Neanderthal Thread: Cave fires & rhino skull used in Neanderthal burial rituals

[Tonitrus]

Of course the real irony of Brain's comment is that Scandinavians likely have among the highest percentages of Neanderthal ancestry of all modern humans.

Actually, East Asians have slightly more Neanderthal DNA than Europeans.

http://johnhawks.net/weblog/reviews/neandertals/neandertal-dna/neandertal-sex-acts-beyond-counting-2016.html

We have a fairly clear idea of what fraction of the ancestry of today's people came from Neandertals; this fraction was around about 2% for most people worldwide, a bit more for many of the populations of East Asia, and very little for most populations of sub-Saharan Africa today. Vernot and colleagues' new paper (Science 10.1126/science.aad9416) helps to confirm that the elevation of Neandertal genetic similarity among East Asian populations is the result of additional mixture that does not characterize the ancestry of today's western Eurasian populations.

There were always neanderthals in Eastasia.

[Maladict]

We have some failed archaeologists here, we should have a megathread 

[viper37]

Yet more evidence that Neanderthal were not cognitively inferior to Homo Sapiens.

Between being "not as dumb as we tought" and "not cognitively inferion to hs", there's a huge margin, don't you think?

[Barrister]

"Throg build fire! Throg smash stalagmite! Or is it stalactite? Throg can never remember! Anyway, Throg pile!"

Yeah not cognitively inferior at all. It's fucking Hagia Sophia is what it is.

Comparing them to the Byzantine Empire is rather unfair don't you think?

Yes - the article suggests the Neanderthals may have been quite culturally sophisticated.  They should not be insulted by comparison to the ridiculous and decadent Byzantines.

Them's fighting words Minsky.

#ByzantoFourtysomething

[jimmy olsen]

Yet more evidence that Neanderthal were not cognitively inferior to Homo Sapiens.

Between being "not as dumb as we tought" and "not cognitively inferion to hs", there's a huge margin, don't you think?

There's no evidence that the H. sapiens of the time where any more advanced.

[The Brain]

You can spell it out, homo.

[11B4V]

Yet more evidence that Neanderthal were not cognitively inferior to Homo Sapiens.

Between being "not as dumb as we tought" and "not cognitively inferion to hs", there's a huge margin, don't you think?

There's no evidence that the H. sapiens of the time where any more advanced.

There arent any Neanderthals around, so ...........

[Capetan Mihali]

Yes - the article suggests the Neanderthals may have been quite culturally sophisticated.  They should not be insulted by comparison to the ridiculous and decadent Byzantines.

Them's fighting words Minsky.

#ByzantoFourtysomething

Jews hate the Byzantine Empire.

[viper37]

Yet more evidence that Neanderthal were not cognitively inferior to Homo Sapiens.

Between being "not as dumb as we tought" and "not cognitively inferion to hs", there's a huge margin, don't you think?

There's no evidence that the H. sapiens of the time where any more advanced.

they arrived later.  Look at what they did in the same time frame as the Neanderthals.

[jimmy olsen]

Yet more evidence that Neanderthal were not cognitively inferior to Homo Sapiens.

Between being "not as dumb as we tought" and "not cognitively inferion to hs", there's a huge margin, don't you think?

There's no evidence that the H. sapiens of the time where any more advanced.

There arent any Neanderthals around, so ...........

They could have gone extinct for numerous reasons aside from intelligence.

And they're not really extinct since their genetic lineage lives on in ours.

[HVC]

That like saying the dinosaurs are extinct because their lineage lives on in chickens

[jimmy olsen]

That like saying the dinosaurs are [not]extinct because their lineage lives on in chickens

I assume you meant to write not extinct above?

Yes, since birds are dinosaurs, saying dinosaurs are not extinct is completely correct.

[jimmy olsen]

More specatacular Neanerthal finds! As a fan of archaeology, what a time to be alive!

https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg23230934-800-cave-fires-and-rhino-skull-used-in-neanderthal-burial-rituals/

This Week
28 September 2016
   
Cave fires and rhino skull used in Neanderthal burial rituals

By Richard Gray

BURNING through the darkness, the fires would have lit up the cave around where the young child lay.

The remains of a series of small fires discovered within a dolomite hillside 93 kilometres north of Madrid, Spain, could be the first firm evidence that Neanderthals held funerals.

The blackened hearths surround a spot where the jaw and six teeth of a Neanderthal toddler were found in the stony sediment. Puzzlingly, within each of these hearths was the horn or antler of a herbivore, apparently carefully placed there. In total, there were 30 horns from aurochs and bison as well as red deer antlers, and a rhino skull nearby.

Archaeologists believe the fires may have been lit as some sort of funeral ritual around where the toddler, known as the Lozoya Child, was placed around 38,000 to 42,000 years ago.

Enrique Baquedano, director of the Regional Archaeological Museum of Madrid, and his colleagues described the discoveries at the meeting of the European Society for the study of Human Evolution in Madrid on 16 September. They think the cave may have been used by Neanderthals as a specific place to mourn and remember the dead.

Baquedano said the position of the remains and stone tools found at the site, known as Des-Cubierta Cave, do not appear to be arranged as we would expect if it had been a dwelling. "They may therefore have been of ritual or symbolic significance."

Chris Stringer of the Natural History Museum in London said there have been previous suggestions that Neanderthals may have dug graves for their dead and some graves of babies at sites in Syria and Israel include the remains of animal horns – but the new discovery seems far more deliberate.

"It's certainly difficult to explain the presence of the horns, and that of a rhino skull, without invoking the agency of Neanderthals," he said.

[Eddie Teach]

We have some failed archaeologists here, we should have a megathread 

Good thing they have the law and teaching English to fall back on

[jimmy olsen]

We have some failed archaeologists here, we should have a megathread 

Good thing they have the law and teaching English to fall back on

I forgot about that thread. 

I just did a quick search for Neanderthals and found this thread.