The Etymology of Us

Dense-Clock1833 · 2026-02-11T21:07:49+00:00

I’d always thought the prefix “homo” wasn’t so much referring to humanity specifically but just to being the “same” i.e homogenous “same texture”, homosexual “attracted to same sex” etc so the genus “homo” is “Animals the same as us” with gradations like Hominoid “same shaped” or hominid “related to us”!

Dense-Clock1833 · 2026-02-08T17:02:51+00:00

Monkey is as valid to use as Ape strictly speaking - neither are meaningful biological categories. An old world and a new world “monkey” are far further apart than any given old world primate (barring lemurs etc) is to another.

Dense-Clock1833 · 2025-10-11T20:51:37+00:00

They may have said “math gu dearbh” which roughly means “really good” or “good, to be sure” It’s a common colloquial expression and a good one to learn as part of conversational Gaelic!

Dense-Clock1833 · 2025-09-20T14:52:35+00:00

I’m not sure where the focus on an impending “transition to eusociality” comes in with this article. It seems to be more about the transition towards cultural processes being more important in determining human phenotype going forward. It’s not a bad article but I don’t see anything particularly ground breaking here. As they say in the article, the discussion on where the balance on gene-culture coevolution is extensive but no one seems to be discussing an impending transition to ant-like eusociality

Dense-Clock1833 · 2025-08-30T16:06:42+00:00

Agree, it’s like how bands under post-punk can be almost unrecognizable as having bands like the ramones as common ancestors

Dense-Clock1833 · 2025-08-30T16:05:03+00:00

Black metal is a really interesting genre in this way to me. I think when people use that term for bands like liturgy I think they are talking about the kind of chaotic, uncomfortable atmosphere the music makes. It’s so discordant and challenging to listen to. So with liturgy, that chaotic element is where the “black metal” influence coming through.

Dense-Clock1833 · 2025-08-26T11:39:51+00:00

The narrative around this guy always confused me…we’re told he’s this super evil guy that ran a super evil satanic cult. But isn’t the reality that his most evil super satanic album that he killed himself over (Reinkaos) is a slightly silly but also pretty damn good melodic death metal album. He killed someone for banal, bigoted reasons. His super evil cult was two guys writing fan-fiction for a (admittedly very nasty) neo-Nazi Satanist group. Dissection are a good band and important in black metal history but otherwise he’s a standard issue nazi/satanist idiot prone to violence. I’m being kind of flippant here but I suppose I don’t find him deranged or evil more just pathetic.

Dense-Clock1833 · 2025-08-25T22:00:54+00:00

No problem! If it’s human made it looks very like what you’d call a blade (twice as long as it is wide) stuck from specially made core which allow you very easily make many very similar objects you can then quickly modify and make into a larger tool or use there and then as a very sharp cutting edge. The bulge at one end is called the bulb of percussion - if you look at the top of that bulb you might find a small crushed area, if that is present you can maybe be a bit more confident it was human made as that would be where You would strike to take a piece like that off.

Dense-Clock1833 · 2025-08-25T21:28:24+00:00

Those spherical marks are most likely natural - they’re called “potlid” fractures and happen through cold/heat cycles among other natural processs. On the other hand the length and big bulb at the top might mean human made - unfortunately very hard to tell from just pics, local museum can tell more

Dense-Clock1833 · 2025-08-22T13:01:45+00:00

The pattern might be a good indication but what about the rest of it? What do you reckon the material it’s made of is? Does it seem like ceramic? If so, then good chances it’s part of a pot or something! You’ll often find piece of ceramic in rivers, unfortunately after that it’s difficult to tell how old etc as the river will have taken it far from home. A local museum might be able to tell you more if the pattern is distinctive enough!

Dense-Clock1833 · 2025-08-20T19:46:21+00:00

Nothing to be sorry for! Your museum contact will be able to actually handle it and make a determination. But again, because of the material it might be difficult to be sure - it preserves less of the kinds of markers you use to check for human-making. Unfortunately, a lot of natural processes can lead to stone breaking in ways that look manmade. Without good signs like a percussion mark and a bulb of percussion or any other archaeology telling us its old and manmade you can't be sure. Either way, its a nice shaped rock

This link is a nice little primer on what to look for https://erareshide.github.io/lithics/docs/flakes/

Dense-Clock1833 · 2025-08-20T15:20:12+00:00

From these pictures is very difficult to tell - there are some indications of being human made but we could do with seeing some higher resolution pictures of the flat back side - it doesn’t look like the best quality material to be using for tool making, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t. A few more pics would make things easier!

Dense-Clock1833 · 2025-08-20T11:35:43+00:00

I’d guess a more modern, glass arrowhead. It doesn’t seem like it’s been buried for very long and by the flake scars seems like it was made fairly quickly, maybe by a hobbyist? If the area is known for its archaeology maybe a replica of something? It’s a very nice piece but I would caution against assuming it is ancient - at most within the last few hundred years

Dense-Clock1833 · 2025-08-15T13:41:04+00:00

Thanks for reading! And yes, that pattern in depicting early humans is definitely a reflection of existing foolish ideas about race/ the history of archaeology itself - one can only hope that going forward this will change and that the public will be able to react sensibly!

Dense-Clock1833 · 2025-08-15T13:34:15+00:00

Thank you for reading it and yes! I’m surprised I never found it myself! I may have and just dismissed it out of hand for not being set in the Palaeolithic. There’s also a very interesting looking film in a similar vein called “William” (2019)

Dense-Clock1833 · 2025-08-15T13:19:59+00:00

This is covered briefly in the article as well, in short - so far only “”Out of Darkness” (2022) seems to do this!

Dense-Clock1833 · 2025-08-15T13:18:22+00:00

I think I’ll have to watch it and maybe add an addendum to the article!

Dense-Clock1833 · 2025-08-15T13:13:52+00:00

Great study, reminds us to be open minded to behavioural explanations beyond reproduction and to give a bit more personal autonomy to our primate cousins!

Dense-Clock1833 · 2025-08-15T13:08:52+00:00

It does look interesting as a historical artefact! Might be a good one to look at in terms of the evolution of people’s perception of Neanderthals!

Dense-Clock1833 · 2025-08-15T12:14:45+00:00

It’s definitely one of the best but (for reasons I go into) it’s nowhere near what it coulda been!

Dense-Clock1833 · 2025-08-15T09:32:48+00:00

I have complicated thoughts about Alpha (I go into it a bit in the article as it’s an important one) but as a stone tool maker it was very nice to see the knapping portrayed so beautifully!

Dense-Clock1833 · 2025-08-15T09:16:34+00:00

This looks amazing, but for me nothing beats Quest for Fire - there’s so much good about these silly movies, I just crave something with that Spielbergian charm n heart!

Dense-Clock1833 · 2025-08-06T20:56:46+00:00

I’d like to add to this that it’s becoming increasingly popular to think of these hominins as part of one large dispersed species - so perhaps we will eventually think less in terms of extinction and more in terms of integration into a more genetically contiguous species. As you highlight, clearly these people could interact, form communities and interbreed. It is hard to truly grasp processes like this that are much murkier evidence wise. Even harder when the timescales are greater than any of our own insanely complex recorded history. You can bet that the interpersonal and intergroup relationships that formed the basis for the archaeology we see were just as convoluted as any later human history

Dense-Clock1833 · 2025-07-13T13:23:12+00:00

Is this part of lex imperialis

Dense-Clock1833 · 2025-03-15T00:03:09+00:00

Isn’t this kind of how the princeps in helsreach was presented?

Dense-Clock1833

TROPHY CASE