"Both the Chatelperronians and Aurignacians probably word pendants as a
sort of social badge, just as modern people do., the authors suggest. So
if the Neandertals made their own pendants, they must have understood
symbolism, says one of the researchers, Francesco d'Errico of the Institute
of the Prehistory and Geology of the Quaternary in Talence, France.
"'We do not know whether Neanderthals developed the use of symbils
independently or as a consequence of cultural contacts with anatomically
modern humans,' d'Errico told SCIENCE NEWS. 'What we know is that their
way of using symbols was not qualitatively different from that of
anatomically modern humans, which contradicts the hypothesis of their
cognitive inferiority.
"'The Neandertal was not so different from us from a cognitive point of
view,' he says. 'We look at ourselves as the only species which is able
to·produce symbols. But it seems that we are not alone.'" ~ Jeffrey
Brainard, "Giving Neandertals Their Due," Science News 154(Aug. 1, 1998),
p. 72-74, p. 72-73
We are alone, in my opinion, Neandertals ARE US in their inner beings.
glenn
Adam, Apes and Anthropology
Foundation, Fall and Flood
& lots of creation/evolution information
http://www.isource.net/~grmorton/dmd.htm