Neanderthals May Have Lasted Longer than Scientist Thought

In our unscientific poll 35% of you believed that Bigfoot is a Neanderthal or an evolved Neanderthal.


Discovery News has an article that supports Neanderthals may have lasted longer than scientist previously thought. They may have even found the location of Neanderthals "last stand," lingering in Russia's Ural Mountains.

Discovery News: NEANDERTHALS' LAST STAND POSSIBLY FOUND
Most anthropologists believe modern humans began to replace Neanderthals starting around 75,000 to 50,000 years ago. Project leader Ludovic Slimak said the study suggests "that Neanderthals did not disappear due to climate shifts or cultural inferiority. It is clear that, showing such adaptability, the Mousterian cultures can no longer be considered as archaic."

Slimak, a University of Toulouse le Mirail anthropologist, Mangerud, and their colleagues made the determinations after analyzing hundreds of stone artifacts and remains of woolly rhinoceros, reindeer, musk ox, brown bear, wolf and polar fox unearthed at a site called Byzovaya in the western foothills of the Polar Urals. Dates were obtained for sand at the site as well as for some of the bones, many of which "have cut marks that indicate processing by humans," according to the researchers.

The tools attributed to the Neanderthal's Mousterian style (named after the site of Le Moustier in southern France, where they were first identified) were mostly flakes, which the scientists recreated by banging a hard hammer on select stones. It's therefore likely that the original creators of the tools used a similar manufacturing method. The preserved flakes could have been used to make two-sided scrapers, perhaps for hunting, removing meat from bones, or working with animal hides.

EXTERNAL LINKS
Discovery News: Neanderthals Last Stand

Animal Planet Finds Bigfoot June 5th

Two sources bring to our attention the official release date of Animal Planet's Finding Bigfoot

FIRST SOURCE: REAL SCREEN

Looking to end the 100-year old search for the mythical creature, Animal Planet is joining forces with Bigfoot researchers on a new series Finding Bigfoot.

As highlighted in Animal Planet’s upfront presentation and airing on June 5 at 9 pm (ET/PT), the Ping Pong Productions six-part series follows a team of Bigfoot researchers in their cross-country expedition to locate the beast.

The four-person team from the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization (BFRO) goes to locations of alleged Sasquatch sightings to investigate with reconstructions and the latest technology to determine whether they were real or not.

The BFRO team is made up of a former roadie, a science teacher, the BFRO president and a skeptical scientist.

Keith Hoffman is the executive producer for Animal Planet, Brad Kuhlman and Casey Brumels are the executive producers for Ping Pong Productions and Marc Etkind is VP of development for Animal Planet

.

SECOND SOURCE: VARIETY ONLINE

Animal Planet has set a premiere date for "Finding Bigfoot," its new hourlong skein devoted to hunting down the much-mythologized critter over the course of six episodes. The show will premiere Sunday, June 5 at 9 p.m.

Show follows a four-person team from the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization, which exists, as they search for the Sasquatch in forests across the country where sightings have been reported: North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Washington, Oregon, and Alaska.

“The main mission of the BFRO is to resolve the mystery surrounding this great American phenomenon,” said org co-founder Matt Moneymaker. “I can’t think of a better way to do that than by going on location and visiting each reported Sasquatch sighting.”

FULL OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE

ANIMAL PLANET HUNTS FOR THE ELUSIVE SASQUATCH IN NEW SERIES, "FINDING BIGFOOT"

-- New Six-Part Series Follows the Sleuths of the Bigfoot Field Research Organization As They Traverse the Country in Search of the Legendary Beast --

(Silver Spring, MD, May 4, 2011) - For hundreds of years, Americans in nearly every state have claimed they've spotted the mysterious and unexplainable creature known as Bigfoot, or Sasquatch. However, no one has proven that this pedaled creature - reportedly standing more than seven-feet tall and covered from head to toe in dark hair - actually exists. And as the myth grows, so does the passion for validating its existence once and for all!

Beginning Sunday, June 5, at 10 PM (ET/PT), Animal Planet joins the quest with FINDING BIGFOOT. In each hour-long episode of the six-part series, cameras follow a team of Bigfoot researchers in a cross-country expedition to dissolve the myth and locate the elusive beast.

