This Day in Goodlove History, June 27, 2014

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Jeffery Lee Goodlove email address: Jefferygoodlove@aol.com

Surnames associated with the name Goodlove have been spelled the following different ways; Cutliff, Cutloaf, Cutlofe, Cutloff, Cutlove, Cutlow, Godlib, Godlof, Godlop, Godlove, Goodfriend, Goodlove, Gotleb, Gotlib, Gotlibowicz, Gotlibs, Gotlieb, Gotlob, Gotlobe, Gotloeb, Gotthilf, Gottlieb, Gottliebova, Gottlob, Gottlober, Gottlow, Gutfrajnd, Gutleben, Gutlove

The Chronology of the Goodlove, Godlove, Gottlob, Gottlober, Gottlieb (Germany, Russia, Czech etc.), and Allied Families of Battaile, (France), Crawford (Scotland), Harrison (England), Jackson (Ireland), Jefferson, LeClere (France), Lefevre (France), McKinnon (Scotland), Plantagenets (England), Smith (England), Stephenson (England?), Vance (Ireland from Normandy), Washington, Winch (England, traditionally Wales), including correspondence with George Rogers Clark, and including ancestors William Henry Harrison, Andrew Jackson, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, John Adams, John Quincy Adams and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Martin Van Buren, Teddy Roosevelt, U.S. Grant, Benjamin Harrison “The Signer”, Benjamin Harrison, Jimmy Carter, Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis, William Taft, John Tyler (10th President), James Polk (11th President)Zachary Taylor, and Abraham Lincoln.
The Goodlove Family History Website:
http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/g/o/o/Jeffery-Goodlove/index.html
The Goodlove/Godlove/Gottlieb families and their connection to the Cohenim/Surname project:

• New Address! http://wwwfamilytreedna.com/public/goodlove/default.aspx

• • Books written about our unique DNA include:

• “Abraham’s Children, Race, Identity, and the DNA of the Chosen People” by Jon Entine.
•
• “ DNA & Tradition, The Genetic Link to the Ancient Hebrews” by Rabbi Yaakov Kleiman, 2004.


Birthdays on June 27…
Charles IX
William Diggs
Rebecca Godlove
Patrick LeClere
Rosa L. McKee Holliday
June 27, 1542
Spanish explorer, Juan Rodrigues Cabrillo, sails up the California coast, claiming the territory for Spain. Some fifty years after Columbus first sets foot in the Americas find neither towns or people. No one stands in their way. Most of the people are dead and nature has reclaimed the land. Everything that they now find is pure wilderness, a garden of Eden without humans.
Smallpox was accidentally introduced to the Americas in the 16th century. In blankets used by smallpox victims the scabs can live for two weeks. Small pox can also exist on a transatlantic vessel going from host to host until it reaches the Americas. When smallpox reached the Americas it was introduced to millions of new human hosts, who had no acquired immunities to these diseases. Smallpox, together with measles and influenza had a devastating effect on the native American populations. Conservative estimates are a 50 percent mortality rate. Other estimates go to 90 percent or higher. Through trade between native peoples diseases spread throughout the entire continent. Many died of foreign diseases without ever seeing a European. Microbes move faster then the Conquistitors that brought them.
June 27, 1550: Charles IX, King of France (June 27, 1550 – May 30, 1574). Married Elizabeth of Austria in 1570.
June 27, 1551: The Edict of Châteaubriant (June 27, 1551) called upon the civil and ecclesiastical courts to detect and punish all heretics and placed severe restrictions on Huguenots, including the loss of one-third of their property to informers, and confiscations. It also strictly regulated publications by prohibiting the sale, importation or printing of any unapproved book. It was during the reign of Henry II that Huguenot attempts at establishing a colony in Brazil were made, with the short-lived formation of France Antarctique.[5]
Italian War of 1551–1559
Main article: Italian War of 1551–1559


