Humans & Huts, Apes & Nests, Monkeys & Masses

'Conch-shell' dome hut of bamboo and rice straw:

http://dornob.com/deformed-dome-bamboo-hut-builds-on-a-modeling-mistake/

77ka bedding with insecticide:
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/334/6061/1388.abstract

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56ma- Opposable big toe/thumb allows clinging to twigs, (no claws for
trunk climbing, no lemur leaping)

52ma- Noct to diurnal, increased sociality (group noct. sleep, less insectivory, more leaves & fruit)

35ma- OWM/apes got color vision (canopy sleep - snakes-raptor detection,
more frugivory)

23ma- TRP2 pheromone signal disabled (olf. neural switch to RAM?),
increased visual sexual signaling in hominoids

20ma- Morotopith vertebrae - orthogrady, twig weaving bowl nests (all
extant great apes) anti-raptor mimicry

16ma- family coherance/bonding - increased altriciality & neural complexity?
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50ma: nocturnal slow-climbing insecti-folio-frugi-omni-vorous, scent-dominant (slow-loris -like)primates become diurnal/social binocular-color-sight-sound dominant, night-sleeping in plucked-leaf-cushioned tree-forks or enmassed-bunch ("snoozing-bear" mimic) defence against predators.

Opposable thumb allows clinging to twigs, sharp nails grasps trunks:
A 56 MILLION-YEAR-OLD skeleton found in Wyoming shows that one of the
earliest primate ancestors had an opposable big toe, allowing it to creep
to the outermost branches of trees to hunt nuts and fruit.

Because Carpolestes combines features of the earlier plesiadapiforms with
primate-like features, it begins to answer the question of what order these
traits evolved, and for what purpose. The study is published in the November
22 issue of the journal Science. ...
The Carpolestes, which weighed about 4 ounces (100 grams), had a long tail,
and a body about 14 inches (35 centimeters) long, shared some, but not all of
the characteristics of modern primates, and thus can be viewed as a
transitional animal. It had very primate like teeth that were highly
specialized for eating flowers, seeds, and fruit. The opposable big toe gave
it a grasping ability that indicates it spent most of its time climbing trees.

Carpolestes also had a nail on its big toe, but its eyes were not forward
facing, and it did not have the bone structure that would allow for
specialized leaping, like some of the earliest primates.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15600357
The team pinpointed the shift from non-social to social living to about 52 million years ago; a switch that appears to have happened in one step, and coincided with a move into daylight.

An analysis of over 200 primate species by a University of Oxford team suggests that our ancestors gave up their solitary existence when they shifted from being nocturnal creatures to those that are active during the day. It is likely communal living was adopted to protect against day time predators, the researchers say.
"If you are a small animal active at night then your best strategy to avoid predation is to be difficult to detect," explained Oxford's Suzanne Shultz, who led the study.

"Once you switch to being active during the day, that strategy isn't very effective, so an alternative strategy to reduce the risk of being eaten is to live in social groups," she told BBC News.

Dr Shultz thinks that the move to day-time living in ancient primates allowed animals to find food more quickly, communicate better, and travel faster through the forest.

female bonding emerged much later at about 16 million years ago.


http://www.ns.umich.edu/Releases/2003/Jun03/r061603.html
35ma- OWM got color vision but lost pheromone detection (replaced by RAM?)

Even our humble mammal cousin, the mouse, was found to have 140 genes just for pheromone receptors when its genome was completely sequenced earlier this year.
But humans are clueless when it comes to pheromone signals, according to University of Michigan evolutionary biologist Jianzhi “George” Zhang. He believes color vision put our pheromones out of business.

Zhang said. In fact, though humans and these apes still carry genes that should create pheromone receptors in our noses "Some pheromone detection genes don't function. There is considerable evidence that there are nasal receptors for pheromones in humans which affect behaviour, though their signals are not registered consciously." This may be origin of RAM memory in humans, via olfaction neural network.

A pheromone attaches to a water molecule, drifts about in the air currents and finally lands on the proper receptor in someone else’s nose. The receiver can’t immediately be sure who sent it, where it came from or when. But with sexual swelling, everyone in the troop can see precisely when and where the signal is, even at a significant distance.

Sexual swelling occurs in about 10 percent of all primate species, but only in the Old World species of Africa and Asia, which is where humans probably originated, as well.

To test their idea, Zhang’s team zeroed in on a human gene called TRP2, which makes an ion channel that is unique to the pheromone signaling pathway. They found that in humans and Old World primates, this gene suffered a mutation just over 23 million years ago that rendered it dysfunctional. But because we could use color vision for mating, it didn’t hurt us. In turn, the pheromone receptor genes that rely on this ion channel fell into disuse, and in a random fashion, mutated to a dysfunctional state because they haven’t experienced any pressure from natural selection.


34ma: New World monkeys transit Atlantic Ocean on floating vegetative raft, Red Sea opens, Antarctica freezes, equatoreal-Tethys currents changing affects forest seasonality.

20ma: Hominoids become sub-canopy open-bowl-nesting (eagle-nest mimic, outreached hooked hand = raptors' hooked beak, red scalp hair = danger sign to predator in flight, infant coo-ing = eagle chick cheeps), orthograde upright branch-hanging/standing/hand-plucking apes eg. morotopithecus, ardipithecus; development of deeper larynx and laryngeal air sac improved both upright vocalization in rainforest canopy and face-up upper-body buoyancy while wade-foraging (cf finger-raking surface-growing hydrocharis seaweed by Ndoki gorilla) in shallow forest wetlands and coastal mangroves, some slow open-ground upright bipedalism (cf siamang) with only little (above-branch) pronograde quadrupedalism.

5ma: Chromosome 2 inversion/fusion [Photic sneeze reflex activated, Iodine & Iron metabolism changes] in human ancestors, humans invert (dimple) the standard woven great ape sub-canopy open-bowl nest (leaf-lined interior) into small fully-enclosed-dome-hut with mosquito-proof/waterproof leaf-shingled exterior (reduced natural selection for fur coat), entire dome was lifted for access. Photic sneeze was advantageous against predation, eg. a leopard (or human enemy) at daybreak lifting the dome shell would flood it with sunlight, causing an explosive solar-powered sneeze (accompanied by a sharp stick) in the snout.

3.3ma: Gorilla louse transferred to humans and became human pubic louse, (possibly indicating that African Australopiths (eg. Lucy) starting at that period were HG hybrids?), Africa tropical rainforest reduced, humans more waterside and ground based. Apes (chimps, gorillas) independently develop knuckle-walking quadrupedalism to transit more open woodlands, while bipedal humans develop kneecrawling to enter/exit dome huts (no doorways yet, just lightweight dome shell).

2.6ma: First Oldawan sharp stone tools used to cut sedges/wicker/nuts/meat, reducing need for large sharp teeth, but molars enlarged for more chewing. Air sacs gradually lost, with increased submerged-face foraging (wading/swimming) in shallows for benthic rhyzomes and soft shelled seafoods along with shrub berries, herbs, eggs, larvae, etc.


1.8ma: Humans forage more often in coastal areas, develop denser bones and paranasal sinuses as result of deeper benthic gathering of shellfish, crustaceans. Females made slightly larger domes to contain small infants while foraging nearby so as to keep both hands free, males made smaller portable domes as hunting blinds/roundshields which females valued for use as baskets, these roundshields may have covered open hatchways at night to signal female's domes companionship. Likely seafoods, mangrove honey and mangrove salt-crystal leaf exudates were collected, consumed and brought inland seasonally, perhaps exchanging with inland groups. Bifacial hand axes were improved for cutting, used as bait traps when inserted into fish or animal organs to bait crocs, bears, big cats & wolves near shore.

