Ancient footprints show Neanderthals may have been taller than thought

New Scientist ^ | 9 September 2019 | Alison George

[SunkenCiv]

The 257 fossil footprints were found in a coastal creek bed in Le Rozel in northern France. They were made around 80,000 years ago and preserved in sandy mud. Most of the footprints were from children and may show that Neanderthals could have been taller than previously thought.

"The discovery of so many Neanderthal footprints at one site is extraordinary," says Isabelle de Groote at Liverpool John Moores University, who was not involved with the study.

Before this, only nine Neanderthal footprints were known, from 4 different sites, says Jérémy Duveau of the MuséumNational d'Histoire Naturelle in France, who led the team that carried out the analysis. "Footprints are very interesting because they give a snapshot of a moment of life of hominins such as Neanderthals, and allow us to estimate the size and composition of the group that made them." This kind of information is hard to obtain from other archaeological artefacts such as skeletons and tools.

Although the researchers can't be certain that the 80,000-year old footprints at Le Rozel were made by Neanderthals, as no hominin skeletal remains were found at the site, Neanderthals were the only known hominins in Europe at that time - Homo sapiens arrived some 35,000 years later.

The footprints of Neanderthals are wider than those of modern humans because their feet were broader. From the size of the Le Rozel footprints, the researchers could estimate the size of the individual who made them, and then infer their age.

[SunkenCiv]

5.7 million, not 57 million.

The size, upright gait, print itself, apparently anthropoidal stroll.

[Openurmind]

I stand corrected... I am guilty of not double checking that.

[SunkenCiv]

He was the basketball.

[SunkenCiv]

The only thing they could make out was the Neandertal 'swoosh'. :^)

[SunkenCiv]

I'm glad you got me hunting for it, I'd never seen it before (and it may be the only page available about it). The other Neandertal footprints have been found in four or five places, and the previous overall total was nine I think. Sorry, I got sidetracked by this other one, and forgot all about that other link. [blush]

[blam]

"Too tall Nadler."

A Nadlerthal?

[Openurmind]

I know one thing, if it is dated accurately, it helps prove the out of Africa theory even more wrong doesn’t it?

[Monkey Face]

Ah. I should have sussed that one out myself! ;o]

[SunkenCiv]

The individual wasn't wearing shoes, but probably carried a horn, and spoke some unknown tongue. I just love these strings, er, threads. Even if my sense of humor needs some polish.

[SunkenCiv]

I've long been a multiregionalist. :^)

[Openurmind]

Same here, you might find this interesting, I know I did. Map of "indigenous" with blood type "O". Too small to see in this but really interesting is that there is an area on one end of New Zealand 90%-100% type O like the Americas. How did that happen?

[Openurmind]

Considering type O is supposed to be the “oldest” blood type, how could there be more in the Americas instead of reversed as later settled?

[SunkenCiv]

Matt Ridley, in "Genome", notes that the base pair sequence on chromosome 9 that determines primary blood type for each of us has a curiousity -- the base pair sequence that leads to the O blood type is pair-by-pair identical with type A, but missing the first base pair, causing it to not code for a protein.

Here's an unverified source (based on the layout and font and stuff, I suspect it originated with one Andis Raulins, but I won't swear to it. :') Ethnic group down the left side, columns are bloodtypes by percentage. O was overwhelmingly common among American tribes, but there has been intermarriage for centuries, so the non-coding O gene sequence doesn't show up as strong any longer.

