archeologic find along the Portuguese seacoast show that Neanderthals were fine diners who enjoyed roasting Cancer and other mollusk over 90,000 years ago . The raw study is yet another reminder that our closemouthed cousins were not the knuckleheads they are often depicted as , but an intelligent species that stomach many close law of similarity to us .
Researchers made the breakthrough at the site ofGruta de Figueira Brava , located within a cave just in the south of Lisbon . Along with finding a treasure treasure trove of rock tools and oxford gray , they also discovered a wealth of cuticle and bones .
Of all the remains distinguish here , browncrabswere the most abundant . By closely meditate the shape of damage on the carapace and claw , they ruled out the theory that the slaughter crabs entered the cave due to thirsty birds , rodents , or any other beast carnivores .
View of the Figueira Brava cave with its three entrances. Image credit: João Zilhão
moreover , many of the shells and os were marked with black Nathan Birnbaum , which evince they were stir up to over 300 ° C ( 572 ° F ) , indicating they had been ridicule for the purpose of eating .
totally , the work showed that Neanderthals would reap brown pediculosis pubis in rock pools along the seacoast , specifically direct the meaty adults . They would then bring them up the hill and into their cave , where they would be deshelled , roast , and ( no doubt ) enjoyed .
The archaeologic website shew howNeanderthalsdeveloped a miscellanea of culture across the world . Just likeHomo Sapiens , Neanderthals developed their own ways of living that were in air with their surroundings and experience .
“ The notion of the Neanderthals as top - level carnivore living off large herbivore of the steppe - tundra is extremely biased , ” Dr Mariana Nabais , lead subject generator from the Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution ( IPHES - CERCA ) , said in astatement .
“ Such opinion may well apply to some extent to the Neandertal populations of Ice Age Europe ’s periglacial belt ammunition , but not to those living in the southerly peninsula — and these southern peninsulas are where most of the continent ’s humankind populate all through the Paleolithic , before , during and after the Neanderthals , ” she added
With this sheer demonstration of their brain power , this site is also another example of why shouldshake off old stereotypesabout our Neanderthal cousin-german . Just like us , they were deep intelligent , creative , andemotionally sensitive .
In fact , the comparisons with modern human being play so deep that some investigator argue that we should n’t remember ofNeanderthalsas freestanding species to us , but as a mere grinder - species .
“ Our result sum an extra nail to the coffin of the obsolete feeling that Neanderthals were primitive cave indweller who could barely scrape a living off scavenged big - secret plan carcasses , ” explainedNabais .
“ Together with the associated evidence for the magnanimous - scale consumption of limpet , mussels , moolah , and a range of fish , our data falsify the whimsey that nautical foods played a major role in the emergence of putatively superior cognitive abilities among early forward-looking human populations of sub - Saharan Africa , ” Nabais tot up .
The new study was published in the journalFrontiers in Environmental Archaeology .
