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Neanderthal-built stone rings found in cave


Saru

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Maybe it was separation of living quarters on of the first shows of the need for private space :-)

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Maybe they were telling people who normally stand to pee to go in one room, those who normally squat to pee to go in the other room, no matter how you identify that day. Unless you identify as a dog then the tree or prehistoric fire hydrant out front is your place to pee.

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So is this evidence of religion 175,000 years ago? Fascinating that they were intelligent and lived along side us for so long. It makes their disappearance a little more eerie.

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To speculate upon the meaning of the ring ... I suppose it could have been an area distinguishing the eating from sleeping, perhaps the elite from the not-so, a stage, even a crude model for a solar observatory to mark solstices. How smart do we want to make Neanderthal?

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why are neanderthals white? shouldnt they have dark skin? and early humans too, light skin was a genetic defect no?

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4 minutes ago, grimsituation6 said:

why are neanderthals white? shouldnt they have dark skin? and early humans too, light skin was a genetic defect no?

No, it's an adaption to low UV radiation and to mitigate vitamin D depletion. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_skin

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From the UM article:

Quote

The prehistoric builders of these rings were no dimwits, having harvested the tops of stalagmites before arranging them in a circle on the cave floor - all while illuminated only by the light of a fire.

 

Uhh... But my 4 year old son does the same thing with lego constructs. He probably could even start a fire. Even 2 year olds will build little forts around themselves. And their brains are about a quarter that of an adult.

I find this to be a sign of intelligence and engineering, but not necessarily of an equal intelligence to our current level. Don't they say that some dogs have the understanding of a 2 year old?

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6 hours ago, Dark_Grey said:

So is this evidence of religion 175,000 years ago? Fascinating that they were intelligent and lived along side us for so long. It makes their disappearance a little more eerie.

I've often speculated that modern humans learned art and ceremonial religion from the Neanderthals. I don't know of much evidence of either in association with modern humans before the two groups met.

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There's a deeply engrained prejudice against Neanderthals that persists. They were so like us the interbred with us. Also, it's curious that the most beautiful artistic expression from so remote a time occurs only on the walls of caves within the Neanderthal heartland.

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This truly is an amazing find.

I especially like the fact that the cave entrance was blocked/hidden from outside view for 10's of thousands of years, presumably by a land/rock slide.

 

EDIT: Kinda reminds me of the "intactness" of the King Tut tomb due to it being hidden by some type of rock slide.

Edited by pallidin
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A little more information here: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2090183-neanderthals-built-mystery-underground-circles-175000-years-ago/

I think the removal of the tip and base of the stalagmite gives an intriguing clue. To me it looks like sections of mammoth tusk, stacked around, as if they were replicating the success of a Neanderthal hunting scene, or the base of a hut.

It's interesting if so, as later Mousterian (homo sapiens) huts had mammoth bones and tusks to provide structure. Perhaps they learned from others...?

Mike

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Interesting find.  Keep in mind when speculating that this feature is over 300m deep inside the cave, shrouded in pitch black darkness.  So It's definitely not any sort of habitation site, and it's not an easily accessible place--they had to control fire and trek deep into the cave to reach the site.  

I'm personally tempted to think there may be some sort of connection to a conception of the underworld.  Perhaps it was a place to worship or contact the dead.

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This is obviously a fighting ring. :whistle:

About Neandertals' pigmentation:

https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22129542-600-neanderthal-human-sex-bred-light-skins-and-infertility/

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One of the genes, BNC2, is involved in skin pigmentation. That implies that Eurasians owe their paler skins partly to Neanderthals. Light skin is an advantage at higher latitudes because it is more efficient at generating vitamin D from sunlight, so Neanderthal DNA may have helped modern humans to adapt to life outside Africa.

There is also a mutation on another gene which hint some Neandertal were redhaired with freakles.

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That deep in the cave, the temperature would have remained well above freezing in winter and deliciously cool in summer. The Neanderthals took advantage of natural central heat and air!

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Here we go again, if it doesn't fit hid it, stinks to high heaven!

 

 

This is partly because the previous work wasn’t published in the international scientific literature, but Villa thinks there was another reason the Bruniquel finds were overlooked in the late 90s and early 2000s: mainstream scientific thinking at the time simply rejected the idea of Neanderthals as intelligent and sophisticated.

“[it] ran against the prevailing and damning views of Neanderthal inferiority compared to modern humans,” Villa says.

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2090183-neanderthals-built-mystery-underground-circles-175000-years-ago/

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A real cool find!  Is it my imagination or does the picture of the Neanderthal used looks like Danny Trejo?

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