Neanderthal & Sapiens: scraping & spinning

[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:

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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.

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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."

...