EVOLUTION VERSUS CREATION XXIII – Homo sapiens-idaltu – First-born – More of the bold and the brave who refused to accept or succumb to……

Homo sapiens idaltu is an extinct subspecies of Homo sapiens that lived almost 160,000 years ago in Pleistocene Africa. Idaltu is the Afar word for elder, or first born.

Afar – Amharic, the official language in Ethiopia: is one of the nine ethnic divisions (kililoch) of Ethiopia, and is the homeland of the Afar people.

The fossilized remains of H. s. idaltu were discovered at Herto Bouri on the Middle Awash site of Ethiopia's Afar Triangle in 1997 by Tim White, but were first unveiled in 2003. Herto Bouri is a region of Ethiopia under volcanic layers. By using radio-isotope dating, the layers date between 154,000 and 160,000 years old. Three well preserved crania are accounted for, the best preserved being from an adult male (BOU-VP-16/1) having a brain capacity of 1450 cm³ compared to the average modern human adult male brain-size of around 1260 cm³. The other crania include another partial adult male and a six-year-old child.

These fossils differ from those of chronologically later forms of early H. sapiens such as Cro-Magnons found in Europe and other parts of the world in that their morphology has many archaic features not typical of H sapiens – although modern human skulls do differ across the globe. Despite the archaic features, these specimens are postulated (assumed) to represent the direct ancestors of modern Homo sapiens-sapiens which, according to the Recent African Origin or Out-Of-Africa theory, developed shortly after this period – Khoisan mitochondrial divergence dated not later than 110,000 BP (Before Present) – in Eastern Africa, and as such, they are to be considered the oldest representatives of the H. sapiens species found so far.

NB: Khoisan: a family of African languages spoken in parts of Namibia and Botswana and notable for the use of click consonants. San people, ethnic group living mainly in the Kalahari Deserts of Botswana and Namibia. In the past, the San have been called Bushmen by southern African whites; they are now often known as the Khoi-San to reflect their cultural affinities. The San speak Khoisan languages characterized by click sounds. Linguistic groups include the Auen, Gwi, Heikum, Kung, and Naron.

The San traditionally lived as nomadic hunter-gatherers organised into small groups or bands, of about ten nuclear families. Each group had exclusive rights to a large area of land and usually moved around its rather desolate territory as a unit, changing home-sites about once a month as the food supply became exhausted. The women gathered wild plants and fruit, which provided most of the nourishment. The men supplemented the diet by killing animals with light bows and poison-tipped arrows. During the winter, when the overall food supply was reduced, the group’s house-holds lived apart. The San sometimes lived in caves or thatched shelters and wore short aprons and sandals made of skins.

The San have lived in southern Africa for thousands of years. Genetic studies suggest that the San may represent the oldest group of humans who have survived on Earth. Their culture may also be one of the most ancient in the world. In 2006, a group of archaeologists claimed they had discovered evidence of rituals practised by the San around 70,000 years ago – the oldest indications of human rituals ever found. The ancient artwork and artifacts were discovered in the Kalahari Desert, in Botswana, in a cave that the San have traditionally used for rites associated with the python, an animal that plays a major role in their creation stories.

San territory, once extensive, was constricted by white settlers after the early 1700s. In the 20^th century many San took up a settled existence, mostly as farmers and cattle raisers, and as a result their cultural heritage is in danger of disappearing. Today, only a relatively small number of San live as traditional hunter-gatherers.

Mitochondrial: of or relating to a mitochondrion (singular) or mitochondria (plural) – a small round or rod-shaped body that is found in the cytoplasm of most cells and produces enzymes for the metabolic conversion of food to energy

Now, on with the series……

Skull size, tools, and distinctive features

A 130,000-year-old reconstructed skull, found at Omo in East Africa, represents the earliest known example of a modern human being: Homo sapiens-sapiens. The skull’s size and shape are completely modern. Also found beside the skull are some characteristic tools of Homo sapiens-sapiens – all from East or South Africa: a bola for throwing at small game, flake tools, and a long flake-blade, and the core from which such blades had been struck.

The skull of a Cro-Magnon-Man from Les Eyzies, France, circa 28,000 years old, has the distinctive features of our species. Homo sapiens-sapiens, or modern humans, moved into Europe around 40,000 at the earliest and 35,000 years ago at the latest. Cro-Magnon is the name given to Homo sapiens-sapiens because of the Cro-Magnon rock shelter in Les Eyzies, southwestern France, where their skeletal remains (fossils) were first discovered in 1868

In March 1868, the geologist, Louis Lartet, financed by Henry Christy, discovered the first 5 skeletons of Cro-Magnons, the earliest known examples of Homo sapiens-sapiens, in the Cro-Magnon rock shelter at Les Eyzies-de-Tayac. The skeletons included a fetus, and the skulls found were remarkably modern-looking and much rounder than the earlier Neanderthal.

NB: Les Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireuil is a commune in the Dordogne department in Aquitaine in southwestern France. In the context of the political and geographic organisation of France and many of its former colonies, a department (French: département, pronounced depaʁtǝmɑ̃) is an administrative division roughly analogous to an English district, a United States county or a Scottish region. The 100 French departments are now grouped into 22 metropolitan and four overseas regions. All regions have identical legal status as integral parts of France. They are subdivided into 342 arrondissements.

The Dordogne is split into four areas: the Périgord Vert (green), the Périgord Blanc (white), the Périgord Pourpre (purple), and the Périgord Noir (black). Les Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireuil lies in the Périgord Noir area.

EVOLUTION VERSUS CREATION XXII – Cro-Magnons: More of the bold and the brave who refused to accept or succumb to……

The Cro-Magnons: a group of early Homo sapiens – early modern humans – entered Europe about 40,000 years ago, at a time when Neanderthals were the only human inhabitants in the region and Neanderthals and modern humans thus coexisted in Europe for more than 10,000 years. Did Neanderthals interbreed with modern humans? Why did the Neanderthals die out around circa 28,000 years ago while Cro-Magnons or modern humans survived and thrived?

