Posted on 10/07/2019 7:33:29 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
A team of Japanese and Italian researchers, including from Tohoku University, have evidenced mechanically delivered projectile weapons in Europe dating to 45,000-40,000 years - more than 20,000 years than previously thought. This study, entitled "The earliest evidence for mechanically delivered projectile weapons in Europe" published in Nature Ecology & Evolution, indicated that the spearthrower and bow-and-arrow technologies allowed modern humans to hunt more successfully than Neanderthals - giving them a competitive advantage. This discovery offered important insight to understand the reasons for the replacement of Neanderthals by modern humans.
Apparently, Neanderthals and modern humans coexisted in Europe for at least 5,000 years. However, little is known about why modern humans could increase their population size after migrating to Europe and successfully occupy new territories, while autochthonous Neanderthals went extinct ~ 40,000 years ago...
Furthermore, fourier transform-infrared (FTIR) spectromicroscopy of residues on several pieces demonstrate that the backed pieces were hafted using a complex adhesive, including ochre, plant gum, and beeswax, which stabilized the hafting. "Comparison with FTIR spectroscopy analyses of several red deposit and soil samples recovered from Grotta del Cavallo ruled out organic contaminants from the burial environment and confirmed the presence of ochre as a mixture of silicate and iron oxides", said Chiaramaria Stani (Elettra-Sincrotrone Trieste).
(Excerpt) Read more at eurekalert.org ...
I’m glad you said cause I’ve been feeling pretty cave man lately.
The original Gorilla glue! :)
Damned Iron Age.
But then there is Göbekli Tepe... or perhaps Puma Punku...
I didn’t even know there were pretty cave men.
/rimshot
More meat means more cancer and more heart attacks, which means shorter life spans. My mostly vegetarian parents & grand parents in India (they could afford only 1 meal with meat during the week) all lived 93-103 years, with zero history of cancer. I arrived in USA at age 20 and soon gained 50 lbs! I need to cut down on T-bones and rib-eye but it is addicting. My diet almost killed me, but then I took up walking 30 miles every week at age 58, and now feel great nearing age 80.
Of course, they had to hunt the bees one at a time, with tiny bows and arrows, that went on for thousands of years before someone got a better idea.
May have looked pretty but the body odor would have made you pass out. Can you imagine no soap, no showers, walk many miles in African sun?
Yeah, they probably didn't even have a pc then, just cut a notch on a stick until the abacus was invented.
They were hidin' in caves, so, y'know, poor lighting, looks weren't that important. And without the aromas, they couldn't find one another. ;^)
I've begun to think the ancestors or potential ancestors built those amazing structures just to show off for their distant descendants. It worked. :^)
:^D Add me to your ping list - if you have one, pls.
Hey, quit pickin' on Neandertals! Al Green isn't a slob, only because that would be insulting to slobs.
Welcome aboard. I know it’s past my bedtime, because the hunting bees image struck me as so funny I laughed for ten minutes.
:^) That works as well, for me, as the current analysis: meager hunter-gatherers worked for 2000 years to build Göbekli Tepe... with no written language, no drafting materials, no engineering skills. Color me skeptical.
Of course there were those ancient aliens, also, coaching their ancestors. !:^0
...as did I with the gorilla glue - and the bees. True, I gotta fall in to the arms of Morpheus. nite
“technologies allowed modern humans to hunt more successfully than Neanderthals - giving them a competitive advantage”
THERE it is - that nasty idea of “competitive advantage”. There should have been weapons control laws. That way, we’d still have Neanderthals running rampant, creating no-go zones, crime-ridden communities and such. Oh wait - we DO have those.
What we got from Neanderthals were genes for the immune system (useful for humans who migrated out of Africa) and oddly enough some skin and hair color: one of the two genes for pale skin found in most people of European descent comes from Neanderthals as do the genes for red hair.
Neanderthals went extinct due to their toxic masculinity. ;-)
By the way, Neanderthals had larger brains than modern humans. Intuitively, most people assume intelligence has an evolutionary advantage. Maybe not.
Those who are interested in evolutionary theory should check out the research by Donald Hoffman which includes a mathematical proof based on evolutionary game theory that perceiving reality as it is does NOT give an evolutionary advantage. He also supports a theory of reality in which space-time is purely a mental construct. This is not some new age idea or pseudo-science. He is extremely well respected for his scientific work and credentials.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYp5XuGYqqY
(A TED Talk.)
The Neanderthals aren’t gone, they’re still here. And the whiter you are, the more Neanderthal that’s in you. We didn’t out-compete them, we cross-bred with them until their phenotype became indistinguishable from ours.
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