Thursday, February 22, 2018

Red Ochre and the Neanderthals

2 comments:

Sabine said...

This is very beautiful.

The quarry where the first discovery of Neanderthal bones happened is located a short drive from where I live. It's in a small river valley (Duessel river) and if I remember correctly, the Neander cave was where the bones were discovered. The cave was named after a local celebrity (at the time) who had changed his name from Neumann (Newman) into the "Greek-ified" version - this was a fashionable thing at the time to enhance a person's intellectual standing - of neos for new and andros for man shortened into neander.

The museum is really amazing, there are life size models of what Neanderthal people could look like today hidden in all sorts of exhibits, the cafe, the shop etc. - freaking out visitors and delighting kids.

https://www.neanderthal.de/en/Permanent-exhibition.html
https://youtu.be/fPT2dBsL9oQ

Apart from that gimmick there are lots of exhibits confirming that the Neanderthals had a rich culture and diverse life styles.

am said...

Thank you for comments and links, Sabine! Wish I could visit that museum.