[Article] 'Hobbit' Was an Iodine-Deficient Human, Not Another Species, New Study Suggests.

ScienceDaily (Sep. 28, 2010) — A new paper is set to re-ignite debate over the origins of so-called Homo floresiensis -- the 'hobbit' that some scientists have claimed as a new species of human.
The University of Western Australia's Emeritus Professor Charles Oxnard and his colleagues, in a paper in PLoS ONE have reconfirmed, on the post-cranial skeleton, their original finding on the skull that Homo floresiensis in fact bears the hallmarks of humans -- Homo sapiens -- affected by hypothyroid cretinism.
The remains, allegedly as recent as 15,000 years, were discovered in 2003 in the Liang Bua caves on the Indonesian island of Flores by archaeologists seeking evidence of the first human migration from Asia to Australia.
When Professor Oxnard and fellow Australian researchers suggested in a 2008 paper that the skull showed evidence of endemic dwarf cretinism resulting from congenital hypothyroidism and were not a new species of human, their claim caused controversy.
In order to test their thesis, in their new paper Professor Oxnard and his team summarised data on the rest of the skeleton and mathematically compared the bones of cretins in relation to chimpanzees, unaffected humans and H. floresiensis. They used two methods with different statistical bases: principal components analyses (PCA) and non-metric multi-dimensional scaling (MDS).

Multivariate analyses of quantitative features of Homo floresiensis in relation to cretins, unaffected humans and chimpanzees. (...)

[Read the full article ...]

[Article] Ancient bone find may change human history.

August 03, 2010 | Jakarta Globe | by Cecil Morella

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A 67,000-year-old foot bone found in the Philippines

Archaeologists have found a foot bone that could prove the Philippines was first settled by humans 67,000 years ago, thousands of years earlier than previously thought, the National Museum said Tuesday.
The bone, found in an extensive cave network, predates the 47,000-year-old Tabon Man that is previously known as the first human to have lived in the country, said Taj Vitales, a researcher with the museum's archaeology section.
"This would make it the oldest human remains ever found in the Philippines," Vitales told AFP.
A team of archaeologists from the University of the Philippines and the National Museum dug up the third metatarsal bone of the foot in 2007 in the Callao caves near Penablanca, about 335 kilometres (210 miles) north of Manila.

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[ ... Read the full article ... ]

[Articles] Founds in Lao Cao cave

June, 17 2010 | VietNamNews
Twelve animal species found in Lao Cai cave

LAO CAI — More than 500 animal fossils have been discovered in a cave in the northwestern province of Lao Cai, according to the Viet Nam Archaeology Institute.
Archaeologists were working for nearly a month at Ma Tuyen Cave, in Muong Khuong District.
The fossils are believed to belong to 12 animal species, including bear, rhino, elephant, porcupine, deer, pig, horse, dog, monkey and mouse, scientifically named Stegodon orientalis Owen, Elephas indicus, Palaeoloxodon naumanni, Ailuropoda mela-noleuca, Rhinoceros, Servus and Sus scrofa.
More than half of the items were discovered by chance by workers from a local construction firm while renovating the cave in 2009.

Chew on this: Fossil teeth of from Palaeoloxodon naumanni, found at the Ma Tuyen Cave in the northwestern province of Lao Cai. — File Photo

[...Read the full article here...] — VNS

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Saturday ,Jun 12,2010 | SGGP english | By Truong Ngoc; Translated by Hai Mien
10,000 year old elephant teeth discovered in Lao Cai

Fossil teeth of straight-tusked elephants (Palaeoloxodon naumanni) that became extinct about 10,000 years ago, have been discovered in the northern province of Lao Cai.
That was one of preliminary estimation on fossil items excavated at Ma Tuyen Cave in Muong Khuong District. The estimation was organized by Lao Cai Province Museum, Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism and Hanoi-based Institute of Archaeology on June 11. 

[...Read the full article here...]

[Article] Meet Sampson, the 2000-year-old Thailand dog wowing archeologists worldwide.

April 2010 | JCNN | By Cassie Cocks
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Every dog has its day – even if it has to wait 2000 years for it! That’s how long it took to discover the bones of suspected wolfhound Sampson, whose remains were recently uncovered at a dig site in Ban Non Wat, north-east Thailand.
“The first thing we noticed about it was the size. It stood a bit less than a metre,” says Allison Isepy, who found Sampson’s bones together with fellow James Cook University student Belinda Duke. “It’s a very tall dog – probably a wolfhound.”
Isepy says she’s only briefly analysed Sampson’s bones but believes he died of natural causes and estimates his age to be about six. She’ll be returning to Thailand in the June semester break to continue her analysis and conduct a comparative study of other dog bones found on-site.