Entrance of Henri II in Metz in 1552, after the signature of the Treaty of Chambord.
The Eighth Italian War of 1551–1559, sometimes known as the Habsburg–Valois War, began when Henry declared war against Holy Roman Emperor Charles V with the intent of recapturing Italy and ensuring French, rather than Habsburg, domination of European affairs. Persecution of Protestants at home did not prevent Henry II from becoming allied with German Protestant princes at the Treaty of Chambord in 1552. Simultaneously, the continuation of his father's Franco-Ottoman alliance allowed Henry II to push for French conquests towards the Rhine while a Franco-Ottoman fleet defended southern France.[6] An early offensive into Lorraine was successful. Henry captured the three episcopal cities of Metz, Toul, and Verdun, and secured them by defeating the Habsburg army at the Battle of Renty in 1554. However the attempted French invasion of Tuscany in 1553 was defeated at the Battle of Marciano.
After the abdication of Charles V in 1556, the Habsburg empire was split between Philip II of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I. The focus of Henry's conflict with the Hapsburgs shifted to Flanders, where Phillip, in conjunction with Emmanuel Philibert of Savoy, defeated the French at the Battle of St. Quentin (1557). England's entry into the war later that year led to the French capture of Calais, and French armies plundered Spanish possessions in the Low Countries. Henry was nonetheless forced to accept the Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis, in which he renounced any further claims to territories in Italy.

June 27, 1567: Bothwell unimpeded sails from the harbour with three vessels, and steers his course towards Orkney. The council then give some ships of war to Kirkcaldy, who goes in pursuit of Bothwell. He
overtakes him, and captures two of his vessels. Bothwell escapes in the third, and steers for Norway, but is taken prisoner by the Danish cruizers, and accused of piracy. Conducted by them to Denmark, he is thrown into prison at Malmoë, where, in spite of his remonstrances, he remains confined during the rest of his life.

June 27, 1630: Charles was baptised in the Chapel Royal on June 27, by the Anglican Bishop of London William Laud and brought up in the care of the Protestant Countess of Dorset, though his godparents included his maternal uncle and grandmother, Marie de' Medici, both of whom were Catholics.[2] At birth, Charles automatically became Duke of Cornwall and Duke of Rothesay, along with several other associated titles. At or around his eighth birthday, he was designated Prince of Wales, though he was never formally invested with the Honours of the Principality of Wales.[1]
During the 1640s, when Charles was still young, his father fought Parliamentary and Puritan forces in the English Civil War. Charles accompanied his father during the Battle of Edgehill and, at the age of fourteen, participated in the campaigns of 1645, when he was made titular commander of the English forces in the West Country.[3] By Spring 1646, his father was losing the war, and Charles left England due to fears for his safety, going first to the Isles of Scilly, then to Jersey, and finally to France, where his mother was already living in exile and his first cousin, eight-year-old Louis XIV, was king.[4]
In 1648, during the Second English Civil War, Charles moved to The Hague, where his sister Mary and his brother-in-law William II, Prince of Orange, seemed more likely to provide substantial aid to the royalist cause than the Queen's French relations.[5] However, the royalist fleet that came under Charles's control was not used to any advantage, and did not reach Scotland in time to join up with the royalist Engagers army of the Duke of Hamilton, before it was defeated at the Battle of Preston by the Parliamentarians.[6]
At The Hague, Charles had a brief affair with Lucy Walter, who later falsely claimed that they had secretly married.[7] Her son, James Crofts (afterwards Duke of Monmouth and Duke of Buccleuch), was one of Charles's many acknowledged illegitimate children who became prominent in British political life and society.


Thursday June 27, 1754
An Indian messenger brings news that a French army has been gathered at Fort Duquesne and soon will be moving south towards the British force. Washington decides to end the road building work and also to ask Captain Mackay to bring his South Carolina company from the Great Meadows to Gist's Plantation.

Washington‘s last journal entry of the campaign was on June 27, 1754. It also mentions road
building:
June 27, 1754: Detached Captain Lewis, Lieutenant Waggoner and Ensign Mercer, two
Sergeants, two Corporals, one drummer and sixty men, in order to endeavor to clear a
road to the mouth of RedStone Creek, on Monongahela.


