Tooth of an adult Neandertal from Les Cottés in France. Her diet consisted mainly of the meat of large herbivore mammals. Credit: © MPI f. Evolutionary Anthropology/ A. Le Cabec
Posted on 02/20/2019 10:17:16 AM PST by SunkenCiv
Neandertals' ...are traditionally considered carnivores and hunters of large mammals, but this hypothesis has recently been challenged by numerous pieces of evidence of plant consumption. Ancient diets are often reconstructed using nitrogen isotope ratios, a tracer of the trophic level, the position an organism occupies in a food chain. Neandertals are apparently occupying a high position in terrestrial food chains, exhibiting slightly higher ratios than carnivores (like hyenas, wolves or foxes) found at the same sites. It has been suggested that these slightly higher values were due to the consumption of mammoth or putrid meat. And we also know some examples of cannibalism for different Neandertal sites.
Paleolithic modern humans, who arrived in France shortly after the Neandertals had disappeared, exhibit even higher nitrogen isotope ratios than Neandertals. This is classically interpreted as the signature of freshwater fish consumption. Fishing is supposed to be a typical modern human activity, but again, a debate exists whether or not Neandertals were eating aquatic resources. When Klervia Jaouen, a researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and first author of the study, and collaborators discovered high nitrogen isotope ratios in the collagen of two Neandertals falling in the range of modern humans, they wondered whether this could a signature of regular fish consumption...
...a novel isotope technique. Compound-specific isotope analyses (CSIA) allow to separately analyze the amino acids contained in the collagen. Some of the amino acid isotope compositions are influenced by environmental factors and the isotope ratios of the food eaten. Other amino acid isotope ratios are in addition influenced by the trophic level. The combination of these amino acid isotope ratios allows to decipher the contribution of the environment and the trophic level to the final isotope composition of the collagen.
(Excerpt) Read more at eurekalert.org ...
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
Awww, baloney.
I’m sure it was betel nut and tofu; that’s what killed ‘em.
Humans are omnivores: meat and plants. It’s how it is in nature. Anyone who claims that we shouldn’t eat meat is against nature.
Yeah, the stench of the AGW hoax and veganism are all over some of this story.
Free Range Pterodactyl: It’s what’s for dinner.
Great, now I'm hungry.
Great, we just ran out of those extra long buns.
Having the neighbors over for supper???
If God didn’t want us to eat animals, why did he make them out of meat?......................
“Paleolithic modern humans, who arrived in France shortly after the Neandertals had disappeared, exhibit even higher nitrogen isotope ratios than Neandertals.”
Apparently Modern Hominids were better cannibals... lol
Great article, Thanks!
I just know I am significantly more Neanderthal than Warren is Native American.
I get meat but who was the first humanoid that looked at a lobster and said “man, I’ll be that thing tastes great!” Especially since melted butter had not yet been invented.
Ther’s an old saying:
Brave was he who first ate an oyster...................
That's funny. Just last week I had this conversation with my 5-year old grandson.
HIM: What's your favorite thing to eat?
ME: You.
HIM: Just because I'm made of meat doesn't mean I'm FOOD!
LOL
I don't see why. A fish is a lot easier to catch than a mammoth.
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