New online journal

There is a new, and free, online journal for archaeology. Past Horizons - Online Journal of Volunteer Archaeology and Training. If you use the link to the journal issue at the top of the page it will take you to a digipage view:



While this view looks pretty, it is very difficult to read, and the zoom function is limited. The alternatives are to print it off or to scroll right down to the bottom of the main page and choose the Scribd view. This will lead to a new page where you can download a pdf of the journal. But warning, it is a very large download if you choose to do this.

Neanderthals wiped out by the aftermath of cannibalism?

Well... it's an interesting proposal suggested by S. Underdown:

Underdown, S., (in press, corrected proof). "A potential role for Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies in Neanderthal extinction". Medical Hypotheses. (2008), doi:10.1016/j.mehy.2007.12.014

For those without access to Medical Hypotheses, there is an article on Underdown's work on Discovery News. You'll note the choice of picture used to depict Neanderthals by Discovery takes us back to the 1970s and earlier views that they were hairy naked ape-men.

To summarise the article, Underdown develops a "Kuru Model" of population depletion taken from the Fore of Papua New Guinea as a direct analogy and applies the model to the Neanderthals.

This hypothesis suggests a possible role of cannibalistically contracted Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies as a causal factor in the process of Neanderthal extinction:

1. The Neanderthals are known to have engaged in cannibalistic practices. Although not a universal practice, the transmission of TSEs need not have been reliant upon consumption of TSE infectedtissues and the route of transmission could have been related to the shared use of infected stone tools during butchery activities. Regardless of the cause behind such behaviour, perhaps ritualistic or ecologically enforced through resource depletion, this practice would have heightened the risk of contraction of Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (TSEs).
2. Once established within the population TSEs could have played a major role in the eventual extinction of the species through demographic depletion.
3. Ultimately Neanderthal extinction could have been heavily influenced by a cultural trait that introduced a lethal disease, which in turn could have amplified the impact of environmental change or inter-species competition with newly dispersing Homo sapiens populations.

(Underdown, (in press) 2008:2)

Note that the evidence used to support the claim for cannibalism is limited, and it is highly disputed over whether or not cannibalism can be determined in the archaeological record, and if so, how it can be determined. Even if cannibalism did play a role in the lives of Neanderthals, the leap to a "Kuru Model" of population depletion, with no evidence supporting the existence of the disease in Neanderthal populations, is purely speculative.