Category: Ann - Part 4

The Prehistory of Compassion: Neanderthals Cared Too

New research by archaeologists at the University of York suggests that it is beyond reasonable doubt Neanderthals often misrepresented as furry, primitive caveman hobbling about had a deep seated sense of compassion.

Dr Penny Spikins, Andy Needham and Holly Rutherford from the universitys Department of Archaeology examined the archaeological record in search for evidence for compassionate acts in early humans. These illustrate the way emotions began to emerge in our ancestors six million years ago,which developed into the idea of ‘compassion’ we know today.

We have traditionally paid a lot of attention to how early humans thought about each other, but it may well be time to pay rather more attention to whether or not they ‘cared’, said Dr Spikins.

From Hominity to Humanity

Nowadays, ‘compassion’ which literally means ‘to suffer together’ is considered a great virtue by numerous philosophies and all the major religious traditions. But when did start to grow a desire to soother others’ distress? In the study ‘From hominity to humanity: Compassion from the earliest archaic to modern humans’, the researchers took on the unique challenge of charting key stages in the evolutionearly human’s emotional motivation to help others. They proposea four stage model for the development of human compassion:

Compassion is perhaps the most fundamental human emotion. It binds us together and can inspire us but it is also fragile and elusive

Stage 1 – It begins six million years ago when the common ancestor of humans and chimpanzees experienced the first awakenings of an empathy for others and motivation to help them, perhaps with a gesture of comfort or moving a branch to allow them to pass.

Stage 2 – The second stage from 1.8 million years ago sees compassion in Homo erectus beginning to be regulated as an emotion integrated with rational thought. Care of sick individuals represented an extensive compassionate investment while the emergence of special treatment of the dead suggested grief at the loss of a loved one and a desire to soothe others feelings.

Stage 3 – In Europe between around 500,000 and 40,000 years ago, early humans such as Homo heidelbergensis and Neanderthals developed deep-seated commitments to the welfare of others illustrated by a long adolescence and a dependence on hunting together.

There is evidence of the routine care of the injured or infirm over extended periods. These include the remains of a child with a congenital brain abnormality who was not abandoned but lived until five or six years old millennia later, the Spartans would have acted differently. A Neanderthal with a withered arm, deformed feet and blindness in one eye must have been cared for, perhaps for as long as twenty years.

Stage 4 – In modern humans starting 120,000 years ago, compassion was extended to strangers, animals, objects and abstract concepts.

Dr Penny Spikins, lead author of the study, said that new research developments, such as neuro-imaging, have enabled archaeologists to attempt a scientific explanation of what were once intangible feelings of ancient humans and that the research was only the first step in a much needed prehistoric archaeology of compassion.

Compassion is perhaps the most fundamental human emotion. It binds us together and can inspire us but it is also fragile and elusive, said Dr Spikins.

This apparent fragility makes addressing the evidence for the development of compassion in our most ancient ancestors a unique challenge, yet the archaeological record has an important story to tell about the prehistory of compassion.

Dr Spikins will give a free lecture, ‘Neanderthals in love: What can archaeology tell us about the feelings of ancient humans’, about the research at the University of York on Tuesday 19 October.

‘From hominity to humanity: Compassion from the earliest archaic to modern humans’ by Dr Penny Spikins, Andy Needham and Holly Rutherford is published in the journal Time and Mind. The study is also available as a book, ‘The Prehistory of Compassion’, available for purchase online.

Project Troia – Bronze Age Troy Just Keeps on Growing

The Bronze Age remains were found at the lower city, below the remains of Roman and Hellenistic houses. Above left, Dr Ernst Pernicka discusses the excavations with archaeologist Dr Catalin Pavel (in white shirt). - Photo by Gebhard Bieg, courtesy the University of Tubingen German archaeologists have made new discoveries at modern day Hisarlik, northwest Turkey ancient Troy.

