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Category Archives: Hunter-gatherer
When humans were prey for hyenas
Human ancestors had rudimentary control of fire some 1.5 – 2 million years ago, and that was the single event that led to the inevitable journey to becoming the dominant species. But though fire made dominance inevitable, it was a slow process. A new paper shows that tooth marks on the bones of a 500,000 year old hominin were caused by a large carnivore and indicating that the hominin had been consumed. Continue reading
For Nenderthals as well as for hunter-gatherers it was absorption and not extinction
Two new studies suggest that it was interbreeding and absorption into larger populations and not some dead-end extinctions that caused Neanderthals and later hunter-gatherers to disappear. Continue reading
Polynesian ancestors 3,000 years ago were hunter-gatherers rather than farmers
Early Lapita settlers from 3,000 years ago ate reef fish, marine turtles, fruit bats, free-range pigs and chickens, rather than primarily relying on growing crops for human food and animal fodder. Continue reading
Posted in Agriculture, Ancestors, Hunter-gatherer
Tagged farmers, foraging, hunter-gatherers, island colonisation, Lapita, Pacific Islands, Polynesia
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Beringia was inhabited for 500 generations
The now submerged land bridge (Beringia) between Asia and North America was not just a little strip of land across which the ancestors of native Americans quickly moved across. It was not just a rest stop for the journey to America. The “bridge” was a vast area of land and itself served as a fairly permanent habitat and refuge for ancient humans for around 10,000 years (500 generations) from 25,000 to 15,000 years ago. Continue reading
Why the hunters moved down from the hills
But this was a period of great change – environmental and social. The northern hemisphere was coming out of a glacial age, nomadic hunter-gatherers were “settling down” and the age of agriculture was approaching. I can imagine that dwellings at lower altitude would have been more suitable for continuous occupation whereas the caves and grottos at high altitude were probably only occupied seasonally. Continue reading
Posted in Agriculture, Ancestors, Evolution, Hunter-gatherer, Origins of Agriculture
Tagged dwelling places, hunter-gatherers, Spain
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SE Asia rainforests shaped by humans for 11,000 years
A new study comes to the brave conclusion – based on ancient pollen samples which contain charcoal and and therefore suggest that land was cleared and planted – that the rain forests of SE Asia have been “managed” by humans since about 11,000 years ago! Continue reading
Light skin genes in Europe less than 7,000 years old
The first European genome sequence that predates the appearance of agriculture from skeletons in La Brana show that these hunter gatherers had dark skin and blue eyes. The dark skin is a very interesting finding, as light skin is nearly universal across Europe today. These results suggest that the light skin seen across Europe today is a development of the last at least 7,000 years. Continue reading
Posted in AMH, Ancestors, Evolution, Homo Sapiens, Hunter-gatherer
Tagged Europe, genetic analysis, hunter-gatheres, la Brana, light skin gene
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Hunter-gatherers persisted till 5,000 years ago (and are still around today)
I take permanent or semi-permanent settlements to be evidence of a lifestyle which had departed from being a purely hunter.gatherer lifestyle. Continue reading
Ancient Mesopotamia had genetic links to the Indian sub-continent
Genetic studies show linkages between Mesopotamia and the Indian sub-continent suggesting that these genetic markers were due to movement from India to Mesopotamia in the paleolithic. Continue reading
Posted in Ancestors, Hunter-gatherer, Peopling the world
Tagged Euphrates, India, Mesopotamia, Mitochondrial DNA, paleolithic movements
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Humans and reindeer
Humans have been interacting with reindeer for at least some 45,000 years and perhaps longer. There is some suggestion that not just Anatomically Modern Humans but that even Neanderthals – more than 60,000 years ago – hunted reindeer. Mass herding of reindeer dates back around 7,000 years but true domestication of reindeer is probably quite recent and no more than 2-3000 years old and probably took place as a consequence of many domestication events. Continue reading
Posted in Ancestors, Evolution, Hunter-gatherer, Nomad
Tagged human-reindeer history, Inuit, Neanderthal, Reindeer, reindeer domestication, reindeer herding, Sami
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