Archaeologica.org

Yup. A hammer stone is otherwise known as a rock!

Right you are.

A cave in Central Germany, or the Balkans or Russia is unlikely to have a maritime element. Whereas a cave on the coast of Portugal is a totally different story. What it does suggest is that they were just as adaptable to their environment as HSS was.

Definitely beads. See this collection from Harappa in the Indus Valley. https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn%3AANd9GcRkgpt7mENZEInCJaedw0yriTxpUNxJUbZaVCfpHgbHiZcB0RBK&usqp=CAU I'll stick with a net weight for the first one. The other thing could be natural. I can't tell from the photo if...

Nothing jumps out about that. Here's a tip, though. It helps if you put something in the photo to give it a sense of scale. A coin or even better a ruler.

A small object with a hole might suggest a decorative bead or something whereas something larger suggests a more industrial use.

If you do a search on Google Images for < stone net weight > you'll get quite a sample. The actual size of the stone also matters as similar but smaller stones were used as loom weights for weaving.

The first thing that jumps to mind is a stone net weight.




Did you find it in a coastal environment?

A coastal HNS community and they made extensive use of seafood. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/mar/26/cave-find-shows-neanderthals-collected-seafood-scientists-say Cave find shows Neanderthals collected seafood, scientists say Discovery adds to growing evidence that Neanderthals were very ...

What "piece of writing" are you referring to? There is nothing there.

There is probably nothing like living in an earthquake prone region to teach one something about them.

As I recall, and this was 12 years ago, our guide pointed to this reconstruction by Evans https://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/14/0b/6d/33/caption.jpg and noted that where Evans had put concrete dividers in the wall the Minoans actually used wooden beams. The hypothesis is that the wooden...

Let them eat cake!

I think we are seeing a variant of the Texas Sharpshooter Fallacy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_sharpshooter_fallacy The Texas sharpshooter fallacy is an informal fallacy which is committed when differences in data are ignored, but similarities are overemphasized. From this reasoning, a false...

When I was at Knossos our guide never stopped complaining about Evans.

The religious wars broke out in the 1520's. People might not have been experienced in the sense of having actually fought in them but they certainly knew what was going on and were suffering from the adverse effects. The Wars of the Reformation did not end until the mid 17th century. Native American...

Certainly. What is found tends to be overvalued merely because we have found it. While it cannot be overlooked one should resist the urge to make too many conclusions from them.

We do not know what we don't know.