The Ever Evolving Human Genome

In another article (from the Archaeology Magazine) about a conversation between the reporter, Zach Zorich and John Hawks (assistant professor from the University of Wisconsin), I found some interesting facts about human evolution. Apparently, the evolution of humans has not stopped, on the other hand it has been speeding up for...let me see...the past 50,000 years! If your teacher told you that humans had stopped evolving...well...sorry but they were wrong. In those 50,000 years, the human body, brain and teeth have become smaller. Not to mention other things as well. Actually when they counted all the mutations in those 50,000 years they found that there were about 3,000! Amazing.

It was also interesting to find out that our language gene (FOXP2) could be a relatively recent gene. This gene could have started in ancient Neanderthals and was then passed on to the modern human. If that is so, evolution has won again!! But this is only a prediction, the FOXP2 gene could also have been developed in modern humans and passed on the Neanderthals, or maybe we are all wrong and FOXP2 is a very old gene.

This study helps us grasp a problem that has been laid out before scientists--what actually explains race. When explaining race by talking about environments experienced in the past, makes more sense than explaining race using 19th century ideas (racial relationships) which don't make much sense from the evolutionary point of view. The idea that there are genetic differences because of environments experienced in the past and demographic growth makes the most sense.

(A Neanderthal Skull from http://www.d.umn.edu/~gbabiuk/AnthropologySociologyandPsychology.htm)

The Egyptian Queen's Eyes

Were Nefertiti's (one of the Queens of Akhenaten) eyes a symbol of royalty in Egypt? The Archaeology Magazine has an interesting article about this particular queen and her eyes. In the Valley of the Kings, a chamber was discovered and in this chamber quite a few ceramic jars and several wooden coffins were found. At first, people thought they might find some of the female queens like Nefertiti and Ankhesenamun, but these hopes were soon proved wrong when they found that all seven coffins were devoid of mummies. Most of these coffins were nearly totally destroyed by termites. Apparently the termites preferred the uncured wood of the main part of the coffin. Everything except the faces of all the coffins were almost totally destroyed, due to the faces being made separately with some sort of covering (like a thin plaster or gesso). Three of the faces which were yellow depicted Nefertiti's strange eye shape. Another of the coffins had an normal eye shape unlike the three with yellow faces. Nefertiti's famous bust also has this eye shape. One stela which shows Nefertiti, her two daughters and Akhenaten. This stela shows Nefertiti with her distinguishing eye shape and Akhenaten appears with a normal eye shape. Was this caused by a genetic syndrome? It very well could be. Tutankhamun, who could possibly be Nefertiti's son, is shown in a one of his depictions with the same eye shape. Another relief shows Nefertiti kissing one of her daughters. Her daughter is also depicted with the very same eye shape. Other people have been shown with this eye shape, but did not necessarily have it. To the people who saw Nefertiti, her eyes must have presented something more to her beauty. Adding more to her name, which means "the beautiful one has come".

Just a Beginning

This blog is just the beginning of my search of interesting archaeological discoveries, which come from various sources. I hope to learn more and get feedback about any of the ancient discoveries I have mentioned. The occasional stray post you may find that does not have much to do with archaeology, and hopefully those will be few. And here is the end of the beginning...but nowhere near close to the end of the end.

The Temple of Nike (From From Old Books)