The Neanderthals

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How ‘modern’ were the Neanderthals and what is the evidence for their co-existence and interactions with the anatomically modern humans? What is meant by the term ‘modern’? That is the first question that we must answer before we can advance to answer those posed in the title. A dictionary definition is given as “of or pertaining to present and recent time; not ancient or remote: modern city life.” (Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc.http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/modern [accessed: November 24, 2011]). This suggests that the way to define ‘modern’ is to look at ourselves now, and to use the human race as of 2011 as a template. Although it is important to remember that “any such definition rests on an understanding…show more content…
Bordes claims that they “made beautiful tools stupidly (Tattersall 1999, 160)”, suggesting that they were a people who although “highly skilled, possessed a strictly limited capacity for innovation (Tattersall 1999, 160)”. This shows that even though the tools were of a good quality, they never particularly advanced during the time of the Neanderthals. Support for the quality of the tools and the methods used to create them is provided by Douglas Palmer, who states that “there is evidence that the flint workers went to considerable lengths to check the quality of the flintstone nodules before working on them to any great extent. At Lascabannes in Lot-et-Garonnem the outer surface ‘skin’ of some modules has been scratched to assess the nature of the flint; flakes have been removed from others to check the quality of the interior of nodules and some have had all the outer white layer removed to reduce the weight for greater ease of transport from the sit (Palmer 2000, 134)”. This meticulous attention to detail certainly fits in with modern day society, where any product being put onto a commercial market is subject to a battery of quality tests to ensure its suitability and safety. But did the Neanderthals manage to create their best tools thanks to their own innovation? Or was there a ‘helping hand’ from the Cro-Magnons? This notion implies that there was contact and…show more content…
But this is not a view shared by Francesco d’Errico and João Zilhão who “claim that the Neanderthals developed the Châtelperronian tool industry in south-western France and northern Spain quite independently of the Cro-Magnons. They also believe that the Neanderthals ‘were capable of manufacturing the kinds of lithic [stone] and bone tools which have been found in Aurignacian levels’ (Palmer 2000, 190)”. To enforce their point, they highlight the fact “that there are Châtelperronian tools, especially some awls for perforating skins, from the Grotte du Renne, which are ‘decorated’ with sets of carefully made and regularly spaced notches … From this d’Errico and Zilhão conclude that the decoration was therefore part of an everyday and normal use of symbolism by the Neanderthals. Furthermore, it was an integral part of a late cultural development by them and not just something borrowed from the Cro-Magnons (Palmer 2000, 191)”. This use of art is a distinctly modern trait; the Neanderthals may well have had an artistic and

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