Each year students from James Cook University travel to Thailand to join the team working on the prehistoric site at Ban Non Wat. “It really is one of the most exciting excavation sites in the world,” Isepy says. “Every 10 centimetres we find something else!”
The Ban Non Wat project attracts archaeologists, geologists, anthropologists and biologists from many countries including Canada, England and the USA. The site contains layers from 4000 years ago and is focused on investigating the dynamic relationship between people and changes in the environment. It’s part of a 15-year series in the region and, for the last three years, has been directed by archaeologist Dr Nigel Chang and anatomy specialist Dr Kate Domett, both from James Cook University.
“This site gives our students a chance to be part of an international project and to gain new experience and skills,” Dr Chang says. “The project is generating a life of its own. It has inspired local universities and provided more opportunities for the community.”
Students visit Ban Non Wat for two or three months each year, so it’s up to local scientists and volunteers to learn the required skills to keep the project going. “The project promotes JCU, archaeology and education, as community learning develops on-site,” Dr Chang says. “And the exciting thing about Sampson is it’s the best-preserved dog burial we’ve found so far.”
The Ban Non Wat project is made possible through funding from the Earthwatch Institute and the many volunteers who take part in the dig.

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More informations :

- Bronze Age Dog Burial at Ban Non Wat | April 19, 2010 | alisonincambodia

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[Article] Bewah Caveman 16,000 Years Old.

March 10 | Kuala Terengganu (Malaysia) | Bernama.com

Bernama - The human skeletal remains found in the Bewah Cave in the Kenyir Lake area last month are confirmed to be 16,000 years old, Menteri Besar Datuk Ahmad Said said on Wednesday.

"We received the results of the analysis from the United States stating that the remains were 16,000 years old. This makes them the oldest found in the country, following the discovery of the Perak Man dated 13,000 years.--

"We will begin excavation in a week or two to find the skull, and we will retain the artifacts at the Bewah Cave (for public viewing)," he told reporters after chairing the weekly meeting of the state executive council, here.--

The Bewah Cave has been temporarily closed to visitors to facilitate the excavation of historical artifacts.



More informations :
- Archaeologists stumble on 8,000-year-old skeleton in Kenyir Lake | February 7, 2010 | The Daily Star
- Bewah Cave - Cave or Rock Shelter in Malaysia | The Megalithic Portal | Coldrum

(Photo credit : ilhamwahyu)

[Article] How a hobbit is rewriting the history of the human race.

Robin McKie* | The Observer, Sunday 21 February 2010 

The discovery of the bones of tiny primitive people on an Indonesian island six years ago stunned scientists. Now, further research suggests that the little apemen, not Homo erectus, were the first to leave Africa and colonise other parts of the world, reports Robin McKie.

It remains one of the greatest human fossil discoveries of all time. The bones of a race of tiny primitive people, who used stone tools to hunt pony-sized elephants and battle huge Komodo dragons, were discovered on the Indonesian island of Flores in 2004.
The team of Australian researchers had been working in a vast limestone cavern, called Liang Bua, in one of the island's remotest areas, when one scientist ran his trowel against a piece of bone. Carefully the group began scraping away the brown clay in which pieces of a tiny skull, and a little lower jaw, were embedded.
This was not any old skull, they quickly realised. Although small, it had special characteristics. In particular, it had adult teeth. "This was no child, but a tiny adult; in fact, one of the smallest adult hominids ever found in the fossil record," says Mike Morwood, of Australia's University of Wollongong and a leader of the original Flores expedition team.
The pieces of bone were carefully wrapped in newspaper, packed in cardboard boxes and then cradled on the laps of scientists on their journey, by ferry and plane, back to Jakarta. Then the pieces of skull, as well as bones from other skeletons found in Liang Bua, were put together.
The end result caused consternation. These remains came from a species that turned out to be only three feet tall and had the brain the size of an orange. Yet it used quite sophisticated stone tools. And that was a real puzzle. How on earth could such individuals have made complex implements and survived for aeons on this remote part of the Malay archipelago?
Some simply dismissed the bones as the remains of deformed modern humans with diseases that had caused them to shrink: to them, (...full article here...).

*Robin McKie is the science editor of the Observer.

Illustration by Peter Brown (Image of LB1 "Hobbit" skull, as compared to a modern human skull).