there goes the neighborhood

When modern humans arrived in Europe, they were greeted by the continent’s resident population. Either possessed a Stone Age technology. They might have even been closer in tech’ than they were anatomy. And both were hunter gatherers. I’ve said before, ‘if there’s anything that would bring them together, it would be to exchange technology or for a hunt.’ If they were compatible it is likely that they might have even forged civil unions but genetic evidence is sketchy. Modern humans also brought complicated networks of trade and commerce along with their new anatomies, advancements in stone working and innovations in shelter.
Technological revolutions have historically been accompanied by migrations. Early stone tool technology and fire let the Neanderthals and other archaic breeds venture out of Africa’s woodlands and into the wildernesses of Europe and the Far East. Again, with Cro-Magnon Man and Homo sapiens sapiens, populations in the savanna thrived and expanded. The hunting grounds to the north were well preserved thanks to the Neanderthals and other ‘archaic’ races' primitive hunting techniques. Archaic hunters were bound to their caves and blade technology. That limited their tactics some, led to a traumatic history with big game hunting and most importantly for modern humans migrating out of Africa it left open a niche in the natural hunting order.
In the time between the archaics’ exodus and modern human kind’s migration from the savanna, they had continued to evolve on different courses. The moderns’ command of fire, complex social networks and advanced stone technology were beyond the Neanderthals’ grasp in Europe. With a niche in the hunting order and their other advantages, Homo sapiens sapiens were able to exploit the continent like Neanderthals never could. It might have been more of an issue of ‘supremacy’ for modern humans than it was for more instinctual Neanderthals. Negotiations between the two would have been disastrous. Over the course of their isolations, either had acquired distinct logistical issues. And the colonization that occurred during the Upper Palaeolithic might have absorbed the Neanderthals in its wake.
Tides and sea levels rose at the end of the Ice Age. It probably would have been a time of geological activity too. Stone Age cultures around the world had to adopt early seaborne skills and technology to reach what used to be overland destinations. Human kind had been migrating out of Africa for hundreds of thousands of years and the most recent exodus had been replacing more archaic cousin-breeds on at least three continents. Homo sapiens sapiens spanned the Stone Age World before a shrinking ice cap separated them until the Dark Ages. They might be most famous for creating the mystery behind the Neanderthals' fate. In a lot of ways they just had the misfortune of filling in a niche in the hunting hierarchy. They did it so well that they became the authority on the continent. What’s left of Neanderthal culture lives on in archaeology lectures and works of fiction. And maybe a history lesson on the importance of adaptability.

