The Human Strain
We used to live on a planet with other thinking, two-legged beings, and that could inform us about intelligence in the universe
By Caleb A. Scharf on May 30, 20181
Untangling the complicated history of Homo sapiens’ evolutionary history is far from a finished project. But recent work lends further support to the notion that among our now-extinct fellow hominins there were plenty of thinking, doing beings.
For example, remarkable finds of tools indicate their manufacture and use by Homo erectus perhaps a million years ago. Similar tools dated to about 130,000 years ago appear as plausibly belonging to Homo neanderthalensis. Some of these latter materials come from locations scattered across the Ionian and Aegean seas, and the sea of Crete – the Mediterranean realms. These clues suggest (in the words of the paleontologists) far greater ‘permeability’ of this region than thought. Hominins were mobile. Although it’s difficult to know exactly where there was open water versus land that long ago – with varying sea levels and climates – the suggestion is that there was deliberate navigation and seafaring across at least the eastern Mediterranean. Staggeringly, researchers are discussing the possibility that at least some of the sailors may have been Neanderthals.
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/life-unbounded/the-human-strain/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciam%2Fevolution+%28Topic%3A+Evolution%29
