New Neanderthal bones found at famous Shanidar Cave (earthsky.org)

[eppur_se_muova]

Posted by Shireen Gonzaga in Human World | February 28, 2020

One of the most significant archaeological sites of the 20th century is Shanidar Cave in Iraqi Kurdistan. At this site, over 60 years ago, scientists unearthed the bones of 10 Neanderthal individuals. It was a discovery that changed the way we look at this extinct hominid species. The Neanderthal individuals found at Shanidar Cave are thought to have died about 70,000 years ago and to have been deliberately buried there. Now archaeologists have discovered new, partial skeletal remains of an additional Neanderthal individual at Shanidar Cave. The first new bone, a rib, was unearthed in 2016, followed by a lumbar vertebrate and a right hand that was still clenched after thousands of years. In 2018 and 2019, more bones were extracted from the ground. A skull, flattened by the weight of sediment above it, was carefully removed. Beneath the head was a left hand. They also found upper body bones, down to the waist.

These findings were reported in the February 2020 issue of the journal Antiquity.

Emma Pomeroy of Cambridge University is the paper’s lead author. In a statement published at EurekAlert.org, she said:

So much research on how Neanderthals treated their dead has to involve returning to finds from 60 or even 100 years ago, when archaeological techniques were more limited. And that only ever gets you so far.

To have primary evidence of such quality from this famous Neanderthal site will allow us to use modern technologies to explore everything from ancient DNA to long-held questions about Neanderthal ways of death, and whether they were similar to our own.

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more: https://earthsky.org/human-world/new_neanderthal_bones_shanidar_cave?

[abqtommy]

1. It's important to know that modern humans in the U.S., Australia, some Pacific Islands,

Europe and on east to Siberia all show1% to 4% Neanderthal DNA... The Denisovans were closely
related to Neanderthals and also show around 5% DNA among the same modern populations.

"The Neanderthals and the “Denisovans” are more closely related to each other than either group is to modern humans. However, Denisovan genomic material is particularly well represented (approximately 5 percent) in samples taken from modern human populations from Oceania, including Papua New Guinea and Australia. Neanderthal DNA occurs at higher frequencies in Eurasia. Indeed, Neanderthal DNA makes up 1–4 percent of the gene pool of Eurasian populations. Among those populations, Neanderthals contributed more DNA to East Asians than to Europeans."

more at link: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Neanderthal/Genetics

Interesting stuff. Neanderthal and the Denisovans didn't go extinct. There was interbreeding. We are them and they are us. DNA testing of Neanderthal remains shows that some of them had fair skin,
red, blonde and brown hair and blue/green/brown eyes.

[Warpy]

2. There's also a population with Denisovan DNA

among tribal people in Ecuador and northern Peru. I think that likely says something about alternate migration patterns.

[abqtommy]

3. That's true. From what I've read there are also historical groups in South America that created

pottery that is identical to various styles that originated in Japan. Lotta stuff going on with our ancestors! And of course the rapidity of the settlement of North and South America shows that migration by sea, not just via the Siberian land bridge, is likely.

[Warpy]

4. I keep thinking we find so many bones in caves

is because they were places for burials, like the Naledi cave. There are traces of fires because there was likely a funeral feast, but mostly caves were dank, dark, disease ridden from bat guano, and likely to be inhabited by something that ate people. Rock overhangs were much better places to set up camp, providing a windbreak and partial protection from rain, and in fact, a lot of habitation has been found in just such places.

Given my druthers as a hunter-gatherer, I'd have preferred simple skin tents or even arboreal bedding like chimps construct.