" Humans have been using bear skins for at least 300,000 years, suggests study"
More like since September 1920.
Posted on 01/04/2023 9:27:31 AM PST by SunkenCiv
Humans have been using bear skins to protect themselves from cold weather for at least 300,000 years. This is suggested by cut marks on the metatarsal and phalanx of a cave bear discovered at the Lower Paleolithic site of Schöningen in Lower Saxony, Germany. This makes it one of the oldest examples of this type in the world...
A bear's winter coat consists of both long outer hairs that form an airy protective layer and short, dense hairs that provide particularly good insulation. Bears, including extinct cave bears, needed a highly insulating coat for hibernation. "These newly discovered cut marks are an indication that about 300,000 years ago, people in northern Europe were able to survive in winter thanks in part to warm bear skins," says the researcher, a doctoral student in the Schöningen research project and employee of the State Heritage Office of Lower Saxony...
"If only adult animals are found at an archaeological site, this is usually considered an indication of hunting—at Schöningen, all the bear bones and teeth belonged to adult individuals." In addition, he said, bear skin must be removed shortly after the animal's death, otherwise the hair is lost and the skin becomes unusable. "Since the animal was skinned, it couldn't have been dead for long at that point," Verheijen explains.
(Excerpt) Read more at phys.org ...
Jean Harlow’s bearskin pic was the model for those which followed, afaik. Apparently the rug she was photographed on was auctioned off a few years back. And her appearance was the model for Marilyn Monroe and all the other blonde bombshells. :^)
https://search.brave.com/images?q=jean%20harlow%20on%20a%20rug
It just shows how much better they were at it than we are. :^)
Our Neandertal ancestors had larger average craniums than we do.
They were just as much people as we are.
They’re really comfy. One of my late mother’s many 1st cousins had a bear rug obtained from one he capped in Canada or Alaska. As a kid, I loved that thing.
Made complex tools, made fire, cooked, made clothing... sounds like people to me.
Sometimes they ate the b’ar, sometimes the b’ar ate them...
Sleep close to the fire with your spear in hand.
The Big Bang Theory - Penny Sleeps Over
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V65QgDvcNtw&t=120
Fewer photographs were taken and its the good ones come down to us.
They had to be plenty tough to take out a cave bear.
That is disturbing in this context 😅
Dad had a rug made from one he shot back in the late 60's. It was super soft and a great addition in front of the fireplace at our cabin in northern Michigan.
Unfortunately someone broke into the cabin and stole everything along with a couple of trail bikes that were in the garage.
Is the bear catholic?
On average, probably more beautiful back then. They didn't have tattoos or weird hair colors.
Bears don’t hibernate. I don’t think these authors of the article know much of anything.
Wouldn’t this indicate that these beings had at least a
rudimentary understanding of treating the skins to make
them supple/not lose the hair, and some method of sewing
then together?
Dried hides are stiff and lose their hair without preparation.
Yup.
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