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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
 Posted - 04/30/2004 : 13:33:23
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I was hoping that this was the well-known but controversial African site, but alas, no.
It is however, a major discovery, if comfirmed.
quote:
The World's No.1 Science & Technology News Service
Charred remains may be earliest human fires
19:00 29 April 04
NewScientist.com news service
Archaeologists in Israel may have unearthed the oldest evidence of fire use by our ancestors.
The site, on the banks of the Jordan River, dates to about 790,000 years ago. There are older sites in Africa, but the evidence from these is much more hotly contested.
The moment that our ancestors discovered how to control fire has long occupied an iconic place in the popular imagination. Chimpanzees, our closest living ancestors, have demonstrated impressive feats of language and tool use, but fire use "is the most human skill that we have", says Nira Alperson an archaeologist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Finding direct evidence for ancient fire use is extremely difficult and the new study is applauded by Derek Roe an archaeologist at Oxford University, UK: "Any small fact you can find is a great triumph."
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994944
This is still under review of course, but the arkies involved are confident enough to publish.
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist! 
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