>So, yes, what ABOUT that "evidence"? It only proves my point. Where you have
>an extremely weak, singular set of bones that "suggests" several
>possibilities, I have a sudden, recent explosion of unambiguous shaman-art.
>
>You really want to go before Judge Judy with this? >
><<Jim, There is very little distinction between what Neanderthal man did
> and
>what middle Aurignacian man did.>>
>
>The real question I raised with you is the qualitative difference between the
>Upper Paleolithic and its precursors. What do you think of this from your
>friend Mr. Shreeve [p. 270]:
>
>"No amount of precedent-pointing can explain the astonishing increase in the
>sheer volume of culture in the Upper Paleolithic and what that increase
>relfects in the lives of people. A handful of pierced teeth and beads have
>indeed been found in several late Neandertal sites. But what connection do
>these isolated curiosities have to the torrent of personal ornaments showered
>across France and Germany in the Aurignacian, right at the beginning of the
>Upper Paleolithic?How can they explain the ornamental munificence of Sunghir,
>a grave site near Moscow about the same age as Dolni Vestonice, where the
>bodies of three people were festooned with doezens of bracelets, necklaces,
>painted pendants, and TEN THOUSAND ivory beads? According to Randy White, an
>archaeologist at New York University, each of those beads took about an hour
>to make. That equals ten thousand hours of labor, all to decorate three
>corpses and lay them in the ground. The Neandertals buried their dead, but
>they did not devote much time and attention to the act. Sunghir does not
>represent a little more of the same. IT IS A DIFFERENT QUALITY OF CULTURE
>ALTOGETHER." [My emphasis]
>
>I agree with Shreeve and disagree with you about the qualitative
> difference.
The climate had gotten much better during the Upper paleolithic making food
more plentiful. The upper paleolithic people had more time to make beads.
Older groups of hominids in Europe had to spend more time looking for food.
Even today among primitive people who live in harsh terrains, the artistic
side of life is less.
By the way you didn't answer my question about the Azilians. They left no
shaman art. Are they humnan as in spiritual?
glenn
Foundation,Fall and Flood
http://members.gnn.com/GRMorton/dmd.htm