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I think that its rather interesting that the Neanderthals were said to possibly be a mix of two species that had interbred. Its facinating how their structure is so different from ours, and yet similar as a whole. They are said to have had larger brains then us, yet they were more primitive. All these interesting findings, but I found the most compelling information, relevant to this class, in the rituals, and in the song reading. A commonly noticed ritual found at the sites were burial grounds. Within these tombs lay valuables insisting that there primitive beings sensed the idea of an after life, and possibly some higher being to pay homage to. Where did this belief come from, and how did it develope in such a short time frame? Maybe all homo sapiens, if these Neandarthals are indeed sapien in any way, are hard-wired to believe in a higher being. One cannot assume the like of such a being, or the character, purpose, or power they believed it had, but non-the-less, it meant enough to them to take time and energy to acknowledge. On the contrary, there are no symbolic artefacts. This would cause one to assume that no ritual ceremonies similar to communion, or others so forth that involve symbolic cups, chests, stafs, and so on, were performed. What then do the items placed in tombs imply? Maybe they thought it would bring them back to life, or maybe like the egyptians, they thought their riches would go with them into the afterlife. I found it interesting, the portion on metaphors as a prospect of religious belief. Why would such a primitive, simple culture, with no use of nonsense (essentially, if evolution worked as it should, nothing would be useless about any living organism) engage in metaphorical cognition--it would waste valuable time, and energy presumably. I also found the flute rather perplexing, yet only for a moment, for it is rather intuitive to believe, with the evidence provided, that a cave bear or other animal did indeed make the holes with its canines. What things a musical instrument would have eluded to?!
