Re: Did the Neanderthals have nets?


Jois wrote:
"Chip Flintnapper" <nobody@xxxxxxx> wrote in message
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johnwl4@xxxxxxx wrote:


Jois wrote:
"Day Brown" <daybrown@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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Any evidence of rope?

String seems to have appeared with AMH and rope had to even later than
that.

Jois

Hi, Jois,
Personally, I find it hard to believe that very early man, and
possible hominims, wouldn't have noticed that sinews along the back can
be stripped off to make a string or rope to bundle something up with or
hold down branches for a hut of sorts. When might braiding been
invented? Or twisting the split sinew into a string? Probably never
know - Certainly not the earliest use.
According to Earnest Thomson Seton (not the best source), the
Indians used the bark of the leatherwood bush as cord, since it can be
stripped off easily, and is very tough. Wasn't there an
impression in clay of something that looked like a net, found in Spain.
Like Mark Twain, my memory is going - pretty soon I'll only be able to
remember things that never happened.
Regars
John GW

Hemp is a more likely candidate, either chewed or rock-beaten.


Isn't hemp a crop? Not something you find hanging around in large wet swamps
(for example):

http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Hemp

"Wild hemp still grows on the banks of the lower Ural, and the Volga, near
the Caspian Sea. It extends to Persia, the Altai range and northern and
western China. The authors of the Pharmacographia say: - "It is found in
Kashmir and in the Himalaya, growing io to 12 ft. high, and thriving
vigorously at an elevation of 6000 to io,000 ft." Wild hemp is, however, of
very little use as a fibre producer, although a drug is obtained from it.

"It would appear that the native country of the hemp plant is in some part
of temperate Asia, probably near the Caspian Sea. It spread westward
throughout Europe, and southward through the Indian peninsula."



Seems like no body invents anything until it is needed

That's pushing it a bit, Jois. Sometimes, even when something is
needed,
no one invents it - for one thing.

Are you trying to say that Neanderthal was content with its health,
lifespan,
and the deeds it had to do to obtain protein? It had no need of nets?

Thing is - what usually happens, is someone invents something (whether
they
themselves *needed* it more is subject to controversial, as it involves
investigating
that person's mental states) and then others adopt it - rapidly. It
sure looks as
though people "needed" sunglasses in many places in the world - even
though
they never invented them. I wonder if you think that, if we withheld
such goods
as immunizations or sunglasses from folks, that they would all "invent"
them
on their own - and at what rate?

The story of string, rope, netting, hemp, fiber drafts and so on is far
more complex
than simply "necessity is the mother of invention."

There are precedents to inventing nets, one of which is learning to
spin/twist
twine/string.

And it's my understanding, having look at fiber crafts in several
localities outside
of Europe, that many different plants work pretty well - but that hemp
(wild or not)
works very well.

Does anyone know whether hemp is truly domesticated or merely a
cultigen?
How many alleles, in other words, difference between the wild and
domesticated
strains? Any good new definitions of "domesticated" out there?

A.

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Did the Neanderthals have nets?
    ... String seems to have appeared with AMH and rope had to even later ... Hemp is a more likely candidate, ... "Wild hemp still grows on the banks of the lower Ural, and the Volga, ... Seems like no body invents anything until it is needed ...
    (sci.anthropology.paleo)
  • Re: Did the Neanderthals have nets?
    ... String seems to have appeared with AMH and rope had to even later than ... Hemp is a more likely candidate, ...
    (sci.anthropology.paleo)
  • Re: Did the Neanderthals have nets?
    ... Jois wrote: ... String seems to have appeared with AMH and rope had to even later than ... Hemp is a more likely candidate, ...
    (sci.anthropology.paleo)
  • Re: Did the Neanderthals have nets?
    ... String seems to have appeared with AMH and rope had to even later ... Hemp is a more likely candidate, ... Who knows what the Neanderthals thought? ... Well, the evidence for nets is thin, even for h.s.s. ...
    (sci.anthropology.paleo)