john hawks weblog

paleoanthropology, genetics and evolution

A virtual walk into the past

Wed, 2009-12-16 12:33 -- John Hawks

Via a reader:

Sterkfontein Caves on Street View

It's not there yet, but Google is adding a gaggle of World Heritage Sites to the Street View feature, and Sterkfontein will be among them. An interesting detail:

Where access by car is not possible, Google uses its custom-made 'trike' – a three-wheeled bike mounted with a camera – to take the images. It will soon be used to collect imagery of the Sterkfontein Caves in SA.

Now, if they will just take us into the Silberberg Grotto...

Tags: 
Sterkfontein
technology
South Africa
Pliocene

Neandertals

For years, I've worked on their bones. Now I'm working on their genes. Read more about the science studying these ancient people.

Denisova

From a finger bone of an ancient human came the record of a completely unexpected population. My lab is working on the science of the Denisova genome.

Acceleration

The advent of agriculture caused natural selection to speed up greatly in humans. We're uncovering some of the ways that populations have rapidly changed during the last 10,000 years.

Malapa

Just outside Johannesburg, the Malapa site is producing some of the most exciting finds in human evolution. This site is the headquarters of the Malapa Soft Tissue Project.