Early Humans Settled India Before Europe

[The Messiah]

Early Humans Settled India Before Europe

Modern humans migrated out of Africa and into India much earlier than once believed, driving older hominids in present-day India to extinction and creating some of the earliest art and architecture, a new study suggests.

The research places modern humans in India tens of thousands of years before their arrival in Europe.

University of Cambridge researchers Michael Petraglia and Hannah James developed the new theory after analyzing decades' worth of existing fieldwork in India. They outline their research in the journal Current Anthropology.

"He's putting all the pieces together, which no one has done before," Sheela Athreya, an anthropologist at Texas A&M University, said of Petraglia.

Modern humans arrived in Europe around 40,000 years ago, leaving behind cave paintings, jewelry, and evidence that they drove the Neandertals to extinction.

Petraglia and James argue that similar events took place in India when modern humans arrived there about 70,000 years ago.

The Indian subcontinent was once home to Homo heidelbergensis, a hominid species that left Africa about 800,000 years ago, Petraglia explained.

"I realized that, my god, modern humans might have wiped out Homo heidelbergensis in India," he said. "Modern humans may have been responsible for wiping out all sorts of ancestors around the world."

"Our model of India is talking about that entire wave of dispersal," he added. "[T]hat's a huge implication for paleoanthropology and human evolution."

A New Model

Petraglia and James reached their conclusions by pulling together fossils, artifacts, and genetic data.

The evidence points to an early human migration through the Middle East and into India, arriving in Australia by 45,000 to 60,000 years ago, they say.

Their model begins about 250,000 years ago, when Homo heidelbergensis arrived in India toting crude stone tools. Digs in central India in the 1980s turned up skeletal remains of the species, and other sites revealed almond-shaped hand axes chipped from stone.

Meanwhile in Africa modern humans arose about 190,000 years ago, most archaeologists believe. These humans too developed stone tools.

Scattered evidence, such as red ochre—perhaps used as body paint—suggests early African humans also dabbled in the creative arts.

The new theory posits that as much as 70,000 years ago, a group of these modern humans migrated east, arriving in India with technology comparable to that developed by Homo heidelbergensis.

"The tools were not so different," Petraglia says. "The technology that the moderns had wasn't of a great advantage over what [Homo heidelbergensis] were using."

But modern humans outcompeted the natives, slowly but inexorably driving them to extinction, Petraglia says. "It's just like the story in Western Europe, where [modern humans] drove Neandertals to extinction," he says.

The modern humans who colonized India may also have been responsible for the disappearance of the so-called Hobbits, whose fossilized bones were discovered recently on the Indonesian island of Flores.

But Athreya of Texas A&M argues that the evidence for such a "replacement event" in India remains weak.

"You have to explain the reasons for the replacement, [such as] technical superiority," she said.

"The genetic evidence shows there were multiple migrations out of Africa, so there would have been multiple migrations into [India]. But I think these migrating populations didn't completely replace the indigenous group."

Early Art

Petraglia and James's report presents evidence of creativity and culture in India starting about 45,000 years ago. Sophisticated stone blades arrive first, along with rudimentary stone architecture.

Beads, red ochre paint, ostrich shell jewelry, and perhaps even shrines to long-lost gods—the hallmarks of an early symbolic culture—appear by 28,500 years ago.

This slow change is in contrast to what many scientists believe played out in Europe. Modern humans blew through the continent like a storm about 40,000 years ago, and Neandertals quickly disappeared.

The switch happened so rapidly—as evidenced by the sudden arrival of advanced stone tools and an explosion of cave painting and other art—that anthropologists call it the "human revolution."

"What we have is a much patchier, very slow and gradual accumulation of what we call modern human behavior in South Asia," Petraglia says.

"And that just simply means that culture developed in a slightly different way in South Asia than it did in Western Europe."

A dearth of fossils and artifacts in India makes Petraglia and James's research even more valuable, writes Robin Dennell, professor of archeology at the University of Sheffield, in a comment accompanying the study.