June 27, 1583: James VI, who had called together a meeting of his nobles at St. Andrews^ suddenly occupies the castle with the troops on whom he could rely, and shuts himself up there, with the Earls of
Crawford, Huntly, Argyll, and Marischal, and defends it from all th adherents of Gowrie, Marr, and Angus, and resumes the exercise of the regal authority.


June 27, 1709: Peter the Great defeats Charles XII of Sweden at the Battle of Poltava. The Russian victory marked the beginning of the end for Sweden as a major European military and political power. Charles XI, the father of Charles XII had banned Jews from living in Sweden. Charles XII did not adhere to his father’s wishes since he used Jewish merchants as court treasurers and royal paymaster for his armies when they were in the field. The father’s religious concerns were overridden by the son’s financial needs. Peter the Great did not want Jews living in his ever expanding kingdom. During the war with Sweden, when the fighting reached Poland, Russian soldiers were given in a free hand in looting and pillaging the Jewish property and taking whatever liberties they wished with the Jewish populace.

June 27, 1710
Each man's proportion to a tax of œ10, to procure a stock of
ammunition, June 27, 1710.
[N. B.--The reader will observe a line separating the names into two nearly equal divisions. It was probably intended to distinguish those who lived N. from those who lived S. of the river.]

John Shers, 01 11
Tomptson Wood, 01 02
Benj. Neland, 01 02
Abiall Lamb, 02 02
Samuel Frisell, 01 00
Jos. Parker, 00 10
John Wood, 01 03
Samuel Winch, 02 03
David Winch, 00 09
Micell Pike, 01 03
Jerem. Pike, 02 00
William Pike, 01 02
Jeames Pike, 01 03
John Jones, 00 09
Abr. Bellknop, 01 11
Edward Wright, 01 02
John Town, 03 00
Isrell Town, 00 10
Ephrim Town, 00 09
John Brus, 01 04
Eccobod Hemenway 01 09
Amos Waite, 01 01
Daniel Mexter, 02 01
Benj. Willerd, 01 03
Benj. Provender, 00 09
Philip Gleason, 00 09
Caleb Jonson, 00 10
Nath. Willson, 01 08
Nath. Willson, Jr. 00 09
Thomas Frostt, Jr, 01 03
Dea. Josh. Hemenway, 02 00
Samuel How, 02 00
Matthew Gibbs, 01 03
John Frostt,

June 27, 1776

LETTER TO VIRGINIA GAZETTE

To the Printers:
Gentlemen,
It is with great reluctance we are drawn into this publication. Had our enemies meditated their attacks against our person or property, we had been silent; but they have, in violation of truth, of duties of society, and of every principle of generosity, practiced very cruel and insidious arts to deprive us of much higher value . . . . our characters as men, and the esteem of our fellow citizens. They have reported us to our brethren as traitors to the American Cause and consequently inimical to their dearest invaluable rights. We are accused of holding connections with the avowed enemies to this greatly injured country.
It is therefore incumbent on us to challenge those wicked men into open light, that we may have the opportunity of evincing our innocence to the world in the most public manner. In the interim we set them at the utmost defiance, and are,
Yours Etc
William Crawford
John Stephenson.

“June 27, 1777: At ten-thirty the entire army marched away from the left. The march was very strenuous again and the day unbearably hot, to which was added a shortage of beverages. Our regiment lost a man who was so worn out by the heat and the march that he dropped dead. The British and Hessians withdrew in two columns to Rahway, where it
was protected by the Rahway River.

June 27, 1777 the Congress recorded:
That there be advanced to Colonel George Morgan, 20,000 dollars, for compleating the
payment of monies he has engaged for on contracts for provisions, which are directed to
be laid up in magazines at Fort Pitt, for the supply of the different garrisons in that
quarter; for the expenditure of which, the said Colonel George Morgan is to be
accountable.
Ordered, That the same be advanced.

