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Neanderthals 'Were Ahead Of Their Time'
The Telegraph (UK) ^ | 6-15-2007

Posted on 06/14/2007 5:56:19 PM PDT by blam

Neanderthals 'were ahead of their time'

Last Updated: 2:42am BST 14/06/2007

Big, brutish and stupid - it's a commonly held view that our prehistoric predecessors were as wild and unsophisticated as the animals they hunted.

Neanderthal man was 'as smart as we are'

But Neanderthal man was not as slow-witted as he looked and was in reality as smart as we are, an archaeologist claims.

They were actually innovators who used different forms of tools to adapt to the ecological challenges posed by harsh habitats as they spread through Europe. Although our ancestors have become the butt of jokes about people who are stupid or unenlightened, they were years ahead of their time.

Dr Terry Hopkinson, of Leicester University, said Neanderthals were far from behaviourally static and incorporated different forms of tool construction into a single technique.

He said: "There has been a consensus that the modern human mind turned on like a light switch about 50,000 years ago, only in Africa."

But the modern traits accompanying the change such as abstract art, the use of grindstones and elongated stone blades, and big-game hunting began to accumulate in Africa from 300,000 years ago.

Archaeological finds from across Europe also show the Neanderthals fused two forms of tool-making called the faconnage and the debitage techniques. Neanderthals had previously been thought of as incapable of innovation, said Dr Hopkinson, as it was assumed to be something unique to Homo sapiens.


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: brutish; godsgravesglyphs; neandertal; neandertals; neanderthal; neanderthals; smart; sophisticated
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To: metmom
"And how do we know what they looked like? Those stupid artists renditions? That's real reliable. "

This is a reconstructed face from what is believed to be a Neanderthal - Modern Human hybrid. (Re-constructed from a skull/skeleton found in Portugal)

41 posted on 06/14/2007 7:16:28 PM PDT by blam
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To: blam

They died out because Europe got too cold for bananas to grow.


42 posted on 06/14/2007 7:23:21 PM PDT by rickdylan
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To: U S Army EOD

Why am I reminded of this story?

43 posted on 06/14/2007 7:25:00 PM PDT by StACase
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To: labette
If “Neanderthals” were stronger and smarter than we, Why are we the survivors?

We are meaner and nastier, and hold grudges longer? Plus we breed like rats under most circumstances.

44 posted on 06/14/2007 7:30:27 PM PDT by El Gato (The Second Amendment is the RESET button of the United States Constitution." -- Doug McKay)
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To: blam
So easy, a scientist could do it.

Scientists are what...schmart?

45 posted on 06/14/2007 7:32:03 PM PDT by Sender (I know I left my country around here somewhere. Reward if found.)
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To: blam
The mating of a female Neanderthal with a modern human male was unlikely because she would find him gracile and he would find her robust.

This theory only works if beer was not yet invented.

46 posted on 06/14/2007 7:43:13 PM PDT by Maynerd (Bush is the Herbert Hoover of border security)
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To: labette

>If “Neanderthals” were stronger and smarter than we, Why are we the survivors?<

Poor immigration laws?


47 posted on 06/14/2007 8:03:58 PM PDT by dangerdoc (dangerdoc (not actually dangerous any more))
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I just had to ask....


48 posted on 06/14/2007 8:15:12 PM PDT by labette
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To: Blood of Tyrants
If that were true, whales would be the most intelligent creatures on earth.

perhaps they are...

49 posted on 06/14/2007 8:23:25 PM PDT by chilepepper (The map is not the territory -- Alfred Korzybski)
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To: blam
Neanderthals had bigger brains the we do
Image and video hosting by TinyPic

Speak for yourself sapiens.

50 posted on 06/14/2007 8:33:16 PM PDT by suffering_fools
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To: labette

http://www.livescience.com/environment/070504_neanderthals_climate.html


51 posted on 06/14/2007 8:53:21 PM PDT by monkeycard
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To: StACase

I hope that really happened.


52 posted on 06/14/2007 10:13:17 PM PDT by U S Army EOD
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I think the upcoming (or has it started?) Neandertaler sitcom may have something to do with the surge of interest, but as we all know, this is Mammoth Week, and the Neandertal loved the smell of mammoth in the morning.
The Neandertal Enigma
by James Shreeve
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]

53 posted on 06/14/2007 10:14:28 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Time heals all wounds, particularly when they're not yours. Profile updated June 8, 2007.)
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To: blam; FairOpinion; StayAt HomeMother; Ernest_at_the_Beach; 1ofmanyfree; 24Karet; 3AngelaD; 49th; ...
Thanks Blam! Finally, confirmation. ;')

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. Thanks.
Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on or off the
"Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list or GGG weekly digest
-- Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)

54 posted on 06/14/2007 10:15:01 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Time heals all wounds, particularly when they're not yours. Profile updated June 8, 2007.)
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Image and video hosting by TinyPic

55 posted on 06/14/2007 10:17:35 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Time heals all wounds, particularly when they're not yours. Profile updated June 8, 2007.)
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To: SunkenCiv
Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

here's one!

56 posted on 06/14/2007 10:32:54 PM PDT by Fred Nerks (FAIR DINKUM!)
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To: SunkenCiv

http://upwithcavemen.com/caveman.htm


57 posted on 06/14/2007 10:34:03 PM PDT by Pelham (deport and impeach)
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To: Blood of Tyrants; shibumi

“Dumb” animals can learn *our* language well enough to associate a specific action/object/command/concept with them, yet we have not a single clue what *they* are saying.

[cue Twilight Zone music]....;]


58 posted on 06/14/2007 11:45:15 PM PDT by Salamander (And don't forget my Dog; fixed and consequent.......)
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To: U S Army EOD

It's a joke, a very funny joke but a joke. You can look it up on Snopes or some other debunking website.

59 posted on 06/15/2007 2:46:50 AM PDT by StACase
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To: blam

“.....The mating of a female Neanderthal with a modern human male was unlikely because she would find him gracile and he would find her robust.....”

Ever spent much time in a trailer park? This kind of thing happens every day.

As an acquaintance of mine said, concerning a mutual friend, who was skinny and dating a “robust” woman (whom he later married),
“If she don’ weigh more ‘n’ he do, he don’ wan’ ‘er!”


60 posted on 06/15/2007 3:58:02 AM PDT by Renfield
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