A Good Game

Bobby scratched his butt and rolled out of bed. He went to the bathroom. The girl in his bed stirred, but didn’t show any signs of getting-up. He slipped on a pair of sandals and crept into the kitchen. “I’m gonna need some coffee.” Bobby set-up his coffee-maker and sat down on the couch in front of the TV to wait. He didn’t want to wake the girl in his bed, so he kept the volume down. “Crap!” he whispered, “What is her name?” They had met the night before at a party that a mutual friend had thrown. He was tempted to call his friend, because he thought it would be rotten to call her ‘hey you’ all morning. But before he could call, it came to him. “Kelly" he decided, "that’s it!” He looked over his shoulder towards the bedroom, with his luck she would be standing there to overhear him thinking out-loud.
He was in luck. It looked like he was still the only one awake. The coffee smelled good. He got up to check on it. It was almost done brewing so he pulled a mug out of the cupboard. Faintly, he heard stirring from the bedroom. He poured himself a cup of coffee and peaked into the bedroom. Kelly rubbed her eyes and looked around the room. She saw Bobby in the doorway. She wanted to pull the covers over her head, but then she saw the coffee in his hands. “Is there any chance that’s for me?”
Bobby sat on a corner of the bed and handed her the mug. “I cannot function without-it in the morning.” Bobby scratched his head. “Are you hungry?”
“Not yet. I might wanna jump in the shower first.”
“Lemme get you a towel.” Bobby ducked out into the hallway and came back with a bath-towel. He dropped it on the bed next to Kelly. “I will get out of your way.”
Bobby got up and started to leave the room, but Kelly stopped him. “Do you want your coffee back?”
Bobby doubled back for the mug. “There’s more in the kitchen, if yer thirsty.” He stopped at the doorway. “Do you have anywhere to be today?”
“Not really. Did you have something in mind?”
“I think I could come-up with something. Lemme think about it while you take your shower.”
Bobby returned to the kitchen and fixed himself another cup of coffee and sat down in front of the TV. Before long the shower came-on. “We oughta do something fun!” Bars were fun, but not exactly what he had in mind. Maybe the movies, you can never go wrong there. He checked the sports page. There was a baseball game today, but Bobby didn’t know if she was a sports fan. “You don’t have to be a baseball fan to enjoy taking-in a game.” He thought it was worth a shot. He finished his coffee and got up to pour another cup.
Bobby sat back down in front of the TV. He heard the water shut-off, and before long Kelly came out. “Is there any coffee left?”
“Yeah, help yourself.” Bobby pointed to the kitchen. “I should probably grab a shower too.” Bobby squeezed Kelly’s shoulder as he passed her in the hallway.
“What did you come-up with?”
Bobby turned on the shower. “We’ve got the weather for a ballgame!” Bobby climbed into the shower and waited for a reply.
“Sure, that sounds like fun!”
“It’s an early game, we should head down to the park before too long!”
“Whenever you’re ready!”
Bobby figured he was clean enough so he turned the shower off and climbed-out. “Gimme a couple of minutes!” He mostly put on clean clothes, except for the jeans he picked-up off the floor. “I’m ready if you are.”
Bobby closed-up his apartment and they walked to the bus-stop. They sat quietly while they waited for the bus. “I haven’t been to a ball-game since I was a kid.”
“Did you play as a kid?”
“Yeah, shortstop on a softball team.” Their bus pulled-up. It wasn’t terribly crowded, so they were able to claim a couple seats together. “I am guessing you played baseball when you were younger?”
“Yeah, I always looked-forward to baseball season.”
“What position?”
“Mostly centerfield, but I played a little bit of everything.” Bobby put his arm over the back of the seat. “Do you have a favorite ball-club?”
Kelly thought for a moment. “I don’t really follow baseball, but I always liked the Cubs.”
“I think everyone does, at least a little. The Yankees and Red Sox thrive off of heated rivalries, but the Cubs appeal to everyone.” Bobby could have gone-on forever, but he decided to shut-up before he put Kelly to sleep.
“You were right about the weather, this oughta be a good day for a game.”
“I cannot take all the credit for that, the weather wasn’t really my idea.” Kelly chuckled. “It sure did cooperate today, though.”
It didn’t take the bus long to get into the city. Bobby and Kelly got off the bus and walked the rest of the way to the ball-park. “What do you have on the third-base line?”
“Would you settle for something behind the plate?”
“Yeah, that will work.” Bobby stuck the tickets in his pocket and turned back to Kelly. “We’ve got some time to grab a beer before we head into the game, if you want to?”
“That sounds good!”
There was a pub across the street from the park, Bobby grabbed Kelly’s hand and led her in. They found a quiet booth and the waitress headed over. “Did you kids bring your identification?” The couple reached into their pockets and pulled-out their driver’s licenses. “Okay, what can I get you?”
They ordered a couple of pints and a side of fries. The beer got there first. When the waitress showed-up with the fries Bobby was ready for another beer. “Couple more pints?” Bobby looked over at Kelly, she nodded.
“Sure thing, I’ll be right back.”
When the bar-maid came back with the drinks Bobby stopped her. “We might leave in a hurry, we’re going to catch a game. And I think this might be our last round. Can we settle-up, now?”
The waitress gave Bobby the bill and he took care of it, with a little left-over for the bar-maid’s tip. “Thanks. You kids have a good time at the game.”
“Thanks.” Bobby turned back to Kelly. “I hope you are having a good time?”
“Yeah, Bobby. But, when do we have to be at the park?”
“We’ve got time to finish our beers. We don’t have far to go.” They did just that. They sat there in their quiet corner of the almost romantic sports-bar and looked at each other as they joked over their beers and fries. When they were done, Bobby grabbed Kelly’s hand and walked her across the street. The line-ups were being introduced as they entered the stadium. “It sounds like we’re on time.”
Bobby walked Kelly down the tunnel into the stands. He looked down at the tickets and pointed to their aisle. She grabbed his arm. “I’ll follow you.” They got to their row and worked their way to their seats.
“Yeah, this will work!” Kelly sat down next to Bobby and he put his arm around the back of her seat. Kelly really got into the game. “Cool,” Bobby thought “she really likes baseball!”
They were just about the last to leave the stadium when the game ended. “Thanks, Bobby. I really had a good time.”
“Where do we wanna go next?”
“What do you mean?”
Bobby hesitated. “Do you have to go home now?”
“No, Bobby. Where do you wanna go?”
Bobby worked up his courage. “You’re welcome to stay at my place again tonight?” Bobby was hoping what they had wasn’t going to end-up being just a fling, and he figured he’d give her the chance to correct him if he was wrong. He worried, had he been too forward? “I can understand if you’d like to get home.”
“No, Bobby. I am having a nice time with you, I think I’d like to stay-over.”
Bobby was almost surprised, and he showed it. Everything about his expression was saying, “No way!” “Okay, then let’s get outta here!”
Bobby walked Kelly out of the empty stadium and down to the bus stop. They held hands as they waited. “Do the last couple of days seem like a blur?”
Bobby thought back to yesterday morning and wondered, how could so much happen over such a short time? “Yeah, Kelly. It has been eventful, alright!”
Kelly laughed. She looked closely at Bobby. He was kind of handsome, in a goofy way. But beyond that she could see that he was sincere. “Kelly,” she thought to herself “you could do worse.”
Bobby did the same thing, but came to a different conclusion. “Bobby,” he thought “you are awful lucky!”
Their bus pulled-up and they climbed on. They found a couple seats together and sat down. Bobby draped his arm over the seat’s back. He was kind of in shock and turned to Kelly to share his confession with her. “Kelly,” he said “I feel lucky!”

