Afarensis is a 3.5-2.8 million year old hominin from the Kada Hadar member of the Hadar formation in the Middle Awash, Ethiopia. He is approximately 41 inches tall, weighs approximately 60 pounds and has a cranial capacity of a whopping 410 cc (approximately). Afarensis is currently considered to be transitional between apes and humans and displays some traits of both. Since he spends a lot of time on the couch watching monster movies, some observers question whether he is an obligate biped (although no one has observed him climbing a tree). He also has a blog called 
It has been an interesting few weeks in anthropology, so without further ado here are the submissions (in no particular order).
Julien Riel-Salvatore provides us with two interesting posts. The first, Archaeology and the Public: A Complicated Relationship? raises some interesting points:
This raises the age-old question of what the interface should be between archaeology and the public. Much archaeological research is financed by public funds of one sort or another, and archaeologists can thus be argued to have some kind of obligation to make the fruit of their work available to the public. The problem, of course, is how to do this.
The second, Mad Neanderthal Disease? discusses a recent paper in Medical Hypotheses that proposed that the Neanderthals went extinct because of Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies.
Speaking of pathology, Archaeozoology has two posts on some interesting pathologies. The first, Know Your Pathology: Leprosy discusses the impact of leprosy on the skeletal system. The second, Know Your Pathology: Treponematosis does the same for treponematosis.
Tim Jones, of Remote Centrol, discusses North Sea Neanderthals From 100,000 Years Ago.
Tim also discusses High Court Action Halts Quarrying At Thornborough Henges - a situation every bit as bad as what is going on at Tara.
Terry Toohill provides us with a fascinating post Human Evolution on Trial - 'Change' - a post worth reading.
In California's forgotten, flightless seaduck Matt Mendenhall talks about a recent paper on the extinction of California's sea ducks and the impact of this on the "Overkill" hypothesis.
Aardvark boy (Martin Rundkvist - the grand poobah of 4SH) takes a walk Back to the Bronze Age Again and reports on what he found. Presumably, at some point he will have to come back to the future...
Not Exactly Rocket Science discusses a subject near and dear to my heart in Communicating chimps and talking humans show activity in same part of the brain.
At Archaeoporn there is an excellent discussion of Moses and hallucinogenic drugs called A Review of Methodology in "Biblical Entheogens".
In keeping with that, we also have a post from Chris O'Brien, at his new home, called Questioning The Integrity of Biblical Archaeology.
This brings us to two special sections.
The first concerns the recent paper on Homo floresiensis. In the Province of Anthropology, a blog new to me, discusses the reaction to the paper in Those Pesky Hobbitses! The Ongoing Row about Homo floresiensis in Anthropology and Australia. This post does an excellent job summarizing the reaction and links to many of the blogoshere's post. Basically, it's a mini-carnival in it self.
The second section concerns the Palau finds. You can find my thoughts on the subject here. Kambiz discusses the finds in 3,000 year old small body humans in Palau, Micronesia and returns to the subject in The "Mystery Skulls of Palau" on the National Geographic Channel, Monday, March 17th at 10 PM. The latter is a must read. Tim Jones discusses the find in a post called Small-Bodied Humans from Palau, Micronesia - PLoSONE. Hominin Dental Anthropology has a post called More on Flores: news from Palau.
The next edition of the Four Stone Hearth will be on March 26th at A Hot Cup of Joe so start writing!
Comments
Nice job - and I love finding new blogs.
Posted by: The Ridger | March 12, 2008 6:10 PM
The second, Mad Neanderthal Disease? discusses a recent paper in Medical Hypotheses that proposed that the Neanderthals went extinct because of Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies.
An interesting theory! I have often wondered how far this disease would get in the modern world if we didn't have all the knowledge and safeguards we do!
Dave Briggs :~)
Posted by: Dave Briggs | March 13, 2008 10:19 AM
Thanks for that collection Afarensis. I was especially interested in Chris O'Brien's one on Biblical archeology. I've been a fan of Israel Finkelstein for a number of years. His interpretation of the evidence regarding David and Solomon makes a lot of sense and so it was good to see some support for his methodology. The duck link was great too. However I disagree that it finishes the overkill hypothesis. A couple of relevant questions: How big was the population in Southern California for the first 10,000 years? When did mammoths die out there?
And thanks for the little plug for my effort on "Change".
Posted by: terryt | March 14, 2008 12:14 AM