Mysterious Dark-Skinned Stone Age People Found

A newly found Stone Age people featured darker skin, an unusual mix of primitive and modern features and had a strong taste for venison.
Fossils of the so-called "Red Deer Cave People" were unearthed in southwest China and may represent a new species of human.

SUMMARY

• Fossils from two China caves have revealed a previously unknown Stone Age people.
• The mysterious humans, called the Red Deer Cave people, had a mix of primitive and modern features.
• The Red Deer Cave people may represent a new hominid species.

The fossils from two caves, date to just 14,500 to 11,500 years ago. Until now, no hominid remains younger than 100,000 years old have been found in mainland East Asia resembling any other species than our own.
"We have discovered a new population of prehistoric humans whose skulls are an unusual mosaic of primitive, modern and unique features -- like nothing we've seen before," said Darren Curnoe, associate professor in the School of Biological, Earth & Environmental Sciences at the University of New South Wales and lead author of a study about the find in the journal PLoS One.
"They have rounded brain cases with prominent brow ridges, flat but short faces with a broad nose, jutting jaws that lack a human chin, their brains are moderate in size with modern-looking frontal lobes but primitive short parietal lobes, and they have large molar teeth," added Curnoe .
PHOTOS: Faces of Our Ancestors
Since the prehistoric humans lived in areas with a lot of sunlight and ultraviolet radiation, they were likely dark-skinned.
Ji Xueping of the Yunnan Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, Curnoe and their colleagues studied the fossils, which represent the remains of at least three individuals.
For now, the mysterious humans are being called the "Red Deer Cave people," since one of the caves where they were found is Maludong (meaning Red Deer Cave) and these individuals loved that animal.
"They clearly had a taste for venison, with evidence they hunted and cooked these large deer in the cave," Curnoe explained.
These people may represent an entirely new evolutionary line on the human family tree.
"First, their skulls are anatomically unique," he said. "They look very different to all modern humans, whether alive today or in Africa 150,000 years ago. And second, the very fact they persisted until almost 11,000 years ago when we know that very modern-looking people lived at the same time immediately to the east and south suggests they must have been isolated from them."
The isolation suggests that if the Red Deer Cave people did interbreed, they did so in a limited way. The nearby modern humans at this time were the last hunter-gatherers known to this region. They had just begun to make pottery for food storage and to gather rice. Both activities mark the first steps toward full-blown farming.
It is possible that the mysterious Stone Age people might represent a very early and previously unknown migration of modern humans out of Africa. This population may not have contributed genetically to living people.
"What the discovery shows is just how complicated, how interesting, human evolutionary history was in Asia right at the end of the Ice Age," Curnoe said.
"We had multiple populations living the area, probably representing different evolutionary lines: the Red Deer Cave people on the East Asian continent, Homo floresiensis (aka the "Hobbit" human) on the island of Flores in western Indonesia, and modern humans widely dispersed from northeast Asia to Australia.
He added, "This paints an amazing picture of diversity, one we had no clue about until the last decade. It's probably the tip of the iceberg of diversity, the opening of a new chapter in recent human evolution: the East Asian chapter."
NEWS: Footprints Show How Our Ancestors Walked
Colin Groves, a professor in the School of Archaeology & Anthropology at the Australian National University, told Discovery News that the new humans "are clearly related to Homo sapiens in general, but if they differ absolutely, then by definition they are a different species."
"In the present case, one can envisage the stem that eventually gave rise to Homo sapiens emerging from Africa and spreading over much of tropical and subtropical Asia, perhaps never very numerous or widespread, and becoming divided into several isolated or semi-isolated populations; and when Homo sapiens later spread out of Africa, these earlier sapiens-like species disappeared, being out-competed with some interbreeding with Homo sapiens," Groves continued.
The people may be linked to the Skhul/Qafzeh people out of Israel and/or the equally mysterious Denisova people from Altai, Groves said. Curnoe and his team are now attempting to recover DNA from the samples, which could answer these and other questions.


Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/03/14/mysterious-dark-skinned-stone-age-people-found/?intcmp=features#ixzz1qGuJETYe

3,000 Sasquatch Tracks

NEW!!! British Columbia Sasquatch Organization Products

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Take a look .

BCSO

Latest Reports

Latest reports ;

#1: family reported multiple Sasquatch sightings near the Quinsam river outside of Campbell river .
These sightings started in October/2011 and ended sometime in November/2011.
Accompanied with these sightings was a foul smell .
The BCSO has done an initial investigation into this report with no evidence found at this time .

#2: Mother reports sons incident which happened new years eve 2011 . Possible stocking at Nancy Greene lake outside Rossland B.C .
Witness stated well setting up for a new years eve party at a cabin near Nancy Greene lake , loud noises were heard in the bushes surrounding the cabin , these noises appeared to the witness to be somewhat threatening .His dog who has had many encounters with wildlife including several encounters with bears was so scared he ran under the table inside the cabin .
The witness also stated that when he went outside the cabin to investigate , he felt like he was being watched as he could hear branches snapping and cracking .
He was alone at the this time but when his girlfriend showed up they promptly left .
The witnesses friends later showed up to the cabin to find no one there and they to had a similar experience .
On Jan 16th/2012 the witness returned to the cabin to do some investigating and found large human like foot prints with a 6' stride between tracks .
No pictures , video , castings or measurements were takin .

Below are pictures from Quinsam Investigation ;

Deep Bay Area Investigation

The BCSO received a report of possible Sasquatch activity in the Deep Bay area .

Witness claims while hiking a trail to a cave a long a creek he had frequented many times before that he observed large boulders that had been moved around just outside this cave, he also noted the boulders to large to be moved by humans. Witness also smelt foul odor coming from just inside cave and believed some sort of animal to be living inside .
The BCSO decided to investigate this report .
We headed into the trail under heavy rain at 10:15 am Sept 25th/2011 . We noticed pretty quick that we were under dressed for this investigation as we were becoming completely soaked . We also noticed the creek was rising rapidly but decided to push on , about 15 or 20 minutes in , we came to a clearing at the creeks edge, we decided to stop and investigate .
 Almost immediately I noticed to my right a large track ( 14.25" long ) , I said to Josh " look at that track " Josh replied by saying "I see it ". We took photo's and the required measurements for data and then covered the track with leaves to stop the rain from any further destruction of the track.We would be back later to cast the track .
 It was at about this time we both heard what sounded like a rock being thrown into the creek from the bank on the opposite side of the creek .
 Josh and I both looked at each other saying " did you hear that "? We spent the next 15-minutes observing the bank and tree's for any sign of what ever threw the rock . There were no further incidents with rocks being thrown . I determined the rock to be in-conclusive as to evidence of the Sasquatch .
 Heavy rains could of loosened the rock from the bank, forcing the rock to roll down and into the creek .
As we pushed further up the trail we observed the water rising , taking notes of how high we thought it to be rising .The rain continued to hammer us all the way to the falls which was the point we decided to stop due to already being completely soaked and in order to continue we would be climbing up a steep grade with water and mud pouring down on us , the trail seemed to peter off their as well .
We both decided that we would attempt this trail another day when the weather didn't offer us such a challenge .
Heading back out offered us a different challenge , as we made our way back in the lower lying areas we noticed the creek started to spill over and onto the trail . We went through the water on several occasions , it was only 4" or 5" of water the first couple times but as we moved closer to where we discovered the track we hit a spot on the trail where the water was at least 2' deep and hadn't been there an hour earlier , in this spot, to our left was a hill allowing us to move around the creek and a couple logs helped us just far enough to get out of that flooded area .
After another 10- minutes we hit a spot resembling a 16' wide river, it had cut a path across the trail , there were 2-dry spots roughly in the middle, these spots allowed us to jump across .
We finally made it back to the track and observed that the creek had taken away about 5-feet of beach .
I quickly mixed the plaster and poured it into the track .
The next 40-minutes waiting for the plaster to set was like standing fully clothed in the shower with just the cold water on .
After retrieving the cast , we quickly bagged it and headed toward the truck but before we could get to the warmth of the truck mother nature threw one more curve ball, a new set of rapids across the trail . We stood looking at this water and noticed a fallen tree to our left about 7' or 8' off the ground .
After contemplating a slippery balancing act over this log I looked at Josh and said "to hell with this , that water can't possibly make me any more wet then I already am , I'm going through it ". The first step was about 18" deep , I could feel the water pulling at my leg , two more steps put me back on dry land , Josh followed right behind .
10 minutes later we were back at the truck with another investigation completed .