A four-person team from the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization (BFRO) - the leading scientific research organization exploring the Bigfoot/Sasquatch mystery - investigates supposed Sasquatch sightings by interviewing locals, examining evidence and infiltrating the woodlands and forests in places where Bigfoot has been reported, including Georgia, North Carolina, Florida, Washington, Oregon and Alaska. In each state, the team listens to harrowing tales of run-ins with Bigfoot before generating reconstructions of the encounters to judge their plausibility or dismiss them as hoaxes. Then, outfitted with the latest technology, including night-vision and infrared cameras, the team sets out on exhilarating and eerie investigations where any broken branch or peculiar noise could mean a Sasquatch is lurking nearby.

The BFRO Team is comprised of a former roadie (Bobo), a science teacher (Cliff), the BFRO president (Matt) and a skeptical scientist (Ranae); each teammate has varying experiences with Bigfoot and differing beliefs about the existence of this enigma. What binds them together, however, is their longing to understand the creature, passion for proving its existence and willingness to stop at nothing to finally track down Bigfoot. In the end, will they verify the presence of Bigfoot and convert skeptics, or will this obscure American legend elude them too?

"The main mission of the BFRO is to resolve the mystery surrounding this great American phenomenon," says Matt Moneymaker, co-founder of BRFO. "I can't think of a better way to do that than by going on location and visiting each reported Sasquatch sighting."

FINDING BIGFOOT is produced for Animal Planet by Ping Pong Productions. Keith Hoffman is the executive producer for Animal Planet. Brad Kuhlman and Casey Brumels are the executive producers for Ping Pong Productions. Marc Etkind is Vice President of development for Animal Planet.

Animal Planet Media
###

EXTERNAL LINKS
Real Screen: Animal Planet searching for Bigfoot
Variety: Bigfoot found! (Maybe)

In Defense of Todd Standing

Well somebody has to do it (defend Todd Standing, that is). His mother wont return our phone calls and and his sister has denied all knowledge. The first part is a joke and the latter is true. For the record, Louis Standing was very kind and polite both times we contacted her.

No, no! Its not us, we are not in the defend Todd Standing Camp. In fact, he is one of only two individuals we continually mock here; Tom Biscardi and Todd Standing. These two controversial characters are considered hoaxers by some, and there is not much tolerance for hoaxers in this community of Sasquatch searchers. Nor should there be.

With that said, we also know how smart our fans are and they can form their own opinions. The gist of his letter is Adrian Erickson bought all of Todd Standing's films and material and that is why his site and youtube channel disappeared. We have mentioned our concern with with the Erickson project purchasing Standings materials before.

Below Richard Stubstad references our post titled Todd Standing Jumps the Shark, and takes the time to defend Todd. Let us know what you think. Without further ado...

My name is Richard Stubstad, and my rather intense but admittedly limited involvement in the bigfoot or sasquatch world is briefly summed up at the following link:

http://www.footprintsinyourmind.com/Richard_Stubstad. Basically, what I did both before and after all the hoopla about Todd's purported "Jumping the Shark" is research at least what could be fairly conclusively researched, and either confirmed or denied.

Firstly, Todd didn't really Jump the Shark; his footage etc. was bought out and he was therefore forced to shut down his Sylvanic.com website as it originally existed. Actually, this would support the theory that many of you seem to have that he is making "tons of money" from his work (hoaxed or otherwise). I don't really know how much money he has made, in total, to-date. I do know however that his work is continuing, but now with better equipment in his possession. I also believe (but do not know for sure) that the amount of money he's made to-date is FAR less than what he has spent over the last several years on either taking real videos of sasqaui (the plural of sasquatch) or hoaxing these videos & pictures.

Eventually I purchased for a whopping $5 each all three of Todd’s videos and had a look-see myself, as did several of my "bigfooter" friends. After some time expired (a month or two after the release of Video 4), I finally called Todd up there in Edmonton and had about a one-hour conversation with him; not so much to find out whether his stuff was hoaxed or not (he’d of course say it wasn’t hoaxed, regardless) but just in case it wasn’t hoaxed, then what about some of the details that you folks have brought up, and other details no one mentioned yet? While his explanations to my questions seemed a little outlandish, well, so is the idea itself of a hominid called sasquatch, so what did I know? I for one have never seen one, or even seen anything I could mistake as a sasquatch. Ergo, does sasquatch exist? Does a wolverine exist? Maybe the former, definitely the latter, even though I’ve never seen either.

