Sunday, August 27, 2017
A NEANDERTAL NOTCHED BONE:
http://www.newslocker.com/en-uk/profession/archaeology/2017-03-31/
Public domain.
I have
periodically presented material that is not actually rock art as we usually
define it, but I have always been able to convince myself (and hopefully you) that this material
had bearing on some aspect of rock art. Some examples are past columns about
aspects of Neandertal culture and evidence of their ability to plan and think
symbolically (for previous examples click on Neandertal in the cloud index at
the bottom of the blog). A recent paper published on PLOS Online titled A Decorated Raven Bone From the Zaskalnaya
VI (Kilosovskaya) Neanderthal Site, Crimea, by Ana Majkic, Sara Evans,
Vadim Stepanchuk Alexander Twvelykh, and Francesco d'Errico, and appearing
March 29, 2017, discussed a raven bone that bears a row of human created
notches. The authors state that "This
object represents the first instance of a bird bone from a Neanderthal site
bearing modifications that cannot be explained as the result of butchery
activities and for which a symbolic argument can be built on direct rather than
circumstantial evidence." (Majkic et al 2017) In other words, these are obviously not butchery cuts, they were made purposefully and as the result of thought, analysis, and decision.
Closeup views of notched bone,
media.eurekalert.org.
Public Domain.
"Microscopic analysis of the
notches indicate that they were produced by the to-and-fro movement of a lithic
cutting edge and that two notches were added to fill in the gap left between
previously cut notches, probably to increase the visual consistency of the
pattern".
(Majkic et al 2017)
Replication experiment,
media.eurekalert.org
Public Domain.
The authors replicated the creation
of the notches by sawing a chipped stone edge back and forth on a modern turkey
bone to test their assumptions. They concluded that the marks were intentional
and not accidentally produced by butchering the raven for food or other
purpose. "Previous studies of
altered bird bones at Neanderthal sites have caused researchers to argue that
the objects were used as personal ornaments. But this is the first direct
evidence to support a symbolic argument for the modifications of bird bones."
(dailymail.co.uk 2017)
"This object represents the first instance of a
bird bone from a Neanderthal site bearing modifications that cannot be
explained as the result of butchery activities and for which a symbolic
argument can be built on direct rather than circumstantial evidence." (dailymail.co.uk 2017)
It seems most likely that this raven bone was being
altered for purposes of human adornment, to be used as a hair pin or pendant.
Now we have more proof of purposeful
planning among the Neandertal, a very human trait, and one that should force
many people to rethink their assumptions about Neandertal culture. Perhaps they
were us after all.
NOTE: Images in this posting were retrieved from the internet
after a search for public domain photographs. If any of these images are not
intended to be public domain, I apologize, and will happily provide the picture
credits if the owner will contact me with them. For further information on
these reports you should read the originals at the sites listed below.
REFERENCES:
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371.journal.pone.0173435
http://www.media.eurekalert.org.
http://www.newslocker.com/en-uk/profession/archaeology/2017-03-31/.
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