The subcontinent has produced just one set of early Homo sapiens fossils, found in a cave in Sri Lanka and dated to about 36,000 years ago.

Despite this, Petraglia hopes his analysis throws new light onto early human history in India.

"We're trying to give a wake up call to anthropologists "¦ saying that we have to be looking at all parts of the world," he says.

"If we really want to tell the story of human evolution we've got to bring all parts of the world into the story."

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/11/1114_051114_india.html

Make of it what you want.

So all modern humans came to India from africa -> middle east -> India. Some nutters wont be pleased with that since only invaders come from there!!

 

[civfanatic]

I remember watching a documentary that said the genomes of some South Indians around Madurai closely matched the genomes of Australian aboriginies.

Apparently, the Indian Ocean was much smaller 50,000 years ago than it was now, and it was possible for the early humans to walk along the "coast" from South India to Australia.

Interesting stuff.

 

[pmaitra]

It is true that the land masses were clustered together and later spread out in different directions. The following image shows the Gondwanaland and Laurasia as it was 200 million years ago.

Modern humans originated circa. 200,000 years ago. Hence, the oceans then and since then were not too different from what they are now. Nevertheless, one needs to keep the possibility open that humans themselves originated from something, and they in turn from something. So, it could also be possible that maybe there were some animal or species in these continents when they were together or closer and then they got isolated and independently evolved into modern humans of different races.

Caveat: I am no evolutionist, so I could be entirely wrong. Yet, this concept of 'all humans originated from Africa' sounds like a subtle confirmation of the Biblical creationist theory; and I remain skeptical.

If the image does not show up, please use this link: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/Laurasia-Gondwana.svg

 

[civfanatic]

Modern humans originated circa. 200,000 years ago. Hence, the oceans then and since then were not too different from what they are now. Nevertheless, one needs to keep the possibility open that humans themselves originated from something, and they in turn from something. So, it could also be possible that maybe there were some animal or species in these continents when they were together or closer and then they got isolated and independently evolved into modern humans of different races.

Well, you have to keep in mind that during the period around the Ice Age, water levels were a lot lower than they are today. This is what made human immigration to places like North America, Australia, Indonesia, and the British Isles possible.

Later on, the water levels rose and the current landforms as we know them were created.

 

[pmaitra]

Well, you have to keep in mind that during the period around the Ice Age, water levels were a lot lower than they are today. This is what made human immigration to places like North America, Australia, Indonesia, and the British Isles possible.

Later on, the water levels rose and the current landforms as we know them were created.

Good point.

As I understand, the last Ice Age was 200,000 years ago. This is the approximate time when modern humans came into being. So, it is quite possible that many pre-humans (i.e. homo something but not homo sapiens) probably migrated to different regions and when at the end of the Ice Age the water levels rose, humans evolved out of these homo somethings into modern humans in these isolated continents independent of their cousins in other continents.

Hence, there are loop-holes in the theory that all humans originated from Africa.

 

[navida]

According to NGC, the tribes in Nilgiris in Tamil Nadu are the closest ansistors of the Africans outside of Africa and the Jarawa tribes of Andaman are the earliest evolved human beings in the world.

 

[The Messiah]

All humans are 99.9% genetically similar throughout the world.

Yet people seem hell bent on dividing themselves on the basis of caste, religion, skin colour etc

 

[RAM]

With due respect to ALL member's various views "¦


The Course of human evolution is described as a sequence of short, abrupt Or punctuations ,separated by long period of stasis and this Model is called as punctuated Equilibrium.Human phylogeny or the family tree of the hominin species according to current hypothesis happen around 2.5 million years ago. Infact its believed that first bipedal Hominis appear to have emerged in Africa from an ape ancestory in late Miocene, between 8 and 6 million years ago.Between 2 million and 1.8 /1.7 million years ago the first hominins that appear to show marked encephalization (brain expansion) are found.