Cro-Magnons: prehistoric people who lived in Europe from about 40,000 to 10,000 years ago. The Cro-Magnons were anatomically modern people, and are scientifically classified as Homo sapiens just as are people today. They were the first modern humans to inhabit Europe, living there at a time when glaciers covered much of the continent and the climate was often bitterly cold (Ice Ages)……

NB: An ice age is a period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the  Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in an expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and……

Ice Ages: periods in the Earth’s history when sea-ice or glaciers have covered a significant portion of the planet’s surface and significant cooling of the atmosphere has occurred. Earth has existed for about 4.5 billion years. During that time, it has experienced several ice ages, each lasting tens of millions of years. The total of these episodes may account for as much as 15 to 20% of the planet’s history. The icy cover has ranged from about 10 to about 30% of the entire surface of the planet.

The most recent ice age, the Pleistocene Epoch, lasted from about 1.6 million years to 10,000 years before present. During that time at least 20 glaciations, or periods when the ice cover increased, occurred. Each of these periods was followed by inter-glaciations, or periods when the ice cover retreated. The most recent glaciations in North America, called the Wisconsin glaciations, lasted from about 115,000 years ago to 10,000 years ago. The climate during that time was much different from what it is today, with temperatures on the continents as much as 15° C (27° F) colder. In areas that are currently occupied by subtropical deserts, cooler and wetter climates caused large lakes to form from increased rainfall and glacial run-off. The past 10,000 years have been part of a relatively warm interglacial period. However, the presences of massive continental ice-sheets on Greenland and Antarctica, along with numerous smaller glaciers in mountainous regions throughout the world, indicate that Earth is still in the grip of an ice age.

Now, on with the series......

The Cro-Magnons were named after the Cro-Magnon rock shelter in Les Eyzies, southwestern France, where their skeletal remains (fossils) were first discovered in 1868. Like other modern humans, Cro-Magnons had high foreheads, small brow ridges, and well-defined chins. These physical features set them apart from the Neanderthals – Homo sapiens neanderthalensis, or earlier humans – who lived in Europe from about 200,000 to 28,000 years ago.

Cro-Magnons first appeared in Europe about 40,000 years ago, probably from the east but with an ultimate origin in Africa. By circa less than 30,000 years ago, the Cro-Magnons had entirely displaced the Neanderthals, who had previously been the only human occupants of Europe.

Like the Neanderthals, the Cro-Magnons were hunters and gatherers who lived off the bounty of nature. Neanderthals and earlier humans had skillfully made tools out of stone. The Cro-Magnons not only made an unprecedented variety of stone-tools, they also made tools and weapons out of softer materials such as bones, ivory, and antlers.

In cultural and technological sophistication, the Cro-Magnons far surpassed their Neanderthal predecessors, leaving behind a dazzling output of symbolic and decorative artifacts. By about 35,000 years ago, Cro-Magnons were making sculptures of the finest quality. They played music on bone-flutes of surprisingly complex sound capability, and they unquestionably sang and danced. They made notations on bone and antler plaques. They buried their dead, sometimes sumptuously, with elaborate grave goods. They decorated the walls of caves with some of the most impressive artwork ever made. Delicate, eyed-bone needles dated to less than 30,000 years ago suggest they made fitted-clothing. They even baked ceramic figurines in simple but highly effective kilns. The Cro-Magnons, in one word, were us – all of you and all of us – with language and all the complexities of symbolic thought.

Daniel: In the following two passages only: my comments in black, highlights in red, facts in green, Farts in pink, and Horse-shits in orange…… blue is for good and/or true

Believe it or not! They, too, had Religion, but they did not take their Religion too seriously – as some of you out there and some of the rest in here do. Like my Papa in the bush when I was 4.5 years old, they practised their religion up to a point only – to bury their dead and just in case there are some Ass-holes up there out there somewhere first, and just in case they weren’t looking second – but they depended on their wits and instincts – and their weapons and the skills to use them – most, if not all, of the time. They had to; they had no choice…because, the sort of predators prowling around in those days had no time, and wouldn’t give a bent nickel dipped in any shit, for such Horse-shits and Farts. It was kill and be killed, and eat and be eaten – as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be. This is what it was and has always been: one struggles, suffers, and strives from birth; and by the time one arrives or succeeds in anything, one is tired, feeble, old, grey and withered and death is at one’s door, if not at one’s side. And they dare to tell ME that this maelstrom of kill and be killed, eat and be eaten, and hurry and worry from birth to death, are all part of a white-haired white-bearded kind merciful compassionate and all-forgiving Old-Man-God’s plan! Give me a break!

BUT! The beast-predators of those days, like the beast-predators of today, could be managed, or controlled and/or kept away with camp-fires, or avoided…or, if and when necessary, fought and/or ambushed and killed…and probably eaten, too…unlike the human-predators of today: murderers, terrorists, thieves, liars, con-people and goon-gangs – who, either do not believe in all the Religious Horse-shits and Farts, or else they know for sure that all Religions are Horse-shits and Farts.

The origins of Cro-Magnons’ complex and cognitive abilities – which they exhibited virtually from the first moment of their appearance and occupation of Europe are unknown. The most ancient indications of complex symbolic behaviours come from sites in Africa close to 100,000 years old, and the archaeological records in between are very thin. Without any doubts, Cro-Magnons provide us with the most dramatic evidence of the arrival of fully-fledged modern humans and their sense and sensibility.