120ka?: Humans invent portable roundshield-door-roundboat, modify hut (cone & drum), add doorway hatch.

25ka?: Humans invent orthogonal linear buildings, villages evolve from seasonal camps

DDeden
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Article from New Scientist: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn21258-earliest-human-bedding-didnt-let-the-bedbugs-bite.html

After a hard day hunting and gathering, humans 77,000 years ago could count on a good night's mosquito-free sleep on a comfy bed of grass and leaves. Archaeologists have discovered the oldest evidence of humans using plant bedding, 50,000 years before it appears anywhere else.

Many animals make beds for themselves, says lead author Lyn Wadley of the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, but what's interesting in the new find is the way the owners managed their bedding. To keep it clean and pest-free, they burned it.

Wadley's team has spent the past decade excavating a rock shelter called Sibudu, situated high in a cliff surrounded by forest and near the Uthongathi river in South Africa. People lived there on and off between 80,000 and 38,000 years ago, in a complex society that used stone tools and even made glue and simple ornaments.

Wadley found layers of plant material on the cave floor that date from 77,000 years ago onwards – mostly grasses, sedges and rushes. These could not have grown in the dry shelter, so people probably collected them near the river.

Burning the beds
Wadley thinks the bedding was used to make a clean area for sitting, working, eating and sleeping. Tools and other artefacts were found buried within it.

Intriguingly, all the layers of bedding that are 73,000 years old or younger show signs of burning, which Wadley suggests may have been the result of routine cleaning. Burning the plants would have killed pests and diseases. That the cave's occupants needed to do this, he says, may suggest they spent extended periods of time in the shelter, so had to keep it clean.

It seems the bed-makers were selective about the plants they would sleep on. A range of trees grow in the region, but only the Cape laurel (Cryptocarya woodii) was used.

Cape laurel leaves give off insecticidal chemicals, so they would have repelled insects and their larvae – including malarial mosquitoes. That would make the cave bedding the earliest evidence of humans using medicinal plants, although other animals have similar tricks: common starlings often use insecticidal plants in their nests to repel blood-sucking insects.

Old knowledge
The behaviours may have started sooner than this site shows. "I would guess that right back until the earliest anatomically modern humans, people would have known which plant to choose," says Wadley.

Chimpanzees also build nests, and there is some evidence that they too include insecticidal plants. Fiona Stewart of the University of Cambridge, UK, spent several nights sleeping in chimp nests, and found that insects bit her less than when she slept on the ground.

"Perhaps this purpose of bedding has been continuous throughout human evolution," Stewart suggests.

Journal reference: Science, DOI: 10.1126/science.1213317

Note: I have written in an earlier post about medicinal and insecticidal plants used by archaic humans.

http://www.plantzafrica.com/plantcd/crytocarwood.htm

A bedding dated from the Lower Paleolithic, 130 000 years ago, was discovered by
Henry de Lumley. It was the home of the Lazaret Man near Nice in southern
France. The site was a construction, eleven feet long and twelve feet wide,
consisting of a frame of vertical posts resting against the wall of the cave, on
which were arranged skins falling to the ground. A partition separated the
interior activity areas and one area was containing the remains of a bedding.
The men of the Lazaretto rest and sleep on thick litter of dried kelp.
http://independent.academia.edu/pfpuech/Papers/212001/Enamel_Pits_of_the_Lazaret_Man

1) 52ma from noct to diur primates -> social group (little/no aquatic
foraging, surface swim)


2) 20ma from branch to open nest, prono to orthograde locom./forag.
(wade, face-up float, surface forage)


3) 5ma phot. sneeze reflex - from open nest to dome, (subsurface
forage)


4) 100ka-50ka roundboats (super-surface forage)


5) 20ka? longboats dugout/tied raft


My time chart:


0) pre-52ma small primate size, individual/infant tree hollow sleeping
(bushbaby, tupaia), little surface swimming


1) 52ma from noct to diur primates -> social group (little/no aquatic
foraging, surface swimming) (group sleeping on branches?(proconsul))


2) 20ma from branch to large open nest, (morotopith, raptor-mimic
nest) from prono to orthograde locom./forag.
(wade, face-up float, surface forage)


3) 5ma phot. sneeze reflex - from open nest to dome, (subsurface
forage, HP split, #2 chrom. fusion)


4) 100ka-50ka roundboats (super-surface forage) qufa


5) 20ka? longboats dugout/tied raft

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Chufa = suph = sedge

Chum: Chinook - dog salmon, Siberian - cone tent (proto-tipi) for summer fishing?
Ket/a: Russian - dog salmon, Ket people of Yenisei R,
Kot/a: Saami/Lapp conic tent, Kot people of Yenisei R.

Videos

Incredible videos: mussel hunting under ice during low tide, others

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=Z0qGvC3vqaA


Amazing pendulum waves of Mach:

http://sciencedemonstrations.fas.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k16940&pageid=icb.page80863&pageContentId=icb.pagecontent341734&state=maximize&view=view.do&viewParam_name=indepth.html#a_icb_pagecontent341734

Ancient predator traps

Update of this post: http://the-arc-ddeden.blogspot.com/2007/12/aechulian-hand-axe-or-bifacial-bait.html


http://news.yahoo.com/giant-crocodile-captured-alive-philippines-134625838.html

http://lawnchairanthropology.blogspot.com/2011/08/how-old-is-acheulian-tool-industry-and.html

What exactly were Acheulian "hand-axes" (with their very specific forms) for?--marc

DDeden: multi-functional knives, including use as predator bait traps, inserted into flesh of prey and set at waterside to kill crocs, sharks, wolves, lions, etc. They are most commonly found near former waterside areas, (per Mikey Brass at Paleoanthro) they were made with sharp edges all around (so inconvenient for handling unless partly covered), swallowed by predators that had a habit of 'wolfing' down chunks of flesh quickly.

http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2011/08/why-did-early-humans-leave-afric.html?ref=hp
Why Did Early Humans Leave Africa Without the Latest Gadgets?Brian Switek 31.8.11In ancient sediments near Kenya's Lake Turkana, archaeologists have foundstone hand axes dating to 1.76 Ma - the oldest examples yet found of theAcheulian stone-tool technology.People love to get their hands on the latest & greatest technology, andscientists had long believed that early humans were no exception.Paleontologists theorized that our ancestors didn't start leaving Africauntil they had developed advanced hand axes.But a new study finds that early humans began to migrate out of thecontinent with more primitive tools, even though better technology hadbeen invented. Over time, various groups of ancient humans have made various types ofstone tools. The oldest & most rudimentary instruments (sharp-edged stones created bybanging rounded rocks against larger stone "anvils") belong to the Oldowanculture ~2.6-1.7 Mao.From the Oldowan, a more complex tool culture developed called theAcheulian ~1.6 Ma. These are more complicated tools, such as teardrop-shaped hand axes,created by striking carefully selected stones with other rocks calledhammer-stones. These tools were useful for a wider range of tasks than the Oldowan ones.It was the Acheulian culture that first spread farthest around the globe,and it persisted until ~100 ka.

