Re: puzzle of the negrito: isolated archaic populations
Dan Barnes (dbarnes@liv.ac.uk)
Tue, 17 Dec 1996 19:01:34 GMT
In article <594c9i$lrs@gazette.bcm.tmc.edu>, pdeitik@bcm.tmc.edu says...
>
>dbarnes@liv.ac.uk (Dan Barnes) wrote:
>
>>Of course the new dates for H.e. (27 to 53 ka) in Java throws a different light
> on
>>this. There may have been a degree of temporal overlap.
>
>About 20 minutes after I sent the posting in I read about this in the
>newspaper. As usual I have 2 responses to the new find and
>datings,(without debating the quality of the find)
>
>1. The initial datings are usually off the value, tend to overdate
>artifiacts, probably in the next 6 mos to a year a correct date will
>be found.
I've had a look at them and spoken to Jack Rink and think these dates are valid
(see post further down). I do feel that, at least in the case of ESR and U-series,
it is inaccurate to say the dates are disproved in 6 months. Although there is
much arguement about the correct chronology to use in the Levant (which I'm
speaking about at a conference here tomorrow) the validity of these dates has
not been disproved just the resolution. Of course I could easily be wrong.
>2. Even without correct dating the new find demonstrates the
>differences between ancient and modern forms indicating that
>interbreeding was unlikely. If the new finds showed an intermediate
>form then a strong case for argumentation would be present.
But since they are H.e. and are possibly at least as old and perhaps younger
than the proposed AMHs in this part of the world breaking another
ancestor/descendent model that would be needed for Multiregionalism to
explain hominid features.
>The real intriquing question is why after several 100K years of
>presence that this hominid did not dominate the region, to the extent
>that H. Sapiens would be challenged upon arrival? The overlap with
>neaderthalensis was apparently much longer. Why didn't neaderthals
>move into the region before humans and overtake the territory?
>
I'm not to sure which region this is. Ns would have had trouble competing in SE
Asia and Africa because of the heat. It was only during cooler periods (OIS 6
and 4) that they were able to enter the Levant and (pos.) displace AMHs,
perhaps in a SEerly direction.
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