And
Time line suggests

In Later stone age/upper paleolithic stage Homo neandrethalensis+ Homo sapiens +Homo erectus existed <<<and its ascendants(Middlestone age 1- 2million years <<<<<Homo Heidelbergenis ,Homo ergaster,Homohabilis,Homo ergaster, Homo rudolfenesis ,Australopithecus variants are recorded to be existed by the archaeologists .

Homo Heidelbergensis species name as referred in the parent article derived from a 5 million old Mandible(lower jaw) found in a quarry on 1907 at Mauer ,near Heidelberg Germany. As per the current western texts/school of thought this species spread from Africa to Europe initially but very little evidence to S Asia .

This western model school of thought contradicts petraglia's theory in
theprimary article. However Human Dispersion may have happened as he opined from Africa>>Europe>>ASIA as there are lot of models of Human dispersion theories exist between the anthropologists/archaeologists themselves and the ensued arrival of modern H sapiens may have challenged the existence of their Ancestors lately .




(Folks..Im just a novice to this topic and kindly bear for any aberrations-however very keen to heed other's views.Thnx to Ernesto for bringing up a good article/discussion point.)

 

[pmaitra]

Evolution Again

Definitely, it is wrong discriminate on the basis of race, appearance, religion, caste or ethnicity; however it is also wrong to say there are no differences between different types, kinds, races or sub-species of humans.

The following image gives a rough idea how the modern human evolved. It is a fact that homo something populations got isolated at some point in the different continents and evolved by themselves adapting to the different climatic and environmental conditions peculiar to those particular landmasses. The question is, when did this isolation happen? Did it happen during the existence of the homo erectus, or the homo neanderthalensis or the homo sapiens or did it happen further down the line during existence of homo sapiens sapiens?

The following satire, which might be politically incorrect (I beg your pardon), is altogether not untrue. It clearly reflects different conditions in different countries.

What do the members think about it?

 

[RAM]

H Evolution and Global dispersion

The question is, when did this isolation happen? Did it happen during the existence of the homo erectus, or the homo neanderthalensis or the homo sapiens or did it happen further down the line during existence of homo sapiens sapiens?

The current school of thought standby the fact that HUMO ERGASTER(existed b/w 1-2millionyears )the ascendant to HUMO ERECTUS had its intial dispersion from africa to Eurasia.

http://www.thamesandhudsonusa.com/web/humanpast/summaries/ch03.html

THE DISPERSION OF Homo ergaster AND THE FATE OF HOMO ERECTUS
Archaeology shows that about 1.5 million years ago, shortly after appearing in Africa, H. ergaster colonized the northern and southern margins of the continent, passing through a more hospitable Saharan region. A group on the periphery might periodically outgrow its resources, and a splinter party could find empty territory nearby. From northeastern Africa, such groups probably colonized eastward toward China and Indonesia and northwestward toward Europe without even knowing that they had left Africa.

The Initial Expansion of Homo ergaster from Africa Assuming Homo ergaster lacked boats, its first stop would be modern Israel, where we find 'Ubeidiya in the Jordan Rift Valley, the oldest Acheulean site outside of Africa. Artifacts resemble early Acheulean artifacts from Olduvai Gorge and date to between 1.4 and 1 million years ago.

The Expansion of Homo ergaster to Eurasia: the Dmanisi Discoveries Dispersal into eastern Asia occurred by 1 million years ago, perhaps earlier. Until recently, the oldest accepted European evidence was about 800,000 years old, from Gran Dolina cave, Spain. However, recent discoveries at Dmanisi, Republic of Georgia, may be earlier. Dmanisi lies 1500 km (940 miles) north of 'Ubeidiya, and yielded more than 1000 artifacts and many human fossils.

Map of potential dispersal routes out of Africa.

http://www.nerc.ac.uk/research/programmes/efched/results/turner.asp

The most likely migration routes would have been through the Levant, comprising the Sinai Peninsula and Israel, or across the Bab-al-Mandab Straits between the Horn of Africa and the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula.However, we have also determined that reaching the Levant/Arabian Peninsula was not a crucial aspect of hominin and other mammalian migrations. Rather, the key variable is how far they managed to move beyond this area.


