(* THE-ARC *): July 2012

AmerIndian plains tipis originated from a bull bison pelt with tail retained on back side of tent with attached female pelts sewn to it and smoke flaps in front representing horns, this derived from ancient mammoth-hide tents framed by debarked willow/wicker poles or defleshed long bones, with a bull mammoth pelt overlaid on top of leaf/rush shingles or rolled woven rush mats, with smoke flaps being skull-socketed tusks draped (perhaps pinned, not sewn) with pelts acting as both smoke hole cover and entryway.

DDeden

'reconstructions' of mammoth tents
http://www.sciencephoto.com/media/173025/enlarge
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=ukraine+mammoth&view=detail&id=4AFC28B65F2A8190A76AC5E6449F4A46E24D477C&first=72

tipi types (imagine if constructed of mammoth pelts, bones, tusks)
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=ancient+tipi&view=detail&id=5B18C43DE5F3873B9351F8CC8153A60ECE629D38&first=597
http://tatonkatradingcompany.com/graphics/Teepee_Erecting.gif

[Some news articles relating to paleo-particle-linguistics speculations of Carlos @ http://tletl.blogspot.com/ especially in regard to fire starting, bone flutes, etc.]

Authors suggest habitual animal skin hide scraping as cause for pronounced right forelimb dominance of neanderthals. I would add plant processing (bark/root scraping) for food/medicine/pitch and fire starting by dynamic-right-hand scraping while left-hand held static item securely). A group from Africa (without fire-starting technology, cf Mbuti Congo pygmies) entered Levant/Spain and learned and modified neanderthal fire starting by using both hands to spin the firestick while holding it vertical in a mouthpiece (flue/flame/flute/Lakota peace pipe).

Update: See article & photos of 44ka Border Cave & San Kalahari bushmen drilling ostrich egg & marine shells to make pendants/beads, this resembles palm-palm spinning (spindle/kindling) of fire drill (possibly also done by neanderthals), while the threading uses the thumb-finger precision grip (which Carlos reports that Neanderthals lacked, thus no thread nor bow/arrow, just atlatl sling). http://news.yahoo.com/photos/compilation-5-photos-supplied-university-witwatersrand-shows-ostrich-photo-182648015.html http://news.yahoo.com/researchers-modern-culture-may-earlier-start-171918659.html Congo Mbuti pygmies do use poison arrows but don't make these beads or use fire drill/spindles. Most likely San copied linear fire starting/scraping from Neandertals and modified it into fire drilling/spinning which was then broadcast to all Hs except Rainforest pygmoidal people. Note that in Borneo, rainforest natives developed the fire piston, an air pump compression fire starter.

Neanderthal women wore a draping fur pelt (robe/wrap/toga/shawl) over the left shoulder with the corner tucked underarm while carrying an infant in left arm near breast wrapped warmly in fur, with some moss underneath. Neanderthal men draped the (reindeer/bear/buffalo) fur similarly but carried a water bag or tool in left hand while the right hand held a spear-walking stick. Both wore a belt/drawstring/rope to hold the pelt tight or loose (leaving a 'pocket' space above the belt).

Sapien men and women leaving hot tropical Africa for Spain and the Levant copied this, but modified it by including a woven linen/hemp undergarment (enlarged loincloth/stringskirt) and inserting bone pin/clasp/broach "sewn" through pelt sides allowing both hands to be free when desired, for eg. bimanual spinning of firestick or thread.

{my interpretation: DDeden}

Some articles:

====

Neandertal Humeri May Reflect Adaptation to Scraping Tasks, but Not Spear Thrusting

Colin N Shaw, Cory L Hofmann, Michael D Petraglia, Jay T Stock, Jinger S Gottschall

PLoS ONE 7(7): e40349 doi 10.1371/journal.pone.0040349

Unique compared with recent & prehistoric Hs, Hn humeri are characterised by

- a pronounced right-dominant bilateral strength asymmetry &

- an A-P strengthened diaphyseal shape.

A) Remodeling in response to asymmetric forces imposed during regular

underhanded spear thrusting is the most influential explanatory hypothesis.
The core tenet of the "Spear Thrusting Hypothesis" (underhand thrusting
requires greater muscle activity on the right side of the body compared to
the left) remains untested.
B) Might alternative subsistence behaviours (eg, hide processing) better
explain this morphology?

