Category Archives: AMH

Hominid genetics get more complex

Posted on August 25, 2018 by

The human genetic story now goes back to times from which there is little or no archaeological record. It seems that some Neanderthals may well have had speech even if not any well developed language. The control of fire goes back some 400,000+ years ago. Stone tools were around from around 1.8 million years ago. Perhaps the beginnings of modern humans does not have to start so far back, but it does look like the story of homo sapiens now needs to be pushed backwards into time to at least the common hominin ancestor from around a million years ago. Continue reading →

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Posted in AMH, Ancestors, Denisovans, Evolution, Neanderthals | Tagged | 2 Comments

The single Out-of-Africa theory is dying

Posted on February 3, 2018 by

The single Out-of-Africa theory is dying if not completely dead. Certainly some of the earlier excursions out of Africa may not have survived. I am still sticking to my narrative of the peopling of the world being mainly due to (at least) two waves of expansion from AfricArabia; one before the Toba eruption (74,000 years ago) and one after. Continue reading →

Posted in AMH, Peopling the world | Tagged , | 5 Comments

Rope making more than 40,000 years old

Posted on July 27, 2016 by

If they had rope and twine, they had thread. If they had thread, they probably had some form of garments. If they had twine, they had the “technology” for bows and arrows. If they had rope they would also have had the capability to drag heavy weights across primitive rollers. Continue reading →

Posted in AMH, Origins and inventions | Tagged | 1 Comment

Harappan civilisation started earlier, lasted longer

Posted on June 3, 2016 by

What is striking is how the two great rivers, the Indus and the Saraswati (Ghaggar or Hakra), totally dominated the landscape. It is not surprising that an advanced water management “technology” developed. The growth of managed agriculture and trade followed. The period of intensified monsoon from 7,000 BCE to about 5,000 BCE could have been a time of plenty which promoted growth and settlement. Continue reading →

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80,000-120,000 year old modern humans in S China confirm many and older Out of Africa events

Posted on October 15, 2015 by

The single Out of Africa event for modern humans is clearly far too simplistic. It is also clear that there were many back to Africa movements as well. Humans expanded sometimes because their old habitats were no longer viable. But, it seems, humans also explored and expanded into new territories from regions of plenty and where they maintained some contact with where they had come from. Probably, just because they could. Continue reading →

Posted in AMH, Denisovans, Neanderthals, Peopling the world | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Earliest common ancestors could not have been mitochondrial Eve and Y-chromosomal Adam

Posted on September 4, 2015 by

African AMH is thought to have first come into being around 200,000 years ago in Africa. But it is thought that the ancestors of the Neanderthals and the Denisovans left Africa about 500,000 years ago. This immediately means that mitochondrial Eve and Y-chromosomal Adam could not have been our earliest common ancestors. Continue reading →

Posted in AMH, Evolution | Tagged | 2 Comments

Our Neanderthal genes may have come mainly from their females

Posted on May 30, 2015 by

So I imagine the decline of the Neanderthals taking some 20-30,000 years as AMH expanded westwards and the decline of the Denisovans probably starting a little later but taking somewhat less time. The encounters and admixing probably only occurred with the tribes and bands at the frontiers. Continue reading →

Posted in AMH, Ancestors, Denisovans, Neanderthals, Peopling the world | Tagged , , | 2 Comments