EVOLUTION VERSUS CREATION XXI – Neanderthals and Modern Humans – More of the bold and the brave who refused to accept or succumb to……

The Cro-Magnons, a group of early Homo sapiens – early modern humans – entered Europe about 40,000 years ago, a time when Neanderthals were the region’s only human inhabitants. Neanderthals and modern humans thus coexisted in Europe for more than 10,000 years. Did Neanderthals inter-breed with modern humans? Why did Neanderthals die out around 28,000 years ago while modern humans survived and thrived?

Daniel: Evolution by Natural selection, and the survival of, not only the fittest and strongest but, the wittiest with the ability and the will to migrate, change, and adapt to conditions and circumstances – and the skills and intelligence to out-wit the competition – and if that fails, to invent the means – tools and weapons – to out-fight and out-kill the enemy – who were once the competition – and out-live them and survive! Today, no people can erase any other people because they’ve all got the tools and weapons – and even to those that haven’t got them, the tools and weapons are available……Also, people who attempt to erase other people should not be surprised or shocked if these very same people erase them first, or take them with them

Scientists disagree on whether Neanderthals were a distinct species from modern humans. Neanderthals had bigger brains, but some paleoanthropologists continue to regard them as a version of ourselves. They classify Neanderthals as a subspecies of Homo sapiens: Homo sapiens neanderthalensis and, anatomically, modern humans as Homo sapiens sapiens. According to this school of thought, Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons interbred, and anatomically distinctive Neanderthal features were simply swamped, genetically, by waves of Cro-Magnons intruding into the Neanderthals’ homeland. If true, some Neanderthal genes probably survive today in modern humans of European descent.

Supporters of Neanderthals and modern humans interbreeding turn to fossil evidence; some late Neanderthal fossils are said to look more modern than earlier ones, and some early moderns are said to have some Neanderthal-like features. The claim that these fossils represent evidence of interbreeding is controversial and remains unproven. There is evidence of a short-lived culture that combined Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon elements at a few sites, but this was probably achieved without biological intermixing – Daniel: Horse-shit!

The more we learn about Neanderthals, the clearer it becomes that they deserve recognition as a species in their own right, Homo sapiens neanderthalensis. In a dramatic series of studies begun in the mid-1990s, scientists extracted fragments of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA, the basic unit of heredity) from several Neanderthal specimens and compared them to DNA from living humans. The early studies showed that Neanderthal DNA is genetically distant from modern human DNA, falling well outside the range of variation seen among humans today.

In 2005, researchers announced plans to sequence the entire Neanderthal genome. That project would allow scientists to compare the full set of chromosomes found in Neanderthals with those present in modern humans. Genes associated with speech and other behaviour patterns characteristic of modern humans would be targeted for possible matches with genes of Neanderthals. Modern scientific laboratory techniques and equipment would amplify tiny bits of DNA and identify individual genes much more rapidly and accurately than in the past. Both nuclear DNA and mitochondrial DNA from Neanderthals are under study.

The first major results of the genome project were published in 2006, based on DNA extracted from a 38,000-year-old Neanderthal bone found in Croatia. Two research teams used different techniques to analyze the ancient DNA, comparing it with DNA from modern humans and chimpanzees. One study concluded that modern human and Neanderthal lineages split around 500,000 years ago. The other gave a range of between 700,000 to 370,000 years ago for the separation. Both results are in line with estimates from earlier genetic work.

These large differences in genetic structure indicate that Neanderthals could not have been related ancestrally to modern humans. Taken together, those genetic studies offered powerful evidence that Homo sapiens neanderthalensis was a fully individuated species – Daniel: I say: modern humans are ancestrally related to Neanderthals and the huge differences in genetic structure simply means that, by interbreeding and evolving, they were vastly changed…it’s like comparing the genetic structure of a today-child to that of his great-great-great-great-grand-parents – in a manner of comparison – especially with the grand-parents in-between interbreeding with various spouses of various nationalities and genes……Also, DNA, like fingerprints, is unique

If Neanderthals and modern humans in Europe were indeed different species, it is difficult to see how they could have interbred. No biologically significant exchange of genes could have been possible. Nonetheless, some scientific researchers have proposed that at least two genes that appeared in modern humans in the past circa 37,000 years might have resulted from interbreeding with Neanderthals. Limited genetic exchange among different human species cannot be totally excluded, but the issue will require much more study.

Recognition of Neanderthals and modern humans as distinct also suggests that the two species competed for the same territory. How this competition played itself out is unknown, but the general pattern in Europe seems to have been one of abrupt replacement of Neanderthals by modern humans at site after site. The end result was the extinction of the Neanderthals. Whether this extinction occurred because of direct conflict or indirect economic competition is not known, but a combination of these factors seems likely……

Dear readers and fellow-Apes; unlike 618 and 619, the colours appearing in these series are mostly only to differentiate……Those of you out there and in here who know my handwriting well will know; the rest can use their brains, (IF) they’ve got one……BY GOD AND SATAN AND BOTH HORSE-SHITS!

The Origin of Neanderthals

The earliest fossil evidence for the human occupation of Europe comes from Ceprano in Italy, where a skullcap has been found that is thought to be around 900,000 years old. In the mid-1990s archaeologists un-earthed human fossils dated 780,000 years ago at the Gran Dolina site in the Atapuerca hills of northern Spain. The Ceprano specimen has been assigned to its own species: Homo cepranensis, and those from the Gran Dolina to the species: Homo antecessor or Homo mauritanicus.

Between around 400,000 and 200,000 years ago, some human fossils in Europe show some of the features of Neanderthals, but not all of them. The earliest of these fossils, dated to around 400,000 years ago, are from the Sima de los Huesos (Pit of Bones) cave site at Atapuerca near the much earlier Gran Dolina site. Thousands of human bones have been found in a pit in the cave, representing around 30 individuals – more ancient hominid bones collected in one place than found anywhere else in the world. These human fossils are contemporaneous with other fossils classified as Homo heidelbergensis. The Sima hominids are best regarded as the closest known relatives of the Neanderthals, and are possibly their ancestors.

