" From 120,000- 35,000 years ago,
Neanderthal and early anatomically modern men were doing exactly the same
things with exactly the same technologies..."
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Yeah, and then came the explosion of the Upper Paleolithic to which these,
er, "technologies" cannot be compared. As Shreeve says, "No amount of
precedent-pointing can explain the astonishing increase in the sheer volume
of culture in the Upper Paleolithic and what that increase reflects in the
lives of people." This is "a different quality of culture altogether." [The
Neanderthal Enigma, pp. 270, 271] The explosion has been traced to 50,000
to 60,000 years ago [Id. at 304].
Glenn, you don't have to post the same old litany of behaviors you have in
your database. I've read them and they don't alter the interpretive
evidence at all. Suffice to say that comparing finger-wiggle to chess is
hardly persuasive, especially when Neanderthal never advanced beyond
finger-wiggle when they had more than enough time to do so.
Good to have you back, though. It was a bit quiet around here. And thanks
for being up front about the "flute." You are a credit to all Texans,
though did you read what Paul Begala said about Dick Armey [who said
Clinton should resign]? He said, "Well, as we like to say in Texas, 'When
goofy ideas go for $40 a barrel, I want drilling rights on Dick Armey's
head.'"
Jim