Decorated sailboat shows the cognitive abilities of Neanderthals

2017/03/30 Agirre Ruiz de Arkaute, Aitziber - Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Eboluzioa
• Paleontologia
• Arkeologia

A candle bone discovered in Crime (Black Sea) provides new data on the cognitive abilities of Neanderthals, according to a study published by researchers at the University of Bordeaux. In this bone appear the notches made by the Neanderthals, who have concluded that some of these notches are to create a solid visual pattern. That is, to create a symbolic pattern.

Lately, the cognitive abilities of Neanderthals are the source of intense debate. Some researchers claim that cranial morphology, ontogeny, physiology and behavior are a sample of cognitive abilities very different from those of modern man; others, however, in some fields, Neanderthals had cognitive abilities comparable to those of modern man from the evidence found in recent years: burials, personal ornaments, pigment use, bird feather extraction, hunting strategies and technology. Those who bet on this second hypothesis consider that Neanderthals, modern humans and Denisov would not have been mixed if they had perceived great differences in their cognitive abilities. The bone bites now found in Crime reinforce the hypothesis that modern Neanderthals and humans had similar cognitive abilities.