Omo Kibish (Ethiopia) - Oldest Known Early Modern Human

Omo Kibish is the name of an archaeological site in Ethiopia, where was found the earliest examples of our own hominin species, about 195,000 years old. Omo is one of several sites found within the ancient rock formation called Kibish, itself along the Lower Omo River at the base of the Nkalabong Range in southern Ethiopia. Two hundred thousand years ago, the habitat of the lower Omo River basin was similar to what it is today, although moister and less arid away from the river. Vegetation was dense and a regular supply of water created a mix of grassland and woodland vegetation. Omo I Skeleton Omo Kibish I, or simply Omo I, is the partial skeleton found from Kamoya’s Hominid Site (KHS), named after the Kenyan archaeologist who discovered Omo I, Kamoya Kimeu. The human fossils recovered in the 1960s and in the early 21st century include a skull, several pieces from the upper limbs and shoulder bones, several bones of the right hand, the lower end of the right leg, a piece of the left pelvis, fragments of both lower legs and the right foot, and some rib and vertebrae fragments. The body mass for the hominin has been estimated at approximately 70 kilograms (150 pounds), and although it is not certain, most evidence indicates Omo was female. The hominin stood somewhere between 162-182 centimeters (64-72 inches) tall--the leg bones are not sufficiently intact enough to give a closer estimate. The bones suggest Omo was a young adult at the time of her death. Omo is currently classified as anatomically modern human. Artifacts with Omo I Stone and bone artifacts were found in association with Omo I. They included a variety of vertebrate fossils, dominated by birds and bovids. Nearly 300 pieces of flaked stone were found in the vicinity, predominantly fine-grained crypto-crystalline silicate rocks, such as jasper, chalcedony, and chert. The most common artifacts are debris (44%) and flakes and flake fragments (43%). A total of 24 cores was found; half the cores are Levallois cores. Primary stone tool making methods used at KHS produced Levallois flakes, blades, core-trimming elements, and pseudo-Levallois points. There are 20 retouched artifacts, including an ovate handaxe, two basalt hammerstones, sidescrapers, and backed knives. Over the area a total of 27 artifact refits have been found, suggesting a potential slope wash or north-trending sediment slump before the sites burial or some purposeful stone knapping/tool discard behaviors. Excavation History Excavations in the Kibish formation were first conducted by the International Palaeontological Research Expedition to the Omo Valley in the 1960s led by Richard Leakey. They found several ancient anatomically modern human remains, one of them the Omo Kibish skeleton. In the early 21st century, a new international team of researchers returned to Omo and found additional bone fragments, including a femur fragment which conjoined with a piece collected in 1967. This team also conducted Argon isotope dating and modern geological studies that identified the age of the Omo I fossils as 195,000 /- 5,000 years old. The Lower Valley of the Omo was inscribed to the World Heritage List in 1980. Dating Omo The earliest dates on the Omo I skeleton were quite controversial--they were uranium-series age estimates on Etheria freshwater mollusk shells that provided a date of 130,000 years ago, which in the 1960s was deemed too early for Homo sapiens. Serious questions arose in the latter half of the 20th century about the reliability of any dates on mollusks; but in the early 21st century Argon dates on the strata in which Omo lay returned ages between 172,000 and 195,000, with the most likely date nearer 195,000 years ago. A possibility then arose that Omo I had been an intrusive burial into an older layer. Omo I was finally direct-dated by laser ablation elemental Uranium, Thorium, and Uranium-series isotope analysis (Aubert et al. 2012), and that date confirms its age as 195,000/- 5000. In addition, a correlation of the makeup of the KHS volcanic  tuff to the Kulkuletti Tuff in the Ethiopian Rift Valley indicates the skeleton is likely aged 183,000 or older: even that is 20,000 years older than the next oldest AMH representative in the Herto formation also in Ethiopia (154,000-160,000). Sources This definition is part of the About.com Guide to the Middle Paleolithic. Assefa Z, Yirga S, and Reed KE. 2008. The large-mammal fauna from the Kibish Formation. Journal of Human Evolution 55(3):501-512.Aubert M, Pike AWG, Stringer C, Bartsiokas A, Kinsley L, Eggins S, Day M, and Grà ¼n R. 2012. Confirmation of a late middle Pleistocene age for the Omo Kibish 1 cranium by direct uranium-series dating. Journal of Human Evolution 63(5):704-710.Brown FH, McDougall I, and Fleagle JG. 2012. Correlation of the KHS Tuff of the Kibish Formation to volcanic ash layers at other sites, and the age of early Homo sapiens (Omo I and Omo II). Journal of Human Evolution 63(4):577-585.de la Torre I. 2004. Omo Revisited: Evaluating the Technological Skills of Pliocene Hominids. Current Anthropology 45(4):439-466.McDougall I, Brown FH, and Fleagle JG. 2005. Stratigraphic placement and age of modern humans from Kibish, Ethiopia. Nature 433:733-736.McDougall I, Brown FH, and Fleagle JG. 2008. Sapropels and the age of hominins Omo I and II, Kibish, Ethiopia. Journal of Human E volution 55(3):409-420.Pearson OM, Royer DF, Grine FE, and Fleagle JG. 2008. A description of the Omo I postcranial skeleton, including newly discovered fossils. Journal of Human Evolution 55(3):421-437.Rightmire GP. 2008. Homo in the Middle Pleistocene: Hypodigms, variation, and species recognition. Evolutionary Anthropology 17(1):8-21.Shea JJ. 2008. The Middle Stone Age archaeology of the Lower Omo Valley Kibish Formation: excavations, lithic assemblages, and inferred patterns of early Homo sapiens behavior. Journal of Human Evolution 55(3):448-485.Sisk ML, and Shea JJ. 2008. Intrasite spatial variation of the Omo Kibish Middle Stone Age assemblages: Artifact refitting and distribution patterns. Journal of Human Evolution 55(3):486-500.

