Redheaded Neanderlady

Redheaded Neanderlady
This is a photoshopped version of something I found in National Geographic about the time I started researching

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Digging for early humans in Kent's Cavern

According to an article you can read here:

 

http://www.thisissouthdevon.co.uk/localnews/Cave-dig-hopes-signs-modern-man/article-653881-detail/article.html

there is going to be a dig at Kent's Cavern, UK, in March, and a "follow-up{ dig in September.  The reason?  There is an ambiguous fossil of a jaw there.  If I remember correctly, the tools found previously at Kent's Cavern, seemed to indicate the presence of "modern" humans some 38,000 years ago, which would have made them the oldest "modern" remains in the UK.  Well and good.  Except that analysis of the jaw seems to suggest that its owner might have been a Neandertal!  Well, that wouldn't be so bad, either, if it weren't for the fact that the diggers seem to be trying to show that "modern" humans somehow "caused" Neandertal extinction.  In a way, they did, I suppose, but the news story -- which probably has garbled the intent of the archaeologists involved -- suggests that Neandertals  couldn't "cope".  Some people believe this is true, and try to show this in their work, if they are doing prehistoric archaeology or related field.  Is it? I don't know.  I have a feeling, though, that just like the "ambiguous" jaw, the results won't point to anything definite, in the way of the appearance of "modern" humans and the disappearance of Neandertals.

Anne G

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