So says The Guardian:
It seems we have all been guilty of defaming Neanderthal man. Research by a team based at the University of Bristol suggests that, far from being a lumbering, witless no-hoper, he was capable, 50,000 years ago, of producing forms of cosmetic adornment and even of primitive jewellery.
Primitive jewelry and odd and basic forms of cosmetic adornment.
Ah, you mean they were hippies?
We await to find evidence of magic mushroom usage.
Well, there’s evidence they may have been well aware of the medicinal properties of plants, so who knows?
http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Shanidar
And they made a good lunch.
MrsBud is a neanderthal:
http://www.bigfootencounters.com/hominids/redheads.htm
and she has a first class honours, is a brilliant cook and loves jewellery. But even if she was a “lumbering, witless no-hoper”, the red hair would still do it for me.
How can a being that survived for scores of thousands of years by hunting large mammals be a “lumbering, witless no-hoper”?
Needed at least brains and a good sprint start, if nothing else.
The “Clan of the Cave Bear” series of novels – not reliable history, of course – has Cro-Magnon men using stimulants including mushrooms.
(Not reliable because Jean Auel has them as blond – when they were more likely Mongoloid with black hair.)
the baubles and bangles didn’t work though did they.
A more prolific procreator elbowed them aside.
I’d say there are many reasons to think Neanderthals were a bit brighter than many people give them credit, but I doubt if a liking for tatty jewelry is one of them – look at chavs if you don’t believe me.