Neanderthal

The stone tool was glued into a handle made of liquid bitumen with the addition of 55 percent ochre. It is no longer sticky and can be handled easily. Credit: Patrick SchmidtAnalysis of tools that are 40,000 years old has revealed a surprisingly sophisticated level of construction.A team of researchers has found that Neanderthals crafted stone tools using a sophisticated multi-component glue. This discovery, the oldest known example of such an advanced adhesive in Europe, indicates that these early human relatives…

Divers working off the coast of Rostock, Germany, have found the broken-up remains of a wall on the bottom of the Baltic Sea. Researchers believe the Stone Age construction is over 10,000 years old, potentially making it the oldest human megastructure in Europe, and was likely used to herd prey during hunts.The wall dates to a time when the local sea level was lower. Around 8,500 years ago, the sea levels rose and swallowed the structure, which now sits at a depth of 69 feet (21 meters). As the team notes in their paper…

Neanderthals aren’t the stupid, primitive, and unsophisticated beings some of us might think, as evidence provided by their DNA has suggested.In fact, evidence has also found that the closest ancient human relatives were just as capable as Homo Sapiens — the species we belong to now.As it turns out, there has been interbreeding between Homo sapiens and Neanderthals at some point in time, leaving some of us with Neanderthal DNA up to this day.In fact, there are ways to trace Neanderthal DNA in our bodies. Nevertheless,…

Image: SN Saleem, SA Seddik, M el-HalwagyA group of scientists CT-scanned the sarcophagus of a 2,300-year-old mummified boy. Their work revealed details of the “golden” boy’s health before he died, along with amulets wrapped in his linens. “This mummy’s body was extensively decorated with 49 amulets, beautifully stylized in a unique arrangement of three columns between the folds of the wrappings and inside the mummy’s body cavity,” said researcher Sahar Saleem. “Their purpose was to protect the body and give it vitality…

Recent research has uncovered a link between Neanderthal genetics and the tendency for some modern humans to be early risers. This study traces back to the interbreeding of modern humans with Neanderthals in Eurasia, suggesting that genetic variants from Neanderthals have influenced the circadian rhythms of their modern human descendants. Credit: SciTechDaily.comA new paper in the journal Genome Biology and Evolution, published by Oxford University Press, finds that genetic material from Neanderthal ancestors may have…

Early risers might have Neanderthal DNA to thank for their morning habits, an early study suggests.An analysis found genes passed on by Neanderthals and Denisovans, two ancient cousins of modern-day humans, may help make some of us morning people."This was really exciting to us, and not expected," Tony Capra at the University of California, San Francisco, told New Scientist." Neanderthals and Denisovans passed on DNA that increased our morningness, and this has been retained in modern human populations."It's possible…

If you’re irritated by the morning people in your life, you might have Neanderthals to blame for their existence, at least a little bit. New research suggests that our hominin relatives possessed genetic variations that predisposed them to waking up early and that they passed on these genes to our Homo sapiens ancestors through interbreeding. The study also found evidence that some people today still carry that genetic legacy with them.Google’s AI Isn’t a Gimmick, It’s the Future | AI UnlockedNeanderthals (Homo…

Trine Freiesleben and Jean-Claude discussing the fingerprints and where to take OSL samples. Credit: Kristina Thomsen, CC-BY 4.0Finger marks on a cave wall in France were created prior to the arrival of Homo sapiens in the region.According to a recent study published in the journal PLOS ONE by Jean-Claude Marquet and colleagues from the University of Tours, France, the oldest engravings made by Neanderthals have been discovered on a cave wall in France.Over the past few decades, research has shed light on the cultural…

It’s now consensus that Neanderthals were complex, social cousins of Homo sapiens that disappeared from the Earth around 40,000 years ago. But our lost relatives just became more complex, with the discovery of ancient cave engravings in France that appear to be their handiwork.Stay in Your Seats, It's Gonna Be a Bumpy Flight | Extreme EarthThe engravings sit in La Roche-Cotard, a cave about 12 miles (20 kilometers) west of Tours. The figures—which are comprised of parallel lines made by fingers dragged across the cave…

Over 57,000 years ago, a group of Paleolithic humans stood in a cave beneath the French countryside, pressing their fingers against the rock, dragging them against the soft, chalky rock of the cave, turning it into a living canvas. The story they were trying to tell is unknown, but this discovery marks the oldest Neanderthal art that humanity has ever discovered. A new study on the cave drawings has been published in PLOS One, detailing more about the engravings as they appear in the cave. The cave where…