http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/hominids/2012/09/do-feathers-reveal-neanderthal-brainpower/ Meet the members of the tangled human family tree Thu, 31 Jan 2013 17:56:50 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4 http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/hominids/2012/09/do-feathers-reveal-neanderthal-brainpower/#comment-855 Rob Gargett Wed, 26 Sep 2012 23:39:59 +0000 http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/hominids/?p=2017#comment-855 HI, Erin, Notwithstanding your mistaking one disgusting bird species for another [a point on which I am obviously sympathetic], I must however upbraid you for your willingness to accept Finlayson et al.'s contention that because modern people don't eat corvids and raptors [especially not the vultures] the Neanderthals wouldn't have either. Even if the Neandethals were exactly like modern humans cognitively and behaviorally [which of course Finlayson et al. and many others would have you believe] it's a bit of a reach to think that Western values would have held sway even as little as 30,000 years ago. Besides, a hungry Neanderthal is a hungry Neanderthal, and as my mother always told me, if you're hungry enough you'll eat anything. Heck, Erin, the !Kung and their relations in southern Africa used to extract the contents of ruminant artiodactyl's rumens because they could squeeze out the precious water they contained. If you've ever smelled a cow's breath, you'll probably agree with me that if the !Kung could stomach stomach contents, the Neanderthals may well have eaten crow...er.corvids and raptors, maybe, even, vultures. Ewwwwww! HI, Erin,
Notwithstanding your mistaking one disgusting bird species for another [a point on which I am obviously sympathetic], I must however upbraid you for your willingness to accept Finlayson et al.’s contention that because modern people don’t eat corvids and raptors [especially not the vultures] the Neanderthals wouldn’t have either. Even if the Neandethals were exactly like modern humans cognitively and behaviorally [which of course Finlayson et al. and many others would have you believe] it’s a bit of a reach to think that Western values would have held sway even as little as 30,000 years ago. Besides, a hungry Neanderthal is a hungry Neanderthal, and as my mother always told me, if you’re hungry enough you’ll eat anything. Heck, Erin, the !Kung and their relations in southern Africa used to extract the contents of ruminant artiodactyl’s rumens because they could squeeze out the precious water they contained. If you’ve ever smelled a cow’s breath, you’ll probably agree with me that if the !Kung could stomach stomach contents, the Neanderthals may well have eaten crow…er.corvids and raptors, maybe, even, vultures. Ewwwwww!

]]> http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/hominids/2012/09/do-feathers-reveal-neanderthal-brainpower/#comment-850 psweet Tue, 25 Sep 2012 16:11:39 +0000 http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/hominids/?p=2017#comment-850 Just a quick birder's complaint about your opening photo -- Neanderthals never used those birds feathers! Black Vultures (Coragyps atratus) are strictly New World birds, in an entirely New World family! Just a quick birder’s complaint about your opening photo — Neanderthals never used those birds feathers! Black Vultures (Coragyps atratus) are strictly New World birds, in an entirely New World family!

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