The finds further confirm the area occupied duringthe Bronze Age was not limited to the citadel; Troy VI and VIIwere muchlarger than originally thought.

The three year research project at Troy lead by Prof. Ernst Pernicka, from the University of Tubingen‘s Institute of Pre- and Early History sees scholars focus on the analysis and publication of materials found since the university started excavations at the site in 1988.

But to investigate and resolve outstanding issues, Project Troia does undertake some smaller excavations.

These digs, in combination with geophysical surveying and the drilling of test holes, allow the team to narrow down the Bronze Age occupation belowTroy’scitadel more closely.

From the early Bronze Age until the Roman Period, at least nine cities their ruins stacked up to 15 metres high existed at the archaeological site; Troy I to IX.

This year, the team confirmed the layout of a one kilometre long Late Bronze Age defensive system a rock-cut ditch south of the Troy hillfort.

A gate, situated in the southeast area of the trench, is now fully excavated. It is located some 300 metres south of the citadel wall, and dated to about 1300 BC. The passage is about five metres wide, smaller than the ditch’s previously excavated southern gate.

Late Bronze Age layers came to light in the vicinity of the southeastern gate remains of walls, roads, storage pits and even an ancient oven. The finds suggest the area was occupied from about about 1700(TroyVI)to 1100 BC (Troy VII).Soil samples, taken 200 metres east of the citadel, reveal Bronze Age remains as well.

Further east, a second trench was discovered, significantly deeper and wider than the excavated ditch. This structure isn’t dated yet, but will be further examined next season.

Map of the 2010 excavations by the University of Tubingen at Hisarlik, Turkey - ancient Troy.

The archaeological site of Hisarlik was first excavated in the 19th century not without controversy by self-taught archaeologists Heinrich Schliemann.

Rather than being one ancient city, it consists of multiple layers of ruins. From the early Bronze Age (3rd millennium BC) until the Roman Period(1st century BC), at least nine cities Troy I to IX existed at the archaeological site; there ruins are stacked up to 15 metres high(nicely shown in the timeline on the University of Cincinnati’s website).

Which of these remains if any are those ofthe Homeric city of Troy, is still debated.

Schliemann nominated Troy I or II, but nowadays the Late Hittite Troy VII showing traces of fire and possibly warfare is seen as the most likely source of inspiration for the Trojan myth. Its remains are dated between the 13th and 10th century BC, where as ancient Greek historians place the Trojan War somewhere in the 12th to 14th century BC.

That Troy VI and VIIare far larger than originally thought not a mere hillfort, but strongholds surrounded by a settlement with its own defensive structures makes it more likely Hisarlik isindeed the site of the legendary Troy, or Ilion, the siege of whichwas described by Homer in the Iliad.

Tandem Google Translate Latin Discit

Google Translate Latin to English Translation - Mauris laoreet translates as 'Google Site' - Easter Egg? Google Translate has added Latin to the ever-expanding list of languages the free service offers – in which the old-fashioned ‘Lorum ipsum dolor’ (or lipsum) is upgraded to a more modern ‘Hello World!’

In apost to the official Google blogtitled ‘Veni, Vidi, Verba Verti’ (which the service translates as ‘I came, I saw, I translated the words’), Igeniarius Programmandi Jakob Uszkoreit correctly points out that althoughit isn’t likely to be used to translate emails (with some exceptions,maybe) the new service is an excellent tool for scholars all over the world as many ancient and medieval works on philosophy, religion and science are written in Latin, many of those available in Google Books.

Uszkoreit is convinced the system still in alpha will soon deliver accurate translations, as Latin grammar and vocabulary ceased evolving and Google is using the ‘thousands’ of Latin books already translated to a variety of languages to train the system. As an example he quotes Caesar’s ‘The Gallic Wars’. Yet, when put to the test regarding Caesar’s conquest of Pharnaces, Google Translate gets a bit confused (depending on punctuation):

veni vidi vici tranlates asI saw the street of
EPWohlfart contributed thatveni vidi vici!translates as I came, I saw the time!
veni, vidi, vici translatescorrectlyas I came, I saw, I conquered

To the system’s defence, it does get all the other Latin phrases I’ve mangedto remember from high school (not that many, there’s cave canem, alea jacta est, the first few phrases of the’Pater Noster’ and mens sana in corpore sano) right and… to my utter delight, a text-to-speech system was added as well which pronounces ‘Caesar’ with a ‘k’. Told you so!

Can you find any (highly or midly) entertaining mistakes and/or ‘easter eggs’ in Google’s Latin to English translation service comes up with?

PS. Should there by any mistakes in the title of this blogpost, blame Google Translate. 😉

The Sound of Akkadian – Listen to Ancient Babylonian online

Prompted by the enquiries of curious colleagues and friends, Dr. Martin Worthington, an expert in Babylonian and Assyrian grammar from the University of Cambridge, has begun to record readings of Babylonian poems, myths and other texts in the original tongue. In an effort to present users with a variety of voices, the readings available online for freeat www.speechisfire.com are given by Dr. Worthington’s fellow Assyriologists.

Babylonian is one of two variants (or dialects) of Akkadian, the other being Assyrian. Akkadian became the ‘lingua franca’ of the Near East around, until its usebegan to decline around the 8th century BC. The last Akkadian cuneiform document dates to the 1st century AD.

Dr Worthington’s hope is that having heard the sound of the extinct language the earliest attested Semitic language, some listeners will be sufficiently intrigued to investigate further, and perhaps end up studying the history, language or culture of the period.

“Whenever I tell people what I do, the first question they ask is what did Babylonian sound like, and how do you know?” Dr. Worthington said. “In the end I decided that the best thing to do would be to create a resource where they can listen to it for themselves.”

It’s essentially detective work,” Dr. Worthington said. “We will never know for sure that a Babylonian would have approved of our attempts at pronunciation, but by looking at the original sources closely, we can make a pretty good guess.

“I also wanted to dispel some long-standing myths. Many people think that the further you go back in history, the less you know about it. In fact, we have masses of information about the Babylonians. The site aims to give users a taste of the richness and complexity of Ancient Mesopotamian culture, which is not something you normally learn much about at school.”

The existing collection focuses on poetry in particular. Most of this is known from cuneiform inscriptions found on clay tablets in the area that was once Mesopotamia, and now comprises Iraq, as well as parts of Syria, Turkey and Iran.

“In many cases they are the equivalent of Old English tales like Beowulf,” Dr. Worthington added. “Through them, we meet gods, giants, monsters and all sorts of other weird and wonderful creatures. As stories they are amazing fun.”

Many also bear parallels with Biblical tales. TabletXI of The Epic of Gilgamesh, for example, contains a deluge story; Utanapishtim tells the hero-king Gilgamesh how he was instructed by the gods to prepare a boat ahead of a great flood,andto put on board “the seed of all living creatures”.

Beyond literature and poetry, the site has also contains other important documents from the period. Part of the Codex Hammurabi, for example, the ancient law code from 1790 BC, can be both read and heard – although you are (not yet) treated to all 281 of the laws and parallel punishments Hammurabi had listed.

Working out how Babylonian, or any dead language, sounded relies on a variety of strategies and techniques. In some cases, researchers can use Babylonian and Assyrian words transcribed into alphabets other than cuneiform, but often the sound is forensically deduced through the careful study of letter combinations and spelling patterns, using the original Cuneiform texts.

“It’s essentially detective work,” Dr. Worthington said. “We will never know for sure that a Babylonian would have approved of our attempts at pronunciation, but by looking at the original sources closely, we can make a pretty good guess.”

Thirty recordings have been released so far and more are currently being prepared. While you’re waiting for those to be released orif you’d decide Ancient Babylonian is not your thing, whynot try some Anglo-Saxon aloud?

The Sound of Akkadian – Listen to Ancient Babylonian online

Almost 2,000 years after its last native speakers disappeared, the sound of Ancient Babylonian makes a comeback in an online audio archive. The recordings include excerpts from some of the earliest known works of world literature, dating back to the first years of the second millennium BC. Prompted by the enquiries of curious colleagues and friends, Dr. Martin Worthington, an expert in Babylonian and Assyrian grammar from the University of Cambridge, has begun to record readings of Babylonian poems, myths and other texts in the original tongue. In an effort to present users with a variety of voices, the readings – available online for free at www.speechisfire.com – are given by Dr. Worthington’s fellow Assyriologists.

One Step Closer to Understanding Neanderthal Locomotion

LABO Neanderthal Walk A new research project from the Universit Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) takes us one step further as it comes to understanding Neanderthal locomotion. The Laboratory of Anatomy, Biomechanics and Organogenesis’ (LABO for short) project created a 3D virtual reconstruction of a pair of Neanderthal lower limbs.

The skeleton shows the Neanderthals had the same moves as we do and between 5% and 20% more leverage than us.

Homonids (that includes all forms of the human lineage, be it extinct or living) started bipedal locomotion (moving by means of your two rear limbs or, in our case, legs) some 6 million years ago. When you compare our ‘modern man’ gait to that of our fellow hominids, man takes giant steps. But what about the Neanderthals? To which degree is their locomotion comparable to ours?

In the early twentieth century it was believed that Neanderthals were furry (and dumb) creatures, hobbling about. These ideas persisted until the late ’50s, when a more objective analysis of Neanderthal fossils led to the realisation they weren’t that dissimilar to humans. (Thatearly humans thought it ‘not done’ to have sex with those ‘hairy caveman’ was only revised recently.)

Today, it is assumed that the skeletal morphology of the Neanderthals allowed them to walk the same way we do. However, there is little quantifiable data to substantiate this hypothesis. The Homo neanderthalensis has been extinct for some 20,000 years now (sorry to break the news), making direct observation of their walking capabilities impossible.

Another major problem when trying to trace the Neanderthal’s steps, is the lack of fossil record. To date, no complete Neanderthal skeleton has been found, and scientists don’t even have a sufficient number of bones to reconstruct an entire limb.

Neanderthal joint architecture is mechanically compatible with modern human locomotion.

So LABO’s first objective was to compose a 3D model of Neanderthal lower limbs using fossils found at three different sites the remains used to belong to individuals known as Spy II (discovered in Belgium), Kebara 2 (Israel) and Neanderthal 1 (Germany). To make this ‘virtual assembly’ possible, the researchers had to ‘scale’ the different virtual fragments, taking into account the estimated size of the three Neanderthal individuals.

To determine if the characteristics of the skeleton are consistent with ‘modern locomotion’, the team then merged the 3D reconstruction with movement data obtained from (human) volunteers. The resulting model showed no indication that Neanderthals did not show the same range of motion as humans; Neanderthal joint architecture is mechanically compatible with modern human locomotion.

However, it needs to be noted, walking isn’t just about bones, joints and muscles. Movement is monitored by the brain, and unfortunately data on the Neanderthal brain remains too fragmentary to say whether it was capable of controlling and monitoring of such movements.

Next, information relating to the lower limb muscle was added to the model, as to answer a second question relating to Neanderthal physiology: when compared to our skeletons, how much mechanical advantage did the Neanderthal’s more robust skeleton give to the attached muscles?

The researchers found that at an equal size the reconstructed Neanderthal muscoloskeletal system shows a strength larger than that of modern humans. The Neanderthal’s mechanical advantage is estimated to be 5% to 20% morethan ours. The research (to be published in the journal Palevol under the title Reconstruction virtuelle des membres infrieurs Nandertaliens et estimation des bras de levier des muscle ischio-jambiers) confirms the idea that their big-boned morphology allowed the Neanderthals to be more effective in a hostile environment where increased mobility was likely synonymous with a greater chance of survival.