Modern Mysteries

I think the most conclusive proof can be historical influence. Ultimately, the Neanderthals’ fate continues through and resides in archeology and anthropology. They might have even contributed to mythology and socialism. In the short time it took for modern humans to colonize Europe, Neanderthals must have had some kind of influence. Negotiations between the primitive breeds might have been comical, until they found something in common. Neanderthals might have made a powerful ally for modern humans in a lawless time.
Genetic influence remains inconclusive. Some could be found in modern racial distinctions. If that is the case, Neanderthals may have been incorporated along with other archaic breeds. If one thing is conclusive about Neanderthals, maybe it is that they were no match for the Upper Palaeolithic Revolution. It might have contributed to Neanderthal genetic selection. A force as powerful as a technological revolution could easily select the most industrious candidates from an existing population. As the Upper Palaeolithic Revolution reached the Neanderthals and other archaic populations, it would have demanded that new traits were developed.
Along with Europe’s other predators, Neanderthals had to compete for the continent’s resources with the arrival of modern humans. Cave men everywhere must have thought, ‘we’re gonna need a bigger cave!’ Modern humans brought more sophisticated shelter but a good cliff dwelling can be tough to beat and Cro-Magnon Man seems to have adopted continental cave life too. Sometime before agriculture was developed and shires caught on, modern humans left portraits on the walls of caves. Between Neanderthals and Cro-Magnon Man, a culture of cave life was shared. Europe’s later inhabitants moved out of the caves and wild.
Whatever happened to the Neanderthals, Europe had no more cave-men. I guess you can do a little more with a lodge than you can with a cave. Neanderthals that couldn’t meet the demands of progress and industry would become ‘extinct’, just like any of the other breeds of human kind that the Upper Palaeolithic Revolution crossed. I might make the distinction between ‘modern humans’ and ‘modern Neanderthals’ for any who survived the revolution. They both would have been modern by then but a ‘modern Neanderthal’ is a bit of a contradiction. It’s like saying ‘modern archaic’, or ‘modern throwback’. But any Neanderthals that were incorporated by the Upper Palaeolithic Revolution would have become just that.

the VVest

‘ovtlavv-Colvmbia’


Geographic Boundaries

Starting at the Rio-Grande (because it serves as the historical boundary between Mexico and the United States, in spite of its being east of the Rockies) in the south and running west (north of the Gulf of California) to the Pacific lies the West’s southern boundary. The Pacific Coastline itself serves as the West’s western boundary. The Rockies serve as its eastern boundary. The northern boundary isn’t quite as clear. That’s because the British Columbian cultures and landscapes are so similar to our own. If there wasn’t a checkpoint at the U.S.-Canada border, you’d never know you had left (at least until you pulled-up at a gas station to fill-up by the liter). And somewhere on the other side of western Canada waits Alaska. But for the sake of argument, the northern border rests roughly at the north-end of the Cascades.
The western boundary is fairly obvious. The Pacific is clearly where the West ends. The Eastern boundary is nearly as compelling. The Rockies divide the continent almost as effectively as the oceans limit it. The northern and southern boundaries are really just political borders. There are some well deserved grudges along the southern border though. By the time the Colorado River has reached the Gulf of California it has been drained. In an already arid environment, water-use like that condemns the residents of the lower Colorado to drought. The landscape itself doesn’t change much at the West’s southern boundary, but you’d still know you had left the states.
‘Contiguous’ might be the term to describe the West. Even the mountain ranges west of the Rockies seem to add to (rather than obstruct) its dominion. The political boundaries are the only thing to really interrupt Baja’s realm. Otherwise, the West is an unbroken range of unforgiving turf and “ecologically fragile mountain and desert habitats.” (McIlwraith/Muller - 282) North of the Rio Grande we are lucky to have so much latitude. As the Rockies make their way south to Mexico City they divide Mexico into narrow halves. Canada has even more latitude than we do in the states. Alaska may be the farthest west point on the continent but the contiguous span from Baja Canada to Labrador rivals only China and Russia for its continental span. So after the development of the United States’ eastern economies, the better part of Columbian geography commonly remains somewhat wild by nature. ‘Unbroken’, in spite of any of its political-boundaries.