In many cases, African genera known from the few sites in the Levant are also found in Europe, Central or Southern Asia (ie India, China), making the relative lack of sites on the Arabian Peninsula less important than it at first appears.


In many cases the first finds of African genera are in Asia. They only appear in Europe later, perhaps suggesting that for these SPECIES a two stage migration 'Out of Africa' to Asia and then 'Out of Asia' to Europe is as plausible as a direct 'Out of Africa' movement to Europe in the Early Pleistocene.

[FONT=&quot]

[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot] The emergence of Homo Ergaster1.8-1.7 million years ago resembled first hominin species whose anatomy and behaviour fully justify the label human.

Unlike its diverged species like H Australipithecines[/FONT][FONT=&quot]and Homo Habilis,H Ergaster achieved essentially modern form,proprotions ,increased stature and degreee of sexual diamorphism.

This explains how H Ergaster became the first hominin species to invade arid highly seasonal enviornments in Africa and later to colonise Eurasia.Its broad dispersal greatly enhanced[/FONT][FONT=&quot] the potential for natural selection ,random genetic drift to promote genetic divergence among human population resulting in 3 distinct Human lineages-H erectus in fareast,H sapiens in Africa,H neanderthalensis in Europe.[/FONT]
​

[FONT=&quot]




[/FONT]

 

[pmaitra]

The current school of thought standby the fact that HUMO ERGASTER(existed b/w 1-2millionyears )the ascendant to HUMO ERECTUS had its intial dispersion from africa to Eurasia.

That clarifies a lot of things. So, people who claim that humans originated in Africa are simply talking about hearsay or trying to pursue a political or religious agenda, or are simply trying to feel good about themselves. As I said earlier, I was always skeptical about this theory.

Homo ergaster probably did originate in Africa, but humans, i.e. homo sapiens did not. They originated in different places all over the world. So next time somebody tries to argue, I am armed with a few points of my own.

Conclusion: Each* continent had it's own post-dispersal populations of homo ergaster. Thence came the homo erectus. Thence came the homo neanderthalensis. Thence came the modern human, the homo sapiens. Now we have a special sub-species called homo sapiens sapiens.

*Not sure about Antarctica.

 

[RAM]

Prehistoric creatures discovered in huge Indian amber haul

Fossil hunters find 150kg of amber in Gujarat province containing over 700 arthropod specimens

Hundreds of prehistoric insects and other creatures have been discovered in a large haul of amber excavated from a coalmine in western India. An international team of fossil hunters recovered 150kg of the dirty brown resin from Cambay Shale in Gujarat province, making it one of the largest amber collections on record. The tiny animals became entombed in the fossilised tree resin some 52m years ago, before the Indian subcontinent crunched into Asia to produce the Himalayan mountain range.

Jes Rust, a paleontologist at Bonn University, said the creatures, including ancient bees, spiders, termites, gnats, ants and flies, were in remarkably good condition considering their age. In total, the team has identified more than 700 arthropods, a group of animals that includes insects, crustaceans and arachnids.


"They are so well preserved. It's like having the complete dinosaur, not just the bones. You can see all the surface details on their bodies and wings. It's fantastic," Rust told the Guardian. The remains of two praying mantises were also found.Insects and other small animals may be trapped in resin flowing down tree bark, or as it covers their dead bodies on the forest floor. Over time, the resin hardens into a translucent yellow material that preserves them.


The amber is the oldest evidence scientists have of tropical forests in Asia. Tests linked the amber to a family of hardwood trees called dipterocarpaceae, that make up 80% of the forest canopy in south-east Asia. Fossilised wood from these trees was found alongside the amber deposits. Rust said that much of India may have been covered in forests at the time the amber formed.


