NOT a pussycat

S'incontrarono, 300.000 anni fa. 

Nella Germania Centrale, presso un laghetto allora poco profondo (Schoningen) che oggi è una ex cava di carbone. 
Homo Heidelbergensis e la 'tigre dai denti a sciabola' (Homotherium latidens).

La prova?

La presenza - nello stesso strato - di ossa di tigre e di 'lance' lunghe 2,3 metri.

L'Uomo Anatomicamente Moderno sarebbe arrivato solo 270.000 anni dopo.





Humans and saber-toothed tiger 

met in Germany 

300,000 years ago 

 Scientists of the Lower Saxony Heritage Authority and of the University of Tübingen excavating at the Schöningen open-cast coal mine in north-central Germany have discovered the remains of a saber-toothed cat preserved in a layer some 300,000 years old -- the same stratum in which wooden spears were found, indicating that early humans also inhabited the area, which at that time was the bank of a shallow lake. 


This big cat had saber teeth more than 10cm in length [Credit: Niedersächsisches Landesamt für Denkmalpflege] 



The discovery sheds new light on the relationship between early humans and beasts of prey. It is highly likely that humans were confronted by saber-toothed cats at the Schöningen lakeside. In that case, all the human could do was grab his up to 2.3m long spear and defend himself. In this context, the Schöningen spears must be regarded as weapons for defense as well as hunting -- a vital tool for human survival in Europe 300,000 years ago. 

Saber tooth discovered at Schöningen [Credit: V. Minkus. © Niedersächsisches Landesamt für Denkmalpflege] 


Officials from the Lower Saxony heritage authority and archaeologists from the Universities of Tübingen and Leiden uncovered a first tooth of a young adult Homotherium latidens in October 2012. Measuring more than a meter at the shoulder and weighing some 200kg, the saber-tooth was no pussycat. It had razor-sharp claws and deadly jaws with upper-jaw canines more than 10cm long. 



Reconstruction of the saber-toothed cat, with long canines used to hold on to prey [Credit: Ramon López] 


The find shows that the saber-toothed cat died out later in central Europe than previously believed. Along with the sensational wooden spears, the same level has yielded bones and stone tools indicating that early humans -- probably Homo heidelbergenis -- hunted horses and camped along a 100m stretch of the lakeside. The Schöningen coal mine was once the site of a shallow lake. 



Evidence of human  habitation along with plant and animal remains preserved there have yielded astonishing details of life here 300,000 years ago [Credit: Niedersächsisches Landesamt für Denkmalpflege] 


The new finds demonstrate that a long time before anatomically modern humans, Homo sapiens sapiens have reached Europe some 40,000 years ago, early man was able to defend himself against highly dangerous animals with his weapon technology. The results of the researchers' study have just been published in a report by the Lower Saxony heritage authority, the Niedersächsisches Landesamt für Denkmalpflege. 


Source: Universitaet Tübingen [April 01, 2014]

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Commercio di maiali.

European hunter-gatherers owned pigs around 4600 B.C.

I Cacciatori-Raccoglitori europei, stando agli ultimi risultati, erano soliti acquistare maiali addomesticati dagli Agricltori, già nel 4.6oo a.C. circa.

European hunter-gatherers acquired domesticated pigs from nearby farmers as early as 4600 BC, according to new evidence.

Ben Krause-Kyora pulls out a tooth from the lower jaw of a pig to extract ancient DNA from it
[Credit: Copyright: Graduate School Human Development in Landscapes (GSHDL)]

Una squadra internazionale di scienziati, includente ricercatori delle Università di Durham e Aberdeen, ha dimostrato che esistevano interazioni tra le comunità di cacciatori- raccoglitori e quelle di allevatori, con scambi di animali e di conoscenze.

The international team of scientists, including researchers at Durham and Aberdeen universities, showed there was interaction between the hunter-gatherer and farming communities and a 'sharing' of animals and knowledge. The interaction between the two groups eventually led to the hunter-gatherers incorporating farming and breeding of livestock into their culture, say the scientists.

La ricerca, pubblicata in Nature Communications (27 agosto) dà una buona visione ravvicinata dei movimenti degli uomini preistorici e dello sviluppo delle tecniche e delle conoscenze.

The research, published in Nature Communications today (27 August), gives new insights into the movements of pre-historic humans and the transition of technologies and knowledge.

