Birds of a Feather: Neanderthal Exploitation of Raptors and Corvids.
Finlayson, C., Brown, K., Blasco, R., Rosell, J., Negro, J.J., Bortolotti, G.R., Finlayson, G., Sánchez Marco, A., Giles Pacheco, F., Rodríguez Vidal, J., Carrión, J.S., Fa, D.A., Rodríguez Llanes, J.M., 2012. PLoS ONE 7, e45927.
This paper
argues for widespread use of raptor feathers as symbolic ornamentation by
Neanderthals. Significantly more raptors
are found in Middle & Upper Palaeolithic sites across the Mid-Latitude belt
of Europe (suggesting widespread behavior) compared to in sites where there is
no hominin presence. Neanderthal sites
are more likely to have more than six bird taxa represented than UP sites. There is over-representation of species with
dark bones that scavenge and use colonial cliff nesting sites (across three
separate bird lineages). Looking
specifically at the Gibraltar sites, there is a preponderance of wing bones and
evidence for hominin modification is particularly associated with bones where
large flight feathers attach, which suggests that these birds weren’t being
eaten (and moreover no modern human population typically eats raptors). The ecology of these birds would have meant
that hominins would have come into contact with them regularly and may have
initially used them as indicators of fresh kills. Feathers, where used in human societies, are universally
associated with ornamentation. The authors argue: “Thus Neanderthals, though different in
a number of ways from Modern Humans had comparable cognitive capacities that
included symbolic expression [e.g. pigment use, feather ornamentation].”
No comments:
Post a Comment