Tracking traces telling

From Asgardia to ancient African steel

History-telling is the ability not to recall what somewhat said, though story-telling is important, but the ability to read the traces in their contexts, and the recursivity of this process amidst those contexts of telling that layer us between the lines of our lifes as we track to and fro. If interupted. Or even if interrupted by extinction and steel.

Like how footprints were preserved by volcanoes. Or that steel was invented in Africa 2000 years (possibly/likely) before the Bessemer process.

I cover the broader taphonomy of this notice in terms of archaeology and evolutionary fossils within our very cells at Divining the… —gap : St Ciarán, Nick Lane, Lynn Margulis, Roger Penrose and the taphonomy of gaps within us (this post is an postscript).

In recent years there has been identification on our cell’s nearest ancestors in Nature “Asgard Archaea Illuminate the Origin of Eukaryotic Cellular Complexity.” With coverage at The “Asgard archaea” are our own cells’ closest relatives

This last month there has been also in Nature “Inference and Reconstruction of the Heimdallarchaeial Ancestry of Eukaryotes” with coverage at ‘ “We’re All Asgardians”: Scientists Discover New Clues About the Origin of Complex Life.’

Back to the steel interruption… —so I was pleased also this last week by reading the following by Christopher Ehret in his introduction to his recent book Ancient Africa: A Global History, to 300 CE.

Ehret, Christopher. Ancient Africa: A Global History, to 300 CE. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2023.

The other references

Eme, Laura, Daniel Tamarit, Eva F. Caceres, Courtney W. Stairs, Valerie De Anda, Max E. Schön, Kiley W. Seitz, et al. “Inference and Reconstruction of the Heimdallarchaeial Ancestry of Eukaryotes.” Nature 618, no. 7967 (June 2023): 992–99. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06186-2.

John Timmer. “The ‘Asgard Archaea’ Are Our Own Cells’ Closest Relatives.” Ars Technica, January 14, 2017. https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/01/microbes-found-that-are-the-closest-living-relatives-of-complex-cells/.

University of Texas at Austin. ‘ “We’re All Asgardians”: Scientists Discover New Clues About the Origin of Complex Life,’ July 28, 2023. https://scitechdaily.com/were-all-asgardians-scientists-discover-new-clues-about-the-origin-of-complex-life/?expand_article=1.

Zaremba-Niedzwiedzka, Katarzyna, Eva F. Caceres, Jimmy H. Saw, Disa Bäckström, Lina Juzokaite, Emmelien Vancaester, Kiley W. Seitz, et al. “Asgard Archaea Illuminate the Origin of Eukaryotic Cellular Complexity.” Nature 541, no. 7637 (January 2017): 353–58. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature21031.