Notes;
Temp steady at +12 , breezy , heavy rain and trail flooding .
14.25" long track found ( left foot ) , measured , photo's taken , video taken and plaster cast made .
Possible rock thrown into creek well collecting data from track , this happened only once, leading me to believe it was possibly a loose rock on the bank rolling into creek ( can't be certain ) observed bank and surrounding tree's for approx 15-minutes did not see or hear anything .

Final thoughts ;
I found this investigation to be quite the adventure due to the extreme rain and flooding of trail . I am excited to have found a track which lends credibility to the witnesses observations .
We did not find the cave but believe it to be there. Under more ideal conditions  I believe we will find the cave .
Future research is required in this area .

Lee
BCSO

Above picture is 14.25" track found near creeks edge .

Above picture is of casted track .

Above picture is of me holding plaster cast .

Above picture is of the creek and spot track was found .

Above picture : LHS is my copy of John Bindernagels Strathcona park cast . RHS is Creek cast I made Sept 25th/2011 .
John's cast is used in this picture for comparison .

2-years Old !

This June marked 2-years for "Are You Out There ? Searching for Sasquatch" .

This was my first attempt at creating a site , I had hoped it would be a great tool for others and myself to use when researching the Sasquatch .

I had also hoped to generate others personal experiences with the Sasquatch through my "archaic sighting report form" .Lastly I wanted to document my personal quest and thoughts for the Sasquatch via posts .

I believe the site has met and beat all my expectations .

I would like to thank all of you for visiting my site . I would like to thank those who have shared there stories with me. Thank you to all those who have given me leads and finally to those of you who have given me valuable information with regard to the topic .

A big thanks to Josh for all his time and input , Josh has been on every Sasquatch venture the BCSO has had for the last 14-months . Josh is also my right hand guy , without him the BCSO would surely not have all the evidence it has to date .T

Thank you to the rest of my team for all your support and input .

Thank you to Gavin Joth of the BCSCC for the conversation and leads , I look forward to one day meeting you in person .

Thank you to Eric Joye of Belgium for showing interest in my site and becoming a member of my BCSO site (British Columbia Sasquatch Organization ) , also for coming to Vancouver island to meet me and to go out on a couple of day treks , the second trip was when we found the "Comox lake 4-toe track " .

I know there are many others so to anyone I left out..... thank you !

Ok , now for a little input on the direction the BCSO is heading in . For starters the BCSO would like to welcome it's newest member Mike Le Tourneux , Mike will be heading up our tech department which will include video recording our expeditions , setting up trap cams, sound , picture and video analysis .

The BCSO is planning on making a documentary by the end of 2011 which will be for sale on both my sites with all proceeds going to fund future BCSO investigations , expeditions and equipment .

BCSO current leads ; Witness snaps pictures of possible Sasquatch , BCSO is currently examining the pics and will post story and findings on both sites as soon as investigation is completed .

Possible Sasquatch evidence found near Wolf lake , the BCSO is heading into the area for further studies with all findings to be posted as soon as investigations are completed .

