Fur is a controversial fashion statement these days. But stepping out in a wildcat cape or jackal wrap was de rigueur for Pleistocene humans, according to the recent discovery of a 120,000-year-old leather and fur production site that contains some of the oldest archaeological evidence for human clothing.
Tag Archives: Anthropology
Who Invented the Alphabet?
Native Americans Voyaged to Polynesia Long Before Europeans Reached the Americas, DNA Study Shows
Indigenous South Americans reached islands in the South Pacific some 300 years before Christopher Columbus landed in the Americas, according to new genetic evidence. Continue reading Native Americans Voyaged to Polynesia Long Before Europeans Reached the Americas, DNA Study Shows
Hundreds of Fossilized Human Footprints Provide a Glimpse of Ancient Life in Africa
Over 400 fossilized human footprints have been discovered in Tanzania, representing the largest collection of human prints ever found in Africa. Dating back some 10,000 years, the footprints offer a snapshot of life during the Late Pleistocene, including possible divisions of labor based on sex. Continue reading Hundreds of Fossilized Human Footprints Provide a Glimpse of Ancient Life in Africa
‘Elixir of Immortality’ Uncovered in 2,000-Year-Old Chinese Tomb
A yellowish liquid found in a bronze pot dating back some 2,000 years is not wine, as Chinese archaeologists initially thought. It’s actually an “elixir of immortality” concocted during ancient times. Continue reading ‘Elixir of Immortality’ Uncovered in 2,000-Year-Old Chinese Tomb
Neanderthals Vs. Africans: Who Was the First to Create Art?
In his essay, Why Africana History?, the great scholar and historian Dr. John Henrik Clarke wrote: “The Europeans not only colonialized most of the world, they began to colonialize information about the world and its people. In order to do this, they had to forget, or pretend to forget, all they had previously known about the Africans.” Dr. Clarke’s words are still very relevant today, evident by the fact that textbooks in Texas recently began referring to enslaved Africans as “workers” rather than a group of people who were forcibly taken from their homes in bondage. In addition, the ancient Egyptian Queen Nefertiti was recently portrayed as a white woman by a scientist claiming to have created a scientifically accurate facial reconstruction based on her skull. Continue reading Neanderthals Vs. Africans: Who Was the First to Create Art?
Striking Photos of the Past and Present of Papua New Guinea
Is any place on the planet less familiar to Americans than heavily forested, mountainous, linguistically complex, faraway Papua New Guinea? The images on these pages document just a few points on the wide spectrum of life in PNG today. At one end is what might be called extravagant tradition. To see that, the photographer Sandro, who’s based in Chicago, went to the Eastern Highlands and attended the Goroka Show. Continue reading Striking Photos of the Past and Present of Papua New Guinea
The Fat Cat Collective 