Neanderthals Clever Enough To Make 'Superglue'

Ananova ^ | 0106-2002

[blam]

Neanderthals clever enough to make 'superglue'

Researchers say Neanderthals had considerable technical and intellectual skills and were as ingenious as modern humans.

German scientists say they have found Neanderthals mixed a kind of superglue to make tools.

It had to be made at a precise temperature and means the race had considerable technical and manual skills in comparison to their dullard image.

Neanderthals are thought to have first appeared around 230,000 to 300,000 years ago.

Professor Chris Stringer, head of human origins at the Natural History Museum in London, said the discovery is potentially very important: "It would further show that the behaviour gap between us and Neanderthals is narrower than we thought. Some may say there isn't a gap."

Independent reports that the research centres on a new analysis of two 80,000-year-old samples of blackish-brown pitch discovered in a lignite mining pit in the Harz mountains in Germany.

One of the pitch pieces bears the print of a finger and there are also imprints of a flint stone tool and wood, suggesting the pitch had served as a sort of glue to secure a wooden shaft to a flint stone blade.

The research, carried out at the Doerner-Institut in Munich, found the pitch was a birch pitch, which can be only be produced at temperatures of 300-400C.

The team, led by Professor Dietrich Mania of Freidrich-Schiller University in Jena, said: "This implies the Neanderthals did not come across these pitches by accident but must have produced them with intent."

"The pitch finds demonstrate that the Neanderthals must have possessed a high degree of technical and manual abilities, comparable to those of modern Homo sapiens.''

Story filed: 12:45 Sunday 6th January 2002

[dfwgator]

Methinks the "superglue" is what we would call snot.

[Junior]

Homo Sapiens and Homo Neanderthalensis both sprang from the earlier Homo Erectus. There is really little evidence that Neanderthals and humans ever interbred, and even that is controversial. DNA analysis indicates the prospect of such a breeding to be nil. They may have been about as closely related to us as donkeys are to horses.

The most interesting thing to come out in recent years (at least to my lights) is that Homo Erectus may possibly have survived up until about 50k years ago. This means that at one time there were three human species sharing the planet at the same time.

[Eva]

Hey, you should e-mail this to Teddy Kennedy and tell him that those "neaderthals" that Bush appointed aren't so dumb afterall.

[Eaker]

Not only were Neanderthals the first to make "Superglue", but there is evidence to suggest that they developed an early version of the "Veg-A-Matic", enabling them to make delicious julian fries in seconds!

While it has been proven that Neanderthals invented the "Veg-A-Matic", there is no conclusive proof that they EVER made julian fries!!!

Crinkle cut yes, julian no.

[blam]

"But aren't they thought to have lacked the capacity for speech as we know it? "

No, no, they could speak. A few years ago, a rarely surviving bone that is required for speech was found with a Neanderthal skull. (They were believed not to have this small bone)

[blam]

"I have always been under the impression that "Neanderthals" were basically Homo Sapiens and not genetically any different from say a modern white man is from a modern black man? Am I wrong is this assumption?"

According to the 'experts', they are an extinct human species unrelated to modern humans. However, with each new publication, they become more like modern humans. I believe we are Neanderthals.

[Burkeman1]

That is very interesting. I had not heard that! Three at once! Just spit balling here but is it possible that ancient Europeon myths about "goblins" and other man like beasts can be linked to perhaps pockets of Neanderthals or Homo Erectus that survied in isolated areas up until 6 or 7 thousand years ago? Such fossils would most likely never be found as there were too few of them that at such a time?

[blam]

Redheads 'Are Neanderthal'

[JoeSchem]

So, the Dems are smarter than we think, eh?

No, but the next time a liberal calls you a 'Neanderthal Conservative,' say, "Thank you!"

[blam]

Human-Neanderthal Hybrid

[djf]

Supposedely, there was an ice age type event about 80,000 years ago that drove homo sapiens population worlwide down to only a few thousand individuals.

[VRWC_minion]

Genesis 6
4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days-and also afterward-when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.

[blam]

Reconstruction of a face of a Human-Neanderthal Hybrid

[blam]

This is a long and fascinating read on Neanderthals...JimRob won't let me post it on FR...never said why.

The Neanderthal Theory

[ShadowDancer]

"It would further show that the behaviour gap between us and Neanderthals is narrower than we thought. Some may say there isn't a gap."

Please. I could have told you that from my dating years.

[FreedomCalls]

From this.

To this.

[doug from upland]

Deceptive headline. I thought some of Bush's nominees had invented a new superior glue product.

[blam]

"Supposedely, there was an ice age type event about 80,000 years ago that drove homo sapiens population worlwide down to only a few thousand individuals."

That was the SUPER-Volcano Toba that blew 75,000 years ago and killed all but 2-5,000 humans world wide. It Was in Sumatra, Indonesia.

Toba

[null and void]

I don't know what Neanderthal ladies looked like, but it probably would be more likely that Neandethal guys impregnated Cro-Magnon women than the other way around.

The First Man Was a Woman

I can't prove it, but I believe the first man was a woman.

Modern science has used mitochondrial DNA to track human origins back to a single female. This is the so-called Eve hypothesis.

I believe that this was the first fully human Homo Sapiens. A girl was born with a genetic 'defect' in her mitochondria. The mitochondria control the enzyme activity in the cell. This change affected her metabolism at a deep cellular level.

The first human had an altered metabolism that manifested itself in a suite of gross differences:

She lacked vibrissae, the sensory whiskers common to all other mammals.
She had full lips, not the thin line at the rim of the mouth typical of other species.
She was weak, compared to others of her kind.
Her features retained a more child-like appearance as she grew up.
But, the two most critical differences were a lack of body hair, and a monthly estrus cycle.

Why are the last two most critical?

The lack of body hair provided an interesting advantage. To understand this, let's look at cats. There is a breed of hairless cat. Instead of fur, they have a velvety skin. Their owners often comment on how affectionate their cats are. Affectionate? Not really, these cats are just COLD, they snuggle to keep warm!

Back to our first human, she sure is cuddly. She is much more desirable than her standoffish hairy sisters.

Rather than the annual fertility cycle, she is 'in heat' all of the time. Cuddly and friendly too!

Lacking muscle strength, she needed to be protected. The beginnings of love as we now understand it.

That she needed protection is deeply ingrained it the human psyche. In propaganda there are surprisingly few common themes. The enemy is depicted as snakes, spiders, octopus, and, ... and ... hairy ape-men seizing the furless women. The massive muscular King Kong is interested in the petite Fay Rae. Did you ever wonder why this resonated with the audience?

Simple. The first man was a woman...

[null and void]

But aren't they thought to have lacked the capacity for speech as we know it?

Yes, larynx is too high to allow proper vowel formation. I guess the people who think they couldn't talk never heard a Bantu speak in clicks, a Basque shepherd 'talk' to a friend on the next mountain with whistles, or seen anyone sign...