Humans are a rather self-centred bunch. From thinking an unimaginably large universe exists to benefit the inhabitants of one speck of it to, well….starting a blog called “EvoAnth.” Within science there is a significant bias towards the investigation of how we got here compared to the origins of most other living animals. As such, we know relatively … Continue reading »
Posted in January 2012 …
Neanderthals had differently organised brains
Homo neanderthalensis is not a species to be dismissed lightly. They weren’t especially dumb, nor especially weak. Indeed, they actually had larger brains and denser muscles than we did. On top of that, their technology was so well adapted to their environment that they were able to flourish without drastically altering it for hundreds of … Continue reading »
The folly of the “palaeolithic diet”
There’s this new fad going around called the “palaeolithic diet” (or at least, that’s what it should be called. I’ll have none of this American “paleolithic” thank you very much). It is essentially people trying to eat what our ancestors ate, the logic beign that it is what we’ve evolved to deal with and will … Continue reading »
I fought the man
For a brief period today EvoAnth was taken down for “violating wordpress’ terms of service.” This was an error and, as you can see now, everything is back up and working properly. I would apologise for any inconvenience caused but the idea of someone constantly checking my blog so often that they’re disappointed by it’s … Continue reading »
Evolving our success
If you were asked what it was that makes Homo sapiens so successful, how might you respond? That it is our technology, which enables us to conquer any environment? But what allowed the development of such technology? Our big brains of course! But why did our brains get so big? To facilitate larger group sizes! … Continue reading »
The problem with defining our ancestors
Almost every paper on human evolution commences with an obligatory paragraph about how these particular scientists are defining the species in question. “Today we’re calling Homo erectus outside of Africa Homo ergaster,” they’ll say and you accept that and it’s all well and good. But then the next paper will turn around and say “Homo … Continue reading »
Last neanderthals NOT found near the Arctic?
I previously discussed an article which suggested that the last members of Homo neanderthalensis retreated north into Russia prior to their eventual extinction. This conclusion was based upon the discovery of Mousterian tools – an industry produced by the neanderthals – at Byzovaya. However, although I concluded my tale of these northern neanderthals it would … Continue reading »
The origin of religion
The amount of creationist claptrap in my previous post obscured an otherwise intriguing story: the origin of religion. But I didn’t have enough space to go into as much detail as I would’ve liked, but then I remembered, I own this blog! I can have as much space as I want. So, without further ado, … Continue reading »
Does The Oldest Temple Topple Evolutionists’ History of Religion?
Ordinarily I give posts from the Institute of Creation Research (ICR) a wide birth because there is already a fine blog dedicated to commenting on what they have to say. Their latest post, however, requires comment. Mostly because they mentioned evolutionary anthropology by name (and as an egotistical male, I take any critique of my … Continue reading »
Technological evolution and intelligence
Is it possible to infer the intelligence of our ancestors by looking at the tools they made; or is the picture more complicated than “stupid person uses simple stone”? Continue reading »
