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Modern flint expert 'reverse engineers' Neanderthal stone axes... our ancestors were...
Daily Mail ^ | January 24th, 2012 | Rob Waugh

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 ...


TOPICS: History; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: flint; flintknappers; flintknapping; godsgravesglyphs; neandertal; neandertals; neanderthal; neanderthals; paleolithic
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To: SunkenCiv; Eaker; humblegunner

I like Neanderthals bumpity bump!


21 posted on 01/27/2012 8:12:22 AM PST by TheOldLady (FReepmail me to get ON or OFF the ZOT LIGHTNING ping list)
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To: SunkenCiv

"One word: flint."

22 posted on 01/27/2012 12:37:06 PM PST by colorado tanker
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To: Pharmboy
I think I see the problem. I didn't read that as one sentence. The author put a hyphen in the middle of a line which read to me as more than one sentence or thought being mashed together from the source document. Maybe that's not what the writer was doing but it looks like poor shorthand by a hack journalist copying from a scientist's paper. I see it in several places.

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.

23 posted on 01/27/2012 12:53:30 PM PST by TigersEye (Life is about choices. Your choices. Make good ones.)
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To: SunkenCiv

"Flint knapping, really? It's so much easier to go to WalMart".
24 posted on 01/27/2012 6:38:42 PM PST by Rebelbase
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To: TigersEye

“I think I see the problem. I didn’t read that as one sentence.”

Thats the Neanderthal genotype manifesting, apparently.


25 posted on 01/27/2012 6:58:57 PM PST by headsonpikes (Mass murder and cannibalism are the twin sacraments of socialism - "Who-whom?"-Lenin)
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To: headsonpikes

If you knew me in person you would be speculating on how much non-Neanderthal DNA I possessed. ;^) lol


26 posted on 01/27/2012 7:02:37 PM PST by TigersEye (Life is about choices. Your choices. Make good ones.)
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To: Rebelbase

Neandertals were never caught knapping.


27 posted on 01/27/2012 7:04:39 PM PST by SunkenCiv (FReep this FReepathon!)
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To: colorado tanker

I went to high school with these guys!


28 posted on 01/27/2012 7:10:47 PM PST by Reily
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To: colorado tanker

I went to high school with these guys!


29 posted on 01/27/2012 7:11:02 PM PST by Reily
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To: SunkenCiv

Maybe not but now we know they liked big flakes.


30 posted on 01/27/2012 7:23:16 PM PST by TigersEye (Life is about choices. Your choices. Make good ones.)
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To: Pharmboy

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?


31 posted on 02/04/2012 7:13:24 AM PST by DNA.2012
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To: colorado tanker
"One word: flint."

LOL! "The Pleistocene Graduate"! :-)

32 posted on 02/04/2012 7:20:58 AM PST by COBOL2Java (Controlling RINOs in Congress is like herding cats; should we be surprised Newt got scratched?)
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To: DNA.2012
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?

Genographic Project Participation Kit for U.S. and Canada

33 posted on 02/04/2012 7:24:17 AM PST by COBOL2Java (Controlling RINOs in Congress is like herding cats; should we be surprised Newt got scratched?)
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To: luvbach1
Neanderthals were not Homo Sapiens (our species), Cro-Magnons were, thus the latter were our ancestors and not the former.

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.

34 posted on 02/04/2012 7:38:39 AM PST by PapaBear3625 (I'd agree with you, but then we would both be wrong.)
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To: DNA.2012

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!


35 posted on 02/04/2012 9:36:36 AM PST by Pharmboy (She turned me into a Newt...)
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To: COBOL2Java

:-))


36 posted on 02/04/2012 11:22:47 AM PST by colorado tanker
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To: Pharmboy

Thank you, I will check that out.


37 posted on 02/04/2012 2:20:31 PM PST by DNA.2012
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To: PapaBear3625
Neanderthals interbred with the out-of-Africa CroMags to produce the non-African races of Man.

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?

38 posted on 02/06/2012 10:40:28 AM PST by luvbach1 (Stop the destruction in 2012 or continue the decline)
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To: luvbach1
Yes, there's some evidence of interbreeding but not enough to prove Homo Sapiens evolved from Neanderthals.

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.

39 posted on 02/06/2012 11:10:41 AM PST by PapaBear3625 (I'd agree with you, but then we would both be wrong.)
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To: SunkenCiv; blam

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

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2097869/The-oldest-work-art-42-000-year-old-paintings-seals-Spanish-cave.html#ixzz1loRJk4w9


40 posted on 02/08/2012 9:43:47 AM PST by Viiksitimali
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