Neanderthals smart enough to copy humans [from the UK of course]

In 2010, Thomas Higham, an archaeologist at the University of Oxford, UK, and his colleagues2 used radiocarbon evidence to argue that the bones and tools were mixed together from higher and lower layers of the cave strata, representing different occupations of the site between 45,000 and 28,000 years ago. Some of the artefacts might have been created by modern humans but then settled down into the Neanderthal layers.

Today, Jean-Jacques Hublin, an archaeologist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, and his colleagues report in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that the fossils and artefacts were not churned together... 40 bone fragments from several layers in the cave... were between 44,500 and 41,000 years old. None of the dated bones from the Châtelperronian time frame matched dates for higher or lower layers, and Hublin says that this "makes it very unlikely that major admixture occurred."

Hublin and his colleagues also dated a Neanderthal skeleton found nearby in Saint-CÃ©saire, France, to 40,660â€“41,950 years ago, within the range of the dates for the bone fragments from Grotte du Renne. This confirms that Neanderthals were present in the region during the time the Châtelperronian layers were deposited...

But the debate over Grotte du Renne shows no sign of ebbing. Francesco d'Errico, an archaeologist at the University of Bordeaux in France, agrees that Neanderthals created the Châtelperronian objects, as he and his colleagues concluded in a PLoS One study last year, but he is not convinced that radiocarbon dating methods "can be used to make inferences about modern human-Neanderthal interactions".

Whoops, missed one:

In 2010, Thomas Higham, an archaeologist at the University of Oxford, UK, and his colleagues2 used radiocarbon evidence to argue that the bones and tools were mixed together from higher and lower layers of the cave strata, representing different occupations of the site between 45,000 and 28,000 years ago. Some of the artefacts might have been created by modern humans but then settled down into the Neanderthal layers.

Today, Jean-Jacques Hublin, an archaeologist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, and his colleagues report in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that the fossils and artefacts were not churned together... 40 bone fragments from several layers in the cave... were between 44,500 and 41,000 years old. None of the dated bones from the Châtelperronian time frame matched dates for higher or lower layers, and Hublin says that this "makes it very unlikely that major admixture occurred."

Hublin and his colleagues also dated a Neanderthal skeleton found nearby in Saint-Césaire, France, to 40,660-41,950 years ago, within the range of the dates for the bone fragments from Grotte du Renne. This confirms that Neanderthals were present in the region during the time the Châtelperronian layers were deposited...

But the debate over Grotte du Renne shows no sign of ebbing. Francesco d'Errico, an archaeologist at the University of Bordeaux in France, agrees that Neanderthals created the Châtelperronian objects, as he and his colleagues concluded in a PLoS One study last year, but he is not convinced that radiocarbon dating methods "can be used to make inferences about modern human-Neanderthal interactions".

The Neandertal Enigma
by James Shreeve
in local libraries
Frayer'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]

KEYWORDS: neandertal; neandertals; neanderthal; neanderthals

Okay, so I see that the items were found in the layers indicating the time in which they were made, but is there any real evidence pointing to who created them? Did they find tools alongside the object that would have been used to make them? I’m thinking maybe the Neandertals could have taken them from modern humans either by force, as hunting trophies perhaps, or even through trade. Wouldn’t that be something, if we once traded with Neandertals. What if they misundertood our intentions and traded all their territory for a few bone baubles...

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Thanks Renfield. To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list.