Two molar teeth of around 63,400 years old show that Neanderthal predecessors of humans may have been dental hygiene fans.
The teeth have “grooves formed by the passage of a pointed object, which confirms the use of a small stick for cleaning the mouth,” Paleontology Professor Juan Luis Asuarga told reporters, presenting an archaeological find in Madrid.
The fossils, unearthed in Pinilla del Valle, are the first human examples found in the Madrid region in 25 years, the regional government’s culture department said.
“There are two (teeth), perfectly preserved, in which the wear and tear of a human of about 30 years old is perceptible,” a government statement said.
I’ll bet you thought the toothpick was invented just for diners.
“grooves formed by the passage of a pointed object”
of course the marks could just be from the teeth of the animal/rodents that ate the human’s face
#1 – Hopefully the human was dead before it’s face was eaten!
“Neanderthal predecessors of humans”
I thought that had been disproved and that Neanderthals and acient humans were two seperate lines.
GigG – I remember hearing something about that a while back as well… something about a short period of time where 2 species of human walked the earth at the same time.
Either way, the preserved teeth are cool. It gives us good insight into how people took care of themselves way back then.
The arguement that both were present at the same time, therefore H. sap could not have evolved from H. neanderthal, is full of it.
Are the people making that arguement going to claim that dogs cannot have evolved from wolves because wolves are not extinct?
How about toy poodles and standard poodles? Have the toys killed off the standards?
I’m not saying we did evolve from neanderthal, just that the arguement offered is “highly flawed”. (That’s scientist talk for “nobody smarter than a road kill possum is going to believe that”.)
Sorry, Phillep, that was just something I heard. Early humans are not a subject that I spend lot of time studying. I couldn’t even tell you the details of what I heard.
Nah, no need to apologize. Lot’s of people don’t stop to think about lot’s of things.
Look at how many people support Hillary and Gore.
“Look at how many people support Hillary and Gore.”
Or the ones who still believe in Bush http://recollectionbooks.com/bleed/images/BB/blinders.jpg
So basically, the Neandertals were killed by the primitive Brittish tribes.
I don’t see what the big deal is. Anyone, including Neanderthals, will use whatever they can find to get stuck food out of their teeth. It’s just plain uncomfortable.
#10…hhopper…..never been to the UK huh? 🙂
#5….Phillep…..Loads of people smarter than road kill are fairly sure that H. Sapian(Cro-Magnon) and Neanderthal DID exist at the same time. As yet there is no evidence that they interMINGLED, and even though a few very reputable scientists believe they may have interBRED, there is no evidence of that either. The mitocondrial DNA isn’t showing anything that suggests interbreeding between them, but it has been announced that a gnome is going to be done and should be finished next year to see if that shows anything on the interbreeding aspect.
Neanderthal appeared around 350,000 years ago and reached their optimal level around 150,000 years ago. Most had disappeared by about 40 or 45,000 years ago. But a couple years ago new findings show that there was at least 1 colony living along the Gibralter coast until at least 24,000 B.C.. Which means that they would have been around at the same time as Cro-Magnon(H. sapians) for around 15 to 20,000 years.
mitocondrial DNA shows that H. sapians and H. Neandethalenis share about 99.5% of DNA.. And from those tests it seems that both species came from a common ancestor about 500,000 years ago and the two species diverged about 400,000 years ago.
The thing is, Neanderthal’s seemed to hit a high point and not develope much from then on and this is what led to their disappeance from the scene. But H. sapians adapted and survived on several occasions.