Textbooks: 0, Deep History: 1. 🦴💥
Our 2025-26 Review is LIVE!
🎨 67k-year-old art in Indonesia
🧶 Homo habilis "The Weaver" skeletal reveal
🏗️ Neanderthal tar-ovens in Gibraltar
The story of us is bushier (and cooler) than ever.
Watch: youtu.be/G_VfohILmi0
#PaleoPost #HumanOrigins #Science
Breaking news from China! 🦴 New dating at the Yunxian site puts Homo erectus there 1.77 million years ago—670,000 years earlier than we thought! This suggests a rapid trek across Asia shortly after leaving Africa. The story of human origins just got deeper. 🌏 #PaleoPost
Neanderthal adhesives weren’t “primitive.” Birch tar needs oxygen control & ~300–400 °C. Which recipe wins—pit, condensation, or raised structure? Bring data. Read: Kozowyk et al. 2017, PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
#PaleoPost #Neanderthals #PaleoTech #Archaeology
What if the key to human consciousness is etched in stone? 🧠🎨
We sat down with Peter Robinson (Bradshaw Foundation) to explore how ancient rock art reveals the origins of symbolic thought and culture. Watch/listen now 👇
📺 youtu.be/unwjiJOajEw #HumanOrigins #RockArt #PaleoPost
Today’s debate: Border Cave, ~200 ka. Ash under grass mats, hearths nearby, bug-repelling plants—clever hygiene or coincidence? Argue with stratigraphy & microtraces. Source: Science (2020) www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... #PaleoPost #HumanOrigins #Archaeology
Neanderthal art—yes or no? Iberian caves dated ≥64 ka via U–Th on carbonate crusts. Argue with methods, context, and controls. Paper: Hoffmann et al. 2018, Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... #PaleoPost #HumanOrigins #Neanderthals #RockArt
Two bags, two stories: Ledi-Geraru vs Hadar. Which whispers “Homo” first—and why? Bring evidence. Start here: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... #PaleoPost #HumanOrigins #PaleoDebate
Who’s your favorite hominin & why? Examples: A. afarensis (bipedal), H. habilis (OH 7), H. erectus (Acheulean), H. neanderthalensis (Ice Age kin). Source: Stringer 2016: royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/... #PaleoPost #HumanOrigins #FossilFriday
Red isn’t decoration — it’s information.
At Blombos Cave, Homo sapiens used ochre for engraving, pigment processing, and symbolic practices ~100,000 years ago, revealing planning, abstraction, and shared meaning deep in the Middle Stone Age.
#PaleoPost #HumanOrigins #SymbolicBehavior #Ochre
Footprints don’t lie. At White Sands, human tracks dated to ~21–23 thousand years ago challenge long-held migration models—showing people reached the Americas during the Last Glacial Maximum.
Bennett et al. 2021, Science
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
#PaleoPost #HumanOrigins #DeepTime
🎙️🦴 New Paleo Post Podcast episode:
Neanderthal Art? The Missing Record
What should Neanderthal art look like—and why might we be missing it? A sharp dive into symbolism, archaeology, and preservation bias.
Watch here → youtu.be/dPfS0rcxtUg
#PaleoPost #Neanderthals #Anthropology #DeepHistory
Engare Sero, Tanzania (Late Pleistocene): volcanic-ash mud captured 400+ Homo sapiens footprints—walking, running, and a cohort of mostly adult females traveling together. #PaleoPost #HumanOrigins #FootprintFriday #EngareSero
Paper: doi.org/10.1038/s415...
Dhofar, Oman (MIS 5, ~106–75 ka): Nubian Levallois cores & points place African MSA technology in Arabia—evidence for desert-route dispersals. #PaleoPost #HumanOrigins #NubianLevallois #Arabia
Paper: journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...
AI IMAGE INCLUDED
Ga-Mohana Hill, South Africa (~105 ka): collected calcite crystals and ostrich eggshell water containers show symbolic tech in the Kalahari interior—innovation far from the coast. #PaleoPost #HumanOrigins #Kalahari #MSA
Paper: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
AI 🤖
#Neanderthals weren’t just brutes; they were engineers, artists, and problem solvers.
We explore their advanced tech, tools, and adaptability.
Want to know what separates innovation from instinct?
youtu.be/dPfS0rcxtUg?...
#PaleoPost #PaleoClub #HumanOrigins #Neanderthals #ScienceCommunication
Pech-de-l’Azé I & Abri Peyrony (~51–48 ka): rib-bone lissoirs used to smooth hides—Europe’s earliest specialized bone tools, made by Neanderthals. #PaleoPost #HumanOrigins #Neanderthals #Lissoir
Paper: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Fumane Cave, Italy (~44 ka): cut, peeling & scrape marks on raptor/corvid wing bones point to feather extraction—non-food use by late Neanderthals. #PaleoPost #HumanOrigins #Neanderthals #SymbolicBehavior
Paper: europepmc.org/articles/PMC...
Bizmoune Cave, Morocco (≥142 ka): perforated Tritia gibbosula shells with edge polish and ochre—the oldest known shell beads, signaling early social identity in the Aterian MSA. #PaleoPost #HumanOrigins #MSA #Bizmoune
Paper: eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/id/eprint/20...
Dolní Věstonice, Czechia (~31–27 ka, Gravettian): fired loess-clay figurines—“Venus,” animals, pellets—mark the earliest known ceramics; firing ~500–800 °C. #PaleoPost #HumanOrigins #Gravettian #Ceramics
Paper: www.researchgate.net/profile/Jiri...
Bruniquel Cave, France (~176 ka): 400+ broken stalagmites stacked into two ring-like structures with fire traces—deep-cave construction by early Neanderthals. #PaleoPost #HumanOrigins #Neanderthals #Bruniquel
Paper: www.nature.com/articles/nat...
Ostrich eggshell beads (50–33 ka): matching diameters in eastern + southern Africa mark long-distance social networks that waxed/waned with rainfall. #PaleoPost #HumanOrigins #OESbeads #SocialNetworks
Paper: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Lascaux (~17 ka): a red sandstone fat lamp—one of 100+—lit deep art chambers. Experiments show how fat, resin & torches shaped cave light. #PaleoPost #HumanOrigins #Lascaux #ArchaeologyOfTheSenses
Paper: journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...
Qafzeh Cave, Israel (~120 ka): Glycymeris shells—naturally perforated, ochre-stained, with suspension wear—were carried 40–100 km inland and strung as ornaments. #PaleoPost #HumanOrigins #Qafzeh #SymbolicBehavior
Paper: in-africa.org/wp-content/u...
Zaskalnaya VI, Crimea (43–38 ka, Micoquian): a raven radius bears seven deliberate notches; experiments show two were added to regularize spacing—patterned mark-making. #PaleoPost #Neanderthals #Micoquian
Paper: journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...
Border Cave, South Africa (~24 ka): bone arrowheads + a notched applicator with castor-bean residue (ricinoleic acid) and beeswax hafting—poisoned projectiles, complex chemistry. #PaleoPost #HumanOrigins #BorderCave #Poison
Paper: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Gorham’s Cave, Gibraltar (~39 ka): a deep cross-hatched engraving carved before sediment filled the grooves—consistent with deliberate Neanderthal mark-making. #PaleoPost #HumanOrigins #Neanderthals #Engraving
Paper: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Ngalue Cave, Mozambique (~105 ka): microscopic starch granules—including wild sorghum—on grinders and scrapers = early plant foods in the MSA. #PaleoPost #HumanOrigins #MiddleStoneAge #StarchResidues
Paper: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Wonderwerk Cave, South Africa (~1.0 Ma): micromorphology + FTIR reveal ashed plants and burned bone inside Acheulean layers—secure evidence of in-cave fire. #PaleoPost #HumanOrigins #Wonderwerk #Acheulean
Paper: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Porc-Epic Cave, Ethiopia (~40 ka): 4,213 ochre pieces and 21 grindstones—abraded facets + residues show sustained powder production for >4.5 kyr. #PaleoPost #HumanOrigins #Ochre #PorcEpic
Paper: journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...
Nyayanga, Kenya (3.03–2.59 Ma): Oldowan cores, flakes & percussors used to butcher hippos. Nearby Paranthropus teeth complicate who made them—maybe multiple makers. #PaleoPost #HumanOrigins #Oldowan
Paper: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
