Molly Molthan- 10/29

The Aitape Skull

http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/26/world/ancient-skull-tsunami-victim/index.html

Aitape is a small coastal town north of Papua New Guinea. It was discovered in 1929 and since then archaeologists have been flooding the town for research. What they found was an ancient skull dating back to six thousand years ago and they think it is the first survivor of a tsunami. Paul S Hossfeld discovered this and he first thought that it was a specimen from the skull of an extinct relative of modern humans. This will offer historical context that will prove to us how people live and faced natural disasters back six thousand years ago. Papua New Guinea is located just north of Australia and is a very historical and beautiful country. In 1998, a tsunami hit the country and killed about two thousand people. Scientists that went to asses the damage started to notice ancient fossils from ancient tsunamis. Sue Dawson, a geographer, studied the skull and concluded that there is no way to know if it belonged to someone who died before the tsunami or their grave was disturbed by it.

This is very important and will affect not only Us history but the world’s history. In the future when these scientists discover more about this skull and possibly discover more fossils, it will be a ground breaking discovery. Back six thousand years ago, humans lived differently than we do now and there were many species that are now extinct. The discovery of The Aitape Skull opened a door to many more discoveries that will affect history and bring popularity to Papua New Guniea from scientists.