Hi Rex
Thank you for the post on the
> WHAT WOULD 44 KYA Hs REMAINS IN NEANDER DO TO THINKING?
> The attached copy is roughly (quickly) translated from the French
by
Marcell Williams (paleoanth list) (an article that is within a day of
current). The hot news is the new skeleton parts and identity.
> Interested in John Croft's comments here, should they prove out as
Hs @ 44 kya.
It is interesting that evidence that Hss and Hsn lived together side
by side for a long time. Have a look at the excellent article on
http://www.csun.edu/~ms44278/up_paleo.htm (and my (very) speculative
comments below).
> DUESSELDORF (Germany), 1st seven (AFP) - German archaeologists
> discovered the face of the man of Néandertal among 50
prehistoric
bones
> and of many stone tools, in the valley éponyme in the west of
> Duesseldorf (western), announced to Friday the scientists. The
bones
> of the face found correspond exactly to the brain-pan of the man of
> Néandertal, discovered at this place in 1856 and whose
exhumation
had
> made it possible to carry a new glance on the human evolution,
> indicated Ralf Schmitz and Juergen Thissen at the time of a press
> conference. The significance of three other fragments of
humérus,
> tibia and ulna having belonged to second human of the glacial era,
> whose bones had been updated last year, remains still not
elucidated.
> They are " a little more graciles " and could belong to a woman of
> Néandertal or well to a very old form of modern Homo
> sapiens. On this last assumption, it would be the oldest
discovery
of
> Europe, establishing at 44.000 years the presence of ancestors of
the
> modern man on the continent. It would also make it possible to
bring
> information on the discussed relationship of the men of the valley
of
> Néandertal with the modern men. " the anatomical and genetic
> investigations will be finished only in a few months, but the first
> tests promise instructive results ", affirmed the historians. The
> historical place of the excavations with Néandertal, which during
> several tens of years was used as breakage for old cars, must be
> rehabilitated soon like one of the archaeological places most
> significant for the history of humanity.
> (end copy)
>
> Earlier yesterday verbal relay to paleoanthlist from radio report:
>
> From: "Falk H. Koenemann" <Peregrine@...>
> Newsgroups: sci.archaeology.moderated
> Sent: Saturday, September 02, 2000 2:21 AM
>
> > at the site of the original Neandertaler discovery 150 years ago
new
> > research is presently going on. It is in the Neandertal near
> > Duesseldorf, Germany. The cave in which the Neander skeleton was
found,
> > has long ago been removed by quarry activity, but the earth that
once
> > formed the ground in the cave, has been rediscovered. A year or
so
ago a
> > bone splinter has been found which fitted exactly into a groove
of
the
> > femur found in the 19th century.
> >
> > Today news broke that a part of the skull of Mr. Neander has been
> > retrieved. Thus his face is now almost complete. Since very few
of
the
> > Neander skulls found altogether are complete, this additional
piece is
> > sensational. It may now be possible to reconstruct his face.
> >
> > Furthermore, parts of another skeleton have been found in the
same
soil.
> > The bones are more slender, they apparently belong to a H.sapiens
> > sapiens specimen. If this new skeleton is of the same age it is
by
far
> > the oldest H.s.s. skeleton in western Europe. The Neander
skeleton
has
> > been dated to 40Ky bp. Furthermore, it would suggest that H.s.n.
and
> > H.s.s. lived together and used the same caves. DNA studies are
presently
> > being carried out in Leipzig.
Modern Hss are found at Boker Tachtit in Israel dated 52,000 - 50,000
BCE, beginning the move away from Levallo-Mousterian (Neanderthal)
technologies towards Aurignacian blade tools, with specialised tool
kits. The earliest yet dated Aurignacian assemblage is 43,000 BCE at
the Bacho Kiro cave in Bulgaria, with Neanderthal tools being found
also in close proximity.
