Did Neanderthals Sail to Mediterranean?

[Big Bad Voodoo]

http://www.livescience.com/24810-neanderthals-sailed-mediterranean.html

"If the ancient finds in the Mediterranean can be verified, they will show that Homo erectus or Neanderthals or both had the skills and cognitive ability to build boats and navigate them," Simmons said.

[Bling]

Homo Erectus

Sorry....

[Helen of Annoy]

Homo Erectus

Sorry....

Don’t be sorry, except for the fact that I’d personally prefer Hetero Erectus For obvious reasons.

Seriously now, Neanderthals sailing around would be far more advanced than anyone (officially) considered.

It’s almost funny how much the perception of early humans has changed in last few years.

[Abramelin]

If we have to believe this (and something tells me we better not...) then Neanderthals even ended up in America:

http://annalsofsubmarineresearch.blogspot.nl/2011_12_01_archive.html

[Abramelin]

If we have to believe this (and something tells me we better not...) then Neanderthals even ended up in America:

http://annalsofsubma...01_archive.html

[Helen of Annoy]

If we have to believe this (and something tells me we better not...) then Neanderthals even ended up in America:

http://annalsofsubma...01_archive.html

Yes, for starts, the Venus dagger looks far, far too symmetrical.

I admit I only skimmed the article, so do they claim this is the actual photo (which it obviously is not) of the dagger or they state anywhere this is a reconstruction of the actual find?

Where are the actual photos of the actual find?

(Note that I have no problem with Neanderthal finds popping up in seemingly unexpected places, I have a problem with computer generated presentation. Is it possible someone would really find something so intriguing and then say: “But we’ll publish only nice photoshops, no one wants to see the real thing.”)

[with bells on]

Homo Erectus sounds far more entertaining.. lol..

[Abramelin]

Yes, for starts, the Venus dagger looks far, far too symmetrical.

I admit I only skimmed the article, so do they claim this is the actual photo (which it obviously is not) of the dagger or they state anywhere this is a reconstruction of the actual find?

Where are the actual photos of the actual find?

(Note that I have no problem with Neanderthal finds popping up in seemingly unexpected places, I have a problem with computer generated presentation. Is it possible someone would really find something so intriguing and then say: “But we’ll publish only nice photoshops, no one wants to see the real thing.”)

Of course. after I accidentally hit upon that website, I googled to find anything official, but nothing showed up. Just another website repeating the same story.

Try it yourself: "Neanderthal skull" AND "Monterey".

And I thought the same thing as you did about the dagger: it looks too symmetrical, as though someone had simply mirrored some artefact.

[Abramelin]

Homo Erectus sounds far more entertaining.. lol..

[Helen of Annoy]

Of course. after I accidentally hit upon that website, I googled to find anything official, but nothing showed up. Just another website repeating the same story.

Try it yourself: "Neanderthal skull" AND "Monterey".

And I thought the same thing as you did about the dagger: it looks too symmetrical, as though someone had simply mirrored some artefact.

Definitely mirrored. Some cracks were shopped in asymmetrically, but that doesn’t help the overall impression at all.

And definitely only that one same article repeated elsewhere.

Sometimes I hate modern technology.

Back in the old days, people had to put some effort into making stuff up

And what’s even worse, when something real pops up, the chance of getting it written off as another hoax is bigger than ever. I mean, let’s assume there was the actual find and people only wrongly assumed reconstruction would be better choice for publishing than actual photo... so the find gets buried in enormous pile of scaled up bones and mermaid corpses.

But the article L posted looks far more serious and realistic. Seafaring or accidentally floating too far away from your home shore in your fishing proto-boat is equally fascinating for Neanderthals the way we see them. And Homo hopefully Erectus tonight, of course

[JimOberg]

12,000 years ago? Weren't they modern humans at that point?

[C235]

There really is something wrong with these archaeologists.

[Helen of Annoy]

For instance, stone artifacts on the southern Ionian Islands hint at human sites there as early as 110,000 years ago. Investigators have also recovered quartz hand-axs, three-sided picks and stone cleavers from Crete that may date back about 170,000 years ago. The distance of Crete about 100 miles (160 kilometers) from the mainland would have made such a sea voyage no small feat.

The exceedingly old age of these artifacts suggests the seafarers who made them might not even been modern humans, who originated between 100,000 and 200,000 years ago. Instead, they might have been Neanderthals or perhaps even Homo erectus.

Thou shall read the whole article before trying to spoil the fun we are having here with Homo Erectus.

[wolfknight]

I think anything is possible. Look at the Clovis people

[+DieChecker]

I think it is possible that neanderthals floated over on logs. They saw an island, got on a log and paddled over.

[Myles]

I think it is possible that neanderthals floated over on logs. They saw an island, got on a log and paddled over.

That is possible.

[booNyzarC]

Sailing in the Mediterranean is so easy that a caveman can do it.

[smokeycat]

What was the Mediterranean like during the ice age when sea levels were around 130m (425 feet) lower?

[Ashotep]

If sea levels were that much lower it might not been as difficult as it would of been with today's sea levels. There would of been more islands I would think.

Maybe they just found something that would float to use as a boat.

[+DieChecker]

What was the Mediterranean like during the ice age when sea levels were around 130m (425 feet) lower?

Good point, I'd forgotten that angle.