Posted on 01/11/2010 4:50:51 PM PST by Free ThinkerNY
For decades, our low-browed Neanderthal cousins have been portrayed as dim savages whose idea of seduction was a whispered "ug" and a blow to the cranium.
But analysis of pierced, hand-coloured shells and lumps of pigment from two caves in south-east Spain suggests the cavepeople who stomped around Europe 50,000 years ago were far more intelligent and cosmetically minded than previously thought.
In 1985, archaeologists excavating the Cueva de los Aviones in Murcia found cockle shells perforated as if to be hung on a necklace and an oyster shell containing mineral pigments, hinting that the cave's Neanderthal residents had developed a taste for self-adornment and makeup.
Twenty-three years later, an expedition led by João Zilhão, professor of palaeolithic archaeology at the University of Bristol, turned up a pierced, orange-coloured scallop shell bearing traces of red and yellow pigment at another Murcian cave, Cueva Antón.
Despite its significance, however, the latter find was nearly overlooked.
"The shell was found by an undergraduate student at Bristol on the first or second day of the dig," said Zilhão. "When he showed it to me I told him it was probably a fossil from the cave wall. Note it and bag it, I said, we'll look at it later. We forgot about it till later and then, when we were cleaning it, I realised that it was a shell, not a fossil."
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
“Neanderthal residents had developed a taste for self-adornment and makeup.”
Insert obligatory Helen Thomas picture here:
Certain Neanderthals also had an elementary spiritual sense as they placed flowers in their dead’s graves.
They also have a thing for Duck with Mango Salsa.
You Know The Drill
Click the PicHey! FReepers!
Help Fill The Tank!
How About It? Huh?
It Ain't Askin' Too Much
Ya Know....
Must be true. So does Harry Reid.
Are they sure that is make-up or should it be make-up sex?
I've read speculation that prehistoric man discovered metallic copper while in the process of looking for green eyeshadow.
For those of you living outside Massghanistan, try watching CSPAN. Wait for Barbara Mikulski to show up.
Well, duh!?!. If you had a mug like they did you’d want to spruce it up a bit too.
DEATH BY SNOO SNOO!
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Thanks Free ThinkerNY.Just adding to the catalog, not sending a general distribution.The Neandertal EnigmaFrayer'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] |
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Today, they would be playing in the NFL.
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