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For perspective, here is a cult the Neanderthals were running 175,000 years ago: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2090183-neanderthals-built-mystery-underg

For perspective, here is a cult the Neanderthals were running 175,000 years ago: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2090183-neanderthals-built-mystery-underground-circles-175000-years-ago/ https://www.newscientist.com/article/2090183-neanderthals-bu... By comparison, Stonehenge happened yesterday, and this other cult was the day before yesterday.

1123581321 4y ago
That looks like what a bunch of stupid kids might do in a cave today. Humans haven't changed.
- fuzzfactor 4y ago
  I would estimate this one as more of a cult phenomenon, not the local mainstream Neanderthal culture. After all, what do hominids do in caves, anyway? They get away from the crowd and it could be an exclusive location where only the true "cave men" held their business meetings, smoked cigars, and stuff like that. OTOH it could have just been teenagers trying to be rambunctious without getting caught. I doubt they were allowed to break off stalagmites just anywhere. Either way a truly subterranean non-mainstream sub-culture intentionally differentiated by its members.
bergenty 4y ago
Those are just… stalagmites. There’s nothing to signify it was made by Neanderthals and that article mentions nothing about the structures.
- twic 4y ago
  Stalagmites, but not just stalagmites (my emphasis): > In one chamber, 336 metres from the cave entrance, are enigmatic structures – including a ring 7 metres across – built from stalagmites snapped from the cave floor. Predating modern humans: > Natural limestone growths have begun to cover parts of the structure, so by dating these growths a team led by Jacques Jaubert at the University of Bordeaux could work out an approximate age for the stalagmite constructions. > They are roughly 175,000 years old, which means they easily predate the arrival of modern humans in Europe. They were built at a time when Neanderthals were the only hominins in the region.
  - bergenty 4y ago
    It looks like the limestone just dripped in a rough circle.
permo-w 4y ago
Your comparison is missing the day when the Neanderthals (purportedly) built these circles.

1123581321 4y ago

That looks like what a bunch of stupid kids might do in a cave today. Humans haven't changed.

fuzzfactor 4y ago
I would estimate this one as more of a cult phenomenon, not the local mainstream Neanderthal culture. After all, what do hominids do in caves, anyway? They get away from the crowd and it could be an exclusive location where only the true "cave men" held their business meetings, smoked cigars, and stuff like that. OTOH it could have just been teenagers trying to be rambunctious without getting caught. I doubt they were allowed to break off stalagmites just anywhere. Either way a truly subterranean non-mainstream sub-culture intentionally differentiated by its members.

bergenty 4y ago

Those are just… stalagmites. There’s nothing to signify it was made by Neanderthals and that article mentions nothing about the structures.

twic 4y ago
Stalagmites, but not just stalagmites (my emphasis): > In one chamber, 336 metres from the cave entrance, are enigmatic structures – including a ring 7 metres across – built from stalagmites snapped from the cave floor. Predating modern humans: > Natural limestone growths have begun to cover parts of the structure, so by dating these growths a team led by Jacques Jaubert at the University of Bordeaux could work out an approximate age for the stalagmite constructions. > They are roughly 175,000 years old, which means they easily predate the arrival of modern humans in Europe. They were built at a time when Neanderthals were the only hominins in the region.
- bergenty 4y ago
  It looks like the limestone just dripped in a rough circle.

permo-w 4y ago

Your comparison is missing the day when the Neanderthals (purportedly) built these circles.