It's amazing how some very small thing can alter one's whole concept of things and an interesting example occurs in today's Times. In a cave in the Rhone valley a fossilised molar has been found from a child - 54000 years old the tooth shows that humans and Nean derthals once shared the continent. The tooth suggests that within a year of a group of Neanderthals moving out a group of Homo Sapiens moved in and then they moved out and Neanderthals moved back in again. It had been thought that once Homo Sapiens moved into Europe the Neanderthals moved out but now this tiny tooth suggests a much more complex picture. After the tooth at the moment there have been no other human remains found for another ten thousand years. It was found between two Neanderthal 'layers'. Interestingly the Professor working in the cave has believed for many years that this was the case because of more .modern tools found there. He was mocked for this theory but now it seems there is some proof that he may well be right.
You can but wonder just how many things lie beneath our feet - just waiting to be discovered. Not just coins, jewels and the like - but ordinary things like a child's tooth. Imagine that - in most places it would just not be noticed.
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Blue sky, sun which is beginning to have some warmth in it, after lunch I shall 'test the water' to see how strong the wind is before I set out with Priscilla. If anything interesting happens I will return. Sadly it is far to windy to go out so I shall have to miss a day of walking. So see you all tomorrow.
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24 comments:
"You can but wonder just how many things lie beneath our feet - just waiting to be discovered."
Yes. Each time we go out walking!
Thank you so much for bringing this news of the child from 54,000 years ago. My DNA, along with that of many people whose ancestors lived in Europe, shows Neanderthal ancestors.
Suddenly I'm reminded of a book by William Golding that an old friend of mine recommended highly when we were in college in the late 1960s.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/sep/16/the-inheritors-william-golding-neanderthal-novel-60-years
My friend's ancestry was Sephardic on one side and Ashkenazi on the other. Years after we met in college she told me that her father had been a pilot whose plane was shot down in Germany during World War II and who spent time as a prisoner of war. When she was a small child in 1949, he had a mental breakdown that affected her for the rest of her life in profoundly destructive ways although she was a gifted musician who loved the natural world and Dr. Who.
You've inspired me to find a copy of The Inheritors and read it again. I didn't understand why she recommended the book to me. It went way over my head. I didn't know what I know now.
I hope you have a good walk today, Weaver of Grass.
It's mind boggling to think about it. We tend to think we're the only ones who have experienced the changing world, but for years and years, thousands of years, there have been others like us with similar thoughts and feelings.
I think some things (most things) are left buried, Weaver. We should concentrate on today, as it has enough problems of its own. The past is over and done... best left buried, in my view. ~Andrea xoxoxo
**I think some things (most things) are BEST left buried.** xoxo
Funnily enough, while reorganizing my cupboards these past two years, I keep coming across old treasures collected by my boys when they were younger; cool rocks, rusty nails, marbles, etc. All were things they pulled from the earth and decided were treasures. I think there's a treasure hunter inside all of us. In fact every time I hear a loud clunk while I'm digging in the garden, the thought crosses my mind that it might be something interesting. I wish I could find a 54,000 year old tooth instead of rocks.
He probably planted it so he could find it and say na na nana na to those who mocked him.
I wonder if it had been left for the Neanderthal Tooth Fairy?
Rachel makes an interesting point, it wouldn't be the first time that an historical discovery has turned out to be a fake.
New finds in archaeology challenge thinking and often tell very different stories. Lately the wind has been strong in your area. Hopefully tomorrow brings calmness, sunshine and lovely blue skies. It is calm here but still snow covered. The snow is taking a long time to melt completely. The ice is treacherous due to freezing over night.
I looked up (and read about) William Holding's 'The Inheritors' in The Guardian article link shared by your commenter 'am' - wow! how interesting!!! Will I get the book, I don't think so.
Stay out of those strong winds Pat.
OOOPS! Sorry, William Golding not Holding!
Mary -
I agree that it's amazing to consider what may lie under the soil. Shades of Time Team!
You're wise to stay out of the wind and take your stroll inside your lovely home.
Hugs!
In 2020, I read Kindred: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death and Art. Through exhaustive detail, author Rebecca Skagg Sykes tell how recent discoveries have rewritten our view of Neanderthals. It read more like a reference book than a page turner, but I still loved it.
Not the most attractive of species the Neanderthals - no doubt they found each other all that and more if you're into hirsuteness.
I think you'll find it was actually a Tooth Furry you've referred to JayCee.-Pam.
You inspire me to carry on and look up into the sky and see the Hawks circling and the Canada Geese in their V's moving South and just breathing the clean air. I need to treasure those things more than I do and you are my inspiration
I can imagine how pleased the professor was to have his theory proved. I find Archeology (is that the correct spelling?) fascinating and enjoy watching digs on TV, marvelling at the way the tiniest fragment can have a story to tell.
I hope the weather calms down sufficiently for you to get your walk tomorrow.
It is wonderful, all the bits of history coming together.
I love discoveries like that. I found a stone scraper while planting my asparagus two springs ago. Across the road, my sister found a pounding stone, with divots where the fingers fit. I think about what lies beneath all the time, about the fact that we are walking across the very face of history with every step.
Back in France I have found Stone Age tools, a buried Horse, an ancient plough, and what appeared to be a long forgotten outdoor loo. I'm still waiting to find gold.
Rachel's comment about the professor going na nana na na made me chuckle. Who knows! It might still be true, and I am nowhere near a position where I could be sure one way or the other. Anyway, I think it is not just mind-boggling how much is still there to uncover (or leave well alone) under our feet, but it is also amazing how much can be known from something as small as a child's tooth.
As I understand it, Neanderthals never disappeared, they just interbred with Homo Sapiens. Most of us contain quite a lot of Neanderthal genes.
Context and provenance. Sometimes you cannot prove anything and then the archaeologists will come along and hazard several stories to tell the tale. But accepting it is true and as Tom says we have Neanderthal genes, get away from the old warring tribes myth!
Oh Weaver..I love this post...and I love history as I believe to build on the present, the only way into the future is to understand the past...the good and the bad.
Have a good walk today...sun here in Penketh.x
Tom and Thelma - that explains why some of us are hairier than others
Thanks as usual for participating.
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