Some more research behind my Neanderthal Ice Age project

This research is what was behind chapters 13 through 15 and explains my thinking on where they existed, their speech, and an unusual part of their diet.

Chapter 13

The author: Neanderthals roamed Europe and Asia, but there is no evidence they ever made it to the Americas. I do not believe the full extent of their range has yet been discovered. In February of 2008, a discovery in Greece led Eleni Panagopoulou, of the Paleoanthropology-Speleology Department of Southern Greece to say, “Our findings prove that…their settlement networks were broader and more organized than we believed.” New discoveries will continue to be made and more will continue to be learned about the Neanderthals.

For instance, the recent discovery in a Gibraltar cave point to Neanderthals being there only 24,000 years ago, 2,000 years later than previously believed.

…charcoal samples from the cave, called Gorham’s Cave in Gibraltar, are about 28,000 years old and maybe just 24,000 years old.

Associated Press September 14, 2006

The author again: It’s possible that the body disposal system used for Kung and others would explain the absence of skeletal remains in the Americas. The earliest artifacts found in North America were probably deposited long after the areas were in habited.

Chapter 14 – tree ferns

There are perhaps nearly a thousand treefern species which grow chiefly in the Southern Hemisphere and the tropics.  Many of these are quite cold-tender and will suffer if the temperature drops below freezing.  But a few … are cold-hardy enough to adapt to a less hospitable climate. 

From http://www.angelfire.com/bc/eucalyptus/treeferns/

Tree fern frond ("fiddlehead") by the Akatarawa River, New Zealand. These unopened fronds are edible but must be roasted first to remove shikimic acid.

Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_fern

Chapter 15 – speech

Neanderthals, an archaic human species that dominated Europe until the arrival of modern humans some 45,000 years ago, possessed a critical gene known to underlie speech, according to DNA evidence retrieved from two individuals excavated from El Sidron, a cave in northern Spain.

The new evidence stems from analysis of a gene called TOXP2 which is associated with language.

The New York Times, Neanderthals Had Important Speech Gene, DNA Evidence Shows, by Nicholas Wade, October 19, 2007