"One word: flint."
Posted on 01/26/2012 8:19:28 PM PST by SunkenCiv
Researchers at the University of Kent have recreated the processes Neanderthals used to produce sharp flint axes, and found that our ancestors were skilled engineers.
A modern-day 'flintknapper' replicated the sharpening processes that Neanderthals used to create tools -- a sort of modern 'reverse engineering' of ancient techniques in use by three kinds of early 'hominin' including Neanderthals as early as 300,000 years ago.
The researchers found that Neanderthals could shape 'elegant' stone tools -- shaping them to be hard-wearing, easily sharpened and with a perfectly balanced centre of gravity.
The reproduction of how Neanderthals worked shows that it is unlikely that stone flakes used in the tools could have been shaped by accident -- and that our ancestors intentionally 'engineered' stone cores to create tools fit for their jobs.
Dr Metin Eren, Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at the University's School of Anthropology and Conservation and the flintknapper who crafted the tools, said: ... 'The sophistication evident in their tool-making suggests cognitive abilities more similar to our own than not.'
The researchers say that our ancestors 'designed' tools to be hard-wearing, easily sharpenable and have a centre of gravity that meant they were easily usable.
Dr Stephen Lycett, Senior Lecturer in Human Evolution and the researcher who conducted the laboratory analysis of the tools, commented: 'Mobility is a factor in the lives of all hunter-gatherer populations, including Late Pleistocene hominins...
'The symmetry and evenly distributed thickness of Levallois flakes would also align the tool's centre of mass with the tool's motion during use, making them ergonomically desirable.'
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
I like Neanderthals bumpity bump!
"One word: flint."
So I concede. As chopped up as the writing is I don't know how either one of us can say for sure what the writer meant.
“I think I see the problem. I didn’t read that as one sentence.”
Thats the Neanderthal genotype manifesting, apparently.
If you knew me in person you would be speculating on how much non-Neanderthal DNA I possessed. ;^) lol
Neandertals were never caught knapping.
I went to high school with these guys!
I went to high school with these guys!
Maybe not but now we know they liked big flakes.
What is the name of the test which determines those percentages for a particular individual?
Does it also tell you where your ancestors were from?
LOL! "The Pleistocene Graduate"! :-)
Does it also tell you where your ancestors were from?
Current genetic research indicates that Europeans had Neanderthals among their ancestors. In other words, Neanderthals interbred with the out-of-Africa CroMags to produce the non-African races of Man.
www.23andMe.com is what I have used. For $99.00 you get disease risks, traits, carrier state and genographic data on maternal, paternal and autosomal lines. Also, you can easily download the data and use it elsewhere. Worth it...[Disclaimer: I have no financial interest whatsoever in 23andMe]. Good luck!
:-))
Thank you, I will check that out.
Yes, there's some evidence of interbreeding but not enough to prove Homo Sapiens evolved from Neanderthals. Also, with due respect, are you suggesting that the "out-of-Africa CroMags" were black or Negroid because I don't think at that early stage there is evidence that they were. And didn't the spread of out-of-Africa hominids occur before the advent of Cro-Magnon man?
I'm not saying that H.Sap evolved from Neanderthals, I'm just recounting that there is some genetic research that suggests that there was interbreeding between early "anatomically modern humans" and Neanderthals with respect to those of European/Asian descent, but no genetic indication of Neanderthal genes in black Africans. In other words, Neanderthals and H.Sap diverged from their common ancestor, but for Europeans and Asians there was some degree of re-merging later.
are you suggesting that the "out-of-Africa CroMags" were black or Negroid
I have no idea what the "out-of-Africa CroMags" looked like with respect to skin color. I would imagine that neither modern sub-Saharan Africans nor modern Europeans look that much like their common ancestor with respect to skin color. I would think that a human living in East Africa and hunting during the day would need a fairly dark complexion to not burn in the sun.
neandertal ping
Important find: These six paintings of seals were discovered in the Nerja Caves near Malaga, Spain. They are at least 42,000 years old and are the only known artistic images created by Neanderthal man
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.