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Ancestors, the - Art - A clay figurine from Vinča-Belo Brdo
Identifier
021850
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
We have placed these three pictures here because despite the references to Neanderthals in Arsuaga’s text, we are not entirely convinced. To us they appear to be from a similar lineage. Even if they are not, the pictures make an interesting comparison.
Homo ergaster (meaning "working man") or African Homo erectus is an extinct chronospecies of the genus Homo that lived in eastern and southern Africa during the early Pleistocene, that is, between 1.9 million and 1.4 million years ago.
Wikipedia - “Some palaeoanthropologists consider H. ergaster to be a variety of H. erectus, that is, the so-called African Homo erectus. Others call H. ergaster the direct ancestor of H. erectus, which then emigrated out of Africa into Eurasia and branched into a distinct species. Still others dispense with the specific epithet ergaster and make no such distinctions among fossils assigned to erectus”.
Dmanisi Skull 5, with a brain volume of about 546 centimetres—present the two smallest and most primitive Hominina skulls from the Pleistocene period. The variation in these skulls were compared to variations in modern humans …. The researchers found that, despite appearances, the variations in the Dmanisi skulls were no greater than those seen among modern people …. These findings suggest that previous fossil finds that were classified as different species on the basis of the large morphological variation among them—including Homo rudolfensis, Homo gautengensis, H. ergaster, and potentially even H. habilis—should perhaps be re-classified to the same lineage as Homo erectus
I think we can conclude from this that archaeology is in turmoil at the moment and in fact they don't really know.
A description of the experience
The Vinča culture - also known as Turdaș culture or Turdaș-Vinča culture, is a Neolithic archaeological culture in Central Europe and Southeastern Europe, dated to the period 5700–4500 BCE. Named for its type site, Vinča-Belo Brdo, a large tell settlement discovered by Serbian archaeologist Miloje Vasić in 1908, it represents the material remains of a prehistoric society mainly distinguished by its settlement pattern and ritual behaviour. Various styles of zoomorphic and anthropomorphic figurines are hallmarks of the culture, as are the Vinča symbols. The figuring is especially interesting as it appears to be of an Ancestor.
The Neanderthal's Necklace – Juan Luis Arsuaga
“Neanderthals had a well developed supraorbital torus, a bony ridge above the eye sockets... which was a truly distinguishing feature, forming a double arch above the eye sockets with no separation in the space between the eye and the nose....... Above the supraorbital torus, the Neanderthal forehead was low and sloping compared to ours....
Above and to the side of the nose, the maxillary and frontal sinuses were extraordinarily well developed, so the face would have looked like a kind of large hollow mask that insulated the brain from the bitter cold................ The Neanderthals had no chin...........
That bony visor over their eyes provided them with a proud and fierce profile, like the daunting visage of an eagle.....cut on a horizontal plane, the cross section of a Neanderthal face almost suggests the triangular profile of a jet fighter with its wings sweeping sharply back.
The Singing Neanderthals – Dr Steven Mithen
A spectacularly well-preserved specimen of a male adolescent with a brain size of 880 cubic centimetres was discovered in 1984 at Nariokotome in Kenya. Dating to 1.6 million years ago, it showed that the ape-like, australopithecine body plan, with its suggestions of knuckle-walking and tree-climbing, had been replaced by one that is distinctively modern. Homo ergaster walked upright on two legs in the same fashion as we do today.