June 27, 1782
There was one council held at which I was not present. The warriors had sent for me as usual, but the squaw with whom I lived would not suffer me to go, but hid me under a large quantity of skins. It may have been from an unwillingness that I should hear in council the determination with respect to me, that I should be burnt.
About this time, twelve men were brought in from Kentucky, three of whom were burnt on this day; the remainder were distributed to other towns, and all, as the Indians informed me , were burnt. This was after the speech came from Detroit.

June 27, 1787: After 25 years of work, Edward Gibbon completes the manuscript of the History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Gibbon had a very low opinion of the Jewish people describing them as the “disturbers of the religious harmony of the ancient world” who had emerged from the deserved obscurity resulting from the enslavement by the Assyrians and Babylonians to observe their “peculiar rites and unsocial manners” with “sullen obstinacy.” [Ed. Note: It only gets worse after this.]
June 27, 1789 - The Spanish Governor refused to grant any of the land marked out by Colonels George Harrison* and Benjamin Harrison, which they gave notice they reserved for themselves and their friends, extending 20 miles north of New Madrid and embracing 200 separate tracts, exclusive of lakes and marshes.
*Was George Morgan intended? – ISG
July 27, 1789 - The Department of Foreign Affairs was established by the U.S. Congress. The agency was later known as the Department of State.
On June 27, 1792, Edward is credited with the first use of the term "Canadian" to mean both French and English settlers in Upper and Lower Canada. The Prince used the term in an effort to quell a riot between the two groups at a polling station in Charlesbourg, Lower Canada.[6]
June 27, 1829

Private Cemetery: NATHANIEL KING FARM, formerly the WADE FARM, and
originally known as the MOSES VANCE FARM. Located in Upper Tyrone
Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania.

July 1949, Inscriptions of graves copied and compiled. The following
statement is made about the cemetery: "This cemetery was destroyed by the
Pittsburg 7 West Virginia Railroad Company when they constructed their
branch through this section, about the year 1935. There are only two stones
remaining, and they are large flat table stones, in excellent condition,
with inscriptions that are very legible, and as follows:"

VANCE "In memory of ELIZABETH VANCE, consort of MOSES VANCE, who departed
this life, September 8, 1849, age 76 years."

MOSES VANCE, who departed this life, June 27, 1829, age 56 years.
---------------------------------

Postscript and History:

"A descendant of the MOSES VANCE Family, who retained a copy of their
original family bible, states several of the
MOSES VANCE descendants were buried in this same cemetery, but no doubt
their stones were destroyed when the
Railroad constructed their branch, or they could have been moved elsewhere,
but the above two stones remain under a
group of trees.

We shall add here the bible records as follows:

MOSES VANCE, b. May 23, 1773; died January 27, 1829; married ELIZABETH, daughter of
JACOB & ELIZABETH STRICKLER, settlers in Tyrone Township in 1797.

ELIZABETH STRICKLER, b. 1773; died September 8, 1849, and both (husband and wife)
are buried on the NATHANIEL KING Farm.

Their Children:
JOHN VANCE, b. January 11, 1797; d. March 12, 1886; married MARY STRICKLER, daughter
of ABRAHAM STRICKLER.

JACOB VANCE, b. November 7, 1798; d. November 4, 1883; married CHARLOTTE HARDY

SAMUEL VANCE, b. July 30, 1800

FRANCES VANCE, b. Mary 27, 1802

WILLIAM VANCE, b. December 6, 1804

CRAWFORD VANCE, b. March 13, 1806; married SUSAN CLAYTON

MARGARET VANCE, b. March 29, 1808

ALFRED VANCE, b. April 22, 1810

ELISA VANCE, b. September 22, 1813; single

GEORGE VANCE, b. January 12, 1815; single"
[Reference, MOSES VANCE FAMILY, found in the book "History of Fayette
County, Pennsylvania, pages 401, 784, 787", by author Franklin Ellis;
information transcribed for PA Archives, November 1997.]

