Neanderthal exploitation of marine mammals in Gibraltar

[Charlie Hatchett]

Neanderthal exploitation of marine mammals in Gibraltar

http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2008/09/19/0805474105

Stone Age seafood fans

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/36705/title/Stone_Age_seafood
_fans

[trehinp]

Thanks for letting us know about this very important article. It is indeed quite interesting to observe that the capabilities of Neanderthals were likely to be far more complex than once assumed.

Towards the end, the article mentions the refutation that such Neanderthal behaviour bring to the "cognitive revolution” of the upper Palaeolithic, dear to Klein, Mithen, Tatersall and some other authors

I am particularly interested in the controversy between more classical authors and the hypothesis of a "cognitive revolution" in the 50K to 40K period. This hypothesis of a cognitive revolution is, in my opinion, unnecessary. (Dennett called such hypothesis “sky hooks”)

Reviving the cognitive revolution controversy in this article seems however a bit inconsistent as, so far, the latest theories of human evolutionary processes seem to indicate that there is no more direct link between Neanderthal and Homo sapiens Sapiens.

It remains that one factor that was considered "advanced cognitive skills" like the regular inclusion of maritime food in the diet didn't have to wait for Homo sapiens Sapiens to be observed. Neanderthals had discovered such nutritional behaviour without having had to learn it from Homo sapiens Sapiens.

Remember that these authors also used in their argument for a "cognitive revolution", the artistic capabilities expressed by Homo sapiens Sapiens in cave art around 30 K years BP. I have exposed elsewhere on this forum, an alternative explanation to the "cognitive revolution" in order to explain upper Palaeolithic art sudden apparition. Click here for more

I believe that there may have been qualitative cognitive differences between Neanderthals and Sapiens Sapiens. But far more subtle ones than those envisioned by the group of authors mentioned above.

Paul

[lagarvelho]

Paul:

I'm not entirely sure that there were "cognitive differences" between Neandertals and "moderns", but many people believe that such differences existed.  The trouble with such beliefs is that, when a discovery like the recent one at Gibraltar comes to light, it generally "blows away" an aspect of this belief.  I am convinced that other, similar discoveries will be made, re Neandertals, in the not-so-distant future.
Anne G

[Charlie Hatchett]

Definitely interesting stuff. I have to admit I'm not particularly shocked, but impressed, by the recovery of this potential evidence. If it withstands scrutiny it will be critical in pointing us in the direction of an evidence-based understanding of a still very murky Late Middle Paleolithic-Early Upper Paleolithic in the Med. If anyone happens to have the full paper, I'd love to read it.


Cheers,

Charlie

[lagarvelho]

Charlie:

I have the paper.  it's not very long, and quite interesting.  If you want the paper, just send me a note at:

avgilbert@clearwire.net

and I will be happy to send you a pdf of it.
Anne G

[Charlie Hatchett]

Thanks Anne!

Charlie

[lagarvelho]

Charlie:

It's no problem at all.  If you want anything else, I can probably get it for you.
Anne G

[Charlie Hatchett]

Charlie:

It's no problem at all.  If you want anything else, I can probably get it for you.
Anne G

Thanks, Anne. Very kind of you. I found this statement, highlighted by  Stringer et al., interesting:

‘‘Use of these resources is interesting . . .because they are very rarely found with any hominine before
anatomically modern humans.’’

They really made an effort to emphasize this point. This current research will force researchers to look beyond anatomy when determing modernity. This isn't an entirely novel concept, but the physical evidence produced by this research will reinforce the concept.

Charlie