The Line of the Archer, the Biologist & the Polymath

At Catalogue of Organisms biology blog, [http://coo.fieldofscience.com/2011/08/red-lined-wings-of-south-america.html?showComment=1312665778549#comment-c4532519180935840235 ] I made a comment regarding the original measure of the word "line", following his description : "A 'line' is a unit of measurement used by a number of 18th and 19th century biologists. The exact length of a line seems to have varied somewhat between countries (see this page for explanations), though it seems to have generally been a little more than 2 mm. Linnaeus apparently defined a line in the introduction to Philosophia Botanica as the length of a lunule (the white half-moon at the base of a fingernail) on any finger other than the thumb." (italics mine)

my comment: perhaps originally 'line' represented the diameter or thickness of a taut bowstring on an archer's bow? I'd think it fits in this way:

L-ine singlet, a-lign (ligament/tendon) (parallel fiber, straight or single coil)

Tw-ine duplet, div-ide, twisted lines -> X (double helix)

Tr-ine triplet, tri-plait, braided lines -> * (offset & interwoven)

See the picture in my earlier post here: http://the-arc-ddeden.blogspot.com/2010/05/archae-numeric.html

Note that in the 123 sequence, Roman numerals are vertical lines, Chinese numerals are horizontal lines and Indi-Arabic numerals are vertical cursively attached lines.

Per Bucky Fuller, there are no mathematically straight lines in nature, there are only progressively less non-straight lines as vector edges between and enclosing events.

http://www.rwgrayprojects.com/synergetics/synergetics.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synergetics_(Fuller)

Vertebrates "are" Invertebrates

I asked the following questions to Christopher at his blog Catalogue of Organisms, in his post on moths.

1. Are the pharyngeal arches in vertebrates homologous to the first pair of true legs in insects?





2. Are the abdomenal prolegs in holometabolous caterpillars homologous to the ventral mammae & milk line in mammals? (both involve fluid-dynamic flow rather than muscle movement, and woulld explain presence of most male mammals retaining vestigial nipples).

I suspect so, in both cases. Having just read The Secret Life of Lobsters by Trevor Corson, I see that female lobsters secrete protein glue (for egg attachment) from cement ducts on their caudalmost swimmerettes (homologous to caudalmost prolegs & mammae secreting casein glue-rich milk IMO). They fold their tails like crabs and deposit thousands of eggs within the folded area, protecting them from exposure. Marsupials seem to have retained this trait, except the marsupial embryo escapes the egg and womb and crawls by forelimbs to the mammae which are protected from exposure by a skin fold (pouch). The echidna, an egg laying primitive monotreme mammal with a pouch, has no external nipples, the hatched infant licks the abdomen to get milk. It appears to be a homology between these distinct taxa.

Aaron Filler's book on Vertebrae called The Upright Ape goes into detail on the spine & vertebrae as archetype, but does not mention this: Lobsters inside their eggs molt 35 times, changing their 'skin'. (After leaving the egg, lobsters eat their shed 'skin'.) The 35 molts produce the somites which form the vertebral column (in vertebrates), internally similar to the external rattles of the molting rattlesnake, I'd say. (Unlike lobsters, snakes never eat their shed skin AFAIK.) It is my contention that the 35 molts are, geometrically, 7 episodes of pentameric (5-way split) distribution, resulting in, for example, 7 cervical vertebrae in mammals, etc.

DDeden

PS. Insect wings and bird/dinosaur feathers appear to be homologous to lobster swimmerettes, (and more distantly to caterpillar prolegs and mammalian mammae). Imagine that! Nature Rules!

PPS. Insect wings appear to be homologs to a vertebrate rib "shell", that is, the delicate forewings of a butterfly are equivalent evolutionarily to the hyperdense ribcage of a dugong, the aftwings of a moth to a sauropod pelvis, the fly's vestigial flight knobs to a giant blue whales vestigial pelvis.

http://coo.fieldofscience.com/2011/06/colour-vs-crypsis.html#comments

http://www.uprightape.net/

http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Life-Lobsters-Scientists-Unraveling/dp/0060555580

Also interesting to compare human embryos and giant sauropod dinosaurs:

http://svpow.wordpress.com/2011/05/23/the-worlds-longest-cells-speculations-on-the-nervous-systems-of-sauropods/

and the tentacles of squid ((4 + 1) x 2) with the typical prolegs of a caterpillar ((4 + 1) x 2)...

=================================================================

Church forests of Lake Tana, Ethiopia 'Trees are the jewels of God"

http://blogs.plos.org/blog/2011/02/25/church-forest/

They function similarly to the European tradition of Royal Forest. Interesting the name of the island forests is Coptic Forest, similar to Coppice Forest.

pedelec bikes

http://www.fastcompany.com/1585081/sanyo-eneloop-solar-charging-hybrid-bike-park-japan-alt-power

http://www.kalkhoffusa.com/pedal-assisted-bikes.php

Hushai the Archite - Friend of King David

Various interpretations are given to the epithet "The Archite." According to one opinion it was because he was one of David's highest officials (from the Greek archē, "chief of government"); according to another it is the name of his birthplace; and others that he was so called "because through him the house of David was to be put on a firm footing, and through him the house of David was to be kept in good repair," the word ארך in Aramaic meaning to keep in good order (Mid. Ps. 3:3).

The name Hushai itself is most probably a short form of the name Ahishai, Ahushai.

http://www.goisrael.com/Tourism_Eng/Tourist+Information/Ethnic+Groups/Druze/The+Tomb+of+Hushai+the+Archite+in+Yirka.htm


https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/kent-csi/vol13no2/html/v13i2a04p_0001.htm


Hushai
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Hushai or Chusai was a friend of David and a spy according to the Hebrew Bible.

Hushai was an Archite, that is, possibly a native of Archi, a place south of the portion of Ephraim, near Bethel (Joshua 16:2). He is called in 1 Chronicles 27:33 "the king's friend". This title is similar to that of counselor given to Ahitophel, or that of leader of the army to Joab. We see a like use of the term in 1 Kings 4:5. In the Books of the Maccabees it is an official title given by the Seleucids to persons of confidence who have important military or civil functions (1 Maccabees 2:18; 3:38; 6:10, 14, 28; 7:6-8; etc.). It is likely then, that Hushai's title of "friend" of King David does not imply the intimate relations suggested by the term.
Nevertheless, the account that is given of him during Absalom's rebellion (2 Samuel 15-17) shows that in his case the title was not merely official. Just after David has heard of the treason of his counselor Ahitophel, he is met, on his way up the Mount of Olives by Hushai, whose garments are rent and whose head is covered with dust. He is probably an old man, for David tells him he would be a burden in the flight. But the king does honour to Hushai's cleverness by sending him to Jerusalem to "defeat the counsel of Ahitophel". Hushai persuades Absalom to take him into his confidence, and, in the council held shortly afterwards in regard to the measures to be taken against David, he obtains a delay which secures the safety of the king. He is able likewise to convey information to David through Zadok, Abiathar, and their sons.
[edit] References
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed (1913). "Chusai". Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company. The original article was by Joseph P. Thomas.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archi_language

steps

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/06/gobekli-tepe/musi-photography
http://www.uprightape.net/Image_Pages/UA_Fig3-2_DjedDrawing.html

Note similarity of the T pillar at Gobleki Tepe 9ka and the Djed column in Ancient Egypt (fig. B), both have hands extended forward, both have bench (or ladder rungs) below and T (or multiple Ts) above.

