Posted on 11/27/2009 10:55:00 AM PST by SunkenCiv
Early modern humans and their predecessors in Europe were mostly big game hunters, but a pile of well-nibbled bird bones suggests that at least some prehistoric European cavemen enjoyed small prey too, according to a new study. The 202 bones, belonging to the Aythya genus of diving ducks, were found at Bolomor Cave near the town of Tavernes in Valencia, Spain. The ducks date to around 150,000 years ago, and were not eaten daintily. "The birds were de-fleshed using both stone tools and teeth," co-author Ruth Blasco told Discovery News, noting that some of the ducks may have even been consumed raw... Blasco, a researcher at the Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution in Tarragona, Spain, and colleague Josep Fernandez Peris analyzed the duck bones under high magnification. They determined three characteristics allow the bird remains to be considered duck dinner leftovers... Although both Neanderthal and modern human remains have been found at the Bolomor Cave complex, the geological level of the roasted duck finds suggests that Homo heidelbergensis is the human species that ate the duck meals.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.discovery.com ...
They determined three characteristics allow the bird remains to be considered duck dinner leftovers.
First, they found “cutmarks on bones of both the front and hind limb.”..Say, what? Ducks have two hind limbs, unless years ago they had four or one in front and one in back.
Tiny Og: “Krom bless us one and all!”
The front would be the wing.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.