The Return of Darwinius masillae

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The team that brought us Darwinius masillae has a new paper out defending the haplorhine status Darwinius masillae. The paper is a response to Williams et al (you can read about that paper here). The paper raises an issue that I have blogged about in a previous post but the Gingerich et al paper is a good example of what Rudolf Raff was talking about.

Another Take on Blair Mountain

I have written several posts on the subject of Blair Mountain. Middle Savagery provides an interesting look at the subject.

I also urge you to support The Friends of Blair Mountain and help prevent this hsitoric area from being strip-mined.

Of Monkeys and Ancestors

William Meikle and Eugenie Scott have an article in Evolution: Education and Outreach that looks at the frequently heard creationist question “If we evolved from monkeys, how come there are still monkeys?” The paper is short, coming in at three pages. In it the suggest that one answer the question by comparing human evolution to human genealogy – a pretty common tactic if one reads blogs.

Four Stone Hearth Volume 106

Welcome to the 106th edition of the Four Stone Hearth. The submissions were light, however I have rounded up a few more interesting posts, so without further ado…

Begging for an article

Can someone send me a copy of the paper below?

Gingerich, P., Franzen, J., Habersetzer, J., Hurum, J., & Smith, B. (2010). Darwinius masillae is a Haplorhine — Reply to Williams et al. (2010) Journal of Human Evolution DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2010.07.013

Okay, I have read the article and all I can say is “WTF?”

Marsupial Carnivore Diversity

The Four Stone Hearth will be up later this evening. In the meantime, check out this interesting paper on marsupial carnivores. The paper uses geometric morphometrics to look at skull shape in a wide variety of marsupial and placental carnivores.

Sutton Hoo Photographs Rediscovered!

This is a really cool story! From the linked to article:

Like the original ship burial, this remarkable find has laid unseen and forgotten for a long time. Tucked away in a dusty storeroom were a couple of fairly nondescript cardboard boxes.

Inside these unprepossessing packages were a photographic treasure trove which sheds new light on the discovery and the excavation of the Sutton Hoo ship burial.

Inside the boxes were more than 400 photographs taken during the summer of 1939 by two visiting school teachers Barbara Wagstaff and Mercie Lack.

An added bonus is that some of the photos are in color. Apparently, the two women had free run of the dig so the pictures are a pretty detailed record of the excavation. Follow the link to view some of the photos.

Also, the next edition of the Four Stone Hearth is tomorrow so please send me your submissions. Also feel free to submit any interesting anthropology posts that you have stumbled across! My email address is in the “About” tab.

Fourstone Hearth in Two Days

Please get your submissions for the next Four Stone Hearth. You can email the submissions to me – I’m hosting – at the email address in the “About” tab.

Begging for an article: Did Australopithecus afarensis make tools?

Can someone send me a copy of this article:

Domínguez-Rodrigo et al (2010) Configurational approach to identifying the earliest hominin butchers doi: 10.1073/pnas.1013711107

Please send it to the email address in the “about” tab.

Thank you in advance

Four Stone Hearth 105 is Up!

The 105th edition of the Four Stone Hearth is up at Abnormal Interests. Be sure to stop by and check out the best anthopology writing around!