So you are gaming Prehistory.......?

[Sunjester]

A couple of recent scientific interpretations which might be of interest to those of you gaming in the Stone Ages.

Firstly, the idea the Neanderthals' lack of drawing ability may relate to hunting techniques and spear-throwing gave Homo sapiens better eye-hand coordination leading to smarter brains. Basically, due to their respective prey, Neanderthals got up close with stabbing spears and Homo Sapiens used throwing spears. This could be reflected in combat rules. It is better explained here https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/02/180209100727.htm

Secondly, recent analysis of ancient DNA extracted from the skeleton of Cheddar Man, dated to the start of the Mesolithic about 10,000 years ago, indicates that he would have had dark skin and blue eyes. So all those blond-haired, blue-eyed Tarzan alikes might need a new coat of paint (except for the blue eyes)
http://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/cheddar-man-mesolithic-britain-blue-eyed-boy.html

Finally, when painting wooden weapons/handles you night want to add a smear of black charcoal as recent discoveries show Neanderthals used fire to help shape hardwoods. This isn't a new idea, although such evidence led to the old nonsense of "fire-hardened wooden points" mentioned in older texts (you can't harden wood by scorching it). But these are the oldest implements found so far, being about 170,000 year old.
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/02/could-these-be-oldest-neandertal-tools-made-fire

[DavyJones]

Interesting links. Thanks for sharing.

[Engel]

Interesting.


I recently read an article about the first settlers here in Sweden. We also could trace the darker skin from central europeans decendence but had another people from the north east (from now adays Russia and Finland) that had dark eyes but light skin that then mixed with these people.
I cant seems to find the article in english now Im afraid. Would have been good to have it at hand soo I didnt remember things wrong, but sorry.

I found another article, https://eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-01/mpif-nep012918.php but it didnt mention skin colour Im afraid.

[Engel]

About the first Britons

Geneticist Ian Barnes, from the Natural History Museum in London, said: “At least 90% of the ancestry of Britons was replaced by a group from the continent. Following the Beaker spread, there was a population in Britain that for the first time had ancestry and skin and eye pigmentation similar to the majority of Britons today.”

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/feb/21/arrival-of-beaker-folk-changed-britain-forever-ancient-dna-study-shows?CMP=share_btn_tw

[Antonio J Carrasco]

Humm... First article... I am not convinced. Genetics has proved that Neanderthals and Cro-Magnon mixed up to a level, rather than the former being extinct by competition from the second. Actually, there are dozens of alternative explanations. I like particularly the one that hypothesized that maybe Neanderthals were victims of catastrophic epidemics, somewhat like it happen to the Mesoamerican natives when the Spanish arrived to the New World. Of course, there is not enough remains to prove that idea, but it wouldn't be unthinkable. At least I see it more convincing that supposedly different hunting techniques leading to a definitive advantage for Cro-Magnons over Neanderthals.

By the way, Neanderthals were Homo Sapiens too. Don't know why the author writes: "Neanderthals used thrusting spears to bring down tamer prey in Eurasia, while Homo sapiens, or modern humans, spent hundreds of thousands of years spear-hunting wary and dangerous game on the open grasslands of Africa.", as if they were different species. They were not. Taxonomy for Neanderthals is Homo sapiens neanderthalensis.