Characteristics

Somewhere between British Columbia and Baja California is the United States’ frontier-West. It’s not much of a frontier anymore, but its residents still live like unbroken cowboys. They are modern cowboys, with ‘sport-utes’ and PDAs. They range from the Baja-coastline to the continental-divide. On the other side of the Rockies, colonial traditions prevail. I think the Rockies might be the most significant influence in distinguishing colonial Labrador from renegade Baja. To the west of the Rockies, epic expanses of the continent give its inhabitants a solitary life-style. To the east all the major markets are connected. There are only a handful of major markets in the West and they act like an oasis for the scenic wastelands surrounding them. Some might argue that it’s the scenery that coerces the West’s residents into acting like cowboys. But there’s some practicality in it too.
More than anywhere else in the U.S., it is the West that is undeveloped. “Compared with the eastern United States, and even with much of the Great Plains, one of the most striking features of the Far West today is its vast extent of uncultivated open land.” (277) There are a few dedicated agricultural regions. California’s Central Valley and Oregon’s Willamette Valley are among them. The Palouse is another. Montana and Wyoming are suitable for ranching but not so much for crops. And the Great Basin is almost uninhabitable altogether, except for the mineral deposits that keep industry there. The port-cities of the West Coast are the most livable cities in the West. Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle have favorable climates and connections to other ports and the railroad lines that still serve them.
The result of all the prevailing isolation in the West is modern ‘cowboy culture’. Cowboys come in all races here, unlike Texas where cowboy-culture is still dominated by rednecks. The only other segment among the West’s locals is really the surfer, but that doesn’t necessarily exclude anyone from being a cowboy. I guess I admire the resourcefulness in the cowboy way. Sometimes it takes a cowboy. And the West is one of those times.


The Difference Between the West and the Frontier

The West was the last of the United States’ continental frontier, but the West and ‘the frontier’ were never completely synonymous. The remnants of the frontier can be found in the West’s interior. The prime real-estate along the coastline has long since been developed. But to the east of the Sierras and Cascades, what is left of the frontier continues to fight-off civilization. The reason the West remained a frontier was coincidental. If the Russians had been more interested in establishing a colony here it might have been another story.
In fact, the west-coast’s most developed ports predate the United States’ presence there. It was nice of us to move-in on the Spanish missions like we owned the place, I suppose. Immigrants from the east arrived in coastal California “where an urban network was already in place.” (273) Three of old Mexico’s better harbors are now U.S. territory. Maybe the frontier was too hard for some early pioneers. Instead of build new cities in the wilderness they took-over someone else’s. That is one of the few examples of where the West wasn’t a frontier. Otherwise, everything west of the Rockies was pretty unsettled to all but native tribes.
The fact that the West was still a frontier by the time European settlers arrived is due to Columbia’s native tribes’ conservation. Today the Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management and Department of the Interior keep the West’s wilderness preserved. Its rugged terrain prevents development too. I guess Columbia has a way of conserving its own sovereignty. That’s really what a frontier is. A place where nature still rules.

