Slow-Witted? Neanderthals Invented Their Own Tech — Didn’t Copy

archaeologists, Archaeology, Ars Technica, Bob Yirka, bone tip, Caucasus Mountains, Eurasia, Europe, Homo sapiens, Human Origins, Human Origins and Anthropology, humans, Kiona N. Smith, Liubov V. Golovanova, Mezmaiskaya Cave, Neanderthals, paleontology, Phys.org, Technology, weapons
Neanderthals cannot be the missing link that many paleontologists are looking for. But if the human mind has no history, there is no missing link. Source
Read More

The Joy of (Neanderthal) Cooking

archaeologists, birds, bison, Casey Luskin, cave bears, cave lions, cooking, Darwinian theory, Evolution, flint flake, food processing, Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology, horses, hot coals, human mind, Human Origins, Mariana Nabais, Neanderthals, Neuroscience & Mind, Portugal, reindeer, roasting, The Descent of Man, wolves, ZME Science
The Darwinian account of the human race would be much easier to believe in good faith if scientists could point to a clearly inferior and clearly human being. Source
Read More

War on Human Exceptionalism Turns to Tool Use

Abigail Desmond, abstraction, animals, archaeologists, bragging rights, capuchin monkeys, chimpanzees, crows, debris, dolphins, environment, hands, Harvard University, human exceptionalism, Human Origins, life forms, Michael Haslam, monkeys, Neuroscience & Mind, octopuses, Oxford University, Saturn V rocket, sea urchins, tool use, tools
As the academic war on human exceptionalism motors on, researchers’ thinking sometimes shorts out — and they don’t even notice. Source
Read More

Scientists Are Skeptical that Intelligence in Homo naledi “Erases Human Exceptionalism”

ABC News, archaeologists, Archaeology, Associated Press, Australia, bioRxiv, burial, cave art, chimpanzees, fire use, Germany, Gibraltar, Griffith University, hominids, Homo naledi, human exceptionalism, Human Origins, intelligence, Kenya, Lee Berger, María Martinón-Torres, Maxime Aubert, Michael Petraglia, National Research Center on Human Evolution, Natural History Museum, Neanderthals, New York Times, Newsweek, paleontology, Phys.org, preprint papers, Rising Star Cave, Science News, Silvia Bello, skeletons, Spain, The Conversation, Wall Street Journal
Berger et al.’s claims about the species have been disputed and their idea that it lived 2-3 million years ago was exaggerated by a factor of 10. Source
Read More