Did Neanderthals Like Pretty Rocks?

[Judi Lynn]

Did Neanderthals Like Pretty Rocks?

An unusual rock in a cave inhabited by Neanderthals in Croatia suggests the hominids may have picked up interesting stones

By Jason Daley
smithsonian.com
January 23, 2017 3:40PM


When the original Neanderthal skull with the heavy brow and thick bones was found by quarrymen in Germany’s Neander Valley in 1856, British geologist William King interpreted them along the lines of phrenology and scientific racism. He determined that the skull must have come from an inferior species, reports Jon Mooallem at The New York Times Magazine. Writing about the skull, King mused that “The thoughts and desires which once dwelt within it never soared beyond those of a brute.”

That stereotype stuck for well over a century and still persists in popular culture today. But recent research shows that Neanderthals weren’t the stoop-shouldered grunting cavemen found in Gary Larson's "The Far Side" comic strip. They were similar to humans of the day, capable of making fire, speech, burying their dead and even engaging in symbolic behavior. And the latest piece of evidence found in a cave in Krapina, Croatia may suggest they had another trait in common: they liked to pick up cool rocks.

According to a press release, a group of international researchers re-examining material excavated from the cave, where archaeologists found 900 Neanderthal bones between 1899 and 1905, came across an unusual split limestone rock. It stood out from the other 1,000 pieces of stone collected because of its composition and the interesting black lines spidering across its face.

“It looked like it is important,” David Frayer, professor emeritus of anthropology at the University of Kansas who is co-author of a study of the rock appearing in the journal Comptes Rendus Palevol. “We went back through all the collected items to make sure there weren't other rocks like it. It just sat there for 100 years like most of the other stuff from the site. The original archaeologists had described stone tools, but didn't pay any attention to this one.”

Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/did-neanderthals-pretty-rocks-180961865/#eKyzzwPKAh3sAPRI.99

[Warpy]

1. I once saw a comparison of Neanderthal and modern human hand axes

The Neanderthal fit the hand a lot better and is still razor sharp, capable of slicing through thick leather. Not so the modern human equivalent. That's about when I changed my own opinion of them. They were people, superior in some ways but not in others.

[PufPuf23]

2. Who doesn't like pretty rocks?

Thanks.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

3. Many many years ago I was a docent at the Natural History Museum

of the Smithsonian.

I was trained to do a highlights tour, and what I learned was so amazing and so inspiring that I went back to college.

Anyway, what struck me the most in the various anthropology/human exhibits was our inclination as a species to make thing prettier than they need to be. There is no human group that lives in so deprived an environment that they don't find ways to make the things around them attractive, completely aside from their utility. It crossed all cultures, all human groups, and that's what I think sets us apart from all the other animals out there. Not language, because many other species communicate quite well. Not tool making, because there are other animals who make tools. But our esthetic appreciation. Our drive to make things more than utilitarian. THAT's what makes us human.