Photo credit: Luka Mjeda.
Posted on 03/12/2015 7:25:41 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
A set of eagle talons found in present-day Croatia dated approximately 130,000 years ago includes several marks and polishing facets that show they were manipulated into a piece of jewelry, said David Frayer, a professor emeritus of anthropology who was part of the study...
Frayer said the eight white-tailed eagle bones were discovered more than 100 years ago from a single level at the Krapina Neanderthal site, which was originally excavated between 1899-1905. However, researchers only recently recognized the cut marks on the bones as human manipulations.
"There's just no doubt that they made it, and it was a necklace or bracelet or piece of jewelry," Frayer said.
He said other recent research including the DNA of Neanderthals has opened the door for insight into how Neanderthals were more closely related to us, especially with a discovery that Europeans and Eurasians possessed genes that were unique to Neanderthals.
At the Krapina site, the detailed records from the excavations helped ensure for researchers that the manipulated eagle talons were dated at least 80,000 years earlier than any modern humans entered Europe, so there is no doubt that Neanderthals were solely responsible.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.ku.edu ...
Photo credit: Luka Mjeda.
The Neandertal Enigma"Frayer's own reading of the record reveals a number of overlooked traits that clearly and specifically link the Neandertals to the Cro-Magnons. One such trait is the shape of the opening of the nerve canal in the lower jaw, a spot where dentists often give a pain-blocking injection. In many Neandertal, the upper portion of the opening is covered by a broad bony ridge, a curious feature also carried by a significant number of Cro-Magnons. But none of the alleged 'ancestors of us all' fossils from Africa have it, and it is extremely rare in modern people outside Europe." [pp 126-127]
by James Shreeve
in local libraries
This is what happens when Neanderthal husbands let their wives go shopping alone - nope not pigeon bone, not sparrow bone, not crow bone, but expensive White-Tailed Eagle Bone Jewelry...
bttt!
Or part of a back scratcher.
I hear that their inability to scratch their own backs was the main reason they went extinct. /s
Also known as the Sea Eagle. Quite a prize for a hunter.
Yes, I think those talons would make striking jewelry though they may have been part of a shaman's kit and kept concealed, only to be revealed when circumstances called for the powerful magic of the eagle.
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