Bookburn
Thu, Jul-18-02, 01:04
New Evidence for Neanderthal Violence Mon Apr 22, 5:16 PM ET
By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - Perhaps it was a fight over food or a mate.
For some reason, someone whacked a Neanderthal over the head
with a sharp weapon 36,000 years ago in what is now France.
[Sounds logical to me.]
(snip)
"As weaponry for hunting improves the stakes of having an
argument with somebody increase. Like all social mammals,
Neanderthals had their squabbles, and if you have effective
weaponry around you've got a more serious problem,"
commented anthropologist Erik Trinkaus of Washington
University in St. Louis.
[Yes, they hadn't approved of any weapons control laws yet.]
(snip)
Many of their remains show injuries, but these fractures
differ from the St. Cesaire skull, which was cut by a sharp
blade, probably on a handle.
It's not unlike the type of injuries encountered in
swordfights, Trinkaus commented. He said that the best modern
comparison would be a stone weapon approximating a machete.
[Now were getting somewhere: a stone machet. Neanterthal must
have been a sort of techie Aly Oop.]
The location and angle of the cut indicate that the individual
attacked was either in front of or behind the victim, the
Zollikofer's team reported.
[Well, at least that narrows it down between the individual
attacked and the victim.]
(snip) Their findings are reported in Tuesday's issue of
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (news -
web sites).
bookburn, LOL
By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - Perhaps it was a fight over food or a mate.
For some reason, someone whacked a Neanderthal over the head
with a sharp weapon 36,000 years ago in what is now France.
[Sounds logical to me.]
(snip)
"As weaponry for hunting improves the stakes of having an
argument with somebody increase. Like all social mammals,
Neanderthals had their squabbles, and if you have effective
weaponry around you've got a more serious problem,"
commented anthropologist Erik Trinkaus of Washington
University in St. Louis.
[Yes, they hadn't approved of any weapons control laws yet.]
(snip)
Many of their remains show injuries, but these fractures
differ from the St. Cesaire skull, which was cut by a sharp
blade, probably on a handle.
It's not unlike the type of injuries encountered in
swordfights, Trinkaus commented. He said that the best modern
comparison would be a stone weapon approximating a machete.
[Now were getting somewhere: a stone machet. Neanterthal must
have been a sort of techie Aly Oop.]
The location and angle of the cut indicate that the individual
attacked was either in front of or behind the victim, the
Zollikofer's team reported.
[Well, at least that narrows it down between the individual
attacked and the victim.]
(snip) Their findings are reported in Tuesday's issue of
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (news -
web sites).
bookburn, LOL