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> As a consequence every known human society - both now and in the archeological record - has burial rituals of some sort. But no other form of hominid, includi

> As a consequence every known human society - both now and in the archeological record - has burial rituals of some sort. But no other form of hominid, including Neanderthals, has shown evidence of that. The latter assertion is false: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neanderthal_behavior#Burial_practices http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neanderthal_behavior#Burial_pra... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanidar_Cave http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanidar_Cave http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/The-Skeletons-of-Shanidar-Cave.html http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/The-Skeletons-of-...

Dn_Ab 14y ago
Neanderthals buried their dead true but it is uncertain whether they performed burial rituals. So I would assign a value other than true or false. But it would be inline with the data to weight against burial rites by Neanderthals. Humans seem to have been cognitively more flexible than Neanders, with more varied tools, more complex burials and art. Nevertheless, I am curious how they ascertained that Neanderthals could not plan ahead as well as humans. Their definition must be very restrictive because New Caledonian Crows, Chimps, Bonobos, Dolphins, Elephants and possibly even octopuses have been shown to be able to plan ahead.
- Retric 14y ago
  I would take the presence of flower remains in some Neanderthal graves as counter evedence.
btilly 14y ago
I was quoting the BBC documentary for that claim. I am quite sure that their view represented a position that was defensible according to the state of what was known in 2003. That said, to fit their "nature documentary format" they have to show things as fact which are in fact unknown and/or actively debated. And it was based on what was thought a decade ago. So thank you for your information. I'll amend that tidbit that I saw with an appropriate question mark.

Dn_Ab 14y ago

Neanderthals buried their dead true but it is uncertain whether they performed burial rituals. So I would assign a value other than true or false. But it would be inline with the data to weight against burial rites by Neanderthals. Humans seem to have been cognitively more flexible than Neanders, with more varied tools, more complex burials and art. Nevertheless, I am curious how they ascertained that Neanderthals could not plan ahead as well as humans. Their definition must be very restrictive because New Caledonian Crows, Chimps, Bonobos, Dolphins, Elephants and possibly even octopuses have been shown to be able to plan ahead.

Retric 14y ago
I would take the presence of flower remains in some Neanderthal graves as counter evedence.

btilly 14y ago

I was quoting the BBC documentary for that claim. I am quite sure that their view represented a position that was defensible according to the state of what was known in 2003. That said, to fit their "nature documentary format" they have to show things as fact which are in fact unknown and/or actively debated. And it was based on what was thought a decade ago. So thank you for your information. I'll amend that tidbit that I saw with an appropriate question mark.