Every Homo naledi we know of is female, and the implications are fascinating (arstechnica.com)

submitted 4 days ago by Midnight@slrpnk.net to c/archaeology@mander.xyz

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[-] tristynalxander@mander.xyz 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

How different are AMELX & AMELY and what specifically are they testing for? Is it possible a species mutation in the Y variant made it look more like the X variant in the tests? Can they do whole protein mass spec to verify the protein identity?

Okay, I found the paper, they did test by mass spec though it's complicated by degradation. Still, they say there are 23 diagnostic amino acid substitutions, and of the 18 residue polymorphisms the species only has two, so probably not a back mutation misinterpretation. I agree with their analysis.

Yeah, I don't know. That's the extent of my expertise. If the archaeology people say it's the woman-cave, they probably know best.

this post was submitted on 25 Jun 2026

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Archaeology

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Archaeology or archeology[a] is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscapes.

Archaeology has various goals, which range from understanding culture history to reconstructing past lifeways to documenting and explaining changes in human societies through time.

The discipline involves surveying, excavation, and eventually analysis of data collected, to learn more about the past. In broad scope, archaeology relies on cross-disciplinary research. Read more...

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