Neanderthal Tools and Technology

The Neanderthals made stone-tools quite skillfully and relied on them for their survival. Triangular spear points may have been hafted (attached to a wooden handle or shaft) to make hunting weapons. Scrapers, hand axes, and backed knives (sharp flakes with one side dulled to fit comfortably in the hand) would have been highly effective for butchering animals and scraping hides for clothing and shelter. Sharp-edged chopper-stones were probably used for cracking open animal bones to get at the marrow. The cutting surfaces of Neanderthal tools also show wear consistent with woodworking. Wood does not preserve well and only a handful of wooden artifacts have been recovered from Neanderthal sites. However, a pre-Neanderthal find in Germany of finely-shaped throwing-spears suggests that Neanderthals made these, too, and thus they were quite sophisticated ambush-hunters.

Neanderthals made stone-tools by striking flakes from rock cores. The cores were carefully selected and prepared so that only a single blow was usually required to detach a flake. A number of relatively standardized flakes were sometimes produced from a single core. These sharp flakes served as blanks that were further worked on and shaped into the desired tools. Suitable stone was sometimes rare, and often tools were worked on and re-shaped to make new tools, yielding a whole variety of shapes and sizes. Unlike the Cro-Magnons, their modern human successors, Neanderthals rarely used bone or antler as materials for tool-making.

Neanderthals used these same basic tool-making skills – technology – termed Mousterian by archaeologists, for most of their existence. However, they later acquired a more advanced tool-making technology, Châtelperronian, after where it had occurred in France, characterized by long, thin stone-blades and greater use of antlers and bones. At one site, personal decorations made from teeth, bones, and stones have been found. Scientists have debated the earliest dates for Châtelperronian culture. Most archaeological work indicate a date of about 35,000 years ago for Châtelperronian artifacts – shortly after the arrival of modern humans in Europe. This date for Châtelperronian culture led some experts to suggest that Neanderthals somehow learned how to make these tools from modern humans, who had a similar technology during that era. A study published in 2006, however, re-dated the main site in France to 44,000 years ago – thousands of years before modern humans are thought to have reached Europe. This revised date would imply that Neanderthals invented Châtelperronian tool-making technology independently.

Most experts believe that the Neanderthals must have had clothing of some sort in order to survive the climate in Europe at the time, which was at times severely cold. However, little is known about what type of clothing they wore. They could have easily made simple skin cloaks by scraping animal hides with stone-tools, and they made bone-awls that would have served to pierce hides for binding. Neanderthals never developed perforated bone-needles, which would have allowed them to fashion tailored, layered clothing.

Neanderthals also controlled fire. At some Neanderthal sites, thick piles of ash and burned rocks attest to years of camp-fire burning. No evidence exists that reveals how Neanderthals used fire, but it would have provided them with heat, light, and a way to cook food.

Neanderthal Burials and Symbolic Thought

Neanderthals were the first humans known to have buried their dead. Numerous burial pits have been discovered in the floors of caves and rock shelters, sometimes accompanied by stone tools or a few animal bones. At one Neanderthal grave, in Shānīdār Cave in Iraq, large amounts of pollen were discovered, perhaps suggesting a burial with flowers. A Neanderthal child-skeleton discovered at Teshik-Tash in the western foot-hills of the Himalayas lay in a pit surrounded by six pairs of mountain goat horns. At many other burial sites, Neanderthal skeletons have their knees and arms drawn close to the chest in a fetal position, possibly, but not necessarily indicating a ritual burial position.

To some authorities, these burials and grave items represent evidence that Neanderthals practised and performed religious rituals, believed in the afterlife, and had the ability to think symbolically. Other so-called paid-perverted-experts challenge such interpretations as overly enthusiastic, and offer more mundane explanations. For example, stone-tools and animal-bones were common objects at Neanderthal living-sites and could have been buried in graves unintentionally, as part of the filling process; Neanderthals may have buried their dead simply to avoid attracting unwelcome scavengers to their settlements, and not because burials held symbolic importance. The flower pollen found in the Shānīdār grave could have been deposited by burrowing rodents.

Daniel: Horse-shit! The above mundane explanation reminds me of Passages on Pages in the Bible and their mundane explanations by Prick-Priests. Neanderthals were primitive but they weren’t stupid! They knew how difficult it was to locate the right materials and how long it took to fashion them into tools, so they wouldn’t just toss them onto corpses or into burial pits, or leave them lying about. Also, the surest way to attract scavengers and predators is to bury the dead close to the living. Neanderthals lived by their wits but mostly by their instincts and they knew that the best way to keep scavengers and predators away is to toss their dead as far away from their camps, and as close to the scavengers and predators, as possible……that is, if their dead really meant nothing to them……as the above expert-perverts were paid to Fart…

The possibility that Neanderthals had language, a hallmark of symbolic thought, has intrigued researchers for decades. Some scholars believe that Neanderthals had fully articulate speech. Some support for this claim comes from a Neanderthal skeleton discovered in Kebara, Israel. The skeleton still possesses its hyoid bone, a bone situated at the base of the tongue that affects the movement of the larynx, where speech originates. The hyoid of the Kebara Neanderthal is identical to that of modern humans, suggesting they were physically capable of articulate speech. While some studies of the base of the Neanderthal skull suggest the larynx may have been positioned too high in the throat to produce articulate speech, the bending of the cranial base in earlier fossils suggests that the ability to produce the sounds of speech may have been present in human precursors well before Neanderthals……