'local times'

Early navigation was subject to the limitations of supplies and power. Ships carried enough supplies to reach their destinations, sailing under normal conditions. But early navigation was crude. Latitude could be estimated by the position of the sun’s arc. It would be low in the sky at the poles and overhead at the equator. The time-zones that span the oceans could reflect longitude if ships could keep the times of the home ports. Ships sailing out of Greenwich could use their instruments to determine when it was noon at sea (based on the azimuth) but not what time it was in Greenwich.
If ships had a sea-worthy clock it could tell them how many hours and minutes they were off ‘the mean’. They could then chart and avoid/find geographic features at sea. But swells and other elements can be hard on clocks. So, before on-board clocks they had to subscribe to a lot of ‘guess work’ instead. ‘Lost at Sea’ is the story of a self-taught clockmaker that set-out to solve the problem by creating an on-board clock that would hold-up to the conditions at sea.
Every hour ahead/behind the time in their home ports represents 15 degrees. At twelve hours ‘off the mean’ a ship would be equal distance east or west (180 degrees) from where it had set sail. Like a British ship out of Greenwich would be in New Zealand. Cape Horn would be about ¼ of a day behind the mean and ¾ of a day behind the International Date Line. The cape of Good Hope isn’t far off the Greenwich mean. Ships lost at sea in the vast waters of the Indian and Pacific oceans could find their way to more familiar waters if they knew which waters they were closer-to.
Once it was proven successful it was widely adopted. The same method of navigation in ‘minutes’ is still used in modern on-board navigation systems. It can be done with sophisticated GPS systems or more simply with a good timepiece and a bearing. You need to keep track of mean and local times (and which hemisphere you are local to). It is a fairly young technique. It has only been in practice for the last 500 years or so since a sea-worthy clock was developed. But it might be one of the most significant advancements of the common-age. Thanks to the British Empire’s maritime interest in developing an accvrate global positioning system.

Simpler Times

Stone Age Realities



The Ice Age was apocalyptic. Palaeolithic Europe was more of a wilderness than it was a frontier. From N’ Africa to the steppes, Neanderthal culture was sparsely distributed throughout a loose confederation. They may have shared tool making technology and rituals. They probably married and traded between tribes too. Tribes spent most of their time isolated from one another though. In order to meet the demand for resources with the technology they had, they were confined to solitary dominions. Neanderthal tribes might not want to share hunting grounds with a big cat or cave bear either. Not only were large predators competition for resources, they were also a threat. The Neanderthals’ role as a niche predator in Ice Age Europe kept their numbers small.
It was a matter of logistics. For Neanderthals, efficiency was a small scale undertaking. Contact between tribes might include trade between them but trade wasn’t much of an extra-tribal practice. Instead of finding a Neanderthal on the trade routes, you’d be more likely to run into one on a game trail. Cro-Magnon Man was capable of efficiency on a larger scale with intricate trade networks over vast distances. Neanderthal tribes had to acquire their own resources instead of be able to rely on trade for them.


Subsistence

Ice Age provisioning is regulated by simplicity just like its industry was. They were each resource dependent. It made trade unique to its time. Life was defined between Ice Age trade, industry and provision. Hunting and foraging supplied most of the ‘subsistence’ for each tribe. Other resources were required for successful provisioning. Tool knappers would fashion spearheads or axes and craftsfolk would weave baskets or nets. Either foraging or hunting parties were usually led in at least small numbers to provide safety. Safety might be democracy’s origin. Even among predators, the ability to coordinate defenses requires some degree of democracy. For all their superiority, prides and packs and tribes provide more strength and resources than big cats and wild dogs and human hunters can alone.
Once food needs were met, hunting and foraging parties would return to the tribe’s campsite to share their haul. Distribution of resources might have been hierarchical. Whether or not the chief went on the hunt, he might get the biggest cut. A well respected medicine man or flint knapper might get choice cuts too. Hunters or foragers would then take their shares for their own hearth before the choicest cuts were all gone. Lower ranking members of the tribe would be last to get a cut. What’s left might have been used as tools or medicine, depending on its properties. That’s a simplified example of distribution but Ice Age democracy relied on rank to some degree.
Neanderthal politics made sure everyone had a role in provisioning the tribe. There were only so many things you could be. The labor force that drove provisioning comprised a good majority of the tribe. If you were disabled, you might be excluded from the hunt or harvest. If you had a more specialized role, you might be delegated to a support position. Neanderthal subsistence seems to have been a very social undertaking. Lacking commerce and complex trade, Neanderthals relied upon a system of common wealth distribution to ensure resource demands were met between the various roles and positions within the tribe once the resources had been obtained.