In cooperation with the Belgian Royal Institute of Natural Science, the LABO is currently working on a more detailed, and complete, virtual model of the Neanderthal skeleton found at Spy. The final model will be used to generate a 3D skeleton (much like was done to Tutankhamen’s mummy?) and a hyper-realistic 3D reconstruction by artists Adrie and Alfons Kennis. Both will be presented at the new ‘Spy Man’ exhibition in the spring of 2011.

Angers’ Mithraeum: Sanctuary dedicated to Persian god Mithras discovered in France

Excavations executed by INRAP have revealed a Roman urban area and Mithraeum at Angers, France - Image Copyright Herv Paitier INRAP Archaeologists excavating a 9,000 square metre area at Angers, in the Loire District, France, have discovered the remains of the first mithraeum a sanctuary dedicated to the Indo-Iranian god Mithras in the west of France.

The cave sanctuary, a rectangular building, is dated to the third century AD.

The Mithraeum

The small, vaulted chapel in which worshippers hosted banquets and sacrifices dedicated to the god, is decorated with a starry sky.

The excavations revealed drums of columns perhaps statue bases, but possibly altars. A sort of vestibule allowed worshippers to don their ceremonial robes before entering the sanctuary.

The Mithraic Mysteries

It is believed the cult of Mithras was first introduced to the Roman Empire by soldiers coming from the East, somewhere at the end of the first century AD. Mithraism, a religion exclusive to men, first became popular with the elite, but quickly spread through all layers of society. Later it became known as a soldier’s cult. Shrines dedicated to Mithras are most often found at the borders of the Roman Empire, where large amounts of troops were stationed.

Reservoir of an anthropomorphic oil lamp, with Nubian head. - Image Copyright Herv Paitier INRAP Mithraism an individual religion, not a state cult, but itdid not conflict with the Imperial Cult (‘worshipthe Emperor’). Only later, when Mithraism became a competitor of early Christianity and despite, or maybe because certain similarities between both cults, the pagan religion was fiercely opposed. In 392 the cult was banned by Emperor Theodosius.

The Tauroctony &Ex Voto Offerings

Mithraism was an initiation cult, its secrets passed through oral tradition. Today, the only written testimonies about the mysterious cult scholars have were written by early Christian authors, who concievedMithras asthe devil’s representation on earth. This limited perception of the historical sources, makes the archaeological record relating to the cult all the more valuable.

At the sanctuary, a typical bas-relief of the god Mithras wearing his Phrygian cap shows him slaughtering a bull the so-called tauroctony. The god’s face was damaged in ancient times, possibly by early Christians trying to suppress the pagan cult.

The excavations further revealed scenes displaying dadophoroi (torch bearers), and miles (spearmen). Marble lion paws, as well as a pieces of a dog statue were unearthed from the cave, but are heavily fragmented. Likely these too were intentionally destroyed. Evidence of a fire was found, but it can not be confirmedif thefire was set on purpose, aimed at destroying the pagan sanctuary.

Among the finds in and aroundtheTemple of Mithrasis a unique zoomorph vase, probably used in purification rituals (see thisINRAP video). Further artefacts discovered at the site includeoil lamps, fragmentsof a lampcontaining Nubian terracotta figures, a bronze 4th century crucifix fibula and about 200 coins.

Detail of the dedication to the god Mithra on a Dechelette 72 vase, manufactured at Lezoux. - Image Copyright Herv Paitier INRAP Large quantities of cockerel bones (a favoured dish at the cultic banquets) were found spread inside and around the ancient temple.