BCSO continued investigations ; The BCSO is continuing research in the Comox lake area due to evidence collected back in May of this year re-"Comox lake 4-toe track" . All additional findings will be posted at a later date .

BCSO planned trips ; Sept / 2011 , further research in the Cowichan valley and joint investigations with other organizations .

Final thoughts ;

The last two years has been a huge eye opener for me in the field of Sasquatch , I have spent more hours then I can count in the field . I have spent countless hours learning how to track animals and identifying the tracks and skat they leave behind .

I have spent many hours reviewing online video evidence , pics and other organizations sites .I have spent many hours following up leads with witnesses via msn , facebook , my sites , on the telephone and in person .

I have made so many contacts through my sites , it's truly amazing to see the sheer amount of people looking into this topic . I believe it's the open minded attitude which  seems to have taken a grip on the general public due to the knowledge they have at there fingertips in this technological advanced world of today ! People seem to understand that yes we don't know everything and yes there is still much to discover here on our planet !

To the people who sit on the fence and sceptics a like , I ask you this .......Get in your vehicles ,drive an hour into your thickest forest , get out and walk  an hour into your forest , then stand in one spot asking yourself ," Is it possible "?

I look forward to many years in this field and to all the adventures of tomorrow !

Thanks again.......

Lee

BCSO

Comox Lake Research Finds Tracks and Other Oddities

The BCSO and Eric Joye a Cryptozoologist from Belgium did a joint investigation on Monday May 23/2011 near Comox lake .
The BCSO has been doing continued research in this area and due to the warmer temperatures and decreasing snow we were able to hike higher into this region .Our elevation was about 500m , We first found a 3 " round tree which was snapped at 9' . After some investigation of the tree, we were unable to come to any natural conclusion as to why a perfectly healthy tree ( no rot , bugs or any other bigger fallen trees around it ) could  be snapped and  left hanging to it's side .
Moving further into the forest we came across a mountain bike / quading trail , Josh noticed that a few 2" to 5" round trees had been snapped off and dragged across the trail , about 15 ' off the main trail ,we decided to investigate . Again, we could come up with no natural conclusion , though I believe this could have been human related . No tracks were found and we could not find where these trees had come from?
As we moved further into the bush, Eric noticed he had lost his cell phone , we then turned our Sasquatch investigation into a cell phone search .
This ended up taking us all the way back to the truck where we hoped to find the elusive phone  .This lead turned up nothing , Eric's phone still eluded us .
Josh Eric and I decided to retrace Eric's steps using his sound listening devise. Josh and I took turns calling Eric's phone well listening for a response .This carried on all the way back to where we stopped our investigation . As I dialed Eric's phone for about the 10th time, Josh got a reply and Eric's phone was saved .
We then decided to wrap up our investigation but as we started to head back Eric noticed a oddly de-barked tree just of the trail to our right , approximately 30' away .
Well investigating this tree ( snapped over to its side) we also noticed other trees placed around it .Josh made an observation that the bark from the tree was missing (No trace) . In all our previous investigations when tree bark is missing, elk have always been the culprits . Elk rub bark off trees with there antlers always leaving bark behind as well as tracks and skat . This was not the case with this tree nor did we find 1-single elk track or skat during this entire investigation . We moved back further into this area finding many more snapped and de-barked trees.The only animal signs in this area were 1-squirrel and a few birds.
It was about this time that Josh moved away from Eric and I . After about 10 minutes, Josh called us over to take a look at some tracks he found in the mud.
 What we found appeared to be two partial tracks on the side of a trail . One track had 2-toes prints well the other track had 4 distinguished toe imprints .
After taking many pictures and some video of the tracks , we searched the surrounding area for further evidence coming up with nothing additional .This ended our investigations for the day .
Side notes :
Temperature +11 , slight breeze , mainly cloudy with a few light sprinkles and sun at times .
Also noticed sections of patchy snow .
Animals heard included , an owl , and various birds
Animals seen included , 1-squirrel and various birds
My final thoughts on this investigation : The observations made with regard to the 9' snapped tree , though I cannot explain it , I'm not completely convinced . It may have a natural explanation ?
Observations made on the 2"to5" round trees pulled across trail , I believe this evidence proves something put them there but as far as definitive Sasquatch evidence ? Absolutely not !
Observations made of the de-barked and snapped trees , definitely interesting but again I feel that they are somehow related to the weather and surrounding environment. Exactly how they ended up like that , I don't know at this time .
Observations made of the toe impressions , the impressions in my opinion are evidence that something walked in those places . After investigating these impressions coupled with my knowledge of animal tracks and the knowledge of my team , I believe these prints not to be of a bear or any other wild life on Vancouver island ! I consider them to be evidence !

