SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Bears do it. Bats do it. Even European hedgehogs do it. And now it turns out that early human beings may also have been at it. They hibernated, according to fossil experts.
[...] [S]cientists argue that lesions and other signs of damage in fossilised bones of early humans are the same as those left in the bones of other animals that hibernate. These suggest that our predecessors coped with the ferocious winters at that time by slowing down their metabolisms and sleeping for months.
[...] In a paper published in the journal L'Anthropologie, Juan-Luis Arsuaga – who led the team that first excavated at the site – and Antonis Bartsiokas, of Democritus University of Thrace in Greece, [suggest that] these early humans found themselves "in metabolic states that helped them to survive for long periods of time in frigid conditions with limited supplies of food and enough stores of body fat".
[...] The researchers admit the notion "may sound like science fiction" but point out that many mammals including primates such as bushbabies and lemurs do this. "This suggests that the genetic basis and physiology for such a hypometabolism could be preserved in many mammalian species including humans," state Arsuaga and Bartsiokas.
The pattern of lesions found in the human bones at the Sima cave are consistent with lesions found in bones of hibernating mammals, including cave bears. "A strategy of hibernation would have been the only solution for them to survive having to spend months in a cave due to the frigid conditions," the authors state.
Journal Reference:
Antonis Bartsiokas, Juan-Luis Arsuaga, Hibernation in hominins from Atapuerca, Spain half a million years ago, L'Anthropologie (DOI: 10.1016/j.anthro.2020.102797)
(Score: 3, Interesting) by bzipitidoo on Sunday January 03 2021, @04:21AM (7 children)
Whoa, never guessed our ancestors hibernated. It's an intriguing notion, and I don't quite buy it. If we did it, why did we stop?
I would have thought that our mastery of fire was how our ancestors handled harsh winters. Fire, the ability to build shelters, and to make and wear clothing.
On the other hand, there sure isn't much that can be done when the ground is under 10 feet of soft snow. Still less when a blizzard is raging. It's downright dangerous to be outside in such conditions.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 03 2021, @04:26AM
Beeb doesn't believe it [sciencefocus.com], but they seem to have gotten the timeline way off.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 03 2021, @05:16AM
Let alone attempt to leave the European Union! Madness, I tell you! Madness and frozen dogs!!!
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 03 2021, @07:58AM
FUCK YOU ASSHOLE
(Score: 4, Funny) by driverless on Sunday January 03 2021, @09:53AM
Some people still hibernate. I have a cow-orker who regularly hibernates between 9am and 5pm, five days a week. On weekends he sleeps in front of his TV to catch up from the strenuous week at the office.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Sunday January 03 2021, @07:40PM (1 child)
It wasn't necessarily "humans" who hibernated. Any, or even all, of our pre-human ancestors might have been hibernation nuts. That wouldn't necessarily mean that "humans" hibernated. All that they seem to have found, are some "wear patterns" in early human bones that are similar to what we see in animals that do hibernate.
With or without hibernation, we might presume that a lot of early humans spent a lot of time in the winter, lounging around in their caves (or other sheltered areas) to avoid going out in the cold. Things changed a lot when Sears Roebuck started selling winter clothes for mail delivery!
“I have become friends with many school shooters” - Tampon Tim Walz
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Immerman on Sunday January 03 2021, @11:35PM
Quite so.
And in fact, if our ancestors did hibernate, mastering fire might well have have been a big part of the reason we stopped - fire provides both heat and a wealth of food-preservation options.
Promising finding for both medicine and space travel if true - it makes it much more likely that artificial hibernation would be relatively simple to induce without harmful side effects. And hibernation not only greatly reduces demands on food, oxygen, and how fast you die, it also suspends the muscle-atrophy process that otherwise causes "useless" muscle to be re-absorbed. I imagine an IV drip could take the place of large fat stores on a multi-month trip across the solar system, allowing you to avoid months of resource-intensive cabin fever, and wake up at your destination with your full muscle mass.
Even just "turning off" the muscle atrophy aspect would have numerous uses. For working in space obviously, but also for maintaining that body-builder physique without maintaining the exercise regime.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 04 2021, @03:58AM
Speculation: I'm thinking of some of the "mind over body" tricks that Tibetan/Buddhist monks do, like raising their body temperature to melt frozen sheets, https://www.buzzworthy.com/monks-raise-body-temperature/ [buzzworthy.com] and also control their heart rate down to very slow (quick search didn't find a link, but I've read about this in the past).
If modern humans can do things like this (with long training), it may be that they are learning how to access capabilities that we "lost" generations ago, once life got easier with things like fire and shelter?