A ceramic beaker offered by a certain Genialis, in the first half of the 3rd century reads:

DEO [INVIC]TO MYTRH[AE]…/…]VS GENIALIS CIVES MA […]VS EXVOTO D[…/…]RIBVS OMNIS LOCO OMNIS (…)

To the unconquered god Mithras, Genialis, citizen of , offers in ex voto (this vase).

A cartouche containing four lines in Greek was found on a piece of carved limestone decorated with palm leaves. It was partially deciphered, and indicates a dedication was made by a man named Theophilos (of Eastern origin) for the benefit of Retituitos (a name of Gallic consonance).

An Antique Quarter

At the ancient settlement the INRAP archaeologists also unearthed the remains of two major urban roads; the cardo (north-south oriented street) and decumanus (east-west oriented) axes. The earliest evidence of occupationfound so far is dated to the beginning of Emperor Augustus‘ reign, around 10 BC.

At the end of the first century, one or two domus (Roman villas), complete with hypocaust (floor heating) were constructed on the site.

Angers in Roman times was a fairly small oppidum, a fortified settlement probably no bigger than 80 hectares at its height with some 3,000 inhabitants. Its name, Juliomagnus, means ‘the market of Julius Caesar’.

The ancient city had its own amphitheatre, accommodating about 6,000 spectators, and Roman baths. In the fifth century AD, Angers became known as ‘civitas Andecavorum’ or ‘Andecavis’, after its Gaul inhabitants.

Mithraic temples are common in the Roman Empire; although very unevenly distributed, with considerable numbers found in Rome, Ostia, Numidia, Dalmatia, Britain (Londinium and Carrawburgh) and along the Rhine & Danube frontiers; while being much less common in Greece, Egypt, and Syria.

Isotope analysis: Prehistoric Stonehenge visitors came from the Mediterranean and the Alps

The 'Mediterranean' Boy with the Amber Necklace burial, at Boscombe Down, about 3 kilometres south-east of Stonehenge. - BGSNERC The links between the Stonehenge area and the Mediterranean have been debated for years.

Recent research suggest that some of the people buried in the area duringthe Bronze Age were not local. Rather, they came from both the snow of the Alps and the heat of the Mediterranean to visit Stonehenge.

The analysis of the teeth from two males provides new evidence that one dubbed the Boy with the Amber necklace had come from the Mediterranean area, whilst it confirms the Amesbury Archer had come from the Alps.

The Amesbury Archer was discovered around five kilometres from Stonehenge. His is the richest Copper Age (2450 2300 BC) grave found in Britain and it contained some of Britains earliest gold and copper objects a pair of gold hair clasps and three copper daggers.

The Boy with the Amber necklace, whose grave was found on Boscombe Down, about 3 kilometres south-east of Stonehenge, is from a more recent time the end of the Early Bronze Age. His skeleton has been radiocarbon dated to around 1550 BC. The teenager, aged 14 or 15 years when he died, was buried wearing a necklace of around 90 amber beads.

Amber Beads, found at the 'Boy with the Amber Necklace' burial site at Boscombe. - Image BGS (copyright) NERC “The amber may have been brought to Wessex from the Baltic, perhaps Denmark, as lumps of raw material before being turned into the tiny beads,” writes Wessex Archaeology.

Isotope analysis of tooth enamel from both these people shows that the two individuals provide a contrast in origin, which highlights the diversity of people who came to Stonehenge from across Europe, said Professor Jane Evans, Head of Archaeological Science at the British Geological Survey (BGS).

Strontium isotopes in teeth provide information on the geological setting of a persons childhood and the oxygen isotopes tell us about the climate in which they were raised (explained in this video of ‘CSIViking Dorset’). The combined techniques provide a tool to compare the information about childhood origin preserved in their teeth, with reference data for the place in which they are found.

A match between the tooth and reference data supports a local origin whereas a mismatch shows their burial area was not the same as their childhood location. The data can then be used to point to likely regions in which they were raised.

The isotope composition of the Amesbury Archers teeth shows that he was raised in a colder climate than that found in Britain.