Whilst the article I have quoted suggests that Aurignacian developed
out of Chatelperronian in the Franco-Cantabrian region, and that Hss
and Hsn were living side by side during the end of the Mousterian,
this view still has yet to be accepted by most archaeologists. The
conventional view is that Hss arrived with the Aurignacian culture,
(which developed out of the following Middle Eastern sequence
Boker Tachtit 52-50,000 BCE
Ksar Akil XXV Homo sap?
Homo sapien upper Paleolithic cultures begin replacing Neanderthal
40,000 BCE Palestine Levanto-Aurignacian
Ahmarian 39-24,000 BCE
In this case Chatelperronian would have been a late Neanderthal
adaptation trying to mimic the Aurignacian tool kit, explaining its
intermediate position between Mousterian and Aurignacian styles of
tools. Given that Neanderthals seem to have survived longest in the
Iberian peninsula this would argue against a Franco-Cantabrian
homeland for Aurignancian culture that came to replace the Hsn
peoples
throughout the continent.
Now for really flying some kites.
1. There is no cultural shift in the Basque region stretching from
the
Garonne to the Basque provinces of Spain since the Upper Paleolithic
period.
2. Genetic studies show clear destinctions between Basque and the
modern Spanish population, with a slower integrade between French
Basques and the French peasantry of Aquitaine (which at the time of
Caesar was probably fully Basque speaking - he commented on the
differences between Gallic, Aquitainian and Belgic (remnant
nordwestgroupen?).
3. Despite attempts to link the Basque language into other languages,
every attempt to date has not been successful (even attempts at
Caucasian languages according to
http://www.cogs.susx.ac.uk/users/larryt/basque.html)
4. The finding of a human-neanderthal hybrid boy in Portugal (see
http://cogweb.english.ucsb.edu/EP/Neanderthal.html) and other
evidence
that Neanderthals survived longest in Iberia (surviving alongside Hss
from 43,000 to 22,000 BCE, i.e. 21,000 years!) , and that
human-neanderthal hybridisation may have occurred, suggests that
although there is no evidence yet in the human genome of any proven
Neanderthal features, some may have entered into the regional genome
at that time.
5. When one species replaces another (or one language replaces
another), the pre-existing species (language) tends to survive
longest in out-of-the way mountainous areas. This is one
reason for the survival of Basque - Celts never got into the
Mountains of the Western Pyrenees, Romans were not interested, and a
strong Navarre in the Middle Ages preserved their language from
extinction. This is exactly the kind of area in which
Neanderthalers would have survived longest
6.Species barriers occur when there are genetic isolating features
that interfere with the survival of live offspring. Genetically all
humans are clearly one species. Except for one strange phenomenon,
the Rh- blood group which leads to the antibodies of the maternal
blood attacking and killing the baby if it has a different Rh
factor than the mother, and you guessed it, the highest rate of Rh-
population (up to 80%) is in the Basques (and % of Rh- decreases the
further away you get from the Basque region). Have a look at
http://www.noah.cuny.edu/pregnancy/march_of_dimes/birth_defects/rhdise
as.html
So, is it to be wondered at, that here we have
1. The oldest known language in situ of Europe (all languages are
equally old, just not all are equally old in situ as replacement has
occurred over most of Western Europe)
2. With a genetic structure that emphasises their unquiness
3. That this is the region of Chatelperronian culture suggesting a
long and generally peaceful co-existence between Hss and Hsn
4. That it is not far from the region where evidence of hybridisation
between Hsn and Hss may have occurred.
5. That this is the only population in which a Rh- genetic isolating
mechanism for the development of a potential new "species" of humans
is found.
6. That Western European stories of survivals of "giants" (jotun,
ettins, etc) are all concentrated on mountainous regions of cold
climate (where the cold adapted features of Neanderthals would have
given a survival advantage longest).
7. That the chief feature of Neanderthalers (apart from heavy brow
ridges) was the enormous size of their nose. The modern human race
with the biggest noses is that portion of the Hss which came to live
in the area where Hsn was previously established.
Is this all coincidental?
Regards
John