H. Heidelbergensis Discovery and Our Evolution

Discovering our ancestors

H. Heidelbergensis recreation

What would you do to be able to go back in time and witness the dawn of the human species? We’ve evolved quite a bit since then, and the the means means of barter and financial aid have, too. When once colored rocks may have made for good trade in an emergency, we now have access to short term loans and debt consolidation to get our house in order. H. Heidelbergensis had to rely on instinct and what nature gave them. And by the way, did you hear that we may have discovered more fossil evidence of them? It includes the oldest known human hair archaeologists have discovered.

A 200,000-year-old excretion

Sarah Hoffman reports for Natural History Magazine that the fossil of what scientists believe to be a human hair was found in hyena dung. Apparently our subject fell onto the wrong side of the “kill or be killed” equation.

At one time, the oldest known human hair was found on a Chilean mummy, about 9,000 years old. Now, with this discovery of what is believed to be the H. Heidelbergensis hair, the record has been pushed back 200,000 years. So much for a “young Earth…”

It happened in a cave

In Gladysvale Cave near Johannesburg, South Africa, a University of Witwatersrand team discovered what amounts to an ancient toilet area for brown-hyena. Close inspection of the area uncovered hyena coprolites - which means their fossilized dung. Within the droppings were found strange hairs that proved to be unlike other animals the beasts may have eaten at the time. ... click here to read the rest of the article titled "H. Heidelbergensis Discovery and Our Evolution"