End of Vance index

Born in Vermont in 1805, Smith claimed in 1823 that he had been visited by a Christian angel named Moroni who spoke to him of an ancient Hebrew text that had been lost for 1,500 years. The holy text, supposedly engraved on gold plates by a Native American historian in the fourth century, related the story of Israelite peoples who had lived in America in ancient times. During the next six years, Smith dictated an English translation of this text to his wife and other scribes, and in 1830 The Book of Mormon was published. In the same year, Smith founded the Church of Christ--later known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints--in Fayette Township.
The religion rapidly gained converts, and Smith set up Mormon communities in Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois. However, the Christian sect was also heavily criticized for its unorthodox practices, such as polygamy, and on June 27, 1844, Smith and his brother were murdered in a jail cell by an anti-Mormon mob in Carthage, Illinois.
Two years later, Smith's successor, Brigham Young, led an exodus of persecuted Mormons from Nauvoo, Illinois, along the western wagon trails in search of religious and political freedom. In July 1847, the 148 initial Mormon pioneers reached Utah's Valley of the Great Salt Lake. Upon viewing the valley, Young declared, "This is the place," and the pioneers began preparations for the tens of thousands of Mormon migrants who would follow them and settle there.
June 27, 1844
Brigham Young becomes head of the Mormon Church after its leader, Joseph Smith, is killed by a mob in Nauvoo, Illinois. On this day in 1844, American Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormon religion, is murdered by an anti-Mormon mob while being held in an Illinois jail cell. In his Book of Mormon, Smith claimed that he was the prophet of the last true church, that Native Americans were descended from the lost tribes of Israel and that Jesus preached in America after his resurrection...
more
On this day in 1844, American Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormon religion, is murdered by an anti-Mormon mob while being held in an Illinois jail cell. In his Book of Mormon, Smith claimed that he was the prophet of the last true church, that Native Americans were descended from the lost tribes of Israel and that Jesus preached in America after his resurrection.
Smith and his followers, criticised for unorthodox practices such as polygamy, were persecuted all across the eastern United States. In 1846, Smith’s successor, Brigham Young, led an exodus of Mormons along the western wagon trails in search of religious freedom. In July 1847, the Mormon pioneers settled near Utah’s Great Salt Lake and founded Salt Lake City.


June 27, 1862: Battle of Gaines’ Mill, VA.
June 27, 1862: Command of the Army of Northern Virginia devolved upon General Gustavus Woodson Smith who suffered a nervous breakdown within 12 hours, leading Davis to place Lee in the top spot. He had his work cut out for him; the Confederacy had suffered multiple defeats, the public held no confidence in him, and McClellan was about four miles east of Richmond (at roughly the present location of Richmond International Airport) with an Army far larger and better equipped than anything Robert E. Lee could muster. He organized the Seven Days Battle, a series of six late June engagements that only contained one clear cut victory, John Bell Hood's June 27th assault at Gaines' Mill, and cost numerous lives but ended with General McClellan bottled-up on the James River and no longer a danger to Richmond.


June 27, 1864: Dr. William McKinnon Goodlove (1st cousin, 3 times removed) and the 57th Ohio Volunteer Infantry Assault on Kenesaw Battle at Kenesaw Mountain, Georgia on June 27, 1864.

Mon. June 27, 1864:
Started at sunrise for town of Thibodaux
For breakfast nice town of 1600 inhabitants land level town on byo lafouch
(William Harrison Goodlove Civil War Diary, 24th Iowa Infantry)

June 27, 1865: Torbert commanded the Cavalry Corps of the Army of the Shenandoah and was promoted to brevet major general on September 9, 1864. He received brevet promotions in the regular army for his service at Gettysburg, Haw's Shop, Winchester, and Cedar Creek. Torbert commanded the vestigial Army of the Shenandoah from April 22, 1865, to June 27, 1865. Wesley Merritt commanded Torbert's former corps under Sheridan in the last campaigns of the Civil War in Virginia.

June 27, 1865: Thomas A. Smith (b. February 12, 1857 in GA / d. June 27, 1865).

