Neanderthals were fashionable in feathers

Live Science ^ | February 23, 2011 | Charles Q. Choi

[decimon]

Neanderthals plucked the feathers from falcons and vultures, perhaps for symbolic value, scientists find.

This new discovery adds to evidence that our closest known extinct relatives were capable of creating art.

Scientists investigated the Grotta di Fumane — "the Grotto of Smoke" — in northern Italy, a site loaded with Neanderthal bones. After digging down to layers that existed at the surface 44,000 years ago, the researchers discovered 660 bones belonging to 22 species of birds, with evidence of cut, peeling and scrape marks from stone tools on the wing bones of birds that had no clear practical or culinary value.

"The first traces on the bones of large raptors were found in September 2009," said researcher Marco Peresani, a paleoanthopologist at the University of Ferrara in Italy. "After that, we decided to re-examine the whole bone assemblage recovered from that layer."

[decimon]

Via SunkenCiv.

[decimon]

Mauro Cutrona

[decimon]

Ping

[SIDENET]

-SIMPLY FABULOUS-

[Berlin_Freeper]

Maybe they should of spent less time pimping feathers at the Neanderthal Gay Bar and more time trying to survive.

[Berlin_Freeper]

Oh wait did I make a nasty?

Excuse me while I pop off to hell.

LoL!

(sorry, inside joke)

[mmercier]

It is not necessary to cut and peel flesh from bones to remove feathers. Also makes no sense to waste time with a stone tool unless there is some value derived from the effort.

It is likely their standards of what was food may be slightly different from our particular sensibilities, and the usefulness of the bone parts as needles and hunting points explains some of this.

[TigersEye]

Now we know why they died out.

[Moose Burger]

“...perhaps for symbolic value...”

Or perhaps because that’s fun. Stupid, as in “the falcon will peck you silly”, but still fun.

[sueuprising]

“It is not necessary to cut and peel flesh from bones to remove feathers”
I was wondering as well why peeling ans scraping of bone would indicate removal of feathers. That type of finding would seem to show that flesh was cut apart. Maybe the Neanderthal took the feathers to wear, but I would like to know why this discovery automatically led scientist types to think that a prehistoric person chopped up an animal just to pluck a feather.

[BereanBrain]

these reports are always BS.

So, then, how did the Neanderthal manage to bring down a raptor then?

With a club?

Seems he would have HAD to have had arrows!

[billorites]

[blueunicorn6]

I’ve seen that guy at the grocery store wearing an Obama pin.

[decimon]

I’ve seen that guy at the grocery store wearing an Obama pin.

I've worked with that guy.

It's funny how quickly the depictions of neanderthals have gone from semi-human to average human.

[mmercier]

Leaping to the assumption of artistic expression based on scraped bones is what got my attention too.

It would be my assumption that the ate everything that did not eat them first. including some things that the researchers consider yucky by our standards.

My dogs standards of food compared to my standards of food probably vary to the same degree as Neanderthals and modern researchers.

This is not to say they did not express art, but a pile of bird bones does not indicate in any way what happened to the feathers... Or will we start finding other neanderthal feather outlets..?

I would have concluded a group found a location where it was possible to obtain easy food, raptors, and simply exploited the location over time.

What they did with the feather's is anyones guess... Which is what their findings are, a guess.

[Lees Swrd]

Notice all the academia always portrayed the Neanderthal as light skinned a brutish dumb beastly animal. Lo and behold the Neanderthal dna gene markers are found in all Caucasian Asian races they did not die out only absorbed. These dna markers are not found in any of the non Caucasian Asian races.

[decimon]

Notice all the academia always portrayed the Neanderthal as light skinned...

My experience has been seeing neanderthals portrayed as dark-skinned. Until recently, that is.

[Lees Swrd]

Agreed hard to say what they were since none exist. I don’t know why but I always had a soft spot in my heart for the Neanderthal the underdog syndrome I guess.

[SunkenCiv]

· GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother, and Ernest_at_the_Beach · · join list or digest · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post a topic · subscribe ·
	Antiquity Journal  & archive  Archaeologica  Archaeology  Archaeology Channel  BAR  Bronze Age Forum  Discover  Dogpile  Eurekalert  Google  LiveScience  Mirabilis.ca  Nat Geographic  PhysOrg  Science Daily  Science News  Texas AM  Yahoo  Excerpt, or Link only?	Thanks decimon. The Neandertal Enigma by James Shreeve in local libraries Frayer's own reading of the record reveals a number of overlooked traits that clearly and specifically link the Neandertals to the Cro-Magnons. One such trait is the shape of the opening of the nerve canal in the lower jaw, a spot where dentists often give a pain-blocking injection. In many Neandertal, the upper portion of the opening is covered by a broad bony ridge, a curious feature also carried by a significant number of Cro-Magnons. But none of the alleged 'ancestors of us all' fossils from Africa have it, and it is extremely rare in modern people outside Europe." [pp 126-127] To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list.
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[SuzyQue]

Great illustration!