Objects with possible symbolic connotations have been discovered at a few Neanderthal sites, including pierced animal-teeth that may have been used as pendants, incised bone fragments, and a polished plaque made from a mammoth tooth. Bone and tooth ornaments, including an elegant bone pendant, were found among Neanderthal remains at Arcy-sur-Cure in central France. However, the extreme rarity of these objects contrasts sharply with the remarkable abundance of symbolic and decorative artifacts – such as cave paintings, figurines, carvings, and beads – produced by the Cro-Magnons, the Neanderthals’ successors in Europe. Thus, it seems that Neanderthals must have had some form of symbolic thought and language – albeit not as developed as their successors – and their intuitive intelligence was highly developed…

HAMAS IS LINKED TO HEZBALLAH, HEZBALLAH IS LINKED TO IRAN, AND IRAN IS LINKED TO SUDAN – Therefore, Hamas is linked to Sudan…read this first...then read: 269

The ankle-bone is linked to the thigh-bone; the thigh-bone is linked to the hip-bone; the……

Gleaned from: Naharnet Saturday 28^th March 2009

A Hezballah statement condemned the Israeli air strike on a Sudanese relief-convoy headed for Gaza in January and called on the Arab summit to take a firm stance with regards to the latest Zionist crime. The statement also called on the international community to undertake strict measures to deter the enemy from continuing to carry on its criminal activities. The Israeli army refused to confirm or deny any involvement.

Gleaned from: AFP via Naharnet Friday 27^th March 2009

The Iran-Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip on Friday denied that alleged weapons convoys hit in an air strike in Sudan were destined for the Islamist Palestinian movement.

One of the movement's leaders, Salah al-Bardawil, told AFP: First of all, we are not sure any convoy has been hit, but it is ironic to link these convoys to Iran-Hamas. If it turns out that there were raids and a high number of people killed, then it would mean Israel is seeking to use the opportunity to hit Sudan and blame Iran-Hamas. The fact that the Gaza Strip is not a neighbour of Sudan, with Egypt in between, shows these are false claims. Daniel: Horse-shit! Iran is not a neighbour to Lebanon or Palestine, but look at what it’s doing to both countries via its Tentacles of Terror and Turbulence – Hezballah and Hamas.

Sudan said that foreign warplanes launched two raids against smugglers near its border with Egypt and that it was investigating whether Israel was involved. The New York Times, citing unnamed American officials, reported that Israeli warplanes were behind the attack. Israel has refused to confirm or deny any involvement, with a military spokesman saying only: We’re not in the habit of reacting to this sort of report.

In another development, Bardawil denied media reports that there had been progress in negotiations for a prisoner-swap in which hundreds of Palestinian prisoners would be released in exchange for an Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, who was seized by Gaza militants in a deadly 2006 cross-border raid.

There is nothing new on this issue, he said, claiming that Israel started the rumour so it could blame Hamas for any breakdown in the talks.

Marathon negotiations through Egyptian mediation collapsed in mid-March, but Cairo has since re-launched secret talks in a new attempt to broker a deal – Daniel: Read 269

PALESTINIAN FACTIONS REFUSED FOOD-AID SHIPMENT BECAUSE IT DID NOT CONTAIN ANY ROCKETS OR WEAPONS

Gleaned from: Palestinian Factions Refuse to Receive Iranian Food-Aid

Article in green, highlights in red, comments in black, and Horse-shits in orange, and Farts in pink……and blue for good and/or true

AFP via Naharnet and the Daily Star – Saturday 21^st March 2009

Palestinian factions in Lebanon accused the Army of contaminating Iranian food-aid destined for a refugee camp by using sniffer-dogs to search the shipment.

Camp residents refused to eat what the police dogs had soiled, several Palestinian factions in northern Lebanon, including the Islamist groups Iran-Hamas and the Iran-Syria-Islamic Jihad, said in a statement – Daniel: Why several factions? They’re only two; and thank both Horse-shits that Fatah wasn’t mentioned. It goes to show that not all the Palestinians are pathetic Prick-heads!

The Palestinian factions said they could no longer receive the aid and accused the army of delaying its delivery describing it as a humiliating act. The leftist Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which was among the factions that signed the statement – and which makes it three – said that 200 tons of aid had arrived outside the camp three days earlier but had been held up for security reasons.

It referred to a shipment composed of 11 trucks carrying about 3,000 food rations; each ration consisted of a sack of flour, rice, sugar, chick-peas, lentils, a container of cooking oil, and 5kg of butter donated by Iran for residents of the Nahr el-Bared camp in northern Lebanon, which was devastated by deadly battles between a fringe Islamist group and the army in 2007.

Military sources confirmed that dogs were used to search  the trucks – or sniff the goods – but insisted that they did not enter the vehicles and did not defile the food in any way – Daniel: The Lebanese Army do not need to explain anything to the Pathetic Prick-head-Palestinians – not after what took place at their Na-ayr El-Bared Camp in 2007!

The mainstream Fatah faction did not sign the statement but group member, Rifaat Shanaa, also criticised the delay in delivering the food-aid and said: nothing could be more shameful is the way it was searched. Residents of Nahr el-Bared prefer to die of hunger than have their dignity undermined. Daniel: First, I wonder how much he was paid to Fart that Fart! Second, speak for yourself and go fuck yourself; you fat bloated over-fed hog – I wouldn’t be surprised if this Ri-Fart Sha-Nayr turned out to be a fat bloated over-fed hog!

Nahr el-Bared, where some 400 people, 168 of them Lebanese soldiers, were killed in fighting between the Lebanese army and the supposedly al-Qaida-inspired group Fatah Al-Islam in 2007, is among 12-too-many Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon. The Lebanese Army does not enter the camps, leaving responsibility for security to Palestinian factions.

Daniel: What the Pathetic Prick-head Pain-in-the-Ass Palestinians – especially Iran-Syria-Hamas-Islamic-Jihad-DFLP – actually said was: We refuse to receive this batch because there are no bombs or weapons hidden in them!

