Posted on 12/16/2010 12:41:36 PM PST by SunkenCiv
Until now, the first evidence that human bones were used either symbolically or as tools were 30,000-to 34,000-year-old perforated human teeth found at excavations in southwest France. These were apparently used as ornaments.
Now scientists have identified a human skull fragment dating back at least 50,000 years that bears signs it was used as a sharpener. It was found in a Neanderthal deposit -- the first time our relatives were discovered making tools from human bone. (Neanderthals are an extinct kind of human that were anatomically distinct from us modern humans.)
The bone was first unearthed in 1926 at the La Quina site... with artifacts from the Mousterian industry, a method of making flint tools linked with Neanderthals. These fragments did not yield much information about the anatomy of these individuals, so they were mostly ignored at the museum at Lyon, France, for years.
Then paleoanthropologist Christine Verna at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, reinvestigated all the human remains at La Quina. Using microscopic analysis of the bone fragment, she and her colleague Francesco d'Errico at the University of Bordeaux in France found evidence it was used to retouch stone tool edges. They also detected scraping marks on the fragment, possibly resulting from cleaning of the skull before it was broken into pieces. The bone likely came from a Neanderthal, as only they were found at Mousterian deposits at La Quina...
Future research should look carefully at old collections of Paleolithic human remains to look for possible traces of use, as well as ancient animal remains, to look for any human bones possibly hidden among retouchers, "with the hope of finding more examples like this one," Verna said.
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
Larger brains equals higher IQ's. Neanderthals had larger brains than anyone alive today and presumably had a higher IQ too. Europeans and Asians have higher IQ's than Africans.
I think the models will have to change, because where I live the majority even the college educated act brain dead, no matter their origin. I can't seem to find in history where any 'race' seems to have a superior IQ and use it for the 'good'.
This explains Adam`s Rib.
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Neanderthals had larger brains but smaller prefrontals which would indicate less intellectuality.
Thought I was gonna have to take revenge on some Neanderthals on the drive home tonight.
Higher IQ is probably good for humanity so long as everyone has to hustle for sustenance. When a society is so wealthy that the super-intelligent don’t have to work but live off the labor of the average and lower intellects then that superintelligence becomes a liability to survival of the society. Is this, perhaps, an application of the Peter Principle?
>>How or why did they move from that to human bones... that is the question<<
I picture something like the opening from 2001 without the monolith nor Strauss...
We seem to have the opposite problem now. The average and lower intellects live off the work of the "super" intelligent (if they're so intelligent, why are they the ones working).
It seems to me this is a much larger liability to the survival of a civil society. When the "intelligent" smarten up, they just stop working.
Not strictly true; brain structure has a lot to do with intelligence as well and there was a considerable difference between the structure of Sapiens Neanderthalensis and Sapiens Sapiens.
My personal opinion is that the IQ of any individual is not representative of their 'goodness'. I have encountered very few nonintellectual individuals at two years old. And all that I have encountered at the age of two are the epitome of narcissism in varying degrees. I am NOT impressed with the supposed calculated IQ of any individual. My personal observation of the supposed genius of old bjClinton absolved of me any respect that having high IQ could represent the moral fiber of any individual.
I personally do not think 'wealth' is necessarily the principle of 'Peter'. There always seems to be some 'con-artist' genius that can make enough people believe their con that no matter the wealth things look better on the other side of the fence. I just do not consider the intellect of a flesh brain accounts for the spirit/will of any individual.
Instead of “intellectuality” did you mean intellectualism?
LOL!
I was referring to the trust fund kids and the academics who have no connection with wealth creation and do have the mental power to dream up utopias to foist off on the society at large.
[ “It was widely reported about six months ago that European and some Asian peoples have up to 3% Neanderthal genes. Africans have none. I don’t think anyone really challenged this data, so it is ‘the best available science’ that Europeans are part Neanderthal.”
Larger brains equals higher IQ’s. Neanderthals had larger brains than anyone alive today and presumably had a higher IQ too. Europeans and Asians have higher IQ’s than Africans. ]
Actually the rates of Aspergers seem to be higher in groups with Neandertal DNA in them.
Probably used as a scraper to get the brains out of the skull for supper. YUM!
That reminds me, I haven’t watched “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” in a long time.
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