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"And if you do happen find a jawbone in your bathroom, my suggestion is first to contact the local authorities. Sure, a fossil in travertine likely comes from h

• lucioperca 2y ago
  Correct me if I am wrong, but this was in a cut limestone plate. So if it was a crime, I am sure the murderer is long deceased and probably not even a homo sapiens.
  • tokai 2y ago
    Still human remains.
    • deleted 2y ago
      [deleted]
    • iopq 2y ago
      [citation needed] it's humanoid remains, but not modern human
      • tokai 2y ago
        Right back at you with the citation needed. Humanoid is not a taxonomic term anymore. All Homo are humans. Never said modern, which it obviously isn't.
        • iopq 2y ago
          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human > Although some scientists equate the term "humans" with all members of the genus Homo, in common usage it generally refers to Homo sapiens, the only extant member.
          • swatcoder 2y ago
            There's no citation for that claim and it would be unlikely for there to be one. It's just some dude's personal impression about a subjective matter (a word in transition), and carries no more weight than any other comment being made here. A more meaningful source would be a usage guide like Garner's Modern English.
            • iopq 2y ago
              Okay, link to your source
            • denton-scratch 2y ago
              Actually, it is cited. The fragment you quoted is from the lede, which is supposed to summarize the rest of the material. So if you read on to the section "Etymology and definition", you find that the same claim is cited to Merriam Webster. As it happens, this citation is useless, because it doesn't support the claim. Basically, I think it's fraudulent to cite that claim to that MW article.
          • DonHopkins 2y ago
            I don't wanna classify you like an animal in the zoo, but it seems good to me to know that you're Homosapien too. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HwmO_GZfzI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HwmO_GZfzI
      • silverquiet 2y ago
        I feel like this is peak HN pedantry, but it seems like there's some controversy amongst anthropologists these days as how to sort of colloquially define human; I've heard some say that any species in the genus homo should qualify.
        • galangalalgol 2y ago
          And how to legally define human is extremely controversial and always has been.
        • navane 2y ago
          [flagged]
          • silverquiet 2y ago
            Perhaps my mind is so open that it's in danger of falling out, but when people say that that's so easy to define and then don't do so, I get really confused. I'm like, have you ever seen a dude who looks like a lady? It's a question that's bedeviled sports for a long time actually - in the 60's the Olympics required "nude parades" to check that competitors were in fact women, but obviously that had some problems. I believe they eventually settled on some sort of hormone ratio as the definition.
            • iopq 2y ago
              Yes, this dude looks like a lady: https://64.media.tumblr.com/83308f0513790d8503264e72aa5e854a/37840f84773c473e-66/s540x810/63354126dc1ffa77ee5b227c41f52e1d7b5e281d.jpg https://64.media.tumblr.com/83308f0513790d8503264e72aa5e854a...
            • thaumasiotes 2y ago
              In the classical Olympics, as in all Greek athletic competitions, all competitors were required to be nude during the events. You can't compete in clothes. It didn't cause any problems.
              • 2y ago
      • denton-scratch 2y ago
        I thought the term "humanoid" referred to bipedal aliens with bilateral symmetry. Or to human-like robots.
        • shiroiushi 2y ago
          "Humanoid" refers to anything with a human body morphology (i.e., bipedal, two legs, two arms, head). That can be actual humans, human-looking robots, bipedal aliens with bilateral symmetry, or even Barbie dolls I suppose.
      • kergonath 2y ago
        It’s something that looks like human remains, and that needs to be imaged properly to have a definitive answer.
  • darkhorn 2y ago
    You argue with someone and police makes a visit. Searches your criminal history and sees one line "investigated for murder". Guess what might happen. Nothing right? Because we live in a perfect world.
    • happyopossum 2y ago
      > Searches your criminal history and sees one line "investigated for murder". That's not even remotely close to how police records work in the US. It fits the narrative, but is completely ignorant of reality.
      • darkhorn 2y ago
        Not everyone lives in USA.
    • outworlder 2y ago
      > "investigated for murder" Seriously overestimating the willingness of police to give a shit about what are clearly _really old_ remains. The CYA part about talking to authorities (whoever applicable in your jurisdiction, not necessarily police) still applies. There are often laws about human remains. THOSE would show on your record if this is mishandled.