EMG was used to measure muscle activity at the primary movers of the

humerus (pectoralis major PM, anterior AD & posterior deltoid PD) during
A) 3 distinct spear-thrusting tasks &
B) 4 separate scraping tasks.

A) Maximum muscle activity MAX & total muscle activity TOT were
significantly higher at the left (non-dominant) AD, PD & PM compared to
the right side of the body during spear thrusting tasks. Thus, the muscle activity required during underhanded spearing tasks does not lend itself to explaining the pronounced right dominant strength
asymmetry found in Hn humeri.

B) During the performance of all 3 uni-manual scraping tasks, right side

MAX & TOT were significantly greater at the AD & PM compared to the left.
The consistency of the results provides evidence that scraping activities
(eg, hide preparation) may be a key behaviour in determining the unusual
pattern of Hn arm morphology.

These results yield important insight into the Hn behavioural repertoire

that aided survival throughout Pleistocene Eurasia.

=============

Neanderthal medics? Evidence for food, cooking, and medicinal plants

entrapped in dental calculus

Karen Hardy, Stephen Buckley, Matthew J Collins, Almudena Estalrrich, Don

Brothwell, Les Copeland, Antonio Garc¨ªa-Tabernero, Samuel Garc¨ªa-Vargas,

Marco de la Rasilla, Carles Lalueza-Fox cs 2012 doi

10.1007/s00114-012-0942-0

Neanderthals disappeared sometime between 30,000 and 24,000 years ago.

Until recently, Neanderthals were understood to have been predominantly

meat-eaters; however, a growing body of evidence suggests their diet also included

plants. We present the results of a study, in which sequential thermal

desorption-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (TD-GC-MS) and

pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (Py-GC-MS) were combined

with morphological analysis of plant microfossils, to identify material

entrapped in dental calculus from five Neanderthal individuals from the

north Spanish site of El Sidr¨®n.

Our results provide the first molecular evidence for inhalation of

wood-fire smoke and bitumen or oil shale and ingestion of a range of

cooked plant foods. We also offer the first evidence for the use of medicinal plants by a

Neanderthal individual. The varied use of plants that we have identified suggests that the

Neanderthal occupants of El Sidr¨®n had a sophisticated knowledge of their

natural surroundings which included the ability to select and use certain plants.

_______

Neanderthals ate their greens

Tooth analysis shows that european hominins roasted vegetables and may

have used medicinal plants.

Matt Kaplan 18.7.12

Hn have long been viewed as meat-eaters.

The vision of them as inflexible carnivores has even been used to suggest

that they went extinct c 25 ka as a result of food scarcity, whereas

omnivorous humans were able to survive.

But evidence is mounting that plants were important to Hn diets ¡ª and now

a study reveals that those plants were roasted, and may have been used

medicinally. The finding comes from the El Sidr¨®n Cave in N-Spain, where the c 50-ka

skeletal remains of at least 13 Hn have been discovered.

Many of these individuals had calcified layers of plaque on their teeth.

Karen Hardy wondered whether it might be possible to use this plaque to

take a closer look at the Hn menu.

Using plaque to work out the diets of ancient animals is not entirely new,

but Hardy has gone further by looking for organic compounds in the plaque.

They used gas chromatography & mass spectrometry to analyse the plaque

collected from 10 teeth belonging to 5 Hn individuals from the cave.

The plaque contained a range of carbohydrates & starch granules: the Hn

had consumed a variety of plant spp, but there were few lipids or proteins

from meat.

Hardy cs also found, lurking in the plaque of a few specimens, a range of

alkyl-phenols, aromatic hydro-carbons & roasted starch granules: they had

spent time in smoky areas and eaten cooked vegetables.

/www.nature.com/news/neanderthals-ate-their-greens-1.11030#b1

Richard Wrangham:

"The idea that Hn were largely meat-eaters has been hard for me to accept

given their membership in a mainly vegetarian clade.

It is exciting to see this new set of techniques applied to understanding

their palaeo-diet."

Among the compounds that Hardy found were chemicals from plants such as

yarrow & camomile, which taste bitter and have no nutritional value.

Genetic analysis has shown that Hn had the ability to detect bitter

tastes, raising questions about why they would intentionally eat such

plants.

Michael Chazan suggests that the bitter-tasting plants were used in

fire-making, and could have entered the diet as a by-product of cooking.

Wrangham, by contrast, proposes that yarrow & camomile were used as

seasoning.

Hardy disagrees with Wrangham:

"The idea of Hn sitting down for a bowl of salad stretches my imagination,

and there is no evidence of them having cooking pots, so soups seem

unlikely."

