A better term for species would be 'race'. Modern homo sapiens interbred with Denosovians at times and acquired some of their genes. Species means a lack of cross-bredability.
40,000-year-old bracelet made by extinct human species found (2015)
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Re: 40,000-year-old bracelet made by extinct human species found (2015)
#42200km is not necessarily 'imported'. People can walk 5km/hr easily. You are talking about 4 days' comfortable walk. Many nomadic groups would have had ranges exceeding 200km at least on occasion. For example I believe there is evidence that some Australian aboriginal societies regularly communicated over vaster distances, at least sporadically - eg. annually in certain seasons.
Many people walked that distance every year for seasonal jobs even in 20th century.
They still do for pilgrimage - the main "Camino de Santiago" (St. James' Way) from France to Spain is 700km+, and some people make the journey every year. Obviously nowadays they have modern comforts, but the Way stretches back centuries.
Re: 40,000-year-old bracelet made by extinct human species found (2015)
#43I 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 went to grad school in archaeology, and I can tell you that this is absolutely the case. Part of the problem is that archaeologists are generally terrible at cultural anthropology (compared to other anthropologists, not compared to the general population). The other part is that in most societies, there is not a firm dividing line between the religious/magical and the mundane.
Re: 40,000-year-old bracelet made by extinct human species found (2015)
#44I 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.
Usually these conclusions are derived from observations of the habits and rituals of primitive tribes, presumption being that life-style similarities would lead to them developing similar sets of beliefs and culture, too. Of course, it's just a theory, no one can be 100% sure about it.
Re: 40,000-year-old bracelet made by extinct human species found (2015)
#45I 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.
Maybe more like savings. Trade goods.
Re: 40,000-year-old bracelet made by extinct human species found (2015)
#46A better term for species would be 'race'. Modern homo sapiens interbred with Denosovians at times and acquired some of their genes. Species means a lack of cross-bredability.
Species means that there is normally no cross breeding in the wild. You can have two species which will reproduce in captivity, but in the wild are blocked by some geographic feature such as mountains or water, or by some behavioral aspect such as a mating ritual.
It's not uncommon for two species in the same genus to be able to have offspring, for example equines (mules) and felines (ligers).
In some cases the resulting hybrid offspring are fertile, for example the "Savanna" cats which are domestic cats hybridized with servals.
In the wild, when previously separated species are put in contact with each other, there can be instances of natural hybrids. This is what happened with the various Homo species, due to various migrations.
Re: 40,000-year-old bracelet made by extinct human species found (2015)
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't think this is just an American thing. Also, my mother studied in Poland.
Even if she's not american, it could be an attribute of the line of study. Mathematics weren't started in Germany, but many text books, even in the USA are strongly influenced by german aspects. Also, if it's not that, where does that aspect come from then? How long have archeologists been doing this?
> How long have archeologists been doing this?
Doing what? Making assumptions and jumping to conclusions? That's a good question and I don't know the answer. How long have you been doing it?
Re: 40,000-year-old bracelet made by extinct human species found (2015)
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
Even if she's not american, it could be an attribute of the line of study. Mathematics weren't started in Germany, but many text books, even in the USA are strongly influenced by german aspects. Also, if it's not that, where does that aspect come from then? How long have archeologists been doing this?
> How long have archeologists been doing this? Doing what? Making assumptions and jumping to conclusions? That's a good question and I don't know the answer. How long have you been doing it?
> Doing what?
Defaulting anything they should ordinary label as "purpose unknown" to "religious".
> How long have you been doing it?
Claiming that i am jumping to conclusions is ridiculous. I started the first post by saying i already thought my initial thought may have been doing that, and stated it as a feeling (subjective), and thus positioned it not as an objective fact but a hypothesis, inviting discussion. I was earnest, honest and clear. You're just being gracelessly sarcastic and dishonest.
Re: 40,000-year-old bracelet made by extinct human species found (2015)
#49I 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 agree! Our (subconscious?) arrogance of our intellect always biases the way we look at our ancestors. If we could just be more humble, we would probably be seeing more of what's there.
Re: 40,000-year-old bracelet made by extinct human species found (2015)
#50> The cave is named after the Denisovan people — a mysterious species of hominins from the Homo genus Nope. The Denisovan people are named after the cave and the cave is named after a hermit Denis who lived there in the 18th century.
i wonder then if Denis drilled the hole in the thing. How would one determine the age of a drilled hole?