To origins

by Claudia Sonea

††††††††††††††††Human history is still a mystery. Nevertheless paleontologists are not giving up and they continue to dig in the past in order to find as much information as possible. Until now the only thing that they have from the Neanderthals is a 40,000-year-old tooth found in southern Greece that they continue to analyze searching for clues and proves of what once was. ††††††††††††††††††The latest discovery that was made public on Friday is that the paleontologists might have been wrong when it comes to the mobility the Neanderthals had. That is because despite the fact that the tooth was found in Greece the analysis show the ancient human had spent at least part of its life away from that area. Paleoanthropologist Katerina Harvati at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, says that the supposition made by some experts that Neanderthals moved in limited areas, is rather doubtful and that in fact they must have been more mobile, particularly when hunting. †††††††††††††††††††††All suppositions made until now are based on indirect evidence, including stone used in tools, while the tooth is a Neanderthal fossil itself and that is why is so important. The entire research made by the Max Planck Institute team was published in the Journal of Archaeological Science and trace the tooth history like the place were it was found: in a seaside excavation in Greece's southern Peloponnese region in 2002. Also it says that the tooth enamel was analyzed for ratios of a strontium isotope, a naturally occurring metal found in food and wate because levels of the metal vary by area. Eleni Panagopoulou of the Paleoanthropology-Speleology Department of Southern Greece, concluded that the level of strontium proves the Neanderthal grew up at least 12.5 miles away from where it was discovered. Still some less trustful in the research like Clive Finlayson, an expert on Neanderthals and director of the Gibraltar Museum, disagree and say that it is not out of ordinary for a Neanderthal to move at least 20 km in a life time, because it is in human nature to explore and move from frequently. ††††††††††††††††††††††Now the question that remains is not if the research is accurate or not, but if it changes with much our knowledge about humanity history, about its evolution and development. When it will be something more on that subject the interest will surely grow. I think that in six years since its discovery, they could have done much more. Stay connected, they most definitely come up with something more relevant.

related story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080209/ap_on_sc/greece_neanderthal_tooth;_ylt=AhWD9hWu4wKuNaijgVLq6Jqs0NUE

by Claudia Sonea for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

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Posted by: Maria Vidlickova