What was the first significant discovery made by early humans?

Since it was named in 1978, analyses of Australopithecus afarensis have culminated in several dominant theories on how humans acquired many of their unique adaptations. Because bipedal locomotion is one of the earliest characteristics of human functional anatomy to appear in the fossil record, its associated anatomy in early hominins has significant implications for human evolution (Stern 2000). The skeleton and overall morphological characteristics of the foot in Australopithecus afarensis provide important clues about the origins of upright bipedal locomotion. Popularly known as "Selam," the 3.3 million-year-old DIK-1-1 fossil was discovered in Dikika, Ethiopia by Dr. Zeresenay Alemseged and his team in 2000. Selam was an australopithecine who died at three years old, making her the youngest early hominin specimen known today (Alemseged et al. 2006). This discovery allows researchers to investigate not only locomotor patterns of A. afarensis within the context of human evolution, but also to examine what child development may have looked like during this pivotal time. The purpose of this project is to create a 3D animation that accurately reconstructs the anatomy and taphonomy of the Dikika foot. By segmenting CT data, 3D modelling, and animating, this investigation aims to contribute to the breadth of fossil reconstruction techniques in the field of biomedical visualization. This method provides a robust means of communication within, and beyond, the paleoanthropological community about new discoveries and how to visualize them.

The cold and hypoxic environment of the Tibetan Plateau was a major challenge for its prehistoric human occupants. The earliest known hominin occupation (or visitation) of the Tibetan Plateau was at ~200 ka, in the middle Pleistocene, and these hominins must have had survival strategies for this harsh environment. We report the discovery of 5 handprints and 17 footprints on the travertine near the outlet of the Quesang hot spring, a well-documented archeological site with well-studied hominin hand and footprints on the Tibetan Plateau. Based on ichnological analysis and U-Th dating, we found that these intentional and unintentional traces were impressed during the early to middle Holocene. Combined with the 19 previously-dated hand and footprints from around the hot spring, we conclude that this site was attractive to ancient humans who made repeated visits over a long period. The strengthened monsoon in the early and middle Holocene may have promoted the expansion of prehistoric human activity onto the central Tibetan Plateau. The frequent human activities near the Quesang hot spring imply that the widespread hot springs on the Tibetan Plateau provided resources that facilitated human survival in this cold and dry plateau region.

Recent progress in genomic analysis and other biochemical methods has led to the discovery of a large population of microRNAs (miRNAs), which have been demonstrated to play important roles in diseases and a wide range of developmental processes. Characterization of miRNA expression profiles in different stages of ovarian follicular development and early embryogenesis has suggested the potential roles of miRNAs in follicular development, maturation of oocytes, and preimplantation embryonic development. This review focuses on the current studies of miRNAs involved in ovarian and early embryonic development in cattle.

This paper analyzes the early development of prehistoric archaeology as a scientific discipline in Argentina (1880–1910), focusing on one of its most important topics: Quaternary (Paleolithic) and Tertiary man. Around 1900, the question of proving the great antiquity of humans in South America turned into a proposal that Argentina was the cradle of the human race, where Paleolithic man became a more recent specimen than its remote ancestors in the Pampas and Patagonia. The appearance and disappearance of Argentinean forerunners of humans—widely discussed on the international scene—were deeply connected with the eventual consolidation of prehistoric archaeology and paleoanthropology as scientific disciplines.

The interplay between anatomy and evolution has been at the heart of the American Association of Anatomists since its origin in 1888 with its first president, Joseph Leidy, who was a paleontologist, biologist and anatomist. Our current conception of the basic trajectory of human evolution is even younger, dating back only to the 1925 discovery of Australopithecus. Since then, an impressive array of hominin fossils have been discovered, resulting in a more complex and nuanced view of how humans evolved than Leidy could have imagined. These fossils show us that the transition to upright, bipedal locomotion is the hallmark of the human lineage, and that the specialized anatomy associated with bipedality was present in our earliest ancestors. An appreciation of the functional demands on the human skeleton imposed by upright posture, and the resulting anatomy and variation that remains within humans, is at the forefront of medicine and contributing to advances in management and treatment of modern human disorders. Reviewing some of the most recent hominin fossil discoveries highlights that it is consideration of human and comparative anatomy that informs our interpretations of these fossils, but also that understanding the sequence of morphological changes that shaped our lineage gives us important new perspectives on modern human anatomy, function and dysfunction.

