Wednesday, July 4, 2007

Million Year Old Tooth


As I've said before, I'm news junkie and a recent article published by the French news agency caught my eye.

Apparently, Spanish researchers on Friday (June 30th) said they had unearthed a human tooth more than one million years old, which they estimated to be the oldest human fossil remain ever discovered in western Europe.

Researchers found the molar in the Sima del Elefante section of the sierra which had previously yielded fossils from mammals including bison, deer and bear as well as birds and a mouse.

Jose Maria Bermudez de Castro, co-director of research at the Atapuerca site said the molar, discovered on Wednesday in the Atapuerca Sierra in the northern province of Burgos, could be as much as 1.2 million years old.

"The tooth represents the oldest human fossil remain of western Europe. Now we finally have the anatomical evidence of the hominids that fabricated tools more than one million years ago," the Atapuerca Foundation said in a statement.

The Sierra Atapuerca contains several caves such as the Gran Dolina site, where fossils and stone tools of Europe's earliest known hominids have been found.

The foundation said studies of the geological level suggested it was more than one million years old but that final results were being awaited prior to "publishing this extraordinary finding in a research journal of the highest scientific prestige."

Bermudez de Castro, one of three paleontologists leading the expedition, said the fossil appeared to be "well worn" and from an individual aged between 20-25.

Excavations in recent years in the sierra have uncovered human remains ranging from early humans through the Bronze Age to modern man. Atapuerca's most famous site is "Sima de los Huesos" (pit of bones) and fossils found there date from at least 350,000 years ago. To find out more about fossils go to: http://www.fossilmuseum.net/

Research info provided by: www.afp.com/english/home

And here's some poems to chew on:


Any Number Of Similar Requests

She says her dreams are always erotic and occur at the
time when postage stamps cost eighteen cents. I say
mine stand in a crowd of people watching fireworks
trying to lift a man's wallet. We both laugh when I say the
wallet has no credit cards and just enough money for coffee.


Sometimes her dreams fall on my lap and stain my jeans
forever and never say I'm sorry. Those dreams are sandals
that lace up elegantly around her ankles. The sandals are
always black or very dark brown and genuine leather. The
sandals talk themselves laced up and resume taking notes.


No Ordinary Dream, With Sex Boots

It was climbing out of a limestone quarry wearing sex
boots and a curly red wig under a spiral halo and waving
a German flag. It made seductive promises of all-night
cafés where I could overdose on good intentions and
order prime rib with an egg yolk and lemon zest on top.
I hate egg yolks. But I love lemon zest and also cheese
if it doesn't smell. We found one and there was even a
pinball machine you could tilt hard. The regular waitress
was on strike. Peaches took our orders instead and
brought us free biscuits. When I finished the meal I felt
like the longest track ever recorded in the history of
house music. The dessert specials were fresh lawn
trimmings with landscaping chips or fishing licenses. My
dream ordered licenses for both of us and they were tasty.


Incompetence, Changing Gears

perhaps on the slick
pavement of muffled
ice storms the car
wrecked where the snow
plow used to scrape
clear completely
unrelated joyrides
of exclusive foreplay
penned in the lover's hand
free admission
to the nineteen-fifty-seven
drive-in movie where
someone
swallows the joke
leaving only the fear
as all the trees
are cut down


Poems first published online at: http://www.listenlight.net/
Visit my e-zine: www.concelebratory/blogspot.com
and music blog: http://www.medleymakersants.blogspot.com/

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