44,000-year-old Neanderthal Jewelry

Well, didn't you always know that we beaders are in one of the oldest professions? An archeological excavation in France has found evidence for jewelry made by Neanderthal men:

Neanderthals were much more advanced than has been thought, according to a new examination of finds from a famous cave site that indicates that the creatures designed and made their own jewellery.

It had been assumed ornaments found with their bones were "borrowed" from ancestors of modern humans, or copied. This is now believed to have been a mistake. [...]

...finds belonged to Neanderthals who lived there 44,000 years ago. That would mean they were making decorated bone points and items of jewellery before modern humans arrived in Europe from Africa.

The Independent, online edition, August 28, 2006

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