Among the activities of Neanderthal include:
BUILDING HUTS
"The earliest indications come from one of the 12 Mindel/Riss interglacial
occupation levels at Lunel-Viel. There, a line of six groups of large stones
occurs about 10 m inside the present cave entrance. Two to four large stones
constitute each group, and the line creates a division between the occupied
area at the mouth of the cave and the less used interior part of the cave.
These groups of stone most plausibly represent rocks used to stabilize poles
wedged between the cave floor and ceiling. In fact, one such small rock
circle at Lunel-Viel surrounded a small post hole 15 cm deep and about 2.5 cm
in diameter confirming the construction nature of these rock features. The
line of six rock groups may represent a form of wall that blocked the living
area from cold damp air currents coming from the cave interior when
Preneandertals sought refuge in the cave during inclement weather. Bonifay
also uncovered what appears to be portions of paved areas sometimes associated
with hearths or work areas on several levels. At Lunel-Viel a true dry stone
wall almost 3 m long was also excavated. This separated one part of the cave
which did not appear to have been habitable due to its high humidity and low
roof from the clearly inhabited zone. There were also pits dug along the
underground lakeshore, constructed hearths, bone dumps on the periphery of
habitation zone and other indications of a strongly specialized use of
domestic space inside the cave."~Brian Hayden "The Cultural Capacities of
Neandertals ", Journal of Human Evolution 1993, 24:113-146, p. 132n
PAVEMENTS
"The most widely
accepted candidate for a clearly defined pavement has been excavated in the
Mindel/Riss deposits of Grotte d'Aldene. This continuous 6 m2 pavement was
primarily composed of adjoining rounded limestone cobbles that had been split
and flaked on the sides that were set into the ground with their rounded
surfaces facing up. Waste flakes, stalagmitic slabs with smooth surfaces up
and flint tools also formed part of this pavement. The continuous nature of
the pavement, the occurrence of flaking on the underside of the cobbles and
their limestone material make it seem unlikely that these are randomly
abandoned tools meant to be used for practical tasks. As Barrall & Simone
argue, these factors, as well as 'a good size sorting together with the tight,
almost conjoining fit between the constituents, and the presence of
incontestible flakes, prove that this is certainly an intentional habitation
structure.' Lumley & Bottet excavated other stone concentrations in several
Riss II and III deposits of stratum 30(J) at Baume Bonne. The best example at
this site,with over 185 cobbles per square meter, had well defined edges
forming an oval 5 m long by 2.5 m wide containing up to 70 retouched flint
tools per square meter, leaving little doubt as to its association with human
activity."~Brian Hayden "The Cultural Capacities of Neandertals ", Journal of
Human Evolution 1993, 24:113-146, p. 132-133
WALLS
"Among earlier excavations Villeneuve reported an actual curved rock
wall 1.6 m high abutting against the cave wall of the Grotte du Prince. This
wall had an opening towards the front and enclosed deposits rich in ashes and
burned bone 32-35 cm thick from the Mousterian levels (foyer B) at the Grotte
du Prince. Although there were no paving stones within this enclosure, such
as those that were brought in and placed around one of the other hearths in
this stratum and in the foyer A stratum, stone blocks within the stone wall
were fireblackened."~Brian Hayden "The Cultural Capacities of Neandertals ",
Journal of Human Evolution 1993, 24:113-146, p. 135
SURFACE MINING
"Turq describes one such major site from this region - that of Lascabannes,
located immediately adjacent to a rich flint source on the Senonian outcrop in
Lot-et-Garonne. The assemblage is characterized predominantly by a
concentration of flint nodules, most of which exhibit signs of deliberate
scratching or scoring of the surface (to assess the quality of the flint)
followed by preliminary testing of the nodules by occasional flake removals,
or more systematic removal of outer (cortical) flakes to reduce the weight of
the nodules for transportation from the site. An apparent example of a
similar extraction site has been reported briefly by Geneste from the site of
Campsegret in the Bergerac region, but has not yet been described in any
detail."~Paul C. Mellars, The Neanderthal Legacy, (Princeton: University
Press, 1996), p. 265
SUBTERRANEAN MINING
"Since the discovery of these early mining traces in Europe, evidence of
Mousterian mining has been reported from a cave near Budapest, Hungary. In
contrast to western Europe, with its extensive flint deposits, Hungary lacks
such ample sources. The most frequent lithic raw materials are quartz
porphyries. Miocene obsidians and siliceous rocks of hydrothermal or limnic
origin, besides Palaeozoic to Cretaceous chert. Most of the latter mineral was
collected from stream pebbles, as shown by the presence of a characteristic
cortex. However, Gabori-Csank has reported subterranean chert mining with
Mousterian 'pick axes' from a Hungarian cave."~Robert G. Bednarik, "Early
Subterranean Chert Mining," The Artefact, 15:(1992), pp 11-24, p. 14
JEWELRY
see the cover of this issue of nature for the picture of a beautiful
Neanderthal necklace
Jean-Jacques Hublin, Fred Spoor, Marc Braun F.Zonnenveld and
Silvana Condemi, "A Late Neanderthal Associated with Upper
Palaeolithic Artefacts," Nature, 381: May 16, 1996, p. 224
BONE FLUTES FROM NEARLY 100,000 YEARS AGO
"To these may be added a remarkable bone object most plausibly explained as a
fragment of a vertical 'flute' or multiple pitch whistle, from spit 1955/64.
In this position although directly associated only with a few non-diagnostic
chips, splinters and and splinters of bone it is none the less attributable to
the Pre-Aurignacian owing to the clear indications provided by the overlying
spits 1955/61-58, to be discussed in the next chapter. These last show every
affinity with the material culture as described and certainly indicate the
continued existence of the tradition in the area.
"In all important respects preserved the bone tube reproduces the
features of known paleolithic flutes from the European Gravettian both in the
East and West, although older by a factor of at least 2 than any other
specimen known.
"Its measurable features are as follows:
mm
Length of surviving portion 8.9
External diameter 3.5-4
Internal diameter 3.5
Diameter of right-hand perforation 3.4
Estimated diameter of left-hand perforation 3
Distance from supposed outh piece to first perforation 8
(proximal rim)
Distance from supposed mouth piece to second perforation 17.5
C.B.M. McBurney, Haua Fteah (Cyrenaica),(Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1967), p. 90
WHISTLES
"It is impossible not to notice abundant Saiga tatarica phalanges with
holes. For example, there are 41 such phalanges with holes. For example,
there are 41 such phalanges (55.4% of the total) in the second layer
(excavations of 1981 and 1982). In most cases crudely pierced holes are
connected with the dorsal surface near the distal epiphysis of the first and
second phalange, but are also often located on the articular surface. In many
cases the phalanges have two or even three holes, mainly tending to the distal
or proximal ends. It is rare that a hole in situated in the medial section.
Average dimensions of holes are 3-4 mm; whereas larger ones, sometimes up to
10 mm in size, are much rarer. The origin and purpose of these holes is not
quite clear. The study of phalanges with holes has already been going on for
more than 150 years, and various explanations have been proposed: the
obtaining of marrow; use as whistles; and the result of biting through by a
carnivore while the animal was alive. Other hypotheses seem to be fantastic,
for example, that they were vessels for poison. It is possible that some of
the phalanges with holes were really used as whistles. R. Wetzel wrote that
phalanges with roughly pierced holes from Bocksteinschmeide H which he had
recognised as 'hunters' pipes' were shown by experiment to utter quite strong
shrill sounds. One cannot completely exclude the hypothesis about marrow
procuring, although in many ways it does not withstand criticism. New evidence
about natural causes has recently been adduced. In any case, the abundance of
phalanges with holes at Prolom II cannot be comprehensively explained by any
one of the causes mentioned above. Maybe in future investigations of these
artefacts at Crimean sites (apart from Prolom II they are known in any layers
of Zaskalnaya V, VI IX, as well as at Prolom I, and elsewhere) will make clear
their enigmatic origins."~Vadim N. Stpanchuk, "Prolom II, A Middle
Palaeolithic Cave Site in the Eastern Crimea with Non-Utilitarian Bone
Artefacts," Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 59, 1993, pp 17-37, p. 33-
34.
RELIGION AND BURIAL
"Maser and Gallup ahve done nothing less than identify a basic
behavioral complex that seems dependent upon higher cognitive abilities that
are facilitated by an expanded prefrontal cortex. From a paleoneurological
perspective, it is significant that religion appears exclusively and
universally in humans. But what of the fossil record? When do the concepts of
death and an afterlife first appear? Although a precise answer may never be
determined, the fossil record does provide some upper limits for the
appearance of religious behaviors.
"Certainly big-brained, but beleaguered Neandertals had some sort of
religion. As far as we know, they were the first hominids to bury their dead.
Times were cold and the earth was frozen hard. Consequently, Neandertals often
buried their dead in small graves, with corpses in flexed or semiflexed
positions. Despite the practicality of their burials, by 50,000 years ago some
Neandertal graves had become quite spectacular. For instance, analysis of
pollen deposits from Shanidar Cave in northeastern Iraq indicates that the
grave of an adult male may have been covered with an assortment of colorful
flowers.
"From our Western perspective, we might be tempted to view other
examples of Neandertal's treatment of the dead as ghoulish. For example,
there's the lad from a shallow grave in Teshik-Tash,Russia, whose remains were
surrounded by numerous pairs of goat horns. An equally intriguing find emerged
with the discovery of a cave that had been closed for many thousands of years
in Monte Circeo Italy. Within the cave, a Neandertal skull was found resting
bottom up in the middle of a circle of rocks. The base of the skull was broken
away as if the brains had been deliberately removed. NOr was this the first
sign of a possible cannibalistic ceremony in the fossil record! Perhaps as
long ago as half a million years, Homo erectus had acquired the unsavory habit
of breaking into the braincases of his dead brethren.
"Althought the reader may flinch at the suggestion that cannibalism
indicates higher cognitive abilities, historical records indicate that
cannibalism practiced by Homo sapiens in the late nineteenth and first half of
the twentieth centuries served ceremonial more than nutritive purposes."~Dean
Falk, Braindance,(New York: Henry Holt and Co., 1992), p. 181-182
BEAR CULT RELIGION
"There are other implications of religious beliefs held by Neanderthals
in the collections of bear skulls found in their caves. The mere preservation
of skulls need not suggest anything religious, but in some cases special
attention was given to their placement. In one cave, five bear skulls were
found in niches in the cave wall. The skulls of several cave bears in a group
have been found surrrounded by built-up stone walls, with some skulls having
little stones placed around them, while others were set out on slabs.
"All this suggests some kind of bear cult, like that practiced until
quite recently by the Chippewa and other North American Indians. After a
Chippewa hunter had killed a bear, he would cut off the head, which was then
decorated with beads and ribbons (in the period after contact with Europeans).
Some tobacco was placed before its nose. The hunter would then make a little
speech, apologizing to the bear for having had to kill it. Bear skulls were
preserved and hung up on trees so that dogs and wolves could not get at them.
Bear ceremonialism of this and related kinds had a wide circumpolar
distribution--from the Great Lakes to the Ainu of northern Japan through
various Siberian tribes, such as the Ostyaks and the Orochi, to the Finns and
Lapps of Scandinavia. So wide a distribution of this trait, associated as it
was with other apparently very early circumpolar traits, suggests great age.
It is possible, therefore, that some aspects of this bear ceremonialsim go
back to Middle Paleolithic times."~Victor Barnouw, An Introduction to
Anthropology:Physical Antrhopology and Archaeology, Vol. 1, (Homewood,
Illinois: The Dorsey Press, 1982) p. 156-157
STANDARDIZED MANUFACTURE OF REPLACEMENT PARTS
"Anderston-Gerfand further observes that certain Mousterian flint tools were
made and hafted in such a similar fashion that they could have been
replacement pieces for the same haft. This indicates that a clear concept, or
normative idea, existed for the creation of some stone tools involving
planning and manufacturing to fairly narrow specifications, not only of the
stone bits, but of the entire composite tool."~Brian Hayden "The Cultural
Capacities of Neandertals ", Journal of Human Evolution 1993, 24:113-146, p.
122
FUTURE PLANNING
"The movement of artifacts over distances well in excess of 10-15 km
demonstrates that Mousterian hominids regularly anticipated needs from one day
to the next."~Steven L. Kuhn, "On Planning and Curated Technologies in the
Middle Paleolithic," Journal of Anthropological Research, 48:3(1992), pp 185-
214, p. 193
In conclusion, consider this,
"Neanderthals are still paleonthropians, that is, beings whom one almost
hesitates to consider as true men, so little appealing is their physical
appearance. Yet we saw that their technical capabilities are fully
human."~Andre Leroi Gourhan, The Hunters of Prehistory, transl. Claire
Jacobson, (New York: Atheneum, 1989), p. 91
glenn
Foundation,Fall and Flood
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