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Re: Neanderthals v Humans

Nov 05, 2012, 19:17

Agreed, though perhaps life wasn’t quite so clearly defined between daytime and night-time activities. What was life really like for our hypothetical Neanderthal community. Bringing down a woolly mammoth would probably have kept their larder full for a couple of weeks thereby removing the need to go hunting every day (unless the ‘excitement’ of the hunt was part and parcel of daily life).

There are so many unknowns.

Daytime. If there was a belief in spirits (and their funerary practices seem to suggest that there was) then time would have been needed for that facet of their lives. Was flint knapping, the preparation of skins, the gathering of plants, their ‘artistic’ endeavours (if there were any) and initiation ceremony's delegated to ‘professionals’ or did they all spend equal time on those activities. What about a bit of trading and inter-communal gatherings.

Night-time. Who knows – eating, story telling if they had the power of speech (and I’m inclined to think they did), planning (forward thinking) for hunting, defence and attack. Gaming?

As I say, who knows, but a species that could at least accomplish some of the above might also have been inclined to create more imposing structures – not necessarily of stone but perhaps of wood, perhaps even of simply decorating or demarking natural features in their landscape.

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Re: Neanderthals v Humans (Harryshill)

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Re: Neanderthals v Humans (Harryshill)

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