Fossil Finds

GEICO’s Cavemen – Neandertal Prejudice or Comedy?

What would happen if a small relict band of Neandertals (Homo neanderthalensis) was discovered? What if they learned to speak some language known to modern humans (Homo sapiens) and tried to integrate into our society? For hominologists, such questions have been pondered for years, due to the fact that many of us have considered it a real possibility that Neandertals are behind reports of nuk-luk, Bushman, wudewasa (Eurasia’s Woodpeople) and other unknown hairy hominid sightings and encounters. (See The Field Guide of Bigfoot and Other Mystery Primates, specifically on “Neandertaloids,” pages 13, 23-26, 52-53, 90-91, 118-119, and 170.) The issue [...]

New Aegyptopithecus zeuxis Find

Via a press release from Duke University: Elwyn Simons with 1966 male skull (left) and much smaller and better preserved new female specimen | Megen Morr Brain, Size and Gender Surprises in Latest Fossil Tying Humans Humans, Apes and Monkeys Advanced X-ray technique was a key to findings in Duke-led study Durham, NC — A surprisingly complete fossil skull of an ancient relative of humans, apes and monkeys bears striking evidence that our remote ancestor was less mentally advanced than expected by about 29 million years ago. The second and most intact cranium found of Aegyptopithecus zeuxis was identified by [...]

Laotian Rock Rat: Definitely A Living Fossil

The Laotian rock rat (Laonastes aenigmamus) is a living fossil. New DNA results confirm it is the last surviving member of a once-large group of rodents that was known only by fossils, which supposedly vanished from the fossil record 11 million years ago. Surprise, this is the mammalian version of the coelacanth. Nobel Intent, at Ars Technica’s science-centric journal, summarizes the findings: DNA sequence analysis has now joined the argument and comes down strongly in favor of the living fossil contention. Not only is the rock rat like nothing we’ve ever seen before, it’s not much like anything we’ve ever [...]

KNM-ER 1470: An African Fossil Ape?

KNM-ER 1470 = Homo rudolfensis = ancient ape? The skull above was discovered by Bernard Ngeneo in 1972, at Koobi Fora in Kenya. It has an estimated age of 1.9 million years. Originally, KNM-ER 1470 was claimed to be a Homo habilis skull. The braincase was found to be surprisingly modern in many respects, much less robust than any australopithecine skull. It also did not have the usual robustness and large brow ridges of Homo erectus. The face, in contrast, is extremely large and robust. In the last few years, an increasing number of anthropologists have classified this skull as [...]