I always love quotes like this: "All jewellery had a magical meaning for ancient people. Bracelets and neck adornments were to protect people from evil spirits, for instance." And we know this how? Maybe it was just made to be pretty. A rich person giving their partner a gift etc. No one could possibly be able to make any further inferences from a species of human we know almost nothing about.
I think if you reference the Dungeon Master's Guide tables regarding loot, you'll notice a preponderance of protective magic when it comes to magical necklaces. +1s and +2s to general saves, resistance to elemental damage types, that sort of thing.
Until now, scientists had believed that such skills had only evolved among humans in the Neolithic period, which began at about 10,000 BC. Indeed, originally, they believed that the bracelet had somehow become mixed up with materials dating from a later period. However, experiments have now definitely ruled that out, and they confirm that it could not have been made by homo sapiens or Neanderthals. After 7 years of a…
> the piece was made 30,000 years before the beginning of the Stone Age.
Considering that the Stone Age began almost three and a half million years ago, that is quite a statement of precision.
* In Europe which was home of Neanderthals at that time (middle/upper paleolithic) , there are beautiful artifacts in places such as:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hohle_Fels
I always love quotes like this: "All jewellery had a magical meaning for ancient people. Bracelets and neck adornments were to protect people from evil spirits, for instance." And we know this how? Maybe it was just made to be pretty. A rich person giving their partner a gift etc. No one could possibly be able to make any further inferences from a species of human we know almost nothing about.
I think if you reference the Dungeon Master's Guide tables regarding loot, you'll notice a preponderance of protective magic when it comes to magical necklaces. +1s and +2s to general saves, resistance to elemental damage types, that sort of thing. Which is probably what they're going off of.
This is true, however it is generally accepted that proto-humans had much higher constitutions as well as greater general resistance to fire, water, etc... due to their lack of advanced structural dwellings and plate armor. If this is the case, the +1s and +2s would be less necessary and bracelets could, in fact, have been merely decorative. That said, if archaeologists take the time to attune to the bracelets, I'm sure they will discover some magical properties.
This article about the bracelet is from 2015. No updates since then, and it does not link to anything peer-reviewed. All in all I would take this with a huge grain of salt.
There's an article in Pleistocene Coalition News from 2015.[0] But I note: "The Pleistocene Coalition
is now into its sixth year of challenging mainstream scientific dogma. If you would like to join the coalition please write to the editors." So ...
I find no peer-reviewed followup about the Denisovan bracelet. However, I do find an article in Current Biology about Denisovan and Neanderthal ancestry in modern humans.[1] The date estimate is about right: "[W]e estimate 44,000–54,000 years ago for Denisovan admixture."
A simple google search shows further updates... http://siberiantimes.com/science/casestudy/news/n0711-worlds... https://www.nature.com/articles/srep23559
Except the Siberian Times article also doesn't link to anything peer-reviewed, and the Nature paper is about bone identification, not bracelets or other artifacts. The only academic paper about the bracelet I could find is from 2008 and was submitted to the journal "Archaeology, Ethnology and Anthropology of Eurasia", whose editor-in-chief, Anatoly Derevyanko, is also the paper's primary author.
True but to be fair they're still fresh findings. And oldest as well, so comparison to other findings is pretty low.
I always love quotes like this: "All jewellery had a magical meaning for ancient people. Bracelets and neck adornments were to protect people from evil spirits, for instance." And we know this how? Maybe it was just made to be pretty. A rich person giving their partner a gift etc. No one could possibly be able to make any further inferences from a species of human we know almost nothing about.
My mother studied archaeology and she told me once what she heard during her classes - that "religious significance" is the default label that is put on things they found when they have no clue what those things were for.
I always love quotes like this: "All jewellery had a magical meaning for ancient people. Bracelets and neck adornments were to protect people from evil spirits, for instance." And we know this how? Maybe it was just made to be pretty. A rich person giving their partner a gift etc. No one could possibly be able to make any further inferences from a species of human we know almost nothing about.
Yes but look back only 60-70 years in Europe and a lot of jewelry had a double purpose. It was pretty but it was also for example St. Anthony, a cross or some other spiritual tribute.