by Richard William Nelson | Nov 10, 2013
Radiometric dating is one of the most popular techniques in paleontology to establish the age of materials like stones and bones. Reported dates often fall in the millions or billions of years.
However, questions surround the art of radiometric dating − for good reasons. The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) recently ran the story “1.8 million-year-old skull may revise understanding of human evolution.”
Since the skull was unearthed in a medieval village in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia, known as Dmanisi, dating back to the ninth century A.D., the apparent question centers on the validity of the million-year radiometric dating of the skull found within the same geological stratum as the village.
Continue Reading
by Richard William Nelson | Oct 24, 2013
For more than two decades, international teams of paleoanthropologists have been discovering human-like fossils from a medieval archaeological site in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia known as Dmanisi.
A new human Georgian skull further fuels the dilemma. In 1991, David Lordkipanidze of the Georgian National Museum in Tbilisi discovered the first four human-like fossils.
Increased archaeological interest in this Georgian site began in 1936 following the discovery of ancient and medieval artifacts.
Continue Reading
by Richard William Nelson | Jun 14, 2013
Charles Darwin started the debate over where humans originated. In the 19th century, most evolution scientists believed that humans originated in Asia — a theory known as the Out-of-Asia model. In the 6th Edition of The Origin of Species (1872), while Darwin mentions “humans” ten times, he never discusses the origin of humans.
Darwin studied African apes for the 1st Edition of The Descent of Man (1871). In the section entitled “On the Birthplace and Antiquity of Man,” Darwin argued –
“It is somewhat more probable that our early progenitors lived on the African continent than elsewhere.”
Darwin started the Out-of-Africa vs. Out-of-Asia dilemma.
Continue Reading
by Richard William Nelson | Sep 11, 2012
“Human evolution is the lengthy process of change by which people originated from apelike ancestors,” explains the Smithsonian Institute exhibit (pictured left) entitled “Introduction to Human Evolution.” Continuing their explanation –
“Scientific evidence shows that the physical and behavioral traits shared by all people originated from apelike ancestors and evolved over a period of approximately six million years.”
Continue Reading
by Richard William Nelson | Sep 5, 2012
Exploring human evolution via DNA was essential for twentieth-century evolution scientists. Charles Darwin, however, in The Origin of Species, never used the terms genetics, genetic, and genes until 1872, following the publication of the pea plant inheritance report of Gregor Mendel in 1866.
In his sixth edition, Darwin used the term “genetic” twice, but only to express a genealogical idea, not as a molecular term. In the words of American evolutionary biologist Richard Lewontin,
“Darwin knew nothing about genes.”
Continue Reading
Radiometric dating is one of the most popular techniques in paleontology to establish the age of materials like stones and bones. Reported dates often fall in the millions or billions of years.
Charles Darwin started the debate over where humans originated. In the 19th century, most evolution scientists believed that humans originated in Asia — a theory known as the 
“Human evolution is the lengthy process of change by which people originated from apelike ancestors,” explains the 
Exploring human evolution via DNA was essential for twentieth-century evolution scientists. 