Neanderthals & Red Ochre

[E.P. Grondine]

Okay -

The following are the possible alternative outcomes when two groups of people come into contact:

1) One population group may kill the other completely
2) One population group may kill most men, women, and children of the
other group, absorbing either some skilled craftsmen, cultural leaders,
translators, or some children
3) One population group may kill the men and children of the other group,
absorbing its fertile women
4) One population group may kill the males of the other group, absorbing
its fertile women and their children
5) One population group may dominate the other group, reducing it to and
keeping it in a clearly defined supportive role
6) The two population groups may occupy the same area, with each in a
distinct and separate ecological niche
7) The two population groups may remain in separate adjoining areas and
engage in trade
8 ) The two population groups may remain in separate adjoining areas
and maintain strict separation
9) One population group or both may harbor diseases to which the other
population group has no immunity, and contact brings decimation or
extinction to one or both groups

My task was to help to document the case where

10) One population group is blown off the face of the Earth by the impact of a small piece of an asteroid or comet, and the neighboring group simply walks into their now empty lands

You can use this schema for course work, provided you acknowledge its source:
E.P. Grondine. (He was not too bad an analyst)

As to early European hominids -

As shown by their food remains, Neanderthals were not particular maritime, so their use of canoes is questionable.

They did hunt migratory animals. These animals could migrate up to 500 miles a year.
The hunters would move as much as the had to in order to eat, which depended on other food sources and total animal populations.
You can track the distribution of cherts (flints) to estimate their movement.
At those population densities there appears to have been little conflict.
20 miles can be covered on foot in about half a day if animal migratory paths are used.
(We know this from colonial American use of buffalo migration paths.)
Look for the fords - or look for where a river would freeze over: The crossing points.

The Neanderthals were not the small farmers of later Europe, and the ecological niche they exploited was very, very different than that which existed later in Europe.

[kbs2244]

More on the orginal post.
From todays news page.

http://popular-archaeology.com/issue/de ... -years-ago