Neanderthals Threw Underhanded!
Posted on 07. Feb, 2009 by Shannon Graham in Europe, Old World
Hence their demise….
Seriously, it’s sports medicine we owe credit to for shedding shed light on ancient projectile technology. Apparently ancient humans threw overhanded while Neanderthals did not. The sample size is admittedly small, however the implications are profound. Biological anthropologist Jill Rhodes and Steven E. Churchill of Duke University recently published their findings in the Journal of Human Evolution.
“We were able to use analyses of the humerus bone (upper limb) to show that early humans in Europe were possibly using projectile weapons as early as the Middle Upper Paleolithic period and that Neandertals did not have or habitually use this form of technology,” says Rhodes.
Rhodes’ research calls on recent studies in the field of sports medicine that indicate that individuals who engage in habitual overhead throwing, like baseball pitchers, have increased humeral retroversion angles in their throwing arms and a greater degree of bilateral asymmetry in retroversion angles than do non-throwers.
In other words, if someone forcefully throws overhand a lot and from an early age—be it a spear or a baseball—it’s going to leave a signature on the throwing arm that won’t be seen on the non-throwing arm.
Again, the sample size is small but the findings are noteworthy. It’s interesting in that the implications could be the difference in humans thriving while Neanderthals died out.
“There are implications about the efficiency of hunting for the two species. When you are thrusting a spear, you’re basically an ambush hunter and have to hide behind cover and jump out and stab your prey at short range. Whereas if you have projectile technology, you can remain at a safe distance where you won’t scare your prey and you will increase your efficiency, effectiveness and your kill rate,” says Rhodes.
Rhodes points out that the use of projectile weapons by humans at this time may have been especially advantageous as it would have coincided with the warming of Europe and the opening up of forests.
Rhodes says the material culture is great but when she really wants to know what the people were doing, she reads their skeletons.
Read the entire article here .
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