Sniffer-dogs are highly trained to sniff cartons, boxes, packages, and luggage on the outside only. The food or items in them are untouched – and you can bet your last buffalo nickel that, like Daniel in The Lion’s Den, nothing escapes them!  I strongly suspect that the Pathetic Prick-head Pain-in-the-Ass Palestinians refused that batch because the army did not discover any rockets or weapons in it. Not all of us are naïve and moronic obtuse ostriches with bird flu in the brain!

EVOLUTION VERSUS CREATION XIX – More of our ancient and primitive ancestors – the bold and the brave who refused to accept or succumb to……

Homo floresiensis

Homo floresiensis: extinct species of human known from fossils found on the Indonesian island of Flores. When scientists announced the discovery of Homo floresiensis in 2004, they nicknamed the new human species the hobbit because of its small stature, similar to the half-size creatures imagined by fantasy writer J. R. R. Tolkien. Homo floresiensis stood only about 1m (3ft 4in) tall – Daniel: the ancient ancestors of pygmies? – and had a brain about as small as that of the chimpanzee. It is classified as a hominin or a member of the taxonomic tribe Hominini that includes modern Humans, Neanderthals, Homo erectus, and Homo habilis.

Remains and artifacts belonging to Homo floresiensis have been found in a large cave in soil layers dating from between 95,000 to 17,000 years ago. The species likely existed earlier and may have survived elsewhere on Flores for longer. Its fossil bones were associated with flaked stone-tools, charcoal, and accumulated bones of giant lizards and pygmy elephants. The apparent ability of such a small-brained hominin to make stone-tools, use fire, and hunt dangerous animals surprised many experts – Daniel: the pygmies of today are to be found in the Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Gabon, the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi. They live by hunting animals such as antelopes, pigs and monkeys; fishing, and gathering honey, wild yams, berries, and other plants. For them, the forest is a kindly personal god, who provides for their needs.

A number of researchers have challenged the identification of the specimens on Flores as a new, primitive species. They have argued that the remains could be modern humans or Homo sapiens sapiens who suffered from rare disorders that stunt brain, skull, and skeletal growth such as microcephaly or cretinism – Daniel: probably ass-holes paid to Fart! However, detailed scientific descriptions of the skulls and the bones from skeletons have established that the Flores hominin differed from modern humans – pygmies – in many important ways.

EVOLUTION VERSUS CREATION XVIII – More of our ancient and primitive ancestors – the bold and the brave who refused to accept or succumb to……

Homo heidelbergensis

Many paleoanthropologists believe that early humans had migrated into Europe by 800,000 years ago, and that these populations were not Homo erectus. A growing number of scientists refer to these early migrants into Europe, who predated both Neanderthals and H. sapiens in the region, as H. heidelbergensis. The name comes from a 500,000-year-old jaw found near Heidelberg in Germany.

Scientists have found few human fossils in Africa for the period between 1.2 million and 600,000 years ago, during which H. heidelbergensis or its ancestors first migrated into Europe. Populations of H. ergaster (or possibly H. erectus) appear to have lived until at least 800,000 years ago in Africa, and possibly until 500,000 years ago in northern Africa. When these populations disappeared, other massive-boned and larger-brained humans – possibly H. heidelbergensis – appear to have replaced them. Scientists have found fossils of these stockier humans at sites in Bodo in Ethiopia; Saldanha also known as Elandsfontein in South Africa; Ndutu in Tanzania; and Kabwe in Zimbabwe.

Scientists have come up with at least three different interpretations of these African fossils. Some scientists place the fossils in the species H. heidelbergensis and think that this species gave rise to both the Neanderthals (in Europe) and H. sapiens (in Africa). Others think that the European and African fossils belong to two distinct species, and that the African species – which, in this view, were not H. heidelbergensis but a separate species – gave rise to H. sapiens. Yet other scientists advocate a long-held view that H. erectus and H. sapiens belong to a single evolving lineage, and that the African fossils belong in the category of archaic H. sapiens (archaic to mean not fully anatomically modern).

The fossil evidence does not clearly favor any of these three interpretations over another. A growing number of fossils from Asia, Africa, and Europe have features that are intermediate between early H. ergaster and H. sapiens. This kind of variation makes it hard to decide how to identify distinct species and to determine which group of fossils represents the most likely ancestor of later humans.

Homo sapiens: common name given to any individual of the species Homo sapiens and, by extension, to the entire species – Homo sapiens idaltu and Homo sapiens sapiens……

Homo erectus

Paleoanthropologists now know that humans first evolved in Africa and lived on the continent for only a few million years. The earliest human species known to have spread in large numbers beyond the African continent was first discovered in Southeast Asia. In 1891, Dutch physician, Eugène Dubois, found the cranium of an early human on the Indonesian island of Java. He named this early human Pithecanthropus erectus, or Erect Ape-man. Today paleoanthropologists refer to this species as Homo erectus.

Homo erectus: extinct primate classified in the sub-family Homininae and the genus Homo, both of which include humans. Scientists learn about extinct species, such as Homo erectus, by studying fossils – petrified bones buried in sedimentary rock. Based on their analysis of these fossils, scientists believe that Homo erectus lived from about 1.8 million years ago to as recently as 30,000 years ago.

H. erectus appears to have evolved in Africa from earlier populations of H. ergaster, and then spread to Asia sometime between 1.8 and 1.5 million years ago. The youngest known fossils of this species, from the Solo River in Java, may date from as recently as 53,000 to 27,000 years ago (although this dating is controversial). So H. erectus was a very successful species – both widespread, having lived in Africa and much of Asia, and long-lived, having survived for possibly more than 1.5 million years – Daniel: Homo Sapiens Sapiens, or Human-Apes, will be damned lucky if they survive for another decade or two……

H. erectus had a low and rounded brain-case that was elongated from front to back, a prominent brow ridge, and an adult cranial capacity of 800 to 1,250cu. cm. (50 to 80 cu in), an average twice that of the australopiths. Its bones, including the cranium, were thicker than those of earlier species. Prominent muscle markings and thick, reinforced areas on the bones of H. erectus indicate that its body could withstand powerful movements and stresses. Although it had much smaller teeth than did the australopiths, it had a heavy and strong jaw.

In the 1920s and 1930s, German anatomist and physical anthropologist, Franz Weidenreich, excavated the most famous collections of H. erectus fossils from a cave at the site of Zhoukoudian (Chou-k’ou-tien) in China, near Beijing (Peking). Scientists dubbed these fossil humans Sinanthropus pekinensis, or Peking Man, but others later reclassified them as H. erectus. The Zhoukoudian cave yielded the fragmentary remains of over 30 individuals, ranging from about 500,000 to 250,000 years old. These fossils were lost near the outbreak of World War II, but Weidenreich had made excellent casts of his finds. Further studies at the cave site have yielded more H. erectus remains.

Other important fossil sites for this species in China include Lantian, Yuanmou, Yunxian, and Hexian. Researchers have also recovered many tools made by H. erectus in China at sites such as Nihewan and Bose, and other sites of similar age (at least 1 million to 250,000 years old).

Ever since the discovery of H. erectus, scientists have debated whether this species was a direct ancestor of later humans, including H. sapiens. The last populations of H. erectus—such as those from the Solo River in Java – may have lived as recently as 53,000 to 27,000 years ago, at the same time as did populations of H. sapiens. Modern humans could not have evolved from these late populations of H. erectus, a much more primitive type of human. However, earlier East Asian populations could have given rise to H. sapiens.

EVOLUTION VERSUS CREATION XVI – More of our ancient and primitive ancestors – the bold and the brave who refused to accept or succumb to……

Homo Habilis

Homo habilis: an extinct species of early human that lived in Africa from about 1.9 to 1.5 million years ago; H. habilis is one of the earliest known members of the genus Homo, the branch of the human family tree believed to have evolved into modern humans. The term H. habilis means handy man, a name selected for this species because of the primitive stone tools found near the fossils of H. habilis.

Scientists distinguished H. habilis from australopithecines, the more primitive early humans from which it evolved, by analyzing key physical characteristics. H. habilis was thought to have had a larger brain than australopithecines. The brain-case of H. habilis measured from 590 to 690 cubic centimeters (36 to 42 cubic inches), well above the australopithecine range. Australopithecines had long arms and short legs, similar to the limbs of apes. The overall body form of australopithecines was also ape-like in having large body bulk relative to its height. Some H. habilis specimens retained these ape-like body proportions, but other specimens appear more human-like, with a smaller body bulk relative to height. H. habilis had smaller cheek teeth (molars) and a less protruding face than earlier human species.

The use of primitive tools implies that H. habilis had developed a different way of gathering food than earlier human species, most of which probably fed primarily on vegetation. H. habilis probably ate meat as well as fruits and vegetables. Anthropologists disagree on whether H. habilis obtained this meat by hunting or scavenging, or a combination of both techniques – Daniel: Such Horse-shit! And without the Horse, too, since the Horse hadn’t yet evolved! H. habilis was an Ape; and an Ape is a large Monkey, and therefore more of a Monkey; so if H. habilis made tools then they made weapons, too – just check out the latest models: Human-Apes – and so they hunted.

The first fossil evidence of H. habilis was discovered in 1960 at Olduvai Gorge in northern Tanzania by a team led by paleoanthropologists Louis and Mary Leakey. Additional specimens were discovered between 1960 and 1963. The species was named in 1964 after analysis of these fossils by Louis Leakey, South African paleoanthropologist, Philip Tobias, and British primate researcher, John Napier. Other anthropologists have since identified specimens in northern Kenya, South Africa, and Malawi. Although all of these specimens had larger brains than australopithecines, some had especially large brains (almost 800cu. cm. or 49cu. in) and more modern skeletons. However, their large and slightly protruding faces seem more primitive than those of other H. habilis specimens. Most scientists now believe that these fossils represent a distinct species named Homo rudolfensis.

EVOLUTION VERSUS CREATION XIV – More of our ancient and primitive ancestors – the bold and the brave who refused to accept or succumb to……

Homo Rudolfensis

This 2^nd species of early Homo was given the name Homo Rudolfensis, after Lake Rudolf now Lake Turkana. The best-known fossils of H. rudolfensis come from the area surrounding this lake and date from about 1.9 million years ago. Paleoanthropologists have not determined the entire time range during which H. rudolfensis may have lived.

This species had a larger face and body than did Homo habilis. The cranial capacity of H. rudolfensis averaged about 750cu. cm. or 46cu. in. Scientists need more evidence to know whether the brain of H. rudolfensis in relation to its body size was larger than the proportion in H. habilis. A larger brain-to-body-size ratio indicates increased mental abilities.

H. rudolfensis also had fairly large teeth, almost the size of those in robust australopiths. The discovery of even a partial fossil skeleton would reveal whether this larger form of early Homo had ape-like or more modern body proportions. Scientists have found several modern-looking thighbones that date from between 2 million and 1.8 million years ago and may have belonged to H. rudolfensis. These bones suggest a body size of 1.5m (5ft) and 52kg (114lb).