BCSO

The following are some pictures from the Investigation .( The last two pictures are of the 4-toe track and a bear track for comparison purposes )

Pictured above: Eric Joye (Cryptozoologist) using his sound device .

Pictured above : Josh of the BCSO inspecting the de-barked tree Eric found .

Pictured above : Another of the same de-barked tree , sorta hard to see but if you look close, you can see there is no bark laying around the tree .

Pictured above : This is one of several pictures taken of the 4-toe track . I forgot my tape measure at the truck so I used a stick to measure the width of all four toes , I then marked the stick and then measured it back at the truck .The width of these four toes together is 6.5"

Pictured above : This picture was taken last year on Mt Washington . Josh and I baited a bear into a mud patch so that we could get a clear picture of a bear track in the fresh mud . I've added this picture for comparisons to the Comox lake 4-toe track . This bear track was probably a female. ( due to the cub tracks that were with this one) This track is approximately half the width of the 4-toe track . 

Gooseneck Lake Investigation

Last week the BCSO received a second hand report from a reliable source that a teenage girl heard and saw a possible Sasquatch while camping with her father and uncle at Gooseneck lake during the Easter long weekend (2011) southwest of Campbell River .
The report stated that well the girls father and uncle were having some drinks , the girl happened to hear some strange vocals(or screeching) which she did not recognize and as she turned to look in the direction of the sound she saw a creature by the waters edge turn and disappear into the woods .
The girl then told her father and uncle who heard and seen nothing .
I was also told by my source that no one there followed up with any sort of investigation ( re-looking for tracks or any other evidence )
I bugged my source a few times to get this girl to fill out a report form on one of my sites but to date I have received nothing .
Side note : The father years earlier had a Sasquatch encounter at Buttle lake which is located 14.5 klms from Gooseneck lake .
The BCSO decided to investigate this report on May 14th / 2011 to see if we could come up with any viable evidence.
We arrived at Gooseneck lake at 10am Saturday May 14th/2011 . We observed 2-camping trailers and a couple people fishing on the lake . We moved around the lake which I will also mention has been extremely logged right up and almost completely around the lake .
We chose many different areas around the lake to make observations re-binoculars and checking for any signs on both sides of the logging road.
We found some fresh bear skat and a total of two bears  in the region of this lake .We checked numerous areas by foot and came up with several deer , possibly 1-cougar and a couple of bear tracks during this investigation .
Josh and I both decided that if an incident happened at this lake , that it happened at the only spot on the lake which has what looks like 3-camping spots all clustered together . It to me also looked like a more then likely area in which a Sasquatch could get to Gooseneck lake under cover of trees, though it would of most likely crossed at least 2-logging roads to get into this area .
All in all I enjoyed searching in a new area which was also scouted for future investigations .
Side notes :
No evidence was found or collected . 2-camper trailers with a couple people fishing on the lake .
Temp was +13 , breezy at times , high cloud cover , couple light showers .
Final thoughts:
The area requires further investigations , there are a few decent streams and rivers in the area with some good large tree stands above Gooseneck lake . Other lakes in the area include Middle Quinsom ,Upper Quinsom, Snakehead , Campbell ,Buttle ,Flume and Wokas lake .
I am hoping to have this sighting with vocals confirmed in the near future . Some of the details may change from this original post .

