Hi Appollynon
I thought the evidence presented in the cass material suggests Cro-Magnon suddenly "appeared", verses "...This resulted in the sudden advance (speaking in terms of evolution as we are told it is supposed to happen) of neanderthals into cro-magnon man". ?
From
http://www.cassiopaea.com/cassiopaea/adventures237.htm
Adventures With Cassiopaea
Chapter 26
About 35,000 years ago, at the same time that homo sapiens sapiens was supposed to have appeared on the stage of history, simultaneous with the mysterious disappearance of Neandertal man, there appeared an explosion of representational art. It is as if the birth of culture occurred from the primal continuum of the Paleolithic mind. Prominent among these first and most artistic creations are diverse representations of the creatrix goddess of fertility, complemented by sculpures and wall paintings of animals and the hunt of a more shamanic content. The consistency and the careful beauty of these figurines is consistent with the worship of the female as generator of the continued line of living existence.
The explanation for this event is that while primitive men were wandering hunters who had to remain silent in the shamanic meditation of the hunt, the women were collecting and recognising a wide variety of plants, talking more and socializing, forming the foundation skills that underpinned the birth of civilization. The myths of diverse tribal cultures hint at a previous era when women were the founding influence in this way. The "venuