Amazing 55,000-Year-Old Finds Discovered in West Papua
In humanity’s distant past, highly skilled seafarers made daring voyages from Asia to the Pacific islands. It was a global migration that shaped the spread of our species, Homo sapiens, across the planet. These seafarers became the ancestors of the people who live in this region today, from West Papua to Aotearoa (New Zealand). However, archaeologists are still unclear about the exact timing, location and nature of these seaborne migrations. The study found that people lived near West Papua at least 55,000 years ago.
Natural selection in human populations continues today, and scientists are studying the prospects for its influence on human genes
Scientists have discovered that natural selection is happening right now among humans high in the mountains of Nepal. The physiological traits that help Tibetan women survive at high altitude are being selected for within the population, meaning they could become more common. The people of Papua New Guinea, who have been genetically isolated for millennia, carry unique genes that help them fight off infections, and some of these genes come from our extinct human cousins, the Denisovans. Hundreds of human genes have been affected by natural selection over the past 3,000 years.
Latest News on Neanderthals – Interbreeding with Homo sapiens and Isolation
A complex picture is emerging of how the Neanderthals died out, and what role modern humans played in their demise. About 37,000 years ago, Neanderthals were still living in small groups in what is now southern Spain. They may have gone about their daily business, making stone tools, eating birds and mushrooms, carving symbols into rocks, and creating feather and shell jewelry. They probably never realized that they were among the last of their kind.
Traces that can change history
Archaeologists have found 115,000-year-old human footprints where they shouldn’t be. Fossilized footprints in Saudi Arabia show evidence of human movement on the cusp of the next ice age. Study of preserved tracks in New Mexico continues to shed light on the first human movements across North America.
Scientists from the Far East and Siberia have extracted Paleolithic viruses from melting permafrost
Scientists are discovering and resurrecting ancient viruses trapped in permafrost and frozen remains. Trapped in frigid Arctic soils and riverbeds, the world is teeming with ancient microbes. Bacteria and viruses that existed thousands of years ago are frozen in time within prehistoric layers of permafrost. Rising temperatures could cause much of the ice to melt, freeing these microbes from their icy prisons. The viruses found are harmless, but other microbes, as yet unknown, could be released and infect humans or other animals.