|
Author: Robert Baird Article source: http://www.opentopia.com/. Used with author's permission.
HOBBITS AND LICE:
In late 2004 the media was all agog with the small hominids found on Flores Island where I had written about artifacts showing sea travel technology must have existed. I had argued with many people about the issue and their argument had some merit in that we had no proof of a connection to humans or the nearby Mungo Man. However, once we found these creatures which some researchers even think could be part chimpanzee the issue became clearly in my favor. I think the divergence of human lice proven through DNA technology going back 1.18 to 1.8 million years ago is even more telling and I look forward to the further research on pubic lice that might prove hominids cross-breeding. Here is one source for further review.
"It was astonishing and exciting enough to have discovered a new - and wholly unexpected - hominid species last week. The discovery of the partial skeletons of three-foot tall "hobbits" on the Indonesian island of Flores would have been front page news however old they were. But what made them really extraordinary was their age. They weren't fossils. These were bones rotted to the consistency of blotting paper, less than 18,000 years old; and there are grounds for hoping that the creatures lived on into historical times. Some might even be alive in sufficiently remote island jungles today. The native legends about "Ebu Gogo" suggest that contact between Homo sapiens and Homo floresiensis took place within the last century on Flores.
The idea that our ancestors had contact with other human species is a profound and disturbing one. The whole term "human species" begs the question. If they are other species, can they really be what we mean by "human"? Human is a moral category as much as a biological one. That's why it is such a useful weapon word in the debates about abortion. To call someone or something human is generally meant as praise, and implies that they should be treated as we treat ourselves.
This interpretation of "humanity" is not, of course, a necessarily human trait. It's certainly not encoded in our genes. Most cultures, in most of history, have had no trouble in treating other human beings as domesticated animals or very much worse. But we, who speak English, call this process "dehumanisation".
The skeletal fragments, and the legends from local people, make this story far more vivid than the other evidence for human encounters with other humanoid species. That shouldn't obscure the fact that this is the second such story this autumn, and the first one is far more chilling.
The evidence there came from lice. As the parents of almost any school age girl will know, human lice are extraordinarily tenacious and well adapted to life on our scalps. They don't survive for more than a few hours away from human flesh.
The war between lice and their hosts has continued for billions of years - there are species of louse adapted to almost every sort of primate and many species of birds. In humans, they infest our head, our clothes, and our bodily hair. Curiously, the body lice are the same species as head lice - although they behave quite differently, living in clothes, and coming in to feed on skin once or twice a day. Head lice live in hair and feed more often.
But it turns out that DNA analysis shows there are two distinct sub-species of head lice in humans. All over the world, except in western North America, they are the same. But there is a population of lice along the Pacific coast of North America which have been evolving separately from the rest of the world for about 1.8m years. The only way to make sense of this is to assume that their separate development took place on Homo erectus, who also split off from our hominid ancestors about that time ago.
So how could these lice have reached their present, wholly human hosts? It seems to me that this could only have happened through some act of primal genocide when Homo erectus met Homo sapiens somewhere in eastern Siberia. Lice can only travel between living bodies, or very freshly dead ones. If the transmission had been from living bodies, we would expect the same pattern in bodily lice. It isn't there. Nor is there any trace of Homo erectus in our DNA. So the lice must have come from very fresh corpses and it is hard to suppose that they had died peacefully just before the intruders turned up.
The story of "Ebu Gogo" sounds more improving. According to local villagers, these creatures were around until about a century ago: three feet tall, hairy, and speechless, though they could imitate human speech, like parrots. The villagers tolerated them and even fed them, though they would only eat raw food, until they stole and ate a baby. They drove them from their cave with blazing bales of grass. Shortly thereafter, the villagers themselves moved off and western settlers arrived. The cave where the Ebu Gogo lived has not been found. But if it is - and scientists are looking - it might yield some extraordinary remains.