Note similarity of vertebrae, mastaba (mammae + stepped pyramid), stupa/pagoda, stair, stele/tel/tepe...
cf Greek 'step' = "be'ma" (speakers stand or judgement seat at trial)

The first dwelling of humanity was the triangularly woven geodesic dome of branches with a waterproof external coil of inserted leaf shingles (cf modern BaMbuti mongolu dome hut constructed by Pygmy women from intertwined branches.), an inversion of the great ape nest (which had been naturally selected due to its effective mimicry of the raptors large canopy open nest, with internal leaves inserted for lining). The dome hut occurred after the #2 chromosome inversion/fusion in humans, when human ancestors (46 chromosomes) permanently separated from apes (48 chromosomes) and exchanged open-nest-tree-canopy dwelling for enclosed-dome-ground dwelling. From this, humans expanded from their forest origins outwards omnidirectionally, modifying their dome huts. This included changing from a coil of large leaves to a coil of grass or reed bundles (more insulating), clumps of clay-roots (first Jericho huts) or slate-slabs or rocks (more permanent, eg. Natufian) or even mammoth skulls & bones covered by animal furs or tree bark or grass bundles, depending on availability of leaves etc. and amount of rain and temperature changes. The partly buried sod dome (at first hand-pulled root-soil clumps, then serrated-blade-obsidian-knife-cut square clods and later sawn snowblocks for dome igloos (eg. Alaskan Eskimo Inuit) and sundried clay-straw bricks (eg. Sudan Nile huts, India Harappa) were derived gradually. (By this time the original all-branch geodesic frame was replaced by tied-stick frame, knots/lashings and glues more recent than weaving.) Nomads following herd seasonal migrations developed the cone (stick-hide Saami kota, Dakota tipi) in areas with few trees, and the stilted coned column (stick-lathe-felt yurt, stick-lather-manure-clay roundhouse hut) followed in seasonally semi-permanent villages. Then square base huts and longhouses formed due to population pressure, round huts became "squished" and straightened by permanent fences/walls/roads and more concentration, height became functional for growth, usable for open canopy-covered patios (stick stepladders), areas not flood-prone would allow subground cool storeroom cellars (stone stairs), houses above floodprone areas had shaded patios and animal pens below.

See post on round basket craft, dome huts & round basket boats:
http://the-arc-ddeden.blogspot.com/2008/12/crescent.html

Le Tuc d'Audoubert cave, rotunda contains 2 clay sculted bison, outer chamber contains dripping stalactites (a poet referred to them as 'milky tits'), which links stalactite to galact to melt, molassis & Moses (drawn from water in a papyrus ark/teba coated in bitumen tar, as was the earlier Egyptian Horus) later getting water from stone in the land of milk (PIE melug, galact) & honey (mahdu, mead).

http://cd0901-2.blogspot.com/2009/01/birth-of-art-paleolithic-art.html

The holy sacred texts of ancient cultures speak of village squares, temples and 2 story buildings in towns & cities and fabricated tents of nomads, this dates them to long after the early human habitat of woven-branch dome shelters in small forest camps, rings of small huts (Saami kota, Malay mahakota = crown) around the central cooking/drying campfire (Mbuti apa = fire = camp, Malay api = fire, kampong = camp).

http://anthropology.net/2010/02/22/gobekli-tepe-temple-in-turkey-predates-the-pyramids-of-giza/#comment-25079

See beehive houses of Sanlurfia nearby:
http://images.travelpod.com/users/sallycousens/1.1244889872.bee-hive-houses.jpg

Compare to neolithic huts of Ban P'o site in 7ka China:
http://hilbertspaces.com/photos/china/xian/banpo/dscn1346.jpg
"Majority of them were semi subterranean, 3-5m (10-16ft) in diameter, and with floors almost a meter beneath the ground surface. Every house had timber beams that placed on stone bases, whereby they gave support to precipitously pitched roof. Moreover, the interior walls and floors were plastered with straw and clay". http://www.articlelisted.com/Art/41928/185/Neolithic-Village-Ban-po-ts-un.html

Basically a tied tipi top above ground and supported columnar bottom in or at ground level, typical for pre-brick neolithic small village settlements throughout Eurasia & Africa amongst transitional hunter-gatherer - permanent agriculturalists.

The igloo instead combined the coiled shingle unit (mongongo/pandanus leaf -> clay-straw clump (later brick) -> sod clod block -> snow block) and semi-subterranean depth with raised bed, but discarded the (scarce) wood branch geodesic framework, relying on the melt-freeze cycling of snow for rigid blocks similar to sun dried clay-straw bricks.
"Iglu is the Inuit word for a house or home built out of any material,[1] and is not restricted exclusively to snowhouses, but includes traditional tents, sod houses, homes constructed of driftwood and modern buildings.[2][3] The hole left in the snow where the blocks are cut from is usually used as the lower half of the shelter" (Similar to the semi-subterranean dome & cone structures elsewhere, inside was lower except in flood-prone areas where stilts were used.)Animal skins were used as door flaps to keep warm air in. Igloos used as winter shelters had beds made of snow, covered with twigs and caribou furs. (Furs were never used to cover the dome, only the doorway and bed.) Architecturally, the igloo is unique in that it is a dome that can be raised out of independent blocks leaning on each other and polished to fit without an additional supporting structure during construction. (Thus the wood frame was lost. In areas where snow was unreliable for blocks, huts of whale ribs and hides were built, surrounded by compacted snow for insulation.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Igloo_spirale.svg (similar to leaf coiling of BaMbuti dome)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b3/EskimoIglooDrawing.jpeg

Earlier, I had speculated that the igloo had been derived from Lake Baikal seal air holes which are snow pile domes. In inuit these snowpiles are called aglu. But there is no coiled block construction, so I think the term aglu is derived from the igloo, which is surely derived from coiled sod clod domes derived from geodesic branch & coiled leaf domes (mongolu)

Where trees grew or driftwood was available, a pole & sod house was built:
http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/Arctic45-2-199.pdf
Note that the ceiling was held up by either inverted forked roots or branch forks. [The T pillars of G. Tepe may have served a similar function, holding up a canopy, ceiling or dome above the central pair of Tees.] Some Siberian people had a tipi-like structure, but the smokehole was also the access hole, while a ladder was used for entry. In colder climates, the access hole was dug underground and covered. [Catal Hoyuk and other neolithic settlements also often used ceiling ladders rather than floor-level doorways or subterranean tunnels.]

Siberian yaranga (arctic yurt): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yaranga
Saami goahti*/kota/lavu: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goahti (peat & birch bark cover)
Siberian summer chum tipi tent: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chum_(tent)
Siberian winter pyramidal golomo uten**: http://www.grida.no/prog/polar/siberia2003/people/evenk/evenk.htm
nenet huts http://www.culturecenternorthernasia.org/housetypes.jpg
Siberian Koryak winter step hut: http://www.koryaks.net/history.html

* goahti (wide tipi) similar to: kota/cote/cottage/coat/hut/court
** golomo uten (wooden pyramid roof cabin) similar to: mongolu/igloo/harigolu/ma-gulu, uten similar to hut/wooden/hutan/(endu = interior of hut)/endura = forest interior)


DDeden

urartu sailing?

Did first controlled sailing occur at these lakes for reliable trade?
[Urartu/Ararat empire that became Armenia, parts of Iran/Georgia/Turkey.
Khalde = Chaldean?, Van = Levant = Lebanon, Van - Venetia/Phoenecia/Venice/Veneti?]

The wheel is found earliest here and Poland, from dragged triangular travoix to pulled sleds to sleds with pole rollers to detachable disc wheels (droga (drag/draw)/traga to wagon/tobagon/truck/(Thai) tuktuk)) with mast-pole axle. See bottom. Only areas with snow and ice would develop this method of trade locomotion. Africa had hoops but no wheels. Controlled sailing = controlled mast 360 degrees = axle on cart.

