World History
Neanderthals survived longer than thought. This article is from today's issue of USA Today. Research suggests Neanderthals survived for thousands of years longer than thought, with small bands finding refuge in a massive cave in Spain. They used the cave in Gibraltar at least 2,000 years later than expected.
Clive Finlayson of The Gibraltar Museum reported the findings Wednesday with colleagues on the website of the journal Nature. The citation for the article is Finlayson C., et al. Nature, advanced online publication doi : 10.1038/nature05195 (2006). The paper says charcoal samples from fires that Neanderthals set in the cave are about 28,000 years old and maybe just 24,000 years old.
From the site:
Scientists have long been fascinated by the last days of the Neanderthals. Were they doomed because they couldn't compete with the encroaching modern humans for resources, or because they caught new germs from the moderns, or because of climate change? Did the two groups have much contact, and what kind?
They didn't appear to encounter each other in Gibraltar at Gorham's Cave. More than 5,000 years separate the last traces of the Neanderthals from the earliest evidence of modern humans, Finlayson said. He believes the area near the cave contained small bands of Neanderthals and of advancing moderns at the same time, but over a large and varied landscape. So it's not clear if the two groups ever met, he said.
- Prehistoric Clam Bakes
Around 164 thousand years ago, some humans were having clam bakes on the shores of Africa. This is reported in an article by Will Dunham titled For early humans, a beach party and clam bake in S.Africa. Dunham wrote, "For early humans, one of the first...
- Paleolithic Juvenilia
Were cave artists sex- and hunting-obsessed teenage boys? I discovered an article with the title "Paleolithic Juvenilia" in the August 2006 issue of Scientific American. It was written by JR Minkel and it covers the research of R. Dale Guthrie, a paleobiologist...
- Neanderthal
Neanderthal - This is an illustrated overview of Neanderthal living. It was created to accompany a TV show that followed the story of a small clan of Neanderthals living in Southwest France 35,000 years ago. In addition to notes on how the show was made,...
- From Art And Tools Came Human Origins
From Art and Tools Came Human Origins. Larry Barham reports in British Archaeology that evidence of modern human behaviour 200,000 years old may have been found in Africa. From the site: Until fairly recently, modern humans were thought to have emerged...
- Tropical Cave Art: Older Than European Art
Here's a short documentary form Nature Video about the discovery of cave paintings in Indonesia that "may change what we know about art." That's because these paintings date back more than 39,000 years ago, which could make then older than the...
World History
Last Stand of the Neanderthals?
Neanderthals survived longer than thought. This article is from today's issue of USA Today. Research suggests Neanderthals survived for thousands of years longer than thought, with small bands finding refuge in a massive cave in Spain. They used the cave in Gibraltar at least 2,000 years later than expected.Clive Finlayson of The Gibraltar Museum reported the findings Wednesday with colleagues on the website of the journal Nature. The citation for the article is Finlayson C., et al. Nature, advanced online publication doi : 10.1038/nature05195 (2006). The paper says charcoal samples from fires that Neanderthals set in the cave are about 28,000 years old and maybe just 24,000 years old.
From the site:
Scientists have long been fascinated by the last days of the Neanderthals. Were they doomed because they couldn't compete with the encroaching modern humans for resources, or because they caught new germs from the moderns, or because of climate change? Did the two groups have much contact, and what kind?
They didn't appear to encounter each other in Gibraltar at Gorham's Cave. More than 5,000 years separate the last traces of the Neanderthals from the earliest evidence of modern humans, Finlayson said. He believes the area near the cave contained small bands of Neanderthals and of advancing moderns at the same time, but over a large and varied landscape. So it's not clear if the two groups ever met, he said.
- Prehistoric Clam Bakes
Around 164 thousand years ago, some humans were having clam bakes on the shores of Africa. This is reported in an article by Will Dunham titled For early humans, a beach party and clam bake in S.Africa. Dunham wrote, "For early humans, one of the first...
- Paleolithic Juvenilia
Were cave artists sex- and hunting-obsessed teenage boys? I discovered an article with the title "Paleolithic Juvenilia" in the August 2006 issue of Scientific American. It was written by JR Minkel and it covers the research of R. Dale Guthrie, a paleobiologist...
- Neanderthal
Neanderthal - This is an illustrated overview of Neanderthal living. It was created to accompany a TV show that followed the story of a small clan of Neanderthals living in Southwest France 35,000 years ago. In addition to notes on how the show was made,...
- From Art And Tools Came Human Origins
From Art and Tools Came Human Origins. Larry Barham reports in British Archaeology that evidence of modern human behaviour 200,000 years old may have been found in Africa. From the site: Until fairly recently, modern humans were thought to have emerged...
- Tropical Cave Art: Older Than European Art
Here's a short documentary form Nature Video about the discovery of cave paintings in Indonesia that "may change what we know about art." That's because these paintings date back more than 39,000 years ago, which could make then older than the...