en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_technology
4 corrections found
The earliest direct evidence of tool usage was found in Ethiopia within the Great Rift Valley, dating back to 2.5 million years ago.
This is outdated. Stone tools from Lomekwi 3 in Kenya date to about 3.3 million years ago, substantially earlier than 2.5 million years.
Full reasoning
More recent archaeological evidence predates the 2.5-million-year figure given here. In 2015, researchers from Stony Brook University reported the Lomekwi 3 stone artifacts in Kenya, dated to 3.3 million years ago and described as the earliest stone artifacts known. Their release explicitly says these finds push the archaeological record back by about 700,000 years beyond the previously known earliest record.
That means a statement saying the earliest direct evidence of tool use was found in Ethiopia at 2.5 million years ago is no longer correct. Even if older Ethiopian finds were once the accepted benchmark, the Lomekwi discovery superseded them.
2 sources
- Stony Brook Archaeologists Find the Earliest Evidence of Stone Tool Making in Cradle of Humankind - SBU News
Stony Brook archaeologists ... have found the earliest stone artifacts, dating to 3.3 million years ago, at a site named Lomekwi 3 on the western shore of Lake Turkana in northern Kenya.
- Oldest stone tools raise questions about their creators | Nature
The 3.3-million-year-old implements predate the first members of the Homo genus.
modern human anatomy arose around 100,000 years ago.
This date is too recent. Authoritative human-origins references place the emergence of Homo sapiens, including anatomically modern humans, at about 300,000 years ago.
Full reasoning
The Smithsonian Human Origins Program dates Homo sapiens to about 300,000 years ago to the present and says that during a time of dramatic climate change 300,000 years ago, Homo sapiens evolved in Africa. The same source uses the term "anatomically modern Homo sapiens" for prehistoric members of our species.
So the article's statement that modern human anatomy arose around 100,000 years ago understates the age of anatomically modern humans by roughly 200,000 years.
2 sources
- Homo sapiens | The Smithsonian Institution's Human Origins Program
When Lived: About 300,000 years ago to present ... During a time of dramatic climate change 300,000 years ago, Homo sapiens evolved in Africa.
- Our species arose at least 300,000 years ago | The Smithsonian Institution's Human Origins Program
Dating to about 300,000 years old, the fossils push back the origin of Homo sapiens by at least 100,000 years.
epigenetic sequencing
This is an anachronism. Epigenetic sequencing is a modern genomics technique, not an ancient Chinese invention.
Full reasoning
Epigenetic sequencing refers to modern molecular methods used to study epigenetic marks on DNA. The National Human Genome Research Institute defines epigenetics/epigenomics as a field of study about chemical modifications to DNA that affect gene activity without changing the DNA sequence.
The sequencing methods used to read epigenetic marks are also modern. A PubMed Central review explains that bisulfite genomic sequencing was first described in 1992, and that whole-genome bisulfite sequencing only became possible with recent high-throughput methods in 2008–2009. So listing epigenetic sequencing among ancient Chinese inventions is historically impossible.
2 sources
- Epigenetics | NHGRI
Epigenetics (also sometimes called epigenomics) is a field of study focused on changes in DNA that do not involve alterations to the underlying sequence.
- Bisulfite Sequencing of DNA - PMC
By selective conversion of cytosine but not m5C to uracil, followed by PCR and sequencing ... BGS accurately detects presence of m5C ... at single-nucleotide resolution (Frommer et al., 1992) ... recent advances in high-throughput sequencing ... made it possible to perform whole-genome BGS (Cokus et al., 2008; Lister et al., 2008; Meissner et al., 2008; Hodges et al., 2009; Zhang et al., 2009; Zeschnigk et al., 2009).
The Human Genome Project sequenced and identified all three billion chemical units in human DNA
This overstates what the Human Genome Project completed. NHGRI says the 2003 project sequence covered over 90% of the genome; the first truly complete human genome sequence was not announced until 2022.
Full reasoning
The Human Genome Project was a landmark achievement, but this wording is too absolute. According to NHGRI, the Human Genome Project’s 2003 result accounted for over 90% of the human genome; its “essentially complete” 2003 version covered 92% and still left gaps. NHGRI further notes that the first truly complete human genome sequence was announced only in 2022 by the Telomere-to-Telomere consortium.
So it is inaccurate to say the Human Genome Project itself sequenced all three billion units in human DNA.
2 sources
- Human Genome Project Fact Sheet
In 2003, the Human Genome Project produced a genome sequence that accounted for over 90% of the human genome ... In April 2003, the consortium announced that it had generated an essentially complete human genome sequence ... Specifically, it accounted for 92% of the human genome ... On March 31, 2022, the Telomere-to-Telomere (T2T) consortium announced that had filled in the remaining gaps and produced the first truly complete human genome sequence.
- 2003: Human Genome Project Completed | genome.gov
2003: Human Genome Project Completed