The trapped insects give a revealing snapshot of life in India before it collided with Asia. India was once attached to Africa but separated some 160m years ago. For the next 100m years, India's landmass moved towards Asia at around 20cm a year.India was isolated for so long that it could have evolved unique flora and fauna, but the encased insects suggest this did not happen. Writing in the US journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the team describe life forms in the amber closely related to those in Asia and Europe. As India moved towards Asia, the encroaching continental plates may have created an arc of islands that connected the two landmasses like stepping stones long before 50m years ago, said Rust. This would allow species from India, Asia and Europe to mix.
"We think that, before the final collision between India and Asia, some sort of island arc was established. Our findings suggest that the mixing of fauna was already so strong, that it was already happening for several million years," said Rust. Once species from India had crossed into Asia, they could have spread further, eventually reaching Australia.


Michael Engel, curator of entomology at the University of Kansas, said: "What we found indicates that India was not completely isolated, even though the Cambray deposit dates from a time that precedes the slamming of India into Asia. There might have been some linkages."The team has so far recorded 100 different arthropod species, but Rust said they expect to find more, some of which are likely to be close relatives of animals in Africa and Madagascar.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/oct/25/prehistoric-creatures-indian-amber-haul

 

[RAM]

Amber has the answer: insects provide clues to India's past

WASHINGTON: The discovery of a trove of insects preserved for millions of years in amber raises new questions about how long India was isolated before it joined the Asian continent.Jes Rust, a palaeontologist at Bonn University, said the creatures, including ancient bees, spiders, termites, gnats, ants and flies, were in remarkably good condition considering their age. Researchers have identified more than 700 arthropods, a group of animals that includes insects, crustaceans and arachnids.


''They are so well preserved,'' Professor Rust said. ''It's like having the complete dinosaur, not just the bones. You can see all the surface details on their bodies and wings. It's fantastic.''
<iframe id=&quot;dcAd-1-4&quot; src=&quot;http://ad-apac.doubleclick.net/adi/...os=3;sz=300x250;tile=4;ord=4.7898908E7?&quot; width='300' height='250' scrolling=&quot;no&quot; marginheight=&quot;0&quot; marginwidth=&quot;0&quot; allowtransparency=&quot;true&quot; frameborder=&quot;0&quot;> </iframe>
The remains of two praying mantises were also found.Insects and other small animals may be trapped in resin flowing down tree bark or as it covers their dead bodies on the forest floor. The resin hardens into a translucent yellow material that preserves them.The insects have been entombed in the vast Cambay deposit in western India for some 50 million years.Scientists had long assumed that India was for a time an isolated island-continent, and consequently expected that the insects found in the amber would differ significantly from those elsewhere in Asia.


But a study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences says the insects were not unique, as would be expected had India been sequestered for as long as scientists originally believed.


''We know India was isolated, but when and for precisely how long is unclear,'' says David Grimaldi, curator in the division of invertebrate zoology at the American Museum of Natural History.''The biological evidence in the amber deposit shows that there was some biotic connection,'' he wrote.
India separated from present-day Africa and after about 50 million years collided with Asia, creating the Himalayas.


Rather than finding evolutionary ties to Africa and Madagascar - land masses that geologists say India was most recently linked to - the researchers found relatives in northern Europe, Asia, Australia and the Americas.''The amber shows, similar to an old photo, what life looked like in India just before the collision with the Asian continent,'' Dr Rust said.
''The insects trapped in the fossil resin cast a new light on the history of the subcontinent,'' said Michael Engel, a professor in the department of ecology and evolutionary biology and curator of entomology at the University of Kansas.''What we found indicates that India was not completely isolated, even though the Cambay deposit dates from a time that precedes the slamming of India into Asia,'' he said. ''There might have been some linkages.''

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/wor...vide-clues-to-indias-past-20101026-172fa.html

 

[The Messiah]

That is common knowledge!

Indian subcontinent broke off from africa and joined asia and since it takes millions of years (continental shift) India was like australia is today ie one big island.

 

[Tshering22]

All know this... first Europeans desperately tried to keep their assumed superiority through "Aryan Invasion" bull**** myth and now when the truth is out, their imperialist lie is proven false. First of all, I don't understand how people could buy that nonsense theory. If it was indeed that way, how come Europeans weren't Hindus in first place? I cannot believe that world can be so blind as to overlook such a big folly that the colonials escaped with.