La diffusione di piante e di animali attraverso l'Europa tra il 6000 ed il 4000 a.C. si basò su un complesso gioco d'interazioni tra i cacciatori raccoglitori Mesolitici indigeni ed i 'nuovi arrivati' agricoltori Neolitici. Ma le dimensioni reali di questa serie complessa di rapporti e la quantità di idee che i cacciatori raccoglitori accolsero dai nuovi venuti sono ancora discussi. 

The spread of plants and animals throughout Europe between 6000 and 4000 BC involved a complex interplay between indigenous Mesolithic hunter-gatherers and incoming Neolithic farmers but the scale of the interaction and the extent to which hunter-gatherers took ideas from their neighbours remains hotly debated.

I ricercatori sostengono che le prove di un possesso d'animali addomesticati in epoca precedente da parte di cacciatori raccoglitori fino ad oggi sono state saltuarie.

 The researchers say previous evidence about the ownership of domestic animals by hunter-gatherers has so far been circumstantial.

Il primo autore del lavoro, Ben Krause-Kyora, dell'Università tedesca di Christian Albrechts di Kiel, sostiene: "I cacciatori Mesolitici avevano sicuramente i cani, ma non praticavano l'agricoltura e non possedevano oche, maiali, capre o mucche, che furono tutte introdotte in Europa con l'ingresso degli agricoltori nel 6000 a.C. 

Avere dei vicini che praticavano una strategia di sopravvivenza così tanto differente deve essere stata un'esperienza strana e oggi sappiamo che i cacciatori raccoglitori possedevano alcuni dei maiali addomesticati dagli agricoltori".

  Lead author, Dr Ben Krause-Kyora, from Christian-Albrechts University in Kiel, Germany, said: "Mesolithic hunter-gatherers definitely had dogs, but they did not practise agriculture and did not have pigs, sheep, goats, or cows, all of which were introduced to Europe with incoming farmers about 6000 BC. Having people who practised a very different survival strategy nearby must have been odd, and we know now that the hunter-gathers possessed some of the farmers' domesticated pigs."

Non si sa ancora se i cacciatori ricevettero i maiali attraverso uno scambio commerciale, oppure cacciando e catturando animali sfuggiti agli allevamenti. Comunque i maiali domestici hanno mantelli maculati o di colore differente, che avrebbe avuto un aspetto 'esotico' per i cacciatori e che potrebbero averli attratti.

It is not yet known whether the hunter-gatherers received the pigs via trade or exchange, or by hunting and capturing escaped animals. However, the domestic pigs had different coloured and spotted coats that would have seemed strange and exotic to the hunter-gatherers and may have attracted them to the pigs.

Il co autore Greger Larson, del Dipartimento di Archeologia dell'Università di Durham, aggiunge: "Gli uomini hanno sempre amato le novità e i cacciatori - malgrado il fatto che avessero sempre conosciuto e cacciato i verri selvatici - sarebbero certamente stati attratti dalle macchie ostentate dai maiali allevati nelle vicinanze. Quindi non dovrebbe essere una sorpresa che possibilmente ne ottenessero alcuni prima o poi: ma questo studio dimostra che questo fatto avvenne sorprendentemente presto".

 Co-author, Dr Greger Larson, from the Department of Archaeology at Durham University, added: "Humans love novelty, and though hunter-gatherers exploited wild boar, it would have been hard not to be fascinated by the strange-looking spotted pigs owned by farmers living nearby. It should come as no surprise that the hunter-gatherers acquired some eventually, but this study shows that they did very soon after the domestic pigs arrived in northern Europe."

E' stato analizzato il DNA ottenuto dalle ossa e dai denti di 63 maiali rinvenuti nel Nord della Germania, che dimostrerebbero che i cacciatori-raccoglitori acquisirono maiali domestici di varie taglie e colori aventi ascendenze medio Orientali ed europee.

Cartina delle zone dove sono stati effettuati i ritrovamenti

Vista dall'alto di una mandibola di maiale, scala in cm.
(altre figure nel testo di cui è dato il link, con la scala filogenetica).

 The team analysed the ancient DNA from the bones and teeth of 63 pigs from Northern Germany which showed that the hunter-gatherers acquired domestic pigs of varying size and coat colour that had both Near Eastern and European ancestry.

Source: Durham University [August 27, 2013]