Phoenicians originally from these "high" seas, first sailers to learn to sail against the wind?
The seas of Armenia, Lake Van, Lake Sevan, Lake Urmia

This area was extraordinarily rich in trade (eg. mined flint, lapis lazuli) with Sumeria, Med. /Red/Black/Caspian seacoasts, Tigris-Euphrates rivers, early middle east towns. Bible refers to Abraham from Ur of the Chaldees, may link to Ur (city) of Urartu and the local god Khaldi. Did controlled sailing first begin in these mountain brackish lakes for ferrying products across? Nile sailboats furled sails when the current brought them downstream and unfurled sails when the winds brought them upstream, so no advantage to have tack-ability. The oceans were too rough for early sailboats. Rivers, wetlands and ponds required paddling or punt poling. Legend of Noahs' ark landing at Mount Ararat may have come from ancient Urartu lake original controlled sailing. Perhaps these seas had mountain passes which brought consistent breezes, where control of sail power was rewarded and long distance paddling was hard work due to low oxygen level?

[The Kingdom of Armenia (or Greater Armenia) was an independent kingdom from 190 BC to AD 387 and a client state of the Roman and Persian empires until 428, stretching from the Caspian to Mediterranean seas.

The predecessor of the kingdom was the Satrapy of Armenia Armenia
("Armina" in Old Persian, "Harminuya" in Elamite, and "Urartu" in the Bablylonian parts of Behistun Inscription
The Behistun Inscription is a multi-lingual inscription authored by Darius the Great, king of the Persian Empire, the successor state of the Median Empire, ruling over significant portions of what would become Greater Iran

The Orontid Dynasty was the first known Armenian dynasty and the successor state to the Kingdom of Ararat... (with Macedonian influence). ]

Tushpa, the capital of Urartu, was located near the shores of Lake Van, on the site of what became medieval Van's castle, west of present-day Van city.

Lake Van was the centre of the Armenian kingdom of Ararat from about 1000 BC, afterwards of the Satrapy of Armina, Kingdom of Greater Armenia, and the Armenian Kingdom of Vaspurakan.

Along with Lake Sevan in today's Armenia and Lake Urmia in today's Iran, Van was one of the three great lakes of the Armenian Kingdom, referred to as the seas of Armenia (in ancient Assyrian sources: "tâmtu ša mât Nairi" (Upper Sea of Nairi), the Lower Sea being Lake Urmia).

Armenian: Lake Sevan = Sevana Lich

the etymology of word "Sevan" was found in Teyseba (the cuneiform inscription by Rusa I (730—714 B.C.)). the etymology of "Sevan" is similar to Yerevan's etymology. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yerevan
it is likely that the city's name is derived from the Urartian military fortress of Erebuni (Էրեբունի), which was founded on the territory of modern-day Yerevan in 782 BC by Argishti I.[6] As elements of the Urartian language blended with that of the Armenian one, the name eventually evolved into Yerevan (Erebuni = Erevani = Erevan = Yerevan). Scholar Margarit Israelyan notes these changes when comparing inscriptions found on two cuneiform tablets at Erebuni:
The transcription of the second cuneiform bu [original emphasis] of the word was very essential in our interpretation as it is the Urartaean b that has been shifted to the Armenian v (b > v). The original writing of the inscription read «er-bu-ni»; therefore the prominent Armenianologist-orientalist Prof. G. A. Ghapantsian justly objected, remarking that the Urartu b changed to v at the beginning of the word (Biani > Van) or between two vowels (ebani > avan, Zabaha > Javakhk)....In other words b was placed between two vowels. The true pronunciation of the fortress-city was apparently Erebuny.[7]

So Van and Sevan were perhaps eban and seban, compare to Lebanon and venice...remarkably similar!

Lake Urmia is named after the provincial capital city of Urmia, originally a Syriac name meaning city (ur) of water (mia). OR The name Urmia is a compound. The first element--"ur" standing for 'city', is Sumerian. Ur per se, was a principal Sumerian city. The second element, "mia" is Aramaic Syriac meaning "water." Hence Urmia

In the ancient times, the west bank of Urmia lake was called Gilzan (gol-van?), and in the ninth century B.C. an independent government ruled there which later joined the Urartu or Mana empire;

the western part of the Urmia Lake has been a center of attention of the prehistoric nations, the evidence of which are the numerous ancient hills in the area, such as Gouy Tapeh, 6 kilometers southeast of the lake which competes with the oldest hills of Mesopotamia, Asia the Minor, and the Iranian Plateau. Many old Islamic historians have acknowledged Urmia as the birthplace of prophet Zoroaster.

The Catholic Encyclopedia mentions Urmia as the seat of a Chaldean diocese.[7]

Turkish: Lake Van = Van Golu

Wheel:
The earliest examples of wheeled vehicles were little more than sleds with 2 attached solid wheels, but this was an enormous improvement over dragging. Early examples of these wheeled vehicles were found within a region between Lake Van in eastern Asia Minor and Lake Urmia in northern Iran, an area no more than 1,200 mi. across. This evidence indicates that these wheeled vehicles emerged more than 5,000 years ago, during the final centuries of the 4th Millennium. The remains of later vehicles, both carts and wagons, often survive as nothing more than stains in the soil, such as those found in the royal tombs at Kish and Ur, in Mesopotamia. Evidence was found during the mid-1960s in the region between the Black and Caspian seas of the U.S.S.R. that disk-wheeled vehicles flourished during the Kura-Araxes culture, beginning about 3000 B.C. Here pottery models of vehicles with wellmarked, hubbed, disk wheels were found that were identical to the vehicles buried at a later date in Kish and Ur.

http://dev.laptop.org/~arael/preview/wikislice-en/wikislice-en.xol/articles/Wheel.htm

Spoked wheels (cart/chariot/car/(Malay) kereta) were later, for lightweight/speed (using goats and donkeys as much as oxen) rather than heavy loads.

Can you hear the thunder

some rough samples of my (unpolished) songs here http://www.myspace.com/neweurekans/music

root names

The name Dedan (identical to Deden) comes possibly from (dwd 410) the root for beloved (aunt, uncle, even the name David).

A clay tablet from Elba from 7,000 years ago had the name daud-um, which meant, land of daud/david.

There's a town near Mecca & Medina along the Red Sea coast named Dedan, mentioned in bible books. Deden & Dedan would be the same, since the vowels were not elucidated until more recently.
-

Reversed words:
May/Mar (Arabic, Sea)~ Yam (Hebrew, Sea)
Madrasa (Arabic, College) ~ Asrama (Malay, College) ~ Ashram (Hindu, Guru center)
Rome ~ Meroe
Remus ~ Sumer
Samar, Samaria ~ Rama

Derived from Oromo, (Ethiopian tribe who have an ancient legend of Adam)?
Adam (man in Hebrew)...Abram...Abraham...Brahmasutra...Ahuramazda...Urheimat
Oraham (Chaldean)...T/ora/h...K/ora/n...Oracle...Oralstories...Origins...Ur

Satan (adversary in Hebrew)

Analects of Confucius, Book One, 1st Saying: "That friends should come to one from afar, is that not after all delightful?"

mans origins

Jerry Randal Bauer wrote:
> I've just read "Genesis Revisited" by Glenn G. Strickland. (1979)
> (ISBN: 0-8037-2828-X)
>
> I didn't like it, but I recommend it anyway.
>
> I didn't like it because the author adopts a very arrogant attitude
> toward anthropologists. He has figured out the answers to all the
> mysteries of human evolution; they have not, because they are unable
> to think rationally. He has been able to do this because he is
> (trumpet flourish here) a _RETIRED OPERATIONS RESEARCHER_!
>
> I didn't like it because the author failed to convince me of the
> validity of several of his conclusions. This is, in part, because he
> has made a definite effort to avoid anything the least bit technical.
> However, I think that many of his arguments just are not well thought
> out.
>
> His central thesis is that humankind developed where the Mediterranean
> Sea is now. Evidence exists that between 10 and 20 million years ago,
> the Mediterranean was dry. Tectonic forces had closed Gibraltar, and
> the sea had evaporated. The author posits that around each river
> "delta", where the river fell into the basin to evaporate, an
> ecological community developed, and that these areas were conducive to
> the development of our ancestors.
>
> This is why, even though I found the book flawed in content and
> presentation, I recommend it. This thesis is intriguing. The
> drying-up of the Mediterranean is well-supported by geological
> evidence beyond that given in this book. It happened at the time our
> ancestors were developing, according to some chronologies. It seems
> that such a situation could not but have some effect.
>
> So I would say read it. Some of the points raised within are quite
> original, and may serve to spark more effectively supportable
> theories.
>
> But, please, if you are or aspire to be an author, avoid any
> temptation to adopt Mr. Strickland's hubris.
>
> Jerry Randal Bauer

The arc of the universe

The Arc of the Universe Is Long But It Bends Towards Justice

On April 4, 2008, then-Senator Barack Hussein Obama, speaking on the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, declared:

"Dr. King once said that the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends towards justice. It bends towards justice, but here is the thing: it does not bend on its own. It bends because each of us in our own ways put our hand on that arc and we bend it in the direction of justice...."

(My birthday is April 4th)

Oil at the Gulf coast

NOAA Response, Deepwater Horizon

Village of Islands/Islamorada, Florida Keys: VI

All those tourists covered with oil...? Tar balls in paradise...?

Tar balls have been found at Key West, broken oil sheens have been seen pulled into the loop current from the eddy towards the Gulf stream between the Keys and Cuba

Time for the ARC to investigate the British Petroleum crude oil slick at the Gulf coast, possibly an opportunity to do some good...

[Potential transport funding being arranged via official channels, preliminary destination is the village of islands, awaiting further information and confirmation]

DDeden, Director
Aquamarine Research Center
Eureka-Arcata, Humboldt Bay, northern California

Archae-Numeric and origin of XYZ

[click pic to enlarge]

re. the numbers, seems to me that the last common numerical language was 1-12
_ (1 horiz line)
= (2 lines)
3 (3 horiz lines, cursive)
[=] square (4 lines, 2 vert 2 horiz)
_ above a square (5 lines)
= above a square (6 lines, 2 vert, 4 horiz)
3 above a square (7 lines)
square above a square (8 lines)
square above _ above a square (9 lines) (became % sign?)
square above = above a square (10 lines)
square above 3 above a square (11 lines)
square above a square above a square (12 lines)

12 might have been quickly drawn as a cube triface (a Y at center of angled cube)?
(A simple paint program or cad could show all this better.)

originally zero was a point or dot, not a circle, so 4 and 8 were curved.

Used probably 8,000 years ago, with local variations.
I'd wondered how 10, 11, 12 appeared before decimal notation.

Primitive numerical symbols used in early merchant/market trade, with local variations?

Numer = Sumer (symbol) name, used in Samar, Meroe, Meru, Samarkand, Somali, Sumatra... mer = merchant marine or port

> re. origin of XYZ in alphabet:
>
> XXXXXX if these letters all touched as a grid, they'd
> XXXXXX produce a bi axial weave of 90 deg. = squares
> XXXXXX add duplicate overlay & tilt = octagons
>
> YYYYYY if these letters all touched as a grid, they'd
> YYYYYY produce tri axial chicken wire weave = hexagons
> YYYYYY add duplicate overlay & tilt = rhombi (below)
>
> ZZZZZZ if these letters all touched as a grid, they'd
> ZZZZZZ produce bi axial 120,60 deg. weave = rhombi
> ZZZZZZ add duplicate overlay & tilt = 60 deg. triangles

add a duplicate overlay to get tetrahedral grid
add a duplicate overlay to get cube grid (?)

Maybe buy some cheap chickenwire, cut into 6 layers and overlay them, noting the cells (X-Y-Z-delta-tetra-cube?)
I'm sure someone has done this, but I don't recall seeing it anywhere, could be done with nets flat or on a sphere (notching where necessary.).
-

Polynesian contact with California?
here

Hair mats & booms & Oil spill

Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone, caused by Mississippi River effluents of Nitrates, Phosphates, Sulfates, from rural agricultural run-off and urban sewers producing eutrophication, overgrowth of algae blooms and reduced oxygen.
dead zone of Gulf

Below: massive crude oil spill in Gulf from offshore rig explosion, ongoing



article

Must see this video

Hair & fur sponge up oil in water, a lb. of hair retains a quart of oil from water.

video: how to make a hair boom

The ottimat and hair boom use the principle of high surface area of hair/fur adsorbs oil but not water. Synthetic product mats absorb the oil and can't be reused, while hair mats can be wrung out into oil barrels and reused 100 times.

volunteers needed at Florida Keys to protect mangroves

"Locks for Keys" donate locks of hair and pet fur to save the coastal regions of the Florida Keys and other island reefs from the second worst oil spill ever, the Deepwater Gulf spill, which is expected to be pulled into the Gulf loop current towards the Keys and Florida coastal mangroves.
mangroves

http://response.restoration.noaa.gov/topic_subtopic_entry.php?RECORD_KEY(entry_subtopic_topic)=entry_id,subtopic_id,topic_id&entry_id(entry_subtopic_topic)=8&subtopic_id(entry_subtopic_topic)=13&topic_id(entry_subtopic_topic)=1

If you want to construct a building you must file an Environmental Impact Statement, but British Petroleum did not file an EIS for their huge deepwater oil project, and they bypassed numerous safety measures.

Perhaps its time for another tea party? What say you, oil addicts? Care for a spot of petrol?

bird-dino postures

uncinate process in birds

JR Codd 2010 Compar.Biochem.Physiol.A156:303-8
Uncinate processes in birds: morphology, physiology, and function

The avian respiratory system is remarkable in terms of its complexity &
efficiency. The evolution of this system with its unique lung morphology &
physiology has contributed to birds being one of the most successful
vertebrate lineages.
Despite holding the attention of the scientific community for a long time,
much remains to be discovered about the complexities of this system. Recent
advances have highlighted the important role that accessory breathing
structures, the uncinate processes, play in understanding how this system
functions & evolved.
Almost all spp of extant bird have uncinate processes extending from the
mid-point of the vertebral ribs. These processes are integral to the
mechanics of ventilation in birds, being active in both in- & expiration,
but also playing some role during locomotion.
The morphological variation in the uncinate processes suggests that the
constraints placed on the body by adaptations to different forms of
locomotion are key to understanding differences in how birds breathe.
These processes also occur in the theropod dinosaurs, providing further
evidence that they are the ancestors of modern birds, but also highlighting
the intrinsic flexibility in the ventilatory systems of these animals.
-
death pose of long necked dinos & posture of resting geese: sleeping with head on back above abd. air sacs (parallel to backfloating & whale blowhole on back) while floating or on nest, the eyes see behind when awake but static, able to see predators which approach from behind. Uncinate processes probably evolved as air sac flexible cages allowing leaping-breathing like kangaroos) but bellows not deflating during sleep which would result in sinking.
kangaroo leap breathe

Amazing argonaut octopus: here

We be neandertals

Gene expression

1 - 4% of genome of anyone derived from outside sub-saharan Africa is shared with neandertal genome.
-

Atlatl spear-throwers include a launcher, a long narrow dart with flint tip, and a stone weight: atlatl
Compare to harpoons, polespears, Hawaiian slings, throwing spears, lances, bow & arrows
paleo art atlatls
-

Grey whale in Mediterranean Sea
here

""Over a lifetime, a gray whale migrates the equivalent distance of a return trip to the moon."
-

Salt springs in the Sahara: Niger has clays rich in salt from ancient seabeds, the salt springs of Teguidda-n-Tessoumt are surrounded by small round pools of brine, where salt crystals form on top slowing evaporation so children sprinkle water to break the crust which then settles at the bottom as crystals, later collected as loaves. Then the salt ponds are cleaned of remaining clay mud and reused, the mud dumped onto manmade hillocks. Much of the salt is traded via desert-edge nomads for use by domestic herds. Trees are very rare in the Sahara, but two trees grow nearby. (from article in Awake! Jan 09)

Sloths & jitterbugging heart & earth & dive foraging

marine sloth
outhouse sloth

-
layers of the heart
rotary venticular blood flow & torsion of heart muscle similar to VE jitterbug transform, with opposing heart muscle groups (123 45 678) :
article
Note pic 14, similar to tao/dau symbol or rolling surf wave, and general similar form of heart to a marine snail, which filter feeds and breathes by pumping seawater through gills and gut tissue.

"Pettigrew¹⁴ performed careful dissection of the heart of mammals and man, demonstrating 7 muscle layers. The three outer layers spiral with an increasing angle from the perpendicular, while the fourth layer is horizontal. The three inner layers spiral in the opposite direction, increasing toward the vertical. The layers are arranged in opposition so that 1 opposes 7, 2 opposes 6, and 3 opposes 5, with the fourth layer being a connecting layer (tensional frame?)."

jitterbug

-

6,000 year old human artifacts contains indications of 3/4 protein from marine diet

Quantitative evaluation of marine protein contribution in ancient diets
based on nitrogen isotope ratios of individual amino acids in bone collagen:
An investigation at the Kitakogane Jomon site
YI Naito, NV Honch, Y Chikaraishi, N Ohkouchi, M Yoneda 2010 AJPA

Nitrogen stable isotopes analysis of individual bone collagen amino acids
was applied to archeological samples as a new tool for assessing the
composition of ancient human diets and calibrating radiocarbon dates. We
used this technique to investigate human and faunal samples from the
Kitakogane shell midden in Hokkaido, Japan (5,300-6,000 cal BP). Using
compound-specific nitrogen isotope analysis of individual amino acids, we
aimed to estimate i) the quantitative contribution of marine and terrestrial
protein to the human diet, and ii) the mean trophic level (TL) from which
dietary protein was derived from marine ecosystems. Data were interpreted
with reference to the amino acid trophic level (TLAA) model, which uses
empirical amino acid 15N from modern marine fauna to construct mathematical
equations that predict the trophic position of organisms. The TLAA model
produced realistic TL estimates for the Kitakogane marine animals. However,
this model was not appropriate for the interpretation of human amino acid
15N, as dietary protein is derived from both marine and terrestrial
environments. Hence, we developed a series of relevant equations that
considered the consumption of dietary resources from both ecosystems. Using
these equations, the mean percentage of marine protein in the Kitakogane
human diet was estimated to be 74%.
-

Diaphragmatic contractions pump oxygen to the brain during hypoxia, increasing the cerebral blood flow volume. Involuntary breathing movements improve cerebral o... [J Appl Physiol. 2009] - PubMed result

We investigated whether the involuntary breathing movements (IBM) during the struggle phase of breath holding, together with peripheral vasoconstriction and progressive hypercapnia, have a positive effect in maintaining cerebral blood volume. The central hemodynamics, arterial oxygen saturation, brain regional oxyhemoglobin (bHbO(2)), deoxyhemoglobin, and total hemoglobin changes and IBM were monitored during maximal dry breath holds in eight elite divers. The frequency of IBM increased (by approximately 100%), and their duration decreased ( approximately 30%), toward the end of the struggle phase, whereas the amplitude was unchanged (compared with the beginning of the struggle phase). In all subjects, a consistent increase in brain regional deoxyhemoglobin and total hemoglobin was also found during struggle phase, whereas bHbO(2) changed biphasically: it initially increased until the middle of the struggle phase, with the subsequent relative decline at the end of the breath hold. Mean arterial pressure was elevated during the struggle phase, although there was no further rise in the peripheral resistance, suggesting unchanged peripheral vasoconstriction and implying the beneficial influence of the IBM on the cardiac output recovery (primarily by restoration of the stroke volume). The IBM-induced short-lasting, sudden increases in mean arterial pressure were followed by similar oscillations in bHbO(2). These results suggest that an increase in the cerebral blood volume observed during the struggle phase of dry apnea is most likely caused by the IBM at the time of the hypercapnia-induced cerebral vasodilatation and peripheral vasoconstriction.
-

Levant 800ka - (Hula/Jordan, fire, food prep) African Rift drought
doi 10.1016/j.jhevol.2010.03.007
The paleoclimate of the Eastern Mediterranean during the transition from
early to mid Pleistocene (900 to 700 ka) based on marine and non-marine
records: an integrated overview
Ahuva Almogi-Labin 2010 JHE

Climate change is frequently considered an important driver of hominin
evolution and dispersal patterns. The role of climate change in the last
phase (900­700 ka) of the Middle Pleistocene Transition (MPT) in the Levant
and northeast Africa was examined, using marine and non-marine records.
During the MPT the global climate system shifted from a linear 41 k.yr. into
a highly non-linear 100 k.yr. system, considerably changing its global
modulation. Northeast Africa aridity further intensified around 950 ka, as
indicated by a sharp increase in dust flux, and a jump to overall higher
levels thereafter, coinciding with a lack of sapropels in the deep eastern
Mediterranean (930­690 ka). The increased dust flux centering at 800 ka
corresponds to the minima in 400 k.yr. eccentricity, a minima in 65 °N solar
forcing and in the weakest African monsoon precession periodicity. This
resulted in expansion of hyper-arid conditions across North Africa, the
lowest lake levels in eastern Africa and the lowest rainfall in the Nile
River headwaters. In the eastern Mediterranean an increasing continental
signature is seen in glacial stages 22 (880 ka) and 20 (800 ka). Lower
arboreal pollen values also indicate arid conditions during these glacial
stages. The southern and eastern parts of the Negev Desert, unlike its
northern part, were hyper-arid during the MPT, making them highly
unsustainable. The fluctuations in the stands of Lake Amora follow global
climate variability but were more moderate than those of its last glacial
Lake Lisan successor. In the northern Jordan-Valley Hula Lake, frequent
fluctuations in lake level coincide with both global climate changes and
minor changes in water salinity varying from fresh to oligohaline. It
appears therefore that the most pronounced and widespread deterioration in
climate occurred in northeast Africa from 900 to 700 ka, whereas in the
Levant the corresponding climatic changes were more moderate.
-

Warmbloodedness & respiration in dinosaurs and mammoths

A Clarke & H-O Poertner 2010 Biol.Rev.PRESS
Temperature, metabolic power, and the evolution of endothermy

Endothermy has evolved at least twice, in the precursors to modern mammals
and birds. The most widely accepted explanation for the evolution of
endothermy has been selection for enhanced aerobic capacity. We review this
hypothesis in the light of advances in our understanding of ATP generation
by mitochondria and muscle performance. Together with the development of
isotope-based techniques for the measurement of metabolic rate in
free-ranging vertebrates, these have confirmed the importance of aerobic
scope in the evolution of endothermy: absolute aerobic scope, ATP generation
by mitochondria, and muscle power output are all strongly
temperature-dependent, indicating that there would have been significant
improvement in whole-organism locomotor ability with a warmer body. New data
on mitochondrial ATP generation and proton leak suggest that the thermal
physiology of mitochondria may differ between organisms of contrasting
ecology and thermal flexibility. Together with recent biophysical modelling,
this strengthens the long-held view that endothermy originated in smaller,
active eurythermal ectotherms living in a cool but variable thermal
environment. We propose that rather than being a secondary consequence of
the evolution of an enhanced aerobic scope, a warmer body was the means by
which that enhanced aerobic scope was achieved. This modified hypothesis
requires that the rise in metabolic rate, and the insulation necessary to
retain metabolic heat, arose early in the lineages leading to birds and
mammals. Large dinosaurs were warm, but were not endotherms, and the
metabolic status of pterosaurs remains unresolved.

KL Campbell cs 2010 Nature Genetics PRESS
Substitutions in woolly mammoth hemoglobin confer biochemical properties
adaptive for cold tolerance

We have genetically retrieved, resurrected and performed detailed
structure-function analyses on authentic woolly mammoth hemoglobin to reveal
for the first time both the evolutionary origins and the structural
underpinnings of a key adaptive physiochemical trait in an extinct species.
Hemoglobin binds and carries O2; however, its ability to offload O2 to
respiring cells is hampered at low temperatures, as heme deoxygenation is
inherently endothermic (that is, hemoglobin-O2 affinity increases as
temperature decreases). We identify amino acid substitutions with large
phenotypic effect on the chimeric ¦Â/¦Ä-globin subunit of mammoth
hemoglobin
that provide a unique solution to this problem and thereby minimize
energetically costly heat loss. This biochemical specialization may have
been involved in the exploitation of high-latitude environments by this
African-derived elephantid lineage during the Pleistocene period. This
powerful new approach to directly analyze the genetic and structural basis
of physiological adaptations in an extinct species adds an important new
dimension to the study of natural selection.

"Archae-tecture"

Some thoughts on how housing developed:

I had puzzled over what happened many many thousands of years ago when some humans switched from semi-nomadic hunting and gathering housed in round tensional hut village dwellings to sedentary semi-agricultural square/rectilinear town housing. Although caves and rockshelters have always provided some forms of shelter, they were not often conveniently located, and probably used more for special activities (meeting place, food stores, art studios, temples, quarries) than regular domestic housing. I think simple dome piles, originally like beaver lodges, of stacked circular sedges & interwoven branches/saplings, may have been long employed for housing, and gradually they became more vertical and with thinner walls, transforming into the typical round hut, which then differentiated depending on the seasonal climate and migratory patterns of the people and various associated flora and fauna, and the increasing level of resource control and sedentary community development.

from (^) ( ^ ) (^)

to (^^) and {^ X ^} and [^^]

to [^^x^^]

to-- ^
- / _X_ \
/_____\
_____


to

====================
____________________
____________________
____________________

I 'knew' it was due to population concentration around a wellspring, a semi-controllable "domesticated" resource, where freshwater was always available and semi-domesticated animals were kept safe from predators by a wall or thorn fence.

But I didn't know how the dome huts converted to pyramid-roofed cube/rectilinear housing. Domes are stronger, stabler, roomier, better airflow control. Why change to a "worse" arrangement?

I think as populations grew, instead of enlarging the outer perimeter fence, they tightened their domes to fit more in, making them from hemisphere dome to round house to square house, then added a patio on top, then added a roof on top, which then became a second story house, which then became a 3 story apartment building.

It was hard to understand why didn't they just expand the perimeter fence, and keep making more domes outwardly. I think partly this was due to generations spent enclosed in the "permanent" compound, the children were told not to mess with the fences to prevent breaking it which would allow night-time predators to sneak in, and when the children grew they subconsciously continued to maintain that rule, repairing when necessary but not altering it. Only when subgroups moved in or out would the fence perimeter become a bit flexible, as part of a change in social order.

Also, to avoid polluting the well, all the food scraps & waste would be deposited outside the fence, resulting in a ring around, with only paths radiating from the center well, so people wouldn't want to build a house just outside the fence in the fertile wasteland, (better to move beyond to a "suburban" colony).

So the result was a concentric but discontinous ring of dome huts that evolved over generations to a series of rectangular huts in interconnected arcs (but split by paths/roads) radiating out from the center. Over time, 2nd and 3rd floors were added, which depended on both the house below and the neighboring house structural strength, while domes changed from houses to central social buildings like temples, later they also became more rectilinear due to population concentrations, canals and road congestion.

So, I'm glad to finally make sense of this prehistorical transition from dome structure housing to multiple unit subdivision blocks/longhouses. Interestingly, I figured it out by thinking about bubbles! A single bubble on a pond surface is a dome, but two combined bubbles form an adjoining vertical plane, and a ring of pond-floating bubbles produce rectilinear radiating vertical inner walls and horizontal floors (lacking only entrance/exit paths). I recall some Chinese traditional ring housing, 3 stories, vertical walls, around a central well. The residents said it was to protect them from predatory bandits, it may be a stage of social structural development which some cultures already passed through (like huge modern hyperpopulated rectilinear-imposed-grid cities) while others went through a parallel but distinctly different route (like feudal castles). DDeden
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Brief add: post-hole artifacts probably derived from a period after dome huts were 'tightened' into roundhouses by tensional fence/wall effect on population density as function of social-physical concentration/compression; self-stabilized domes replaced by roundhouses with ground soil friction supporting post foundation (indicating shovels/drills used in well digging in soil).

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Interesting information on theoretical structural architecture archaeology:
theoretical structural archaeology

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Brief on housing in nature, in reference to Bucky Fuller (geodesic domes, isotropic vector matrix IVM):

Also, in a general sense, in nature, many animals tend to distribute their burrows/nests in an IVM pattern, not perfectly since the terrain contains many different local features (hills, ponds, dry spots) but in a generalized ecosystematic way. This depends on a lot of other factors, but holds true for many very different species, excluding highly social types (honeybees pack em in tight in hexagonal packing). I was thinking about how beaver families in small streams stay apart from other families (topographically descending knotted rope), but in large swampy lakes they tend to be horizontally equidistanced, that is, vectorially equilibrium distributed in a horizontal space-conserving fashion, (topographically planar crystal).
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Etymology: commercial, merchant, marchand, mercantile, market, marine, mire/moor/mer
mer - sumer/meru/meroe/samar...,
cent/kent/zehn/ten/centum-satum
Malay: satu, Uzbek(?): sato

Why did Greek use thalassa for sea? thalassa sounds like Arab Selasa/thelatha (wednesday/3), did "thalassa = sea" come from salt-aqua/sal-akwa/thal-acca?
Malacca/malaga/malaya from mal-aqua?
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update:

"Oddly, all tent-based cultures that evolved to locational permanency and more sophisticated materials use, seem to have rather naturally adopted the vertical-walls method." JB

Not so likely, since tents were specialized implements and derivative of dog domestication, long after generalized dome huts had been in use. Until then, skins and hides were food wraps and scraps, the whole furry carcass burned, just as in nature after wildfires.

Post-holes are found only after dome huts got (fence-tensionally) squeezed into ("vertical") roundhouses and longhouses with triangular roofs (from which nomads derived tipis, yurts, tents), and are associated with improved well-digging and early irrigation, which then encouraged vertical wall construction. DD

article on 10,000ka lakeside roundhouse:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100810101724.htm

Pygmies & bushmen: dome hut = mongolu (igloo, bungalo/buffalo, ger, geodesic, judaic, masjid?)

http://music000001.blogspot.com/2009/10/222-deconstructing-postmodern-condition.html

Slovenian marsh: veneti, oldest (square circle/merkaba) axle & wheel, wood canoe
http://www.angelfire.com/country/veneti/AmerDomoOldestWheel.html