Ancient World Review

New Collection Of Julian Jaynes Papers Released

"Princeton University psychologist Julian Jayne's revolutionary theory on the origin of consciousness or the 'modern mind' remains as relevant and thought-provoking as when it was first proposed. Supported by recent discoveries in neuroscience, Jaynes's ideas force us to rethink conventional views of human history and psychology, and have profound implications for many aspects of modern life." More on Jaynes here and here.

"Included in this volume are rare and never before seen articles, lectures, interviews, and in-depth discussions that both clear up misconceptions as well as extend Jaynes's theory into new areas such as the nature of the self, dreams, emotions, art, music, therapy, and the consequences and future of consciousness." More information can be found on the Julian Jaynes Society web site.

More Evidence Against Out Of Africa Theory

"Archaeologists have long thought that Homo erectus, humanity's first ancestor to spread around the world, evolved in Africa before dispersing throughout Europe and Asia. But evidence of tool-making at the border of Europe and Asia is challenging that assumption," according to Nature News.

DNA Analysis Of Human Hair Used To Reconstruct Extinct Paleo-Eskimo Face

"For the first time, the sequence of a near-complete nuclear genome has been obtained from the tissue of an ancient human," according to the journal Nature. "It comes from permafrost-preserved hair, about 4,000 years old, of a male palaeo-Eskimo of the Saqqaq culture, the earliest known settlers in Greenland." Note that the Saqqaqs apparently had no relation to the North American Paleo-Indians. "The analysis provides evidence for a migration from Siberia into the New World some 5,500 years ago, independent of the migration that gave rise to the modern Native Americans and Inuit."

"The researchers say the man, who lived 4,000 years ago, had brown eyes and thick dark hair, although he would have been prone to baldness," according to BBC News. The Saqqaq presumably crossed the Bering Strait land bridge thought to have formed during the Last Glacial Maximum, so they must have been energetic nomads to have reached as far as Greenland on the other side of the continent. This discovery proves, once again, that the schoolbook story of the discovery of North America has been grossly over-simplified, to say the least.

The Looming Crisis In Genetics

"Human geneticists have reached a private crisis of conscience, and it will become public knowledge in 2010," according to The Economist. "The crisis has depressing health implications and alarming political ones. In a nutshell: the new genetics will reveal much less than hoped about how to cure disease, and much more than feared about human evolution and inequality, including genetic differences between classes, ethnicities and races."

This is an interesting story not only for what it says but for the way it dances around its subject. Personally, I find the whole thing pretty amusing. I love watching these politically-correct scientists fidget and squirm when their research collides with their cultural delusions. Mark my words, the researchers involved will end up censoring themselves to avoid getting into trouble. They'll deny their own findings, explain them away, rationalize them one way or another--whatever they have to do to keep their grants and tenure. And they'll tell themselves they're trying to be "socially responsible."

I'm surprised the Economist even touched this story, to tell you the truth. The article only hints at the true nature of the "looming crisis" and the important stuff is buried in the last couple of paragraphs as usual, but there's enough information here to figure out what's going on. There's no chance that any of this will "become public knowledge in 2010," however, especially in the United States. The media will ignore it and the scientists themselves will bury their secret knowledge deep in their journals, never to see the light of day. I'd probably do the same thing if I was in their position. Human genetics is a mine field in the current climate and they have to be very careful not to deviate from the party line.

New Finds Challenge Out-Of-Africa Theory

"The conventional view of human evolution and how early man colonised the world has been thrown into doubt by a series of stunning palaeontological discoveries suggesting that Africa was not the sole cradle of humankind. Scientists have found a handful of ancient human skulls at an archaeological site two hours from the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, that suggest a Eurasian chapter in the long evolutionary story of man." (Source: The Independent)

These incredible discoveries are a direct challenge to the conventional story of human origins which says "that humans came out of Africa almost 1 million years ago, that they already had sophisticated stone tools, and that their body anatomy was quite advanced in terms of brain capacity and limb proportions." It now appears that humans may have evolved elsewhere--probably in Eurasia.

New Study Reveals Genetic Differences Greater Than Believed

Genetic differences between individuals and ethnic groups are greater than previously believed, according to a new study conducted at the Harvard Medical School. "The research also suggests that humans have less DNA in common with chimpanzees, our closest living relative, than is widely supposed," according to National Geographic News.These findings have major implications for the treatment of genetic diseases and our understanding of human origins. I'll be surprised if they get a lot of publicity.