  • buildsjets 2y ago
    That will be a great comfort to know, after the trigger happy local yokel cops shoot you in the head while executing their no-knock warrant because they think that you are reaching for a hidden weapon.
  • denton-scratch 2y ago
    I think the theory is that if you don't tell the cops before anyone else, then when they find out they might try to bust you for failing to report human remains. Even the dimmest sheriff wouldn't try to persuade a prosecutor that a fossil was the victim of a living murderer.
  • shiroiushi 2y ago
    >So if it was a crime, I am sure the murderer is long deceased and probably not even a homo sapiens. If it was a "murder", it had to be a homo sapiens. Killings by wild animals aren't called "murders". However, if this was a Neanderthal person, it's quite possible the murder was by a fellow Neanderthal, aka homo sapiens neanderthalensis. (Apparently it's still debated whether the Neanderthals are a distinct species or a subspecies of homo sapiens.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neanderthal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neanderthal
• fnordian_slip 2y ago
  Well, I'm not telling you how to live your life, but someone who used to work in a related field, please at least consider it if you ever are in that situation. It's always useful to have more data, and some data will always come from random findings like this. Maybe AI image recognition is good enough by then to actually determine if it is from a human or some other animal, so that you know beforehand that your paperwork will not be in vain at least. I don't expect that there will be much of a police investigation, the age should be rather obvious in most cases. On the other hand I've heard that there are states where the police get less than half a year of training, so maybe there will be one. But still, think of the potential scientific value :)
  • Zandikar 2y ago
    If the recommended course of action to contribute here is to involve the police and inform them there might be human remains on your property, then I strongly doubt you're gonna get many people willing at all. If this is a genuine and serious potential source of fact finding/analysis that is of value to the field, then the field needs to find a less... lets call it polarizing, option.
    • montagg 2y ago
      I think the other comment is more accurate: this isn’t about polarization, it’s a potential threat to your safety.
      • kergonath 2y ago
        Involving the police for something like that is not a threat to your safety in a civilised country. It is, indeed, the best course of action in any country with a functioning police force.
        • lesostep 2y ago
          Well, a functioning police force wouldn't mind if you reach to online communities and paleontologists to verify that those remains are human before reaching to police to file a report, I'd assume. And so, if the law force action could have serious consequences, then the tiles would be better left untouched, no paperwork needed. And if it couldn't, then it's okay not to file paperwork first.
• kashyapc 2y ago
  Yeah, most people's lives are complicated enough as is. This "suggestion" is asking you to go well out of your way to get buried in some tedious paperwork and investigations. Only those who are into fossils might give a care. Also notice how smoothly they equate a potential fossil with "human remains". Yeah, technically right.
  • nsxwolf 2y ago
    And misunderstandings about "human remains" somewhere in some complicated cross jurisdictional chain of command could end up with you in handcuffs, or shot. Or the media could run some poorly researched human interest story about you that makes you sound like Jeffrey Dahmer.
    • astrange 2y ago
      Or something that's never happened can continue never happening. People have found hominid fossils out in public before and it's been obvious they were fossils. The worst that's happened is they're returned to native tribes who then keep them.
• tomxor 2y ago
  I'm also pretty sure there are more human skeletal remains than any other species on the planet, whether comparing by count or mass. Whether or not that's already making it into materials used in fancy house decorating materials is a more complicated question I guess.
• autoexec 2y ago
  Seriously. People have ended up dead from calling the police about things far less likely to cause concern/confusion than "I have dead human parts in my bathroom"
  • smsm42 2y ago
    Maybe "I have dead human parts in my bathroom" is not the best way to explain the situation and one would be served better if they concentrated on how to make the communication convey the intended message the best, instead of being satisfied with "technically correct is the best kind of correct".
    • throwway120385 2y ago
      Like opening with "I'm pretty sure this is a non-issue, but there's a fossilized jawbone fragment in some travertines I just had installed. Do you need to investigate that or are we good?"
    • buildsjets 2y ago
      You need to read the old internet 1.0 lore "In The Beginning there was Plan" and then consider how communication happens in any bureaucratic organization. (Poorly, intermittently, and with multiple transmission errors) You tell the dispatcher that you found a fossilized jawbone in your tile, by the time the report makes it's way to the responding officer the story is you found a severed head in your sink.