The combination of his strontium and oxygen isotope composition suggest that the most likely childhood origin for this person was in the Alpine foothills region of Germany.

In contrast, the Boy with the Amber necklace likely spent his childhood in a warm climate typical of Iberia or the Mediterranean.

Such warm oxygen values are theoretically possible in the British Isles but are only found on the extreme west coast of SW England, western Ireland and the Outer Hebrides, said Professor Evans. These areas can be excluded as likely childhood origins of his on the basis of the strontium isotope composition of his teeth.

Other people who had visited Stonehenge from afar include individuals from a collective Bronze Age grave, theBoscombe Bowmen and a man buried beside the Amesbury Archer – called the Archers Companion.

Cambridge dig looking for Anglo-Saxon skeletons finds Roman settlement

A dig in search of Anglo-Saxon skeletons has instead unearthed signs of a sprawling Roman settlement. The discovery was made last week, on the grounds of Cambridge’s Newnham College.

Evidence of a 16th or 17th century farmhouse that could date back to the reign of Henry VIII was unearthed at the site as well.

“We knew there was a Roman settlement here before but we had no idea of the size,” said Dr Catherine Hills.

“The village has been buried under the gardens for nearly 2,000 years, and may have seen the Roman conquest of Britain and Boudicca’s revolt. The 16th-century farmhouse was a complete surprise.”

The site first became of interest in the late 1930s when excavations for World War II air raid shelters lead to the discovery of five skeletons. Back then, archaeologist Dorothy Garrod and a team of women from the college excavated the graves using dessert spoons and toothbrushes.

Click To Watch Video

Episode 6: Boudicca, Celtic Warrior Queen

The Romans hated her, the Celts fought for her and now she is immortalised with a statue in Westminster. But who was Boudicca?

CLICK TO WATCH

After the war, the air raid shelters were covered with soil and the exact location of the graves was lost. But when Dr Hills heard about the story, she was keen to find out more about the mysterious skeletons.

Dr Hills and fellow archaeologists Carenza Lewis saw an opportunity to involve schoolchildren in the hunt for the skeletons, using the excavation to demonstrate the excitement of archaeology and the fun of studying in a Cambridge college.

They invited 20 sixth-form girls from schools in Peterborough, London and Birmingham to help them carry out the dig (more photos from the dig on the university’s Flickr stream).

No mysterious Anglo-Saxon skeletons were unearthed this summer, but the consolation prize was definitely worth the excavation exercise.

The dig revealed large amounts of Roman pottery, enough to convince Dr Hills and Dr Lewis that they dug through to the remains of a 2,000-year-old settlement.

This is significant as it suggests that the Roman presence at Newnham was far more considerable than previously thought.

East Anglia is rich in Roman and medieval remains just waiting to be discovered. People threw away a lot of rubbish, and their old pottery and animal bones are now allowing archaeologists to discover the existence of entire villages, said Dr Lewis.

We are starting to realise the huge extent of Roman settlement around this area.

Rehabilitating the Neanderthals – Accusations Uluzzian Man Took H. Sapiens Tools Prove False

Neanderthals are not stupid For decades scientists believed Neanderthals developed ‘modern’ tools and ornaments solely through contact with Homo sapiens, and it is often said that the cavemen weren’t able to adapt their hunting techniques to the changing climate quickly enough to prevent their extinction.

A new study nowsuggests these sturdy ancients were well capable of innovating without our help, adding to the growing pool of evidence that Neanderthal man was not a primitive, clumbering caveman.

Basically, I am rehabilitating neanderthals, explainsJulien Riel-Salvatore, assistant professor of anthropology at UC Denver. They were far more resourceful than we have given them credit for.

Uluzzian Innovation

About 42,000 years ago, the Aurignacian culture, attributed to modern Homo sapiens, appeared in northern Italy while central Italy continued to be occupied by Neanderthals of the Mousterian culture which had been around for at least 100,000 years. At this time a new culture arose in the south of Italy, one also thought to be created by Neanderthals. They were the Uluzzian and they were very different.

