Did Life Originate in China? New Evidence.

[Dover]

New evidence challenges hypothesis of modern human origins

2005-04-27 17:00:01


WUHAN, April 27 (Xinhuanet) -- Chinese archaeologists said newly found evidence proves that a valley of Qingjiang River, a tributary on the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, might be one of the regions where Homo sapiens, or modern man, originated.

The finding challenges the "Out-of-Africa" hypothesis of modern human origins, according to which about 100,000 years ago modern humans originated in Africa, migrated to other continents, and replaced populations of archaic humans across the globe.

The finding comes from a large-scale excavation launched in the Qingjiang River Valley in 1980s when construction began on a rangeof hydropower stations on the Qingjiang River, a fellow researcher with the Hubei Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology.

Archaeologists discovered three human tooth fossils in one mountain cave in Mazhaping Village, in the Gaoping Township of Jianshi County, western Hubei Province, and found pieces of lithictechnology and evidence of fire usage in Minor Cave in Banxia. There were similar findings in Nianyu Mountain and in Zhadong Cavein Banxia, all in Changyang Prefecture of the Qiangjiang River Valley.

cont'd
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-04/27/content_2884681.htm

_______

Mummies in Xinjiang better preserved than Egyptian ones: experts

www.chinaview.cn 2005-04-24 11:13:25


CHANGCHUN, April 24 (Xinhuanet) -- The mummies have been well preserved in the Xiaohe Tomb Complex in the Lop Nur Desert in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, experts said.

"The mummies were unbelievably well preserved, even better thanthe mummies in Egypt," said Zhu Hong, director of the Frontier Archeology Study Department of the Jilin University in northeastern China's Jilin Province.

"Even the louses at the dead's heads have been preserved," Zhu said. He participated in the excavation in 2003 and studied the mummies with two other experts from Jan. 31 to Feb. 12 in 2005.

Archaeologists unearthed 167 tombs of the Xiaohe Tomb complex, which sprawls over a 2,500-square-meter oval-shaped dune, 174 km from the ruins of the Loulan Kingdom, an ancient civilization thatvanished 1,500 years ago.

The complex contains about 330 tombs, but about 160 of them were spoiled. Most objects found in the tombs remain untouched andwill help the study on local social culture and customs at that time, said Idelisi Abuduresule, head of the Xinjiang Cultural Relics and Archaeology Research Institute...cont'd

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-04/24/content_2870535.htm

[dweller]

1. find a copy of "Human Efflorescence"

by Eleanor Wu. (i think her whole name is Eleanor Morris-Wu, not sure now.)

University lib's have it sometimes.

interesting reading.

found on google: http://www.whgreen.com/HumanWu.html
http://www.bookhq.com/compare/0875273238.html


dp

[Warpy]

2. Then again, emergent powers have always been desperate

to establish some sort of pedigree. England was suckered by Piltdown Man. China may be suckered by the same sort of hubris.

I'll wait to see what DNA studies suggest.

[bemildred]

3. Bullshit issue, IMHO.

It seems reasonably clear the human line of apes originated in Africa.
It also seems reasonably clear they wandered all over the place.

An argument about where agricultural civilization first developed
might be interesting, but it means squat about any modern human culture.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

4. It's "reasonably clear" only because the kind of extensive....

...excavation being done in Africa has not been done on other continents.

Scientists are enormously resistent to new ideas and facts, despite claims of being open-minded.

[bemildred]

5. Excavation is done all over the world, as this story shows.

Not that I disagree about the hidebound nature of many Scientists.

I would agree that the origin of humanoids in Africa is theory, not
fact, but I was merely saying that while this story is interesting,
the conclusions drawn about the "origin of life" are fanciful. What
is meant is the "Origin of Man", but that it wrong too, it is the
early days of civilization Homo Sap they are talking about.
It's at least possible these are translation errors, but nevertheless
it does not make sense.

Edit: I see I am wrong, if the dating on those teeth and the nature
of that find holds up, it would indeed be a new and interesting
situation. That sounds to be far older than Homo Erectus.

[Salviati]

6. resistance to new ideas and facts...

I see it as a bit more complicated than this. The scientific community IS enormously resistant to new ideas, as well it should be. Scientific consensus in mature fields has been around for a while, and has undoubtedly withstood attacks along the way toward becoming the scientific consensus. Extraordinary new ideas or discoveries that turn the field on its head require extensive evidence in order to back them up, as well they should, we don't want the scientific consensus flitting around like a hyperactive toddler with ADD.

Scientists on the other hand, see new ideas and new discoveries as opportunities to make a name for themselves. There are plenty of people doing the grunt work of science, but you don't get famous by calculating the fine structure constant to another ten decimal places, you get famous by championing a new idea, and being proven right. Just ask Brian Greene.

So the motivations of individual scientists churn out a lot of new ideas, but the resistance of the scientific community to jump into them with both feet helps to see that any that do last the test of time, probably have something going for them.

[muriel_volestrangler]

7. The 'Changyang Man' refered to in the article has remarkably little

about it on the web. Is there an alternative spelling, does anyone know? It seems to be the bit that the claim of Homo sapiens orginating in China is based on. The fossil teeth, at about 2 million years old, are way back for Homo sapiens - surely they're not claiming those are from modern man, are they?

The DNA evidence points to an African origin - within the last 200,000 years, and with more genetic variation in Africa than elsewhere, implying that the rest of the world was colonised by groups spreading out of Africa. The Chinese scientists will have to explain that to get credibility.

[Orsino]

12. Sounds bogus to me, too.

Suspiciously light on information, that story was.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

13. 64 entries on this google search link....

<http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22changyang+man%22&btnG=Google+Search>

[Ediacara]

9. So wrong on so many levels....

Oh well, maybe your open mind knows of the fable of the pot and kettle.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

10. Thanks for proving my point.

[enki23]

8. did "life" originate in china?

.

[htuttle]

11. No, I believe life originated in the oceans

Or more likely, in puddles near the shore.