Neandertal's death, new theory.

[Minimalist]

Fortunately...in the glorious light of freedom which shines on this forum....The Club has no power.

[Digit]

I often wonder if any of them read us Min.

Roy.

[Minimalist]

Of course not. Hell. They are all VERY IMPORTANT PEOPLE aren't they?

[Digit]

No! They only think they are.

Roy.

[Minimalist]

It's the old "name-on-the-door" syndrome.

[Rokcet Scientist]

BUT if blonde and red hair came from HSN

If we accept that then we accept the idea of interbreeding but why do we not see Swedes and Norweigians born with curly black hair. Even if the gene is recessive it should still pop out every once in a while. No?

Yes! And who says it doesn't? I think we just don't see that in 99,9% of images of Scandinavians because photographers taking pictures of Scandinavians consider curly black hair not Scandinavian. So they avoid taking/posting pictures of Scandinavians with curly black hair, and hence we rarely see those.

Afaik there are plenty Scots with curly black hair!

[PaulMarcW]

As this thread is dealing with Neanderthal I am posting this page:


http://www.beforebc.de/Made.by.Humankin ... 00-15.html

And as red and blond hair has been brought up, here is something that might be interesting:



and lots more are here:

http://www.beforebc.de/Made.by.Humankin ... ricans.htm

.

[Forum Monk]

Hi Paul-Marc,
Interesting graphic of the Shanidar skull. While neanderthal may have had african features, one can not draw that conclusion from examination of the Shanidar skulls. Firstly, none of the skulls had flesh or muscle tissue so the apparent depiction of lips and nose is an illusion created by the dirt sticking to the speciman. Secondly the Shaidar skeletions where far from pristine and atypical as they exhibited signs of either trauma or dibilitating disease.

This is what the Shanidar 1 speciman looked like when excavated:

[Minimalist]

Oddly, just a couple of days ago I had seen a discussion about a wound on the ribs of Shandihar III. If I recall, (and I only gazed at it because it was the type of thing that would drive some posters here stark raving nuts...myself included) the author suggested that Shandihar III was murdered by HSS because he was hit with a missile weapon and "everyone knows" that HNS couldn't throw spears.

I've got to go looking around for that one.

[Forum Monk]

According to Trinkhaus:

Shanidar 2, 3, and 5 appear to have been killed by rockfalls. Shanidar 2 and 4 are generally similar to the later Shanidar Neanderthals, but they exhibit faces that are more archaic and strongly built, thereby documenting the emergence of the Neanderthals from earlier forms of humans in the Middle East. All of them have the typically massive bodies of archaic humans.

So I guess one could debate origins, but not based on apparent lips or nose features on an in situ skeleton.

[Digit]

It's a good thing that detectives investigating murders are a little less free with their guess work than some archaeologists. I can find three alternatives that fit the scene,
firstly some bankable proof that HSN is extinct,
secondly that any presumed inability that HSN couldn't cast a spear eliminates him from the deed, and
thirdly the victim could have fallen on the spear or even committed suicide!

Roy.

[Minimalist]

I found it, Dig.


http://www.livescience.com/history/0907 ... urder.html

As for the spear, since modern humans had developed projectile hunting weapons and Neanderthals hadn't, the researchers deduced the probable suspect — a modern human.

Modern humans used spear throwers, detachable handles that connected with darts and spears to effectively lengthen a hurler's arm and give the missiles a power boost.

As human weapons technology advanced, Neanderthals continued using long thrusting spears in hunting, which they probably tried — for personal safety — to keep between themselves and their prey instead of hurling them, Churchill added.

I'm not going to say a word.

[Digit]

Modern humans used spear throwers,

Jesus wept! Monday the spear, Tuesday the spear thrower! Do these people have their common sense removed at some stage?

Roy.

[Cognito]

Do these people have their common sense removed at some stage?

Apparently, that is a prerequisite. I was not aware that anyone had the atlatl at 44kya, nor that Hss would be intruding upon a Hn cave to take a pot shot. The article's silliness does nothing to advance scientific knowledge.

[Rokcet Scientist]

The article's silliness does nothing to advance scientific knowledge.

On the plus side, though: it does (hopefully) increase the public at large's interest in paleontology by it's "CSI component", which should lead to more students/specialized scientists in the field, and bigger research budgets. However misguided the motivation may be.