But when southern Italy too experienced a shift in climate, and the trees were replaced by grasslands, the regio’s inhabitants faced the stark choice of adapting or dying out.

This stands in contrast to the ideas of the past 50 years that Neanderthals had to be acculturated to humans to come up with this technology. When we show Neanderthals could innovate on their own it casts them in a new light. It ‘humanizes’ them if you will.

The evidence suggests the Uluzzian began using darts or arrows to hunt smaller game to supplement the increasingly scarce larger mammals they traditionally hunted. Riel-Salvatore identified projectile points, ochre, bone tools, ornaments and possible evidence of fishing and small game hunting at Uluzzian archaeological sites throughout southern Italy.

These innovations are not traditionally associated with Neanderthals, suggesting they evolved independently, likely as a reaction to the dramatic changes in climate. But more importantly, they emerged in an area geographically separated from modern humans.

My conclusion is that if the Uluzzian is a Neanderthal culture it suggests that contacts with modern humans are not necessary to explain the origin of this new behaviour. This stands in contrast to the ideas of the past 50 years that Neanderthals had to be acculturated to humans to come up with this technology, he said. When we show Neanderthals could innovate on their own it casts them in a new light. It ‘humanizes’ them if you will.

The Neanderthal as Intelligent Being

We credit dolphins, monkeys and even pigs with ‘intelligence’, but common perceptionis only to oftenthatof the Neanderthals as thick-skulled, primitive ‘cavemen’. Yet, the Neanderthal weren’t ‘dumb’.

For starters, they had larger cranial capacities than our own species, andmammalian DNA retrieved from Neandertal stone tools suggests theysuccesfully huntend largegame.Neanderthals evenused a primitive form of make-up, although not if this was for ornamental or symbolic reasons (likely both).

Click To Watch Video

MEanderthal iPhone app – Morph yourself (and your friends) into a caveman!

If you’re non-African there’s a good chance 1 to 4% of your DNA is ‘Neanderthal’. But how would we look if we were 100% ‘prehistoric man’? Find out with this free app for iPhone and Android.

CLICK TO WATCH

Also,a study comparing the amount of cutting-edge, production efficiency and life time of Neanderthal tools (flint flakes) with the narrow flint blades used by more modern human argued that there was no technical advantage to the blades. Upper Paleolithic technology was not necessarily better, just different. (If you think ofotherexamples, !)

Where did the Neanderthals go?

The powerfully built (and steroid-fuelled, if you like) Neanderthals were first discovered in Germanys Neander Valley in 1856. The oldest remains with Neanderthal characteristics date to about 130,000 years ago. These Neanderthals disappear from the fossil record in Asia about 50,000 years ago and in Europe about 20,000 years later. Why the Neanderthal vanished remains unclear.

The ‘interbreeding hypothesis’ suggests that they were a subspecies that bred with Homo sapiens, disappearing through absorbtion. An alternative scenario is that Neanderthals were a separate species and got replaced by the Homo sapiens overrun by more advanced modern humans arriving in Europe from Africa.

Riel-Salvatore rejects that the Neanderthals were exterminated by modern humans. Homo sapiens might simply have existed in larger groups and had slightly higher birthrates, he said.

A recent study shows the Neanderthals share between 1 and 4 percent of their genetic material to the people of Asia and Europe. It has been suggested it is due to interbreeding between Neanderthals and the ancestors of non-Africans after they left Africa. But even if we did to some extent sleep with the ‘primitive caveman’, the populations that remained100% Neanderthal were probably out-competed and marginalized to extinction.

Riel-Salvatore’s research, to be published in Decembers Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, isbased on seven years of studying Neanderthal sites throughout Italy, with special focus on the vanished Uluzzian culture.