Introductions

[Richard]

Ryan wrote: "James,

I'm in search of! If religion were more open-minded and open to new interpretation of old information, I would probably have never investigated evolution. (Probably just my mo..."

Ryan -- if we could grasp it all, it would kill the spark that keeps us searching. Personally, the destination may well be overrated. I'm just happy to make the trip!

[Richard]

Also, welcome to Meg and Ryan! I've been away for a spell and its great to see new blood in the pool.

[Richard]

Meg wrote: "Hello Christopher, hello everyone! This is such an interesting group and it has already proved a valuable resource as I embark on a project to trace the common genetic origins through evolution of ..."

Meg, Chris Stringer (Director of the London Natural History Museum) discusses the grassfire migration spark theory in his newest book, The Origin Of Our Species. You'll enjoy his writing.

[Meg]

Richard, many thanks for the book recommendation. Very helpful. I will add it to my list. But as for the +grassfire migration spark theory+, I haven't a clue what it is. Looked online but couldn't find anything. In 25 words or less...??

[Richard]

I think Chris thinks that repeated wide-scale grassfires sparked by lightning or meteor strikes drove the earliest migrations along the coast regions.

[Meg]

Interesting. I learned in a class this year that early Africans are thought to have walked not just along the coast but also east to west across what is now the Sahara because it was green at the time. Am eager to read Chris Stringer's book and learn more aobut this. Thanks, Richard.

[Meg]

Hello again everyone. Just to let you know that I have launched a new Facebook page called Footprints Through Time about my search into the deep past for common roots with my adopted daughter, born in Mali of unknown parents. I would be very grateful for your input on this page, where I hope to share information about advances in human evolutionary genetics. Here's the link:

https://www.facebook.com/footprintsth...

[David]

Hello everyone. I'd like to introduce myself and a couple of my pet interests to the group and hopefully stimulate a bit of discussion about them.

Back in the mists of time I studied how ice ages affect climate for my PhD, but there wasn't any money or employment in that so I moved to the oil industry and ended up living in Dubai for 10 years. Dubai is a great place, but you need some interests and I became very interested in how the Arabian Gulf was formed around 8000 years ago at the end of the last ice age, when melting ice sheets caused global sea levels to rise about 400 feet. And more specifically I was fascinated by the strong evidence that there was a human refugium in the dry valley that is now the Gulf, probably for tens of thousands of years.

When I eventually left Dubai I wrote a book about the country and the evidence for the early origins of humans in the region, around 75-8000 years ago - Beyond Dubai: Seeking Lost Cities in the Emirates.

I'm also very interested in how mankind adapted to the ice age in other parts of the world, such as Canada where I'm now living. Given that humans have always preferred living near the sea for reasons of food and transportation (even now a third of the world's population lives less than 100 metres above the high-water mark), much of the evidence for mankind's existence during the last glacial period must lie on land now beneath the waves, areas such as the North Sea between the UK and Europe, the Bering shelf between Alaska and Russia, and the Arabian Gulf.

I'd love to hear other's thoughts on this and any good books they've read about the subject.

[Meg]

David wrote: "Hello everyone. I'd like to introduce myself and a couple of my pet interests to the group and hopefully stimulate a bit of discussion about them.

Back in the mists of time I studied how ice ages..."

David, yes, this is a very interesting point. Modern humans living in and moving through areas that are now covered by the sea, along the coast of India for example. The question being, is it possible to access those areas for purposes of research into the movements and lives of our ancestors? Would love to hear your thoughts on that. All best, Meg

[David]

There's some great archaeology being done in the North Sea using survey data gathered by the oil companies to reconstruct the ice age land surface, and then they identify likely areas of habitation and use drag nets to recover artifacts. They've found quite a lot of arrow points, mammoth and human bones etc. Some books on this are Mapping Doggerland: The Mesolithic Landscapes of the Southern North Sea, "Europe's Lost World" also by Vincent Gaffney (but not in Goodreads), and Steven Mithen has also done a lot of this research and written some great books.

I know another area of research is "Beringia", the sunken land between Alaska and Russia, but I've not been able to find any books on worth there yet.

[Ivana]

Hello my name is Ivana and i'm 23 years old. I'm an archaeology student from Croatia. I joined the group to learn mora about antropology and improve my archaeological knowlege.

[Bruce]

I don;t know if I belong here. I have written a fiction book that effectively--there is a preamble--starts 195,000+/- on a planet called Research 4. It is the third planet around a middle sized star and deals with the genetic enhancement of the existing species. In the book it is not a secret as to where this is. The four books in the series follow the history of this new species on and off Research 4. I have tried not to contradict any hard facts. That forced me to push the start back from its original 165,000 year start. Let me know if I'm ineligible and I'll get out

[Michael]

Welcome, Bruce. I'm pretty sure this group doesn't have an "ineligible" category. Have you written one book or four? Are they published? I am sure some of us would be curious to read it. I hope the genetic enhancement experiment worked better on Research 4 than it seems to be going here on Earth.

[James]

Hi Umar. I salute you for deciding to get the facts and decide the truth of the matter for yourself. There is little in science that is supported by more obvious evidence than evolution, including us humans. Those who pretend that mountain of evidence doesn't exist just do so out of human conceit. We so want to occupy a special place in the scheme of things, and for some it isn't enough that we are arguably the only species on Earth that can even think about conceit.

[Daniel]

Hey guys I am Daniel a blogger and I would like you to see the most beautiful girls of Ethiopia here:
http://habeshaentertainment.blogspot....

Ethiopia is the origin of human kind and the home of lucy the oldest human remaining.

If you like the post please dont forget to share it with your friends.

[Daniel]

Hey guys I am Daniel a blogger and I would like you to see the most beautiful girls of Ethiopia here:
http://habeshaentertainment.blogspot....

Ethiopia is the origin of human kind and the home of lucy the oldest human remaining.

If you like the post please dont forget to share it with your friends.

[Greta]

Hi! My name is Greta Fisher (55) and I am fascinated by the latest discoveries in anthropology. Studied psychology for a few years until my son was born. Didn't return to college but never stopped reading. What I read varies a great deal- am interested in pretty much everything- evolution and animal behavior f.ex.
Grew up in Norway and moved to the west coast 35 years ago.
Am pleased to have found this group!

[James]

Hi Daniel and Greta. Welcome to the group.

[The Pirate Ghost]

Hello Monika,

I'm relatively new to the group as well. I've learned to appreciate Bryan Sykes's books, in particularly The Seven Daughters of Eve: The Science That Reveals Our Genetic Ancestry and DNA USA: A Genetic Biography of America.

He gets a bit ... I guess the best term is ... "inventive" ... at the end of the Seven Daughters of Eve when he attempts to dramatize what their lives would have been like, but the part that is about the science of genetics is pretty interesting and stands up well to what we know. Saxons, Vikings, and Celts: The Genetic Roots of Britain and Ireland is also interesting, though it focuses singularly on England. There is a lot of general world wide genetic and evolution based information about human kind in all of the books and the Foreward gives a good overview of "Genetic Archeology."

I find them useful anyway.

[Drae]

Hi, Drae Wright, just joined and new to Goodreads.

My impetus for joining Goodreads was my new goal:

Great 30-Year Goal.

Joining this group is to find books on early man and pick up a basic, general education that will tie into reading about different regions, nations and people groups.

Plan to start nosing around...

Thanks to all you faithful readers and posters. You are very helpful!

Drae

[J.R.]

nice to meet you all, I am Joshua Damon - I have an interest in archaeology, especially the indigenous paleolithic, and stoned ape theory.

I am an author of a solar encyclopedia, which discusses one of the archaeological discoveries I have made in rural Arkansas.

[Devyani]

Hello! I'm Devyani, I'm in high school and I plan to major in Anthropology in college! I love the field so much, reading interesting anthro books; this field really is underrated.
Aside from that, I also play a lot of music (guitar and drums mainly) and I'm in a band, I also play tennis :)