H. erectus older than thought, new dating technique used Options

[BobZenor]

That is a good idea about the cylinders. You could make it with stacked pie charts where the slices represented geographical areas that are more accurate and that would make it more realistic since over geological time they must have moved around a lot. You might even add glaciers to the pie charts. It still hasn't quite meshed in my mind how to represent increased north south territory changes during interglacials but they could be white regions. Places like Georgia would probably have European, Asian and African populations competing. Overlap might require some creative colors or patterns to represent rather than just assuming it but separating the colors like I did but the single color could represent relative populations size. Logically graphing information is one of the most difficult challenges but it makes it much easier to visualize when done well like they did on the site I linked. I have been thinking about ways to better express my thoughts but now I have the problem of lack of sufficient data and knowledge of computerized 3 D modeling. It would have to be largely hypothetical. Something to think about for the future. The competing model would be just frames of the globe with the populations colored or patterned on to it and changing over time. Then the glaciers would be easy to add but that would be a video rather than a diagram. That would be easiest of all ways to visualize since it could be very close to real world population dynamics.

There would likely be some interbreeding and that would make tracking particular populations more difficult. It would probably explain some of the problems like how a more ancient Asian population might resist the expansion of more technologically advanced hominids. It also might explain some of the ambiguities of the fossil record. When you consider how different the extremely homogeneous modern human populations apparently became over a few tens of thousands of years, imagine how complex that would be when there are multiple populations that span millions of years with some interbreeding thrown in.

[dogu4]

I actually think about that quite a bit; the multipopulation dynamics against the backdrop of the Eurasian Beringian Laurentian super continent and its full inventory of mega-fauna in almost every discribable permutation...about which we actually know so little; from multiple species of marine predators closely related to sloths to dolphins with tusks that looked very much like a walrus', and giant primate predators from big to small, all in a big messy geoclimatic process which would have further increased the pressure on populations...and yet all of it according to the same forces of natural selection. Of course, I am intrigued at the idea of our having overlooked something "out there"...in the dark, typically, hominid-wise.

[Carolina_Dog]

Am I the only one who finds the title of this thread humorous?

H erectus is getting old so he needs to come up with a new dating technique. Come one that's funny!!! Well actually, it hits a little too close to home so maybe it isn't all that funny, but it does make me chuckle every time I read it.

[dogu4]

A warped sense of humor is a joy forever.

[BobZenor]

That is pretty funny when you put it like that.

..about which we actually know so little; from multiple species of marine predators closely related to sloths ...

Marine predators related to sloths? That is a new one on me. The last creature I would imagine to become a marine creature is a sloth. That is so strange that I am surprised it isn't mentioned more often. I didn't find anything about a predatory sloth but there were South American semi aquatic/marine sloths. They apparently used their claws to anchor themselves to the sea floor.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thalassocnus

What is the creature you are speaking about. A predatory marine creature related to sloths?

This post has been edited by BobZenor: Apr 20 2009, 01:11 PM

[vilnoori]

Amazing creature. I was just reading about a form of giant predatory monitor lizard from about 40K ago in Australia. Real dragons. I wonder how widespread they were.

Anyway, as to the name of the thread, you know, a sense of humour is linked with high intelligence.

[dogu4]

Good find there, Bob Zenor. I may be referring to a similar creature, or radiation of species closely related to sloths, as described in Darren Naish's superb blog "tetrapod zoology". If you haven't checked it out, it's worth a perusal at least, and always interesting. As to their dining habits, I presumed they were predatory though I can't recall if Nais said that exactly as it was part of the discussion about sloths and the range of expression of that order of mammals prior to their extinction, and how surprising it was based on what we think of as sloths from our modern history's knows examples, which oddly are not very closely related to one another and yet are both so similar in their apparent relatednes, what with their atypical metabolism and lifestyles. Regarding the giant ground sloth, they're typically shown eating trees but there is some basis to the idea that their gigantic front claws were used to puncture the shells of their prey, glyptodonts.
The point however is that a lot of presumptions are falling all the time when it comes to interpreting the fossil record, scant as it is. cheers.

Here's the link to the piece on sloths

http://scienceblogs.com/tetrapodzoology/20...w_abou.php#more

, and I see where I thought he suggested that they might be predators as he compared them to seals and sea lions in their skeletal structure, but he also relates them to sirenians....and touches on the speculation regarding the larger land sloths use of their claws for predation.

This post has been edited by dogu4: Apr 21 2009, 03:59 PM

[Carolina_Dog]

Amazing creature. I was just reading about a form of giant predatory monitor lizard from about 40K ago in Australia. Real dragons. I wonder how widespread they were.

Anyway, as to the name of the thread, you know, a sense of humour is linked with high intelligence.

And a warped sense of humor is often linked to genius!