These wouldn't be technological. Perhaps the saddest aspect of the whole story is the slow loss of technology it implies. Ebu Gogo seems to have been a descendent of Homo erectus, also known as Java man, who reached the island about 840,000 years ago. This was almost certainly something that required boats, which seem a pretty human-level technology." (1) Author of Diverse Druids
Columnist for The ES Press Magazine
Soon to be featured with Philip Gardiner
Debt Consolidation Solution – How To Know What Your Solution Is
Here are some suggestions to help you analyze the best solution for you with your personal debt needs.
Butterflies Hitting Home Runs: Choice vs. Chance
I was talking with my good friend Tom Hanson the other day and the topic of "choice vs. chance" came up. Tom is a sports psychology coach (you can see all about...
5 Unique Ways To Get More Free Traffic
There are hundreds of methods for getting free traffic to your web site. Today we discuss five you might not have considered.
Giving Referrals to Get Referrals
One of the best ways to get a referral is to give a referral. When you give someone a referral, they are forever grateful and will feel obligated to return the ...
8 Line Items of a Trade Show Budget
"How much does it cost to do a trade show?" I
Sales and the Law of Attraction
I'm about to challenge your belief system, or at least I'm going to try.
How Do You Talk to Yourself?
The Relentless Boss Syndrome: Have you ever worked for a manager who responded to every piece of work you did by giving you a new assignment? Who never said th...
Ten Tips for Email Marketers
The top ten tips for email marketers by Broadwick CEO Ryan Allis. Includes information on frequency, relevancy, consistency, timing, deliverability, from names,...
Lawsuit Loans - Caveat Emptor!
If you have been injured in an accident it is quite likely that you have been financially stressed as a result, and are in need of an advance against your insur...
Before Enlightenment
I believe that for many of us who search for truth and enlightenment, there is a tendency to escape into it. Not so much an escape into enlightenment but into t...
Ask the Recruiter
Career advice from a professional recruiter who hires every day!
Freeroll Poker Tournaments - The Greatest Deal Of All!
Freeroll poker tournaments are daily events that happen on a lot of the best online poker websites. They are much loved as they offer players the chance to win ...
True Inner Guidance
True inner guidance will always draw you into something that you are desiring or want to be, do or have. Naturally, in drawing you TO something, you are being l...
Beach Elopement
Guide to planning a beach elopement. Details to consider and think through.
Seven Ways To Turn Past Failures Into Springboards For Success
Perhaps your professional life isn't going exactly like you thought it was supposed to go. Maybe your best-laid plans have failed and circumstances beyond your ...
Weight Loss Methods: Its Advantage - Natural Therapy!
Natural therapies uphold the importance of minerals, vitamins and herbs in your day-to-day life. It's advantage natural therapies for you lose weight and you ac...
How To Use Your Credit Card For Ultimate Financial Advantage
This article explains the importance of establishing good credit, and how to use your credit card as a powerful tool for ultimate financial leverage. It also re...
Skin Care and the Physiology of the Skin
The largest organ of the human body is the skin. It protects our bodies from the environment, maintains body temperature, excretes waste matter, gives sensory ...
Types of Digital Cameras
With so many different options, understanding the differences in the types of digital cameras can be confusing. This article explains what types of digital cam...
Useful Tips When Choosing Credit Cards
Chances are you have received your share of "pre-approved" credit card offers in the mail, some with low introductory rates and other perks.Many of these solici...
10 Top Tips To Successfull Dropshipping
Many entrepreneurs have found success in the dropshipping industry. Dropshipping holds many advantages over other methods of e-commerce.
Amaterasu The Goddess of the Sun
Amaterasu is a shining example of how adversity can help us to 'blossom and bloom' more at times. She helps us look for the lesson to be learned when the advers...
Christmas Gifts for Her – A Unique Approach
The holidays are quickly approaching and that means you need to come up with Christmas gifts for her. Instead of stressing out, consider the following approach.
The One-Minute Horse Training Manager
If your life is so busy you literally only have a minute or two a day to spend with your horse, then here are 5 smart training tips you can use to keep your hor...
|
Print this page