June 27, 1874: Frieda Gottlieb, born Eisenstein, June 27, 1874 in Wangerin, Pommern. Prenzlauer Berg, Lothriger Str. 16; 25. Alterstransport. Resided Berlin. Deportation: from Berlin, July 20, 1942, Theresienstadt. Date of death: October 12, 1942, Theresienstadt.

June 27, 1868:



1196 Johnson, Andrew, 1808-1875 (authorization to affix Seal of the United States to diplomatic letter), June 27, 1868
June 27, 1893
The New York Stock Market crashes, beginning four years of deep depression in the United States.

June 27, 1893
Silver hits an all time low of $.77 per ounce, prompting Colorado producers to shut down their mines.



June 27, 1934:



407 Roosevelt, Eleanor, 1884-1962 (T.L.S.), June 16, 1932; June 27, 1934

June 27, 1940
The British ask for help in standing up to Japan at a secret meeting with United States Secretary of State, Cordell Hull, during World War II.

June 27, 1942: The New York Times devoted two inches to the Bunde report on June 27. It had picked up the information from CBS in New York, which had recorded Zygielbojm’s BBC broadcast the preceding day. The Times’s brief account noted that 700,000 Polish Jews had been slain, and igt quoted the broadcast’s disclosure that “to accomplish this, probably the greatest mass slaughter in history, every death-dealing method was employed-machine-gun bullets, hand grenades, gas chambers, concentration camps, whipping, torture instruments and starvation.”

June 27, 1944
Cherbourg falls to United States forces, the first major French port to come under Allied control, during World War II.

June 27, 1960: Ewell Alexander Rowell13 [Arminda Smith12, Gabriel D. Smith11, Gabriel Smith10, John “LR” Smith9, Ambrose J. Smith8, Christopher Smith7, Christopher Smith6, Thomas Smythe5, Thomas Smythe4, John Smythe3, Richard2, William1] (b. December 20, 1870 in Carroll Co. GA / d. April 21, 1942) married Ann Bell Shepard (b. March 4, 1869 in AL / d. June 27, 1960) on July 13, 1890 in Edwardsville, AL.

June 27, 1962 Robert Kennedy arrives at the California home of Marilyn Monroe
driving a Cadillac convertible. The car belongs to FBI agent-in-charge William Simon and has
been loaned to Kennedy. Simon dutifully reports the incident. From now on, J. Edgar Hoover
has direct information on RFK’s comings and goings at Monroe’s home.

June 27, 1976: Hansard, Sara E.: "Old Stones Mark D.C. Boundaries," Washington Post, p. B1 (June 27, 1976).

June 27, 1984: William Levis Parker (b. January 3, 1921 in AL / d. June 27, 1984 in AL)

June 27, 2011: Marriott, Michel (June 27, 2011). "Verdict In: 12th President Was Not Assassinated". The New York Times.