Todd and also his wife also explained to me that it wasn't even Todd's camera that he used on "Expedition 4"; it was his stepson's camera and he didn't bother to check the date on it, let alone reset the date before he departed on this purported one-man, half-cocked as he probably was.

Next, I can report what I got out of the conversation, over and above any conclusions about whether or not his stuff is the real deal: Todd is a very spiritual guy, with a whole lot of “faith” in what he calls the First Nation peoples—the American Indian tribes. He has obviously relied on the history and knowledge that these Native Americans possess, even though most of their history is not recorded in writing but rather has been passed down through oral traditions. He also relies heavily on the First Nation folks' knowledge of the wilderness, both regarded bigfoot and otherwise. Conclusion: Todd is definitely a kind-of “romantic” and is quite an eccentric, at least on European-American terms and maybe even on anyone’s terms. Having said that, I still don’t have much of a clue whether his stuff is the real deal or not—after all, once again, I wasn’t there!

I also asked Todd whether he gathered any supporting evidence during his Video 4 expedition, for example something we could extract DNA from, such as hair roots or swatches of blood. “Well, no,” Todd explained. He “didn't really believe that DNA sequencing could be carried out that would prove or disprove the existence of such a creature, so I didn't bother to look for any evidence apart from the video footage and pictures from his stepson’s camera.” He also didn't bother to cast any tracks, and in fact I doubt if he had any plaster of Paris with him—too much stuff to carry along on a one-man wilderness trek, to be sure.

I beg to differ with him on the DNA part of what he said, and I told him so. He said that he could try, this year (2011), to get some hair (with roots) at least. We'll have to wait and see, then, if he does so. He said he would, but I don’t really know if he was serious (let alone honest).

Last but not least, when the folks on the various bigfoot forums who claim to “know” that Todd Standing actually hoaxed some or all of his materials, I did check out the assertion that his purported Search and Rescue of October 2010 was also hoaxed. I did this with the help of a forensic-type friend of mine who is also peripherally into the bigfoot-associated business, and he (or she) quite easily found the following local newspaper clipping:

RCMP Report

Columbia Valley Pioneer October 22, 2010 Edition (Weekly regional newspaper)

Submitted by Staff

Sgt. Marko Shehovac

Columbia Valley RCMP

• On October 19th, Columbia Valley RCMP were contacted regarding a man who was dropped off in the back country and had not returned. The 37-year-old from Edmonton was dropped off in the Mitchell River area, off Settlers Road, approximately 47-kilometres from Invermere, on Tuesday, October 12th. He had arranged to be picked up from there on Sunday. When he failed to return he was reported missing to the police on Sunday night. Invermere Search and Rescue were contacted and while searching for the man, discovered his sleeping bag. No other equipment was located. Police were aided by a police service dog out of Cranbrook. On Tuesday, October 20th, additional Search and Rescue from Kimberley and the RCMP helicopter arrived to continue the search. At approximately 10 a.m., Search and Rescue came upon the man, who was unhurt. He explained that he had been unable to get back on time for his pick up. The Detachment would like to thank both Invermere and Kimberley Search and Rescue for their assistance in resolving this matter.

While the above newspaper clipping doesn't really prove anything about whether Todd Standing hoaxed his Video 4 or not, it does mean that at least part of what he maintains towards the beginning of the video happened, and DID in fact happen, pretty much as he explained in his now off-line Video 4. It also shows that the RCMP et. al. apparently withheld his name—unless there was, all of a sudden, someone else of the same age and hometown as Todd's, and on the same exact date who was also "rescued" in the same general area? Or: unless I'm actually hoaxing the above newspaper clipping? If you'd like a web link to this very clipping, please contact me by email (Stubstad@VenturaMail.net) and I'll send you the link, just in case you really are such a die-hard skeptic that you believe I'm in on the so-called "obvious" Todd Standing hoax(es) as well?

Best of luck to all of you, whether you are a bigfoot believer or not. It is certainly true that much of the existing evidence HAS been hoaxed. I personally doubt that ALL of it has. The best quality film or video evidence—the P-G Film and the Todd Standing footage—well, I don't really know for sure and I probably never will, since no DNA exists that can be associated with either.

Richard Stubstad

Ojai, California