198 CHAPTER 8 | Early Homo and the Origins of Culture
Upper Paleolithic and to the churingas made of wood by
Australian Aborigines.
The mammoth tooth, which was once smeared with
red ochre, has a highly polished face suggesting it was
handled a lot. Microscopic examination reveals that it was
never provided with a working edge for any utilitarian
purpose. Such objects imply, as archaeologist Alexander
Marshack has observed, “that the Neandertals did in fact
have conceptual models and maps as well as problem-solv-
ing capacities comparable to, if not equal to, those found
among anatomically modern humans.”^34
Evidence for symbolic activity on the part of Neander-
tals raises the possibility of the presence and use of musical
instruments, such as a proposed bone flute from a Mous-
terian site in Slovenia in southern Europe. This object,
consisting of a hollow bone with perforations, has sparked
controversy. Some see it as nothing more than a cave bear
bone that was chewed on by carnivores—hence the perfo-
rations. Its discoverer, French archaeologist Marcel Otte,
on the other hand, sees it as a flute.
Unfortunately, the object is fragmentary; surviving
are five holes, four on one side and one on the opposite
side. The regular spacing of the four holes, fitting per-
fectly to the fingers of a human hand, and the location
of the fifth hole at the base of the opposite side, at the
natural location of the thumb, all lend credence to the
flute hypothesis. While signs of gnawing by animals are
present on this bone, they are superimposed on traces of
human activity.^35 Were it found in an Upper Paleolithic
context as was the flute discovered in Hohle Fels Cave in
southwestern Germany, it would probably be accepted as
a flute without argument. However, because its early date
indicates it was made by a Neandertal, the interpreta-
tion of this object is tied to the larger controversy about
Neandertals’ cultural abilities and their place in human
evolutionary history.Speech and Language
in the Middle Paleolithic
Among modern humans, the sharing of thoughts and
ideas, as well as the transmission of culture from one
generation to the next, is dependent upon language. Be-
cause the Neandertals and other Middle Paleolithic Homo
had modern-sized brains and a sophisticated Mousterianinterestingly, is sometimes seen in burials in the same re-
gion roughly 50,000 years later).
Shanidar Cave in Iraq provides evidence of a burial
accompanied by what may have been a funeral cere-
mony. In the back of the cave a Neandertal was buried
in a pit. Pollen analysis of the soil around the skeleton
indicated that flowers had been placed below the body
and in a wreath about the head. Because the key pollen
types came from insect-pollinated flowers, few if any of
the pollen grains could have found their way into the pit
via air currents. The flowers in question consist solely
of varieties valued in historic times for their medicinal
properties.
Other evidence for symbolic behavior in Mousterian
culture comes from the naturally occurring pigments:
manganese dioxide and the red and yellow forms of
ochre. Recovered chunks of these pigments reveal clear
evidence of scraping to produce powder, as well as facets,
like those that appear on a crayon, from use. A Mous-
terian artist also applied color to the carved and shaped
section of a mammoth tooth about 50,000 years ago. This
mammoth tooth may have been made for cultural sym-
bolic purposes. Noteworthy is its similarity to ceremo-
nial objects made of bone and ivory dated to the later
Figure 8.12 The position of the body and the careful removal
of the skull indicate that the fossil from Kebara Cave in Israel
was deliberately buried there about 60,000 years ago.
(^34) Marshack, A. (1989). Evolution of the human capacity: The symbolic
evidence. Yearbook of Physical Anthropology 32, 22.
(^35) Otte, M. (2000). On the suggested bone flute from Slovenia. Current
Anthropology 41, 271.