Hey, we remember when the idea of Neanderthals doing any art was a bombshell in 2012. They were the certified subhuman. While it lasted.
A book by Tom Higham, due out this week, explores the issues: The World Before Us: How Science is Revealing a New Story of Our Human Origins
Researchers like Higham have turned up some interesting new findings:
“At the site of the Denisova cave, we’ve also uncovered evidence that intriguingly suggests that Denisovans too might have been involved in making personal ornaments and doing the kinds of things that hitherto we only thought were the exclusive preserve of us and later Neanderthals.”
That evidence includes rings and beads made out of mammoth tusks and ostrich eggshells. “Were these and the other ornaments made by both Denisovans and modern humans?” Higham asks.
New research means that all sorts of artworks and decorative items that have been assumed to be linked to the earliest modern human could have been created by Neanderthals or Denisovans, in the absence of other evidence.
Higham says: “The weight of evidence now suggests that if there was cultural transmission, it probably occurred in both directions, and that the earliest evidence for the beginnings of complex behaviour in Europe was prior to the widespread arrival of Homo sapiens.” Dalya Alberge, “ Neanderthals helped create early human art” at THe Guardian
It’s getting harder all the time to find the subhumans Darwinism needs. Will we end up having to hire somebody to play the role?
Since evolution happens mostly by loss and subtraction, the same might be true of visual art. Subtraction is definitely true for language, which strengthens the analogy.
http://polistrasmill.blogspot......ading.html
I’d say Neanderthals still have a role in art too; just look at Postmodern art.
And speaking of Neanderthal art, here’s a little April foolishness:
-Q