It is a white obsession to compare, measure and assess everything with race--wether it is color, superiority/inferiority etc. or something else---not something found in Asia that revolves around a way of life that Hindus have followed.

In the coming future, a lot of further truths will be exposed as the balance of power returns to East slowly.

 

[pmaitra]

All know this... first Europeans desperately tried to keep their assumed superiority through "Aryan Invasion" bull**** myth and now when the truth is out, their imperialist lie is proven false. First of all, I don't understand how people could buy that nonsense theory. If it was indeed that way, how come Europeans weren't Hindus in first place? I cannot believe that world can be so blind as to overlook such a big folly that the colonials escaped with.

It is a white obsession to compare, measure and assess everything with race--wether it is color, superiority/inferiority etc. or something else---not something found in Asia that revolves around a way of life that Hindus have followed.

In the coming future, a lot of further truths will be exposed as the balance of power returns to East slowly.

Frankly, the best way to describe the Aryan Invasion Theory is to call it a 'debated' issue. I am not saying that the Aryans indeed invaded; all I am saying is that it could be a possibility and at the moment, I, personally, am ambivalent.

Let us put forward the arguments to support as well as oppose this theory. That, I think is a worthwhile thing to do than to simply pass conclusions.

 

[The Messiah]

Even if it was an invasion (which i highly doubt...it was more like migration to indus then surrounding parts) it still has nothing to do with europe since aryans weren't europeans per se.

They were people living in northern iran near caspian sea and caucasus mountains who later migrated to europe, central asia, and northern India.

 

[civfanatic]

Actually the closest descendants of the ancient Aryans today live in northern Kashmir and Ladakh, NOT Europe.

 

[RAM]

All know this... first Europeans desperately tried to keep their assumed superiority through "Aryan Invasion" bull**** myth and now when the truth is out, their imperialist lie is proven false. First of all, I don't understand how people could buy that nonsense theory. If it was indeed that way, how come Europeans weren't Hindus in first place? I cannot believe that world can be so blind as to overlook such a big folly that the colonials escaped with.

It is a white obsession to compare, measure and assess everything with race--wether it is color, superiority/inferiority etc. or something else---not something found in Asia that revolves around a way of life that Hindus have followed.

In the coming future, a lot of further truths will be exposed as the balance of power returns to East slowly.

The Aryan Invasion theory proposed by Maxmuller in 1882 though being getting discarded nonethless have the leeway of the timescale where archaeology itself was nowhere near the level of development and maturity as it is today.Maxmuller's proposal encircled around Aryan invasionafter studying rig veda leaps to the gigantic conclusion that it means 'Aryan' the race. This spawned of a huge chase to figure out who these characters were. They assigned them some mythical place in the steppes of Central Asia/Europe. Since the horse was mentioned as sacrifice in Rg Veda they assumed they rode upon these horses. They (Aryans) rode right into the Indian sub-continent and chased away the natives all the way down to the south of India.


In Between a british archeaologist R caldwell a colonial Evangeliast missionary after reaching south India in the midlle of 1800 's who after studying Tamil Burrowed the term Dravida who proposed those got chased by Aryans reached /settled in S India.SO far so Good.,...BUT

Meanwhile Indus Valley Civilisation was discovered and it was so sophisticated that it put to shame the standard bearers of European civilization. While their grand fore fathers were living like animals in forests, foraging for food and very little for language and communication, here was a civilization with roads, baths, granaries, a democratic system, language, advanced concepts of settlement and living. They used a pictorial form of writing quite similar to Ancient Egyptians.

Coming back to the current views whether its a migration or invasion ..these proposals had been advocated favouring the western academia of those times -however to challenge these arguments there was no evidence based systems or technologies were placed in those times.These theories may be eclipsed in future but it will be Debated.

 

[The Messiah]

Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey