6-25-06 Push 'em back, Way back

Remember the old football cheer, "Push 'em back, push 'em back, WAY back!", well that's the cheering section in this quarter for the concepts and theories in archeoanthropology pertaining to how early in pre-history modern humans may have existed.

Here's an article pushing it back to 135,000 years ago in Africa...

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/06/060623215424.htm

And this one pushes back the earliest date in Mesoamerica by another millennium...

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/03/060305093432.htm

Throughout my lifetime, 57 years now, the archeological evidence and the conclusions made upon it have constantly changed, pushing back in time the accepted picture of our pre-historic origins. This embodies conclusions based upon the scientifically explainable evidence.

When evidence surfaces that doesn't fit in with the generally accepted conclusions, however, it's relegated to the "unexplained" where speculative writers have a field day. As anyone who reads this blog would know, I love wallowing around in that sort of thing. But I do like to retain enough of my wits about me to always return to the current revelations of new discoveries and developments, so that I don't end up being put in a straightjacket and shipped off to the local psych ward.