RE: Indigenous Culture and Neanderthals.
Did you know that Neanderthals "farmed"?
The groundbreaking research in Gibraltar has proven through paleopollen analysis, that Neanderthals living there over 100kya created an extremely high concentration of nut bearing trees around their settlements. Not only trees, there are high pollen markers for a range of other edible/useful plants concentrated around these Neanderthal settlement sites. Including wild grasses, the partially burned grains of which have been found around these Neanderthal hearths.
Silviculture or the "farming of trees" is probably the earliest form of "agriculture". Deliberately planting nuts or seedlings for nut trees around your dwelling places is "farming" in the broadest sense and it doesn't domesticate the trees. Unlike say, what we can see happened with wheat, barley, oats, corn, and rice.
Here/s the "thing", silviculture combined with seasonally flooding wetlands (like in the Amazon or Cambodia) can generate HUGE surpluses of food in those areas. You can build a fairly big population and society on nuts, fish, natural fruits, natural grains, and wild game.
it's not just the trees. There is a whole "package" of plants that are concentrated around this group of Neanderthal sites. Sites which are separated by 10's of thousands of years during the time of their occupation. Something which implies "cultural memory." A feat Neanderthals were thought to be incapable of, due to not having "language".
The researcher has really revolutionized the way we view Neanderthals and the other hominid cousins that we subsumed when we spread out across the planet.
We he started his digs back in the early 90's the common paradigm was that Neanderthals were too primitive to even hunt birds. Hunting birds it was argued was a HUGE measure of cognitive ability. One that humans displayed and Neanderthals did not.
He has conclusively shown that Neanderthals did indeed hunt birds and also that they used the feathers of certain birds as adornment. They weren't "retarded cousins" that we swept aside. They were equals that we interbred with.
He has shown that Neanderthals had an Indigenous Culture.
The Smart Neanderthal: Bird Catching, Cave Art, and the Cognitive Revolution Clive Finlayson Oxford University Press (2019)
Neanderthals ate barbecued pigeon
Charred bones suggest our ancient relatives cooked the ancestors of feral pigeons on the embers of their fires
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/aug/07/neanderthals-barbecued-pigeon-gibraltar
Neanderthals may have cleared a European forest with fire or tools
When Neanderthals lived at a site called Neumark-Nord in Germany, the region had far fewer trees than surrounding areas, suggesting they may have cleared the forest on purpose.
Study finds Neanderthals ate their veggies.
https://phys.org/news/2010-12-neanderthals-ate-veggies.html
Proof that Neanderthals ate crabs is another 'nail in the coffin' for primitive cave dweller stereotypes.
https://phys.org/news/2023-02-proof-neanderthals-ate-crabs-coffin.html
Neanderthals were the first to artificially transform the world, turning a forest into grassland nearly 125,000 years ago.
https://www.zmescience.com/science/news-science/neanderthal-turned-forest-grassland-0423/
Genetic insights into the social organization of Neanderthals.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-05283-y
The Neanderthal Diet—From Teeth to Guts
Neanderthals’ tooth enamel, torsos, and even fossilized poop reveal that they ate much more than meat.
https://www.sapiens.org/biology/neanderthal-diet/
Before Paleo: What Did the European Neanderthals Eat?
https://now.northropgrumman.com/before-paleo-what-did-the-european-neanderthals-eat/
