[brazzaville]

Good morning.
"What's your evidence that they were prompted more by their noses (now a very poor source of information) than by their eyes..."

It's not really possible to have evidence as to what Neanderthal would have done when he smelled a female's new ability to reproduce. We cannot know much about him beyond how he was built and a few examples of how he viewed his place in the world around him

There are examples in the animal world of several techniques being used to attract a male. A baboon might develop swollen parts which she then exposes to the available males and a distinctive smell is common to many species.

I've not read anything that shows Neanderthal making him or herself attractive to the opposite sex so, as I said, I'm just guessing that smell had a big part in announcing that there was a potential new mother in the group.

It's true that menstruation would likely have led the group to send the new woman away until things were back to normal. That was often the case until the last couple of centuries, but it also announced that she was ready. There are times in the cycle when the lady is most fertile and I would bet that smell played a major part in planting a seed. Like I said, just guessing.

Michael Frazier

[Graymatter]

It's not really possible to have evidence as to what Neanderthal would have done when he smelled a female's new ability to reproduce.

I feel confident in saying that he would have done the same thing he'd have done when he smelled a knothole in a maple tree. And it's highly doubtful that Neandertal Man had any grasp of the notion of ability to reproduce. Even if he had, as far as I've ever been able to determine, the scent of a "new ability" of a female to reproduce is not what turns a male on.
What went through his 1500cc head was probably...
Female---check.
Alone---check.
I can overpower her---check.
Age, smell, and what happens nine months later, they were all well beside the point. Quite often they still are.