What's
Hot! Topics for 2000
What's
Hot! 2000 #1
Studying the bones of the
wrist, researchers find evidence of a bony ridge in the earliest fossil
species of the human lineage. This anatomical feature is similar to
that found in the knuckle-walking apes; gorillas and chimpanzees,
and could imply a common knuckle-walking ancestor for all gorillas,
chimpanzees and humans.
What's
Hot! 2000 #2
Researchers from the Human
Origins Program and the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology
in Beijing have found evidence of large cutting tools in the Bose
Basin in southern China every bit as sophisticated as their African
or European counterparts. The presence of these tools, at roughly
800,000 years ago puts to rest the idea that East Asia was a "cultural
backwater" at this crucial period in human evolutionary history.
What's
Hot! 2000 #3
A recent study reveals
that early humans, likely in the form of Homo sapiens, were
inhabiting the coastal areas of what is today Eritrea by around 130,000
years ago. This finding has bearing on the expansion of human populations
into new ecological niches, and on the development of the behaviors
associated with exploiting the resources of a coastal region.
What's
Hot! 2000 #4
Fossil remains of early
humans and a rich collection of stone tool artifacts from the site
of Dmanisi in the former Soviet nation of Georgia date back to roughly
1.7 million years ago. These finds represent the earliest evidence
of human beings outside of Africa. While similar in cranial capacity
to earlier species in the genus Homo, the morphology of the
two skulls found at Dmanisi most closely resemble the African species
Homo ergaster.
What's Hot Main Page
1998 | 1999
| 2000 | 2001
| 2002 | 2003
|