Daily Life

Cave men must have been brilliant politicians. Cave politics were a matter of simplicity. The tribe’s chief was the resident governor. It would have been a jurisdiction’s breadth to the next tribe, since either had to get by on their turf’s resources. It would have been primitively provincial. Turf wars might have occurred as populations grew or were established. Kinship might have been along patriarchical lines like their social hierarchy seems to have been. As a niche hunter like modern humans, Neanderthals must have been partly opportunistic. Any cave man can tell you, ‘you always share your cave with the biggest predator.’ A fight doctor might tell you the same thing. Bigger predators can turn a corner to their advantage. Rituals and habits might have reflected their rank in the wilderness’s order.
Industry would have been limited to the tribe’s labor and trade potentials. Technology was probably ruled by the tribe’s internal demands. Meteorological forces would have governed Neanderthal daily life too. A good storm could effectively leave you cave bound for its duration. Eventually though, I think daily life was defined by family. With a long hike between tribes, immediate support had to come from the tribe. Education, provisions and morale were all internal matters. With living conditions comparable to combat situations, the archaic breed must have developed a strong sense of duty. It’d be hard to avoid.


Social Life

Neanderthal social life was limited. Nightlife might include a victorious hunting party smoking and drinking around a bonfire before returning to separate corners of the cave to bunk down. Within the same cave, tribes broke up into smaller units with their own hearths. The hearth was like a family apartment inside the cave. With a limited selection of caves and ultimately cave space, Neanderthals “emptied and re-used hearths” that had proven suitable. (Barton – Mousterian Hearths and Shellfish) Meals could be cooked and served from there and sleeping quarters were found there too. It probably wouldn’t be uncommon to find three generations in the same hearth. Grandparents might have helped raise children while parents were hunting or picking wild cabbage. Neanderthals lived on into their thirties before their hard lifestyles caught up with them. Their childhoods lasted until they were able to hunt or run a hearth. If they were lucky, there might have been a good decade (from their mid teens to their mid twenties) that they could hunt and raise children. By their late twenties, old age would set in. For Neanderthals that might mean they had to acquire the winter blankets and clothes in addition to the status they would need for later years when they could no longer hunt.
There was no provincial government. Individual clans didn’t pay taxes to a regional authority for its services. It would have been a time of renegades and lawlessness. Instead there would have been expectations and fear to guide their conduct. If anyone is to blame for feudal society and all its shortcomings it might be the Neanderthals. Feudalism might very well have been derived from their brand of social democracy. At their most socially complex, Europe’s Neanderthals were a confederation of clans. While trade might bring them together with other human breeds, they might be more likely to get together with neighboring clans for an event than for commerce. At least until the trade industry arrived with the Upper Palaeolithic revolution. Aside from feudalism, any lasting influences absorbed from Neanderthal culture might be evident in certain aspects of the military and early European and Near Eastern mythologies.


Language

Telepathic or not, Neanderthals would have been easy to read. They probably didn’t have complex demands upon language. Their brains were devoted to their instincts and sensory functions. They might have had more use for language in their rituals as they invoked the spirits of their totems. They would probably be as blunt as they would be easy to read. They probably would have had ‘little white lies’, just like we have. When someone was ill, I think they would explain it to children through their beliefs. And they might have had legends and stories about heroics on a hunt.
It is hard to keep secrets in a cave though. Their spoken language would have been symbolic and pretty candid but their need for it would have been almost negligible. Like all primates, they would have expressed support through whatever language they possessed. And as a niche predator, they would have needed to issue calls out of distress and coordination when they spotted a big cat on their trail or closed in on prey of their own. There might have been limited industry jargon between stone-working, medicine and craft guilds. Like there was between modern humans who had to keep up with “relatively rapid shifts in core reduction strategies as well as bone and antler tool design”, during the Upper Palaeolithic. (Bar-Yosef – The Upper Paleolithic Revolution) Nothing very extensive because their confederation was a fairly distant one, but maybe enough to swap trade secrets.


The revolution of the Upper Palaeolithic might deserve more credit for the absorption of the Neanderthals and their culture than modern humans do. The commerce and industry that accompanied it were foreign to the Neanderthals’ way of life. They were no match for the innovation itself. It would take a patient Cro-Magnon tribe to teach a clan of Neanderthals how to trade. If they were capable of “an advance in culture, in the form of new tools and fire technology”, both breeds could have benefitted from the exchange. (Shreeves – The Neandertal Enigma) Ultimately, competition or cooperation would have been dependent on available resources.
There’s no substitute for technology. With or without the Neanderthals, innovation and social networks allowed modern humans to thrive in their new environment. Simple Neanderthal politics would have to be capable of compromise with successful outsiders. If they were, Neanderthal culture might have been assimilated by modern humans as it was overrun by them. I hope so. Their simple ways are as comforting as they were quaint. There’s something to be said for simplicity though. Neanderthals may have jvst done it better than anyone else.