Hardy theorizes that the Hn may have used the bitter plants as medicines ¡ª

modern herbalists use them as anti-inflamatories & antiseptics:

"All modern higher primates make use of medicinal plants, so perhaps

Neanderthals did too.

Lawrence Straus:

"As exceptional places like El Sidr¨®n reveal just how wise & flexible Hn

were, more & more we are having to ask ourselves, why did they go

extinct?"

_______

Neanderthals in Northern Spain Had Knowledge of Plants' Healing Qualities,

Study Reveals

17.7.12

An international team has provided the first molecular evidence that Hn

not only ate a range of cooked plant foods, but also understood its

nutritional & medicinal qualities.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/07/120718131348.htm

Until recently Hn (disappeared 30-24 ka) were thought to be predominantly

meat-eaters.

However, evidence of dietary breadth is growing as more sophisticated

analyses are undertaken.

Researchers combined pyrolysis gas-chromatography-mass spectrometry with

morphological analysis of plant micro-fossils to identify material trapped

in dental calculus (calcified plaque) from 5 Hn from El Sidr¨®n.

Their results provide another twist to the story: the first molecular

evidence for medicinal plants being used by a Hn individual.

The researchers say the starch granules & carbohydrate markers in the

samples, plus evidence for plant compounds such as azulenes & coumarins,

as well as possible evidence for nuts, grasses & even green vegetables,

argue for a broader use of ingested plants than is often suggested by

stable isotope analysis.

Karen Hardy (Naturwissenschaften):

"The varied use of plants we identified suggests that the Hn occupants of

El Sidr¨®n had a sophisticated knowledge of their natural surroundings,

which included the ability to select & use certain plants for their

nutritional value & for self-medication.

While meat was clearly important, our research points to an even more

complex diet than has previously been supposed."

Earlier research by this team had shown that the Hn in El Sidr¨®n had the

bitter taste perception gene.

Now trapped within dental calculus, researchers found molecular evidence

that one individual had eaten bitter tasting plants.

Stephen Buckley:

"The evidence indicating this individual was eating bitter-tasting plants

such as yarrow & camomile with little nutritional value is surprising.

We know that Hn would find these plants bitter, so it is likely these

plants must have been selected for reasons other than taste."

10 samples of dental calculus from 5 Hn were selected.

The researchers used thermal desorption & pyrolysis

gas-chromatography-mass spectrometry to identify both free/unbound &

bound/polymeric organic components in the dental calculus.

By using this method + the extraction & analysis of plant micro-fossils,

they found chemical evidence consistent with

- wood-fire smoke,

- a range of cooked starchy foods,

- 2 plants known today for their medicinal qualities &

- bitumen or oil shale trapped in the dental calculus.

Matthew Collins:

"Using mass spectrometry, we were able to identify the building blocks of

carbohydrates in the calculus of 2 adults, one individual in particular

having apparently eaten several different carbohydrate-rich foods.

Combined with the microscopic analysis, it also demonstrates how dental

calculus can provide a rich source of information."

The researchers say evidence for cooked carbohydrates is confirmed by both

the cracked/roasted starch granules observed microscopically, and the

molecular evidence for cooking & exposure to wood smoke or smoked food in

the form of a range of chemical markers including methyl-esters, phenols &

polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons found in dental calculus.

Les Copeland:

"Our research confirms the varied & selective use of plants by Hn."

The study also provides evidence that the starch granules reported from El

Sidr¨®n represent the oldest granules ever to be confirmed using a

biochemical test,

ancient bacteria found embedded in the calculus offers the potential for

future studies in oral health.

The archaeological cave site of El Sidr¨®n (Asturias) contains the best

collection of Hn remains found in Iberia - one of the most important

active sites in the world. Discovered in 1994, it contains c 2000 skeletal remains of at least 13

individuals c 47.3 - 50.6 ka.

Antonio Rosas:

"El Sidr¨®n has allowed us to banish many of the preconceptions we had of Hn.

Thanks to previous studies, we know that they looked after the sick,

buried their dead, and decorated their bodies.

Now another dimension has been added relating to their diet &

self-medication."

...

(* THE-ARC *)

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Bull

Friday, July 20, 2012

Neanderthal & Sapiens: scraping & spinning

Saturday, July 7, 2012

archelios

THE-ARC: SELAMAT DATANG KE GERBANG MAKLUMAT KAMI