Posted on 02/28/2011 12:03:45 AM PST by decimon
Neanderthals plucked the feathers from falcons and vultures, perhaps for symbolic value, scientists find.
This new discovery adds to evidence that our closest known extinct relatives were capable of creating art.
Scientists investigated the Grotta di Fumane "the Grotto of Smoke" in northern Italy, a site loaded with Neanderthal bones. After digging down to layers that existed at the surface 44,000 years ago, the researchers discovered 660 bones belonging to 22 species of birds, with evidence of cut, peeling and scrape marks from stone tools on the wing bones of birds that had no clear practical or culinary value.
"The first traces on the bones of large raptors were found in September 2009," said researcher Marco Peresani, a paleoanthopologist at the University of Ferrara in Italy. "After that, we decided to re-examine the whole bone assemblage recovered from that layer."
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
Ping
-SIMPLY FABULOUS-
Maybe they should of spent less time pimping feathers at the Neanderthal Gay Bar and more time trying to survive.
Excuse me while I pop off to hell.
LoL!
(sorry, inside joke)
It is likely their standards of what was food may be slightly different from our particular sensibilities, and the usefulness of the bone parts as needles and hunting points explains some of this.
Now we know why they died out.
“...perhaps for symbolic value...”
Or perhaps because that’s fun. Stupid, as in “the falcon will peck you silly”, but still fun.
“It is not necessary to cut and peel flesh from bones to remove feathers”
I was wondering as well why peeling ans scraping of bone would indicate removal of feathers. That type of finding would seem to show that flesh was cut apart. Maybe the Neanderthal took the feathers to wear, but I would like to know why this discovery automatically led scientist types to think that a prehistoric person chopped up an animal just to pluck a feather.
these reports are always BS.
So, then, how did the Neanderthal manage to bring down a raptor then?
With a club?
Seems he would have HAD to have had arrows!
I’ve seen that guy at the grocery store wearing an Obama pin.
I've worked with that guy.
It's funny how quickly the depictions of neanderthals have gone from semi-human to average human.
It would be my assumption that the ate everything that did not eat them first. including some things that the researchers consider yucky by our standards.
My dogs standards of food compared to my standards of food probably vary to the same degree as Neanderthals and modern researchers.
This is not to say they did not express art, but a pile of bird bones does not indicate in any way what happened to the feathers... Or will we start finding other neanderthal feather outlets..?
I would have concluded a group found a location where it was possible to obtain easy food, raptors, and simply exploited the location over time.
What they did with the feather's is anyones guess... Which is what their findings are, a guess.
Notice all the academia always portrayed the Neanderthal as light skinned a brutish dumb beastly animal. Lo and behold the Neanderthal dna gene markers are found in all Caucasian Asian races they did not die out only absorbed. These dna markers are not found in any of the non Caucasian Asian races.
My experience has been seeing neanderthals portrayed as dark-skinned. Until recently, that is.
Agreed hard to say what they were since none exist. I don’t know why but I always had a soft spot in my heart for the Neanderthal the underdog syndrome I guess.
· join list or digest · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post a topic · subscribe · |
|||
Antiquity Journal & archive Archaeologica Archaeology Archaeology Channel BAR Bronze Age Forum Discover Dogpile Eurekalert LiveScience Mirabilis.ca Nat Geographic PhysOrg Science Daily Science News Texas AM Yahoo Excerpt, or Link only? |
|
||
· Science topic · science keyword · Books/Literature topic · pages keyword · |
Great illustration!
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.