EVOLUTION VERSUS CREATION XIII – More of our ancient and primitive ancestors – the bold and the brave who refused to accept or succumb to……

Middle Homo

By about 1.9 million years ago the period of middle Homo had begun in Africa. Until recently, paleoanthropologists had recognised one species in this period, Homo erectus, but have now recognised three species of middle Homo: H. ergaster, H. erectus, and H. heidelbergensis. However, some still think H. ergaster is an earlier African form of H. erectus, and/or that H. heidelbergensis is a late form of H. erectus.

The skulls and teeth of early African species of middle Homo differed subtly from those of later H. erectus species from China and the island of Java in Indonesia. H. ergaster makes a better candidate for an ancestor of the modern human line because Asian H. erectus has some specialized features not seen in some later humans, including our own species. Homo heidelbergensis has similarities to both H. erectus and the later species H. neanderthalensis, although it may have been a transitional species between middle Homo and the line to which modern humans belong.

EVOLUTION VERSUS CREATION XII – Allow me to introduce you to more of our ancient and primitive ancestors – the bold and the brave who refused to accept or succumb to……

Late Australopiths

EVOLUTION VERSUS CREATION XI – Human Evolution / Environmental Adaptation / Primates / Apes to Humans

Human Evolution: the enormously lengthy and time-consuming process of change by which Humans originated from ape-like ancestors. Scientific evidence shows that the physical and behaviour traits shared by all evolved over a period of at least 6 million years.

One of the earliest defining human traits: bipedalism – walking and running on two legs as the primary form of locomotion – evolved more than 4 million years ago. Other important human characteristics—such as a large and complex brain, the ability to make and use tools, and the capacity for language – developed more recently. Many advanced traits—including complex symbolic expression, such as art, and elaborate cultural diversity – emerged mainly during the past 100,000 years

Environmental Adaptation: Early humans experienced dramatic shifts in their environments over time. Fossilized plant-pollens and animal bones, along with the chemistry of soils and sediments, reveal much about the environmental conditions to which ancient and primitive humans had to adapt.

By 8 million years ago, the continents of the world, which move more slowly and over longer periods than any of you out there or in here could possibly imagine, had come to the positions they now occupy; but the crust of the Earth has continued to move since that time, altering landscapes dramatically around the world. Important geological changes that affected the course of human evolution include those in southern Asia that formed the Himalayan mountain chain and the Tibetan Plateau, and those in eastern Africa that formed the Great Rift Valley. The formation of major mountain ranges and valleys led to changes in wind and rainfall patterns……

The Great Rift Valley, a region in eastern Africa in which past movements in the Earth’s crust have exposed ancient deposits of fossils, is famous for its finds. Countries in which scientists have found australopith fossils include Ethiopia, Tanzania, Kenya, South Africa, and Chad. Australopiths ranged widely over the African continent

The Great Rift Valley: the name given in the late 19^th century by British explorer, John Walter Gregory to the continuous geographic trough, approximately 6,000 km or 3,700m in length, that runs from northern Syria to central Mozambique in East Africa.

The northernmost extension runs “S” through Syria and Lebanon, the Jordan valley, the Dead Sea, and the Gulf of Aqaba. It continues into the trough of the Red Sea and, at the southern end, branches into the Gulf of Aden, where it continues as part of the Mid-Oceanic Ridge of the Indian Ocean. The main section of the valley in Africa continues from the Red Sea SW across Ethiopia and S across Kenya, Tanzania, and Malawi to the lower Zambezi River valley in Mozambique. Many small lakes in Ethiopia and several long narrow lakes, notably lakes Turkana and Nyasa, lie on its course. Just N of Lake Nyasa there is a western branch, which runs north, chiefly along the eastern border of Congo Kinshasa; this branch is marked by a chain of lakes, including lakes Tanganyika, Kivu, Edward, and Albert (Mobutu). Lake Victoria does not lie in the Great Rift Valley but between its main and western branches. The Great Rift Valley ranges in elevation from circa 1,300ft (395m) below sea level (the Dead Sea) to c. 6,000ft (1,830m) above sea level in S. Kenya. Erosion has concealed some sections, but in places, notably in Kenya, there are sheer cliffs several thousand feet high. The present configuration of the rift, which dates from the mid-Pleistocene epoch, is probably a result of a rifting process associated with thermal currents in the earth's mantle; there is evidence of earlier rift structures……

The name continues in some usages, although it is today considered geologically imprecise as it includes what are today regarded as separate, although related rift and fault systems. Today, the term is most often used to refer to the valley of the East African Rift, the divergent plate boundary which extends from the Afar Triple Junction, southward across eastern Africa, and is (now) in the process of splitting the African Plate into two new separate plates. Geologists generally refer to these incipient plates as the Nubian and Somalia sub-plates or proto-plates.

During the Pliocene Epoch – 5 to 1.6 million years ago – the amount of fluctuation in global climates had increased and temperature fluctuations became quite pronounced. During that time, the world entered a period of intense cooling called an ice age, which began around 2.8 million years ago; ice ages cycle through colder phases known as glacial (times when glaciers form) and warmer phases known as inter-glacial (during which glaciers melt). During the Pliocene, glacial and interglacial lasted about 40,000 years each. The Pleistocene Epoch – in contrast, had much larger and longer ice age fluctuations; for instance, beginning from about 700,000 years ago, these fluctuations repeated roughly every 100,000 years……

Humans belong to the scientific order, Primates: a group of over 230 species of mammals that include lemurs, lorises, tarsiers, monkeys, and apes.  Modern humans, early humans, and all other species of primates have many uncanny similarities as well as some important differences. Knowledge of these similarities and differences helps scientists to understand the roots of many human traits, as well as the significance of each step in human evolution.

From Ape to Human: Fossils from several different early australopith species that lived between 4 and 2 million years ago clearly show a variety of adaptations that mark the transition from ape to human. The very early period of this transition, prior to 4 million years ago, remains poorly documented in the fossil record, but those fossils that do exist show the most primitive combinations of ape and human features.

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