Want to Know More About Essay Topics Science?

Want to Know More About Essay Topics Science? Definitions of Essay Topics Science 1 important thing you ought to do when writing your essay is to allow it to be personal. An argumentative essay requires you to choose a topic and have a position on it. Researching the topic permits you to find out more about what fascinates you, and should you pick something you truly like, writing the essay will be more enjoyable. The very best topic for your essay is one which is aligned with your subject of study. Instead of just immediately writing about your argumentative essay topic, you should first think about what it is you are likely to put back on your paper through a procedure of brainstorming and pre-writing. Presenting The Research Paper Research papers must be presented well to make the best effects. Curriculum proposal topics is a means to try. Not all research paper topics are made equal, and you would like to guarantee you select an excellent topic before you commence writing. 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The attractiveness of Shakespearean works is that every one of them conveys a one of a k ind social message that is true even today. All things considered, you can observe that writing a persuasive essay isn't a brain surgery. On our site, you can locate many tips for themes for an argumentative essay. Sure, with this kind of an enormous number of topics to select from, picking just one may be challenging. Popular themes for academic papers can be seen on our site also. A Secret Weapon for Essay Topics Science Good persuasive essay topics need to be persuasive. Moral argumentative essay topics are a few of the simplest to get carried away with. There are argumentative essay topics. Recent argumentative essay topics that are related to society is going to do. You don't need to acquire super technical with legal argumentative essays, but make sure you do your homework on what the present laws about your favorite topic actually say. 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Beauty Defined Free Essays

What is beauty? How can an abstract concept such as beauty be defined? That question has been pondered for ages. An anonymous person once said â€Å"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder†. Beauty means something different to everyone but there is a general agreed-upon standard of beauty in our society. We will write a custom essay sample on Beauty Defined or any similar topic only for you Order Now As defined by Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, beauty is â€Å"the quality or aggregate of qualities in a person or thing that gives pleasure to the senses or pleasurably exalts the mind or spirit : LOVELINESS †. It has also been defined as â€Å"the phenomenon of the experience of pleasure, through the perception of balance and proportion of stimulus. It involves the cognition of a balanced form and structure that elicits attraction and appeal towards a person, animal, object, scene, music, idea, etc†¦Ã¢â‚¬  The philosophical discipline of aesthetics aims to understand the nature and meaning of beauty. Two kinds of beauty were distinguished by composer and critic Robert Schumann ; natural beauty and poetic beauty. Natural beauty is found in the examination of nature and poetic beauty in man’s cognizance. According to Schumann, in music or other art forms, both types of beauty exist. A familiar theory holds that beauty is the appearance of things and people that are good. Our society judges the physically attractive as â€Å"good†. The popular quote â€Å"beauty is in the eye of the beholder, â€Å" maintains that beauty is entirely personal. Beauty can be found in nature as well where â€Å"beauty as goodness† holds true. An Alaskan glacier, a ruggedly dry mountain range, or a field of wildflowers can all be said to be beautiful. Most people find beauty in nature, from a newly fallen leaf in autumn, a tadpole metamorphosing to a frog, or a butterfly fluttering in a field. Formal studies done in the United States have discovered that facial symmetry is a key factor in determining the beauty of human appearance. To have facial symmetry suggests that a person has no apparent inherited flaws. Other studies suggest that a specific height and length of cheekbones is a strong indicator of physical beauty. These studies were conducted by scientists who asked volunteers to rate a series of photographs on the basis of beauty. The attributes common to all images rated beautiful were then picked out. Dr. Devendra Singh, of the University of Texas at Austin, discovered the waist-to-hip ratio, which is considered an indication of beauty in women of most cultures. This holds that a woman whose waist circumference is 70% of her hip circumference is considered beautiful and is also an indicator of her fertility. Greek philosophers were the earliest to theorize beauty. Pythagorus saw a strong connection between mathematics and beauty. The Pythagorean School maintained that objects proportioned to the â€Å"golden ratio† seemed more attractive. People whose facial features are symmetric and proportioned are ranked as more attractive than those who are not, according to the golden ratio. The ancient Indians believed that anything that is always new is beautiful. A survey conducted by London Guildhall University of 11,000 people showed that (subjectively) good-looking people earn more. Less attractive people earned, on average, 13% less than more attractive people, while the penalty for overweight was around 5%. The term â€Å"beautiful people† is used to refer to those who closely follow trends in fashion, physical appearance, food, dining, wine, cars, and real estate, often at a considerable financial cost. Such people often mirror in appearance and consumer choices of the characteristics and purchases of rich Hollywood characters. Beauty is truly a subjective concept that is difficult to prove or define. How to cite Beauty Defined, Papers