Neanderthals May Have Lasted Longer than Scientist Thought

In our unscientific poll 35% of you believed that Bigfoot is a Neanderthal or an evolved Neanderthal.


Discovery News has an article that supports Neanderthals may have lasted longer than scientist previously thought. They may have even found the location of Neanderthals "last stand," lingering in Russia's Ural Mountains.

Discovery News: NEANDERTHALS' LAST STAND POSSIBLY FOUND
Most anthropologists believe modern humans began to replace Neanderthals starting around 75,000 to 50,000 years ago. Project leader Ludovic Slimak said the study suggests "that Neanderthals did not disappear due to climate shifts or cultural inferiority. It is clear that, showing such adaptability, the Mousterian cultures can no longer be considered as archaic."

Slimak, a University of Toulouse le Mirail anthropologist, Mangerud, and their colleagues made the determinations after analyzing hundreds of stone artifacts and remains of woolly rhinoceros, reindeer, musk ox, brown bear, wolf and polar fox unearthed at a site called Byzovaya in the western foothills of the Polar Urals. Dates were obtained for sand at the site as well as for some of the bones, many of which "have cut marks that indicate processing by humans," according to the researchers.

The tools attributed to the Neanderthal's Mousterian style (named after the site of Le Moustier in southern France, where they were first identified) were mostly flakes, which the scientists recreated by banging a hard hammer on select stones. It's therefore likely that the original creators of the tools used a similar manufacturing method. The preserved flakes could have been used to make two-sided scrapers, perhaps for hunting, removing meat from bones, or working with animal hides.

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Discovery News: Neanderthals Last Stand