large brains earned their evolutionary keep.
Neanderthals were going for big game…
Neanderthals Hunted Elephants Twice the Weight of Modern Ones
Evidence has emerged from Germany dated to 125,000 years ago showing Neanderthals hunted elephants twice the size of contemporaneous ones. Building on that information, which provides new insight into the organization of Neanderthal society and sophistication of their hunting techniques, scientists have found that these elephants (roughly 13 tons each) weighed twice the size of mammoths who were eventually hunted into extinction by Homo sapiens!
…an really small game…
Proof Emerges that Neanderthals Harvested and Ate Crabs 90,000 Years Ago
New research has once again illustrated that the Neanderthals were neither primitive nor unsophisticated. It shows that Neanderthals living in a cave near Lisbon, Portugal 90,000 years ago enjoyed a rich and diverse diet that included healthy amounts of crab meat. Crab is recognized as a delicacy even in the modern world, that takes hard work and advanced knowledge to obtain in abundance. Well, it seems this is what the Neanderthals were doing 35,000 years before the first modern humans even arrived in Europe.
And that’s not all they were after…
Neanderthal Hunters Were Stalking Cave Lions 48,000 Years Ago
A international team of paleoanthropologists has just published research supposedly proving that Neanderthals were hunting and eating cave lions nearly 50,000 years ago in Europe. Until now experts had no idea that Neanderthals hunters had been stalking cave lions. In fact, this stunning discovery represents the oldest evidence of large predator hunting by human relatives or ancestors found anywhere in the world.
These findings led some academics to ask…
Reevaluating Neanderthals: Are They Actually the Same Species as Us?
Neanderthals have been recognized as a species distinct from modern humans for quite some time. But if a trio of researchers from universities in Portugal, Italy and Spain get their way, this designation may soon change. These archaeologists believe Neanderthals were not a different species at all but instead were simply another variety of humans, a conclusion that they draw after completing an analysis of the ingenious way that Neanderthals used fire to satisfy their survival needs.
And toolmaking wasn’t necessarily only by human ancestors…
Results of Kenyan Dig Suggest Africa’s First Toolmakers Were Not Human
A multi-year series of excavations at a site near Lake Victoria in Kenya unearthed a collection of Oldowan stone tools that are likely the oldest ever found on Earth, dating back to the Pliocene epoch (between 5.3 and 2.5 million years ago). According to the American and British researchers involved in the latest study of the recovered artifacts, these tools (estimated to be a bit under 3 million years old) would have been used to butcher deceased hippos and pound edible plant material into a more appetizing shape.
Who, exactly, was doing the butchering and the pounding?
Past studies of Oldowan artifacts, which represented a huge leap forward in toolmaking technology, have credited their creation and use to the forerunners of modern humans. But the scientists found no fossilized remnants of human ancestors at the site in Kenya. What they discovered instead were two huge molars that belonged to an extinct ape-like creature known as Paranthropus. This hominin was distantly related to ancient humans, but its three different varieties ( Paranthropus aethiopicus, boisei and robustus) comprise a unique and separate genus, completely distinct from the Homo genus that includes modern humans and our ancestors.
Although, human ancestors were certainly good at it…
Homo Erectus Mastered Oldowan and Acheulean Tools 2 Million Years Ago
While they first appeared on the lowland savannas of East Africa around two million years ago, the human ancestor Homo erectus soon expanded their range into the Ethiopian highlands. According to a new study just published in the journal Science, those early Homo erectus groups that migrated upward into the Ethiopian mountains were true toolmaking pioneers, as they successfully completed the transition from the Oldowan tool industry to the Acheulean tool industry in approximately 50,000 years.
And they even became carpenters…
World’s Oldest Wooden Structure Found in Zambia – It’s Half a Million Years Old!
At the Kalambo Falls archaeological site in northeastern Zambia, archaeologists recovered specimens of ancient wood in the form of logs that had been preserved in waterlogged sand next to the Kalambo River for nearly a half-a-million years—or for 476,000 years, to be more exact. While the discoverers weren’t sure what they had found, a new study by archaeologists from the University of Liverpool and Aberystwyth University in the United Kingdom revealed that the logs were intentionally cut and shaped to be used as building materials. Using a new dating technology known as luminescence, the archaeologists were able to confirm the astonishing age of these incredibly ancient artifacts.
And made some wonderful things…
300,000-Year-Old Schöningen Spears Reveal Prehistoric Advanced Woodworking
Excavated in the 1990s, the legendary Schöningen spears from Germany, the oldest weapons in human history, have consistently provided fascinating insights into the behavior of our early human ancestors. A newly published study claims that one of the Schöningen spears, a double-pointed wooden stick which was scraped, seasoned and sanded before use, shows that these early humans were woodworking masters.
Which helped them to spread all around the world…
Human Arrival in South America Pushed Back to 25,000 Years Ago
Human arrival in the Americas has a long-disputed timeline, and new evidence supports pushing back the date for human arrival in South America to at least 25,000 years ago. The evidence? Remains of bones of extinct giant ground sloths, transformed into pendants by ancient inhabitants, found in the Santa Elina rock shelter, situated in central Brazil's Mato Grosso state. Till now, this remains the most compelling evidence for human settlement in the Americas this far back.
In a fantastic new study published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, researchers meticulously examine sloth osteoderms (fossilized bony dermal plates which act as protective armor for animals like armadillos, etc) revealing intricate details that point to human interaction. Three sloth osteoderms in particular were found to bear distinct signs of human working. They were discovered in close proximity to stone tools and displayed minuscule holes that could only have been made by human hands.
But will it help avoid a repetition of this?
Near-Extinction of Our Human Ancestors Revealed by Genetic Research
Approximately one million years ago, the Earth was populated by a few hundred thousand or so ancient human ancestors. But about 900,000 years ago there was a sudden and dramatic crash in this population, which caused the number of archaic human breeding couples to drop down to below 1,300.
Or at least, this is the latest claim from a team of Chinese and Italian genetic researchers, who’ve just published a comprehensive historical analysis of the evolution of the human genome and its relation to past population levels in the journal Science.
To detect the genetic traces of what was nearly an extinction-level population crash, the scientists analyzed genetic data collected from 3,154 individuals in 10 modern African populations and 40 non-African populations. These people all had their genomes sequenced completely, which made it possible for the researchers to assess the differences and correlate them with long-term population patterns.
Til next time…we’ll keep seeking out the stories and learning from the past in 2024.
Gary Manners - Senior Editor, Ancient Origins
I'm a retired 78 yo builder living in CA on a fixed income. I've loved your free newsletters for years, but can't afford the premium version. now I see you generously gave me a unobviously hidden work around ! humans/prehumans building sophisticated structures , etc. 100,000 's yrs ago ! WOW! thanks so much, AO !!!!