The progress and breakthrough of prehistoric research in China since the beginning of the 21st century is the trend and result of the deepening of the origin of Chinese agriculture and the development of the theory of man land relationship. Through the quantitative statistics of the existing achievements, we find that: 1. The research on prehistoric life can be divided into three stages: preliminary exploration (2000-2010), steady progress (2011-2015) and vigorous development (2016 to date). 2. The spatial category involved in the study of prehistoric industry is characterized by more in the north than in the south, and uneven distribution in various regions, while the temporal category is dominated by the whole period study of the Neolithic age. 3. Prehistoric life research is mainly based on a variety of comprehensive methods, among which animal Archaeology and plant archaeology are the most widely used. 4. The development trend of the research path of prehistoric industry is to establish the theory of prehistoric industry type, the alternative index system and the comprehensive research method system.

Four teeth of Peking Man from Zhoukoudian, excavated by Otto Zdansky in 1921 and 1923 and currently housed in the Museum of Evolution at Uppsala University, are among the most treasured finds in palaeoanthropology, not only because of their scientific value but also for their important historical and cultural significance. It is generally acknowledged that the first fossil evidence of Peking Man was two teeth unearthed by Zdansky during his excavations at Zhoukoudian in 1921 and 1923. However, the exact dates and details of their collection and identification have been documented inconsistently in the literature. We reexamine this matter and find that, due to incompleteness and ambiguity of early documentation of the discovery of the first Peking Man teeth, the facts surrounding their collection and identification remain uncertain. Had Zdansky documented and revealed his findings on the earliest occasion, the early history of Zhoukoudian and discoveries of first Peking Man fossils would have been more precisely known and the development of the field of palaeoanthropology in early twentieth century China would have been different.

The year 2022 marked the one-hundredth anniversary of the first application of insulin. November 14th, the birth date of one of its main discoverers, Frederick Banting, was designated as World Diabetes Day. This paper comprises a narrative review of the history of the discovery of diabetes and insulin, progress in insulin development, important breakthroughs in insulin production and delivery, and a short commentary regarding potential future developments in insulin treatment. Diabetes, as one of the earliest recorded illnesses in medical writings, has been a focus of research for almost the entire written human history. Groundbreaking discoveries during the early 20th century have resulted in type 1 diabetes mellitus becoming a treatable, chronic condition. The relationship between good glycemic control and reduced occurrence of diabetes complications was established, which has enticed further development and refinements in insulin treatment, ranging from the purification and increased quality of insulin itself, as well as various inventions in its administration. Despite great achievements in insulin therapy so far, future research aims to avoid the need for subcutaneous administration and to create non-invasive means of insulin application.

The occupation process and survival strategies of prehistoric humans on the Tibetan Plateau are important scientific questions for understanding human adaptation to extreme high-altitude environments. Here, we report a newly discovered microlithic site at Daiqu (DQ) in the Tongtian River basin of the central-eastern plateau. We collected 239 lithic artifacts from the DQ site for typological analysis. OSL and AMS14C dating samples were collected from the human active layer. Lipid residues from hearth sediments were analyzed, and we simulated and assessed environmental extremity and route accessibility for the site. Dating results suggest that the stable sedimentary layers began to form around 10.96 ± 0.56 ka BP at the DQ site. Human activity at DQ as early as 9271 ± 143 cal a BP, making it the earliest reported Holocene site with accurate stratigraphic dating on the plateau hinterland to date. Hearths and lithic artifacts indicate that the DQ site was a frequently used seasonal hunting camp, where quality lithic raw material was obtained and microliths processed. Prehistoric humans occupying the site relied on non-ruminant terrestrial animals as food resources. The DQ site is ideally situated to serve as a transit station for hunter-gatherers as they migrated between high and low elevations. Ameliorating Holocene climate promoted prehistoric human exploration of more environmentally extreme areas.

The discovery of a site journal written by archaeologist Ion Berciu (1904-1986) from 1948 facilitated the recovery of certain important data regarding the prehistoric bronze items from the Blandiana village. The information supports the presentation and the localisation of at least two hoards of bronze items: Blandiana I , found in the location named Farcas , sometime around 1875, and Blandiana II , found in the location named La Vii . Other bronze discoveries could belong to a different hoard ( Blandiana III ?), as well as other isolated discoveries. The items from Blandiana, held by the museum in Deva have been taken into consideration. Some of the items belong to the Blandiana I hoard, but most of them have a chronology (BZ D – Ha A) that clearly shows that they cannot be associated with this discovery, as it has been suggested throughout the years. The artefacts under scrutiny indicate the importance of the area for the Bronze Age and the first Iron Age, documented through the settlements, and the importance of including Blandiana among the areas with rich Vinţu de Jos – Bâlvanesti-type hoards.