Pictures below are from our first investigation of Gooseneck Lake .

Above picture is of Josh looking for a bear we startled while heading in to Gooseneck Lake.

Above picture is of a possible bear track at Gooseneck Lake ?

Above picture is of one of the camping spots at Gooseneck Lake .Its also in the suspected Sasquatch sighting area .

Above picture is another of the same camping area at Gooseneck Lake .

      

Oyster River Area Research

The BCSO is continuing investigations in higher areas due to the retreating snow . We are targeting areas which we have been unable to access in previous months due to heavy snow .
The area we chose for this investigation is in close proximity to other evidence we have collected .
This investigation turned up 4-tracks , two were measured ,both were 19"long ,1-right  and 1-left . heel width on both tracks were 5.5" . ball width measurement of both tracks were 8" . The stride measuring heel to heel was 83 " and finally the depth of imprint was approx 3"deep .
Josh and myself both weigh approx 200lbs and our foot imprint depth was 3/4" in the same soil . Estimation of creatures weight is 800lbs if this math is accurate.
The other 2-tracks were in rough shape and in our opinion not worth paying much attention too.
These tracks were located above the oyster river in a small gravel pit . The tracks were located on the far left hand side of the pit and went up the grade and appeared to disappear as the creature left the pit and headed down into the forest .
Josh and I investigated the forested area around the pit . We followed a very well pronounced animal trail in the direction the tracks were heading finding scuffs along the way but no concrete evidence of any further Sasquatch tracks . We did however find a stick structure which we took several pictures of .
We then crossed a stream and then dropped into a forested valley .
After some investigation in this valley we came across what might have been an old logging or gold mining camp . Approx guess on the age of the camp based on old pieces of metal , oil can and other oddities was maybe the 1930's or 40s .
We then found some oddly busted and placed branches in two different areas around the camp but no further evidence was found.
From start to finish we spent 2hrs and 15 minutes investigating this evidence .

Side notes :
Tracks found at 1:15 pm April 30th/2011,some toe definition , in loose gravel , I'm guessing there was some sliding(dragging) in tracks , guessing actual size of foot to be 17" in length .Age of tracks 1 to 2 days .
Winds calm .
Temperature +13
Mainly clear with some cloud cover .
Observations in this area ; some other vehicles travelling the roads , kids shooting guns about 1.5 to 2klm from this pit .
Trail cam set up to take video , placement is between tracks found and stick structure .

Above picture : Right foot

Above picture: Josh measuring right foot impression

Above picture : Measuring stride distance heel to heel .

Above picture : Josh and I discussing the Sasquatches direction of travel .

Above picture : Directly behind josh is where we found the tracks which lead us down this side and eventually into a forested valley .

Above picture : Stick structure found approx 300' or 400 ' from edge of pit where tracks were found .

Mt Sicker Update :

I have made contact with a group of people who have been doing continued research on and around Mt Sicker near Duncan B.C.
They have reported some unidentified pictures and other evidence . They have been doing research in this area as recently as mid april/2011 .
Interest on and around Mt Sicker heated up when the BFRO released a report last summer (2010) which included a sighting , vocals and tracks found on a follow-up investigation .
The BCSO is planning another investigation (possibly a joint investigation )on Mt Sicker in the near future. Our findings will be posted as soon as our investigation has been completed .

Lee BCSO

Sasquatch Summit : Dr John Bindernagel

The Discovery of the Sasquatch .

The Discovery of the Sasquatch offers important insights not only about a potentially uncataloged species, but also about the humans who have thus far declined to investigate it. Bindernagel's scholarship unlocks a door to discovery that was carelessly shut long ago, but now stands wide open, waiting for us to walk through. http://www.beachcomberbooks.com/discovery/about.html