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deowll wrote:
<snip>
> You want to know what happens to bodies in rural Africa that are buried? The
> hyena dig them up and eat them.
You are on the right track here, but you need to cite a source once in
a while.
Leakey et al. 1999 would do. Where did you get your information?
Was looking at pictures of a nice collection
> of crunched human bones the other day. They had been collected to compare
> with what early human bones looked like.
>
Hyenas were digging up human bones to compare what early humans looked
like?
From issue 2570 of New Scientist magazine, 20 September 2006, page 8
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Source: NewScientist
http://www.newscientist.com/channel/being-human/mg19125703.300
--=20
Posted by
Robert Karl Stonjek
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<DIV>
<H2 class=3Dinline>The amazing fossil of 'Lucy's little sister'</H2>
<UL class=3D"straptext notlist highlight colspacer">
<LI>20 September 2006=20
<LI>From New Scientist Print Edition. <A=20
=
href=3D"http://www.newscientist.com/subscribe.ns?promcode=3Dnsarttop";>Sub=
scribe</A>=20
and get 4 free issues.=20
<LI>Jeff Hecht <!----></LI></UL>
<P> </P>
<P>The stunningly complete skeleton of a three-year-old girl who lived =
3.3=20
million years ago has been uncovered in Ethiopia. The child belongs to =
the=20
species <I>Australopithecus afarensis</I> like the famous "Lucy", who =
was=20
discovered in 1974. The young age of the so-called Dikika child promises =
new=20
insights into the growth of early humans.</P>
<P>The new find is the most complete and important skeleton of an =
immature=20
Pliocene hominin ever found, says Tim White of the University of =
California,=20
Berkeley, who worked on the Lucy discovery. "The gist of the current =
paper is,=20
'Eureka, we have it'," he says.</P>
<P>A team led by Zeresenay Alemseged of the Max Planck Institute for=20
Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, spotted the first bones =
south of=20
the Awash river on 10 December 2000. The team spent four field seasons =
scouring=20
the area for every scrap of the skeleton.</P>
<P>Lucy was also found in the Awash region, which is famed for its early =
human=20
fossils. Many anthropologists think <I>A. afarensis</I> was ancestral to =
the=20
genus <I>Homo</I>, though its exact position in the human family tree =
remains a=20
matter for debate.</P>
<P>Alemseged's team believes that a flood rolled the child's body into a =
ball=20
and buried it in sand soon after her death, before the bones could be =
weathered=20
or pulled apart by scavengers.</P>
<P>Analysis of the skeleton has barely begun because the upper parts, =
including=20
the skull, shoulder blades, collarbones, ribs and backbone, are still =
largely=20
encased in a block of hard sandstone. However, a CT scan of the skull =
revealed=20
tooth development matching that of a three-year-old, the team reports in =
<I>Nature</I> (vol 443, p 296).</P>
<P>"At least 50 per cent of the skeleton is there, but more importantly =
we have=20
the face and brain endocast, and the whole skull, telling us clearly how =
the=20
[child] looked," says Alemseged. He estimates the brain size was 330 =
cubic=20
centimetres, between 63 and 88 per cent of the size of an adult of the =
species.=20
This hints at brain growth slower than in chimpanzees, whose brains have =
reached=20
90 per cent of adult volume by age three. <I>A. afarensis</I> may =
therefore have=20
begun evolving the slower brain development characteristic of modern =
humans.</P>
<P>The exposed leg bones show the child walked bipedally like Lucy. In =
contrast,=20
the shoulder blade "in some ways resembles young gorillas", says =
collaborator=20
Bill Kimbel of Arizona State University. That supports the inference =
from Lucy's=20
long arms that she was a better climber than modern humans. During the =
girl's=20
lifetime the environment was a mosaic of forest and savannah, so the =
species may=20
have gathered food and slept in trees, but walked from place to =
place.</P>
<P>Another key discovery is a hyoid bone, which is found in the throat =
and in=20
humans is involved in speech. Until now, only one fossil hyoid has ever =
been=20
found, and it was from a Neanderthal. The Dikika hyoid resembles an =
ape's,=20
suggesting speech had not begun to evolve in <I>A. afarensis</I>.</P>
<P>Alemseged believes much information can be gained once the skeleton =
is freed=20
from its stone casing. "A clear picture will emerge of how baby human =
ancestors=20
were built, and how they grew up," he says.</P>
<DIV class=3D"straptext colspacer highlight">From issue 2570 of New =
Scientist=20
magazine, 20 September 2006, page 8</DIV>
<DIV class=3D"straptext colspacer highlight"> </DIV>
<DIV class=3D"straptext colspacer highlight">Source: NewScientist<BR><A=20
href=3D"http://www.newscientist.com/channel/being-human/mg19125703.300";>h=
ttp://www.newscientist.com/channel/being-human/mg19125703.300</A></DIV>
<DIV class=3D"straptext colspacer highlight"> </DIV>
<DIV class=3D"straptext colspacer highlight"><BR>-- <BR>Posted =
by<BR>Robert Karl=20
Stonjek</DIV></DIV></BODY></HTML>
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