Bones Give Peek Into the Lives of Neanderthals

[kennyc]

By CARL ZIMMER
Published: December 20, 2010

Deep in a cave in the forests of northern Spain are the remains of a gruesome massacre. The first clues came to light in 1994, when explorers came across a pair of what they thought were human jawbones in the cave, called El Sidrón. At first, the bones were believed to date to the Spanish Civil War. Back then, Republican fighters used the cave as a hide-out. The police discovered more bone fragments in El Sidrón, which they sent to forensic scientists, who determined that the bones did not belong to soldiers, or even to modern humans. They were the remains of Neanderthals who died 50,000 years ago.

....

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/21/sc...anderthal.html

[desertblues]

Originally Posted by kennyc

By CARL ZIMMER
Published: December 20, 2010

Deep in a cave in the forests of northern Spain are the remains of a gruesome massacre. The first clues came to light in 1994, when explorers came across a pair of what they thought were human jawbones in the cave, called El Sidrón. At first, the bones were believed to date to the Spanish Civil War. Back then, Republican fighters used the cave as a hide-out. The police discovered more bone fragments in El Sidrón, which they sent to forensic scientists, who determined that the bones did not belong to soldiers, or even to modern humans. They were the remains of Neanderthals who died 50,000 years ago.

....

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/21/sc...anderthal.html

Thanks Kenny, I always love to read about things like that. Its fascinating to get a piece of a very large puzzle as time goes by.
I wonder too; how have they died? And were they indeed cannibalized or were they a sacrifice to be skinned before the ritual? Could be.

Reminds me of Jean M. Auel who wrote about the Cro-magnon and Neanderthaler. She has done lots of research for her books. What I find especially interesting is that she uses the conception of the Collective Unconscious of Karl Jung freely. The memory of things we all share at a deep level, the archetypes, which explain some of the things we do and dream of.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by desertblues

Thanks Kenny, I always love to read about things like that. Its fascinating to get a piece of a very large puzzle as time goes by.
I wonder too; how have they died? And were they indeed cannibalized or were they a sacrifice to be skinned before the ritual? Could be.

Reminds me of Jean M. Auel who wrote about the Cro-magnon and Neanderthaler. She has done lots of research for her books. What I find especially interesting is that she uses the conception of the Collective Unconscious of Karl Jung freely. The memory of things we all share at a deep level, the archetypes, which explain some of the things we do and dream of.

Much of the Neanderthal puzzle is just still being pieced together. They have only recently discovered that we actually have Neanderthal dna in our genes, though we were a different branch of the tree...slightly...

a lot of controversy about what killed them off. Perhaps US.

[MJK2111]

Originally Posted by kennyc

They have only recently discovered that we actually have Neanderthal dna in our genes, though we were a different branch of the tree...slightly...

My wife claims that she's known about that for years!

[kennyc]

Them wimmin's always say that.

[desertblues]

eh eh, ' them wimmin' ? what happens to this nice scientific thread?

[GeoffC]

the BBC version

[phenomshel]

Sounds like a case for Gideon Oliver!! (The main character in the mystery series by Aaron Elkins. He's a forensic anthropologist aka The Skeleton Detective.) YES, I know he's fictional. Don't distract me with common sense! I used to wish out loud for John Lloyd Branson to come take over Texas Panhandle murder cases, too (He's also a fictional character).

[kennyc]

Whatever works.

[phenomshel]

I'm just working out the frustration before I go to work, Kenny. Last shift this week! Two hours of it are with the Customer Service Associate from hades. The parking lot is going to be a skating rink, because they plowed it, it thawed and got wet, and now it's refreezing, and everyone's frantically trying to get Christmas Dinner shopping done and is it just me, but are people REALLY grouchy this year??

[kennyc]

Good Luck! This is day 2 of my vacation!!! Getting a bit of artwork done...

[ardeegee]

Video reposted from the Youtube thread: