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Proof that Neanderthals ate crabs is another 'nail in the coffin' for primitive cave dweller stereotypes
Phys dot org ^ | February 7, 2023 | Frontiers

Posted on 02/12/2023 10:09:33 PM PST by SunkenCiv

In a cave just south of Lisbon, archaeological deposits conceal a Paleolithic dinner menu. As well as stone tools and charcoal, the site of Gruta de Figueira Brava contains rich deposits of shells and bones with much to tell us about the Neanderthals that lived there—especially about their meals. A study published in Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology shows that 90,000 years ago, these Neanderthals were cooking and eating crabs...

A wide variety of shellfish remains were found in the archaeological remains Nabais and her colleagues studied, but the shellfish in the undisturbed Paleolithic deposits are overwhelmingly represented by brown crabs. Their size was estimated by calculating the size of the carapace relative to the crabs' pincers, which preserve better than other parts of the crab, so are more likely to survive to be found by scientists. The archaeologists assessed the breakage on the shells, looked for butchery or percussion marks, and determined whether the crabs had been exposed to high heat.

Nabais and her colleagues found that the crabs were mostly large adults which would yield about 200g of meat. By studying the patterns of damage on the shells and claws, they ruled out the involvement of other predators: there were no carnivore or rodent marks, and the patterns of breakage didn't reflect predation by birds. Crabs are evasive, but Neanderthals could have harvested brown crabs of this size from low tide pools in the summer.

(Excerpt) Read more at phys.org ...


TOPICS: History; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: dietandcuisine; godsgravesglyphs; multiregionalism; neandertal; neandertals; neanderthal; neanderthals; paleolithic
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To: popdonnelly

A brave man it was who first an oyster et


21 posted on 02/13/2023 5:21:37 AM PST by bert ( (KWE. NP. N.C. +12) Juneteenth is inequality day )
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To: bert

To me, bugs are almost more appetizing than some shell fish.


22 posted on 02/13/2023 5:45:37 AM PST by Fai Mao (Stop feeding the beast, and steal its food!)
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To: SunkenCiv

Buster the Body Crab - -From Cheech and Chong’s Big Bambu

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-e74kZip4I


23 posted on 02/13/2023 6:10:38 AM PST by Alas Babylon! (Gov't declaring misinformation is tyranny: “Who determines what false information is?” )
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To: SunkenCiv

Thanks, SunkenCiv!


24 posted on 02/13/2023 6:55:03 AM PST by Cincinnatus.45-70 (What do DemocRats enjoy more than a truckload of dead babies? Unloading them with a pitchfork!)
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To: SunkenCiv

Neanderthals obviously didn’t like the crab diet because they all suddenly left and disappeared from Earth.


25 posted on 02/13/2023 7:16:56 AM PST by sergeantdave (AI is the next iteration of a copy and paste machine.)
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To: SunkenCiv

Proto-Marylanders


26 posted on 02/13/2023 9:02:34 AM PST by Pharmboy (Democrats lie because they must.)
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To: SunkenCiv

Cave crabs. Man, I hate those guys.


27 posted on 02/13/2023 9:07:39 AM PST by Billthedrill
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To: rlmorel

I don’t much care for seafood.

I must be a caveman.


28 posted on 02/13/2023 9:33:25 AM PST by seowulf (Civilization begins with order, grows with liberty, and dies with chaos...Will Durant)
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To: SunkenCiv

“”Our results add an extra nail to the coffin of the obsolete notion that Neanderthals were primitive cave dwellers who could barely scrape a living off scavenged big-game carcasses,” said Nabais.”

More worthless “research”. Like Homo Sapiens to which they are related it is not surprising that they would be omnivores. It’s also not surprising that they had fire for cooking. Does this anthropologist think proof is required to show that Neanderthals didn’t spend 24/7/365 in a cave? That they had to go out and hunt? This was known decades ago.


29 posted on 02/13/2023 10:15:51 AM PST by Brooklyn Attitude (I went to bed on November 3rd 2020 and woke up in 1984.)
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To: gundog

30 posted on 02/13/2023 10:19:37 AM PST by shotgun
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To: seowulf

I get that. I feel kind of sketchy about seafood. Some I love, but fish itself...I can only eat fish whose flesh is firm and white when cooked, and if I even have a remote suspicion that seafood might be old, off, or...”fishy” I won’t touch it.

I do like shellfish of all kinds except oysters.

I completely understand why people don’t enjoy shellfish.

That said, I think those people watching me who were from Iowa and such, were put off by the process of smashing the crab claws with the mallet.

I think for them, it was a little too close to the Gallagher routine where he smashes watermelons with a giant mallet, and everyone in the front row gets covered with the red pulp!


31 posted on 02/13/2023 10:21:26 AM PST by rlmorel ("If you think tough men are dangerous, just wait until you see what weak men are capable of." JBP)
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To: rlmorel

I kind of think it’s more you like to eat what you grow up with.

When I was young we always butchered a steer or two every year, maybe a hog, and some chickens, ducks, or rabbits. We’d eat that with the vegetables that came out of the garden.

So, a good steak with enough grease to drip off your chin is food to me.

Neandthals who lived next to salt water ate what they had plenty of and liked it. Neanderthals who lived on the Asian steppes ate aurochs and mammoth steaks, and they liked that.

I must come from the steppe Neanderthals.


32 posted on 02/13/2023 10:57:50 AM PST by seowulf (Civilization begins with order, grows with liberty, and dies with chaos...Will Durant)
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To: seowulf

I like that… We must be from the same Neanderthal clan… The “Steppe” tribe… :-)


33 posted on 02/13/2023 11:04:07 AM PST by rlmorel ("If you think tough men are dangerous, just wait until you see what weak men are capable of." JBP)
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To: PIF

Humans, in many cultures, practiced infanticide, and that is well documented, unlike the case for the Neanderthals, unless you interviewed some of them


Take it up with the anthropologists who came up with that theory.


34 posted on 02/13/2023 1:10:00 PM PST by sumuam
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To: Fai Mao
"To me, bugs are almost more appetizing than some shell fish."
A local name for Florida lobsters is "bugs."
35 posted on 02/13/2023 1:45:15 PM PST by Hiddigeigei ("Talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish," said Dionysus - Euripides)
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To: sumuam

Was that a quote from the article? You should have made that plain if so.


36 posted on 02/13/2023 1:48:41 PM PST by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now its your turn)
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To: PIF

Get lost, boomer.


37 posted on 02/13/2023 1:53:07 PM PST by sumuam
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To: rlmorel

Blue crabs were meant to be ripped open ... there’s even a little tab on the bottom.


38 posted on 02/13/2023 1:58:56 PM PST by NorthMountain (... the right of the peopIe to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed)
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To: NorthMountain

Of course...that isn’t what they deliver the mallets for, as you probably know!


39 posted on 02/13/2023 2:07:46 PM PST by rlmorel ("If you think tough men are dangerous, just wait until you see what weak men are capable of." JBP)
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To: sumuam

So I tried to apologize but you are a nasty piece of work evidently.


40 posted on 02/13/2023 2:20:12 PM PST by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now its your turn)
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