---

Group	O	A	B	AB
Kalmuks	26	23	41	11
Buryats	33	21	38	8
Gypsies (Hungary)	29	27	35	10
Thais	37	22	33	8
Burmese	36	24	33	7
Chuvash	30	29	33	7
Indians (India - General)	37	22	33	7
Ainu (Japan)	17	32	32	18
Chinese-Peking	29	27	32	13
Koreans	28	32	31	10
Vietnamese	42	22	30	5
Tartars	28	30	29	13
Arabs	34	31	29	6
Hindus (Bombay)	32	29	28	11
Philippinos	45	22	27	6
Asian (in USA - General)	40	28	27	5
Chinese-Canton	46	23	25	6
Abyssinians	43	27	25	5
Egyptians	33	36	24	8
Latvians	32	37	24	7
Grand Andamanese	9	60	23	9
Papuas (New Guinea)	41	27	23	9
Eskimos (Greenland)	54	36	23	8
Estonians	34	36	23	8
Russians	33	36	23	8
Japanese	30	38	22	10
Persians	38	33	22	7
Sudanese	62	16	21	0
Poles	33	39	20	9
Lithuanians	40	34	20	6
USA (blacks)	49	27	20	4
Kikuyu (Kenya)	60	19	20	1
Malasians	62	18	20	0
Moros	64	16	20	0
Rumanians	34	41	19	6
Bantus	46	30	19	5
Sardinians	50	26	19	5
Czechs	30	44	18	9
Jews (Poland)	33	41	18	8
Finns	34	41	18	7
Turks	43	34	18	6
Ukranians	37	40	18	6
Fijians	44	34	17	6
Hungarians	36	43	16	5
Serbians	38	42	16	5
Slovaks	42	37	16	5
Bulgarians	32	44	15	8
Nicobarese (Nicobars)	74	9	15	1
Greeks	40	42	14	5
Albanians	38	43	13	6
Armenians	31	50	13	6
Austrians	36	44	13	6
Eskimos (Alaska)	38	44	13	5
Jews (Germany)	42	41	12	5
Georgians	46	37	12	4
Scotts	51	34	12	3
Germans	41	43	11	5
Danes	41	44	11	4
South Africans	45	40	11	4
USA (whites)	45	40	11	4
Italians (Milan)	46	41	11	3
Spanish	38	47	10	5
Swedes	38	47	10	5
Icelanders	56	32	10	3
Irish	52	35	10	3
Brazilians	47	41	9	3
Dutch	45	43	9	3
English	47	42	9	3
Bushmen	56	34	9	2
Norwegians	39	50	8	4
Portuguese	35	53	8	4
Belgians	47	42	8	3
United Kingdom (GB)	47	42	8	3
French	43	47	7	3
Swiss	40	50	7	3
Lapps	29	63	4	4
Basques	51	44	4	1
Indians (USA - General)	79	16	4	1
Hawaiians	37	61	2	1
Mayas	98	1	1	1
Maoris	46	54	1	0
Blackfoot (N. Am. Indian)	17	82	0	1
Aborigines	61	39	0	0
Bororo	100	0	0	0
Navajo (N. Am. Indian)	73	27	0	0
Peru (Indians)	100	0	0	0
Shompen (Nicobars)	100	0	0	0

---

Again, these are current or at least recent values (it sez here) and don't necessarily reflect geographical or ethnic origin, just the recent or current distribution. :') I sorted it in database descending, by B and then AB, because AB wouldn't be around if it weren't for B. :')

[SunkenCiv]

see my #73 above.

The wikipedia page on human blood types at least used to be magisterial. Nice discussion of the A variants, and of course, the really obscure M-N system, which isn’t part of the A-B-O system at all.

[Openurmind]

Fantastic chart Sir! May I grab that for my files and future reference??? :)

[SunkenCiv]

Heh, sure, I stole it fair and square.

[frank ballenger]

A Nadlerthal?

You got it. The best joke of the day here.

[Openurmind]

lol, Great! Thank you! In the mean time I am trying to find the article I “borrowed” that indigenous blood type map from. They also had the A and B variants mapped the same way. It is real interesting to compare the three together. It was a university study submission I ran across.

[frank ballenger]

He was the basketball.

Oh, now I get it all. Notice in the hearings he is always dribbling? Ancient memories coming back.

[Monkey Face]

Maybe s/he was wearing those really comfy shoes that fit your toes, too. So it looks like you were walking barefoot with a logo on your instep. Maybe? ;o]

‘Face