June 27, 2012: 2 million years ago…Ancient Human Ancestors Had Unique Diet
ScienceDaily (June 27, 2012) — When it came to eating, an upright, 2 million-year-old African hominid had a diet unlike virtually all other known human ancestors, says a study led by the Max Planck Institute of Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany and involving the University of Colorado Boulder.
The study indicated that Australopithecus sediba -- a short, gangly hominid that lived in South Africa -- ate harder foods than other early hominids, targeting trees, bushes and fruits. In contrast, virtually all other ancient human ancestors tested from Africa -- including Paranthropus boisei, dubbed "Nutcracker Man" because of its massive jaws and teeth -- focused more on grasses and sedges, said CU-Boulder doctoral student Paul Sandberg, a co-author on the new study.
The A. sediba diet was analyzed using a technique that involved zapping fossilized teeth with a laser, said Sandberg. The laser frees telltale carbon from the enamel of teeth, allowing scientists to pinpoint the types of plants that were consumed and the environments in which the hominids lived. The carbon signals from the teeth are split into two groups: C3 plants like trees, shrubs and bushes preferred by A. sediba, and C4 plants like grasses and sedges consumed by many other early hominids.
The teeth from the two A. sediba individuals analyzed in the study had carbon isotope values outside the range of all 81 previously tested hominids. "The lack of any C4 evidence, and the evidence for the consumption of hard objects, are what make the inferred diet of these individuals compelling," said Sandberg.
"It is an important finding, because diet is one of the fundamental aspects of an animal, one that drives its behavior and ecological niche. As environments change over time because of shifting climates, animals are generally forced to either move or to adapt to their new surroundings," said Sandberg of CU-Boulder's anthropology department.
The researchers concluded from their scientific tests that bark and other fracture-resistant foods were at least a seasonal part of the A. sediba diet. While bark and woody tissues had not been previously documented as a dietary component of any other ancient African hominids, such foods are consumed by many contemporary primates and contain both protein and soluble sugars. The diet of A. sediba may have been similar to that of today's African savanna chimpanzees, Sandberg said.
One unique aspect of the project was the analysis of microscopic, fossilized particles of plant tissue known as phytoliths trapped in ancient tooth tarter, a hardened form of dental plaque, said corresponding study author Amanda Henry of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
"The fact that these phytoliths are preserved in the teeth of 2 million-year-old hominids is remarkable and speaks to the amazing preservation at the site," said Sandberg. "The phytolith data suggest the A. sediba individuals were avoiding the grasses growing in open grasslands that were abundant in the region at the time."
A third, independent line of study -- analyzing microscopic pits and scratches on A. sediba teeth, which reveal what they were eating at the time just prior to death -- also confirmed that at least one of the hominids was eating harder foods, said Sandberg.
A paper on the subject was published online by Nature on June 27. Other paper authors included Professor Matt Sponheimer of CU-Boulder, Peter Ungar of the University of Arkansas, Benjamin Passey of Johns Hopkins University, Lloyd Rossouw of the Bloemfontein National Museum in Bloemfontein, South Africa, Lee Berger and Marion Bamford of the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa and Darryl de Ruiter of Texas A&M University.
A. sediba is particularly intriguing to anthropologists. The first two individuals discovered -- a juvenile male and an adult female from the Malapa Cave site roughly 30 miles north of Johannesburg in 2008 --apparently had fallen into a hidden pit in the cave and died. With an upright posture and long arms, the curious creature appears to have characteristics of both primitive and modern hominids, including a human-like ankle, short fingers and a long thumb for possible precision gripping and a relatively complex brain compared to earlier hominids, according to researchers.
The jury is still out on exactly where these hominids land on the family tree. A. sediba may have been a descendant of A. africanus, which was spawned by A. afarensis, a hominid represented by "Lucy" who lived about three million years ago and is considered by many to be the matriarch of the human family.
The A. sediba remains at Malapa were dated to 2 million years by scientists, a precise number obtained by measuring the decay of isotopes of uranium into lead that occurred in a type of mineral deposit known as flowstone that capped the fossil-bearing layer.
Paleontological evidence, including pollen and phytoliths, shows that the region around Malapa likely was a mix of abundant grassland and woody vegetation about 2 million years ago, said Sandberg. The team's carbon isotope research on the ancient teeth of rodents and hooved mammals that inhabited the region at the time indicated they had a strong affinity for C4 grasses and sedges.
"What fascinates me is that these individuals are oddballs," said CU-Boulder's Sponheimer. "I had pretty much convinced myself that after four million years ago most of our hominid kin had diets that were different from living apes, but now I am not so sure. And while our sample is too small to be conclusive, the rate at which Malapa is spewing hominid fossils makes me reasonably certain we won't have to wait another two million years to augment our data set. "
The study was funded in part by the National Science Foundation, the Smithsonian Institution, the Malapa Project at the Institute for Human Evolution at the University of Witwatersrand and the Max Planck Society.

A high-tech dental analysis of a 2-million-year-old hominid from South Africa involving CU-Boulder researchers indicates it had a unique diet that included trees, bushes and fruits. (Credit: Photo courtesy Paul Sandberg, University of Colorado)