https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/science\/2017\/jun\/07\/oldest-homo-sapiens-bones-ever-found-shake-foundations-of-the-human-story<\/a><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
But there\u2019s another lesson in it, if the advocates of this find are correct:<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
It isn\u2019t just slightly<\/em> older than previous relevant finds. \u00a0It\u2019s a lot<\/em> older. \u00a0It\u2019s from 300,000 years before the present. \u00a0The previous oldest analog, which set the standard story, dates to slightly less than 200,000 years before the present. \u00a0And it doesn\u2019t just slightly adjust the prevailing account. \u00a0If accurately evaluated, it changes that account substantially.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
What to draw from this?<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Among many other things, these lessons can be drawn: \u00a0The archaeological record isn\u2019t complete. \u00a0Most human remains and artifacts don\u2019t survive long. \u00a0They\u2019ll never be found. \u00a0Be we can seldom if ever\u00a0guarantee that we\u2019ve found a representative sample of what has<\/em> survived, let alone most of it\u00a0or even\u00a0all\u00a0of it. \u00a0And we can\u2019t be sure that we\u2019ve properly interpreted what we\u2019ve found.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
We\u2019re telling stories \u2014 sketching out theories \u2014 based upon partial pictures.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
We can hope that we\u2019re doing it competently. \u00a0But we can\u2019t be certain of that. \u00a0And surprises may, likely will, come.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Posted from Boston, Massachusetts<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 This is, of course, scientifically interesting in its own right: \u00a0 https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/science\/2017\/jun\/07\/oldest-homo-sapiens-bones-ever-found-shake-foundations-of-the-human-story \u00a0 But there\u2019s another lesson in it, if the advocates of this find are correct: \u00a0 It isn\u2019t just slightly older than previous relevant finds. \u00a0It\u2019s a lot older. \u00a0It\u2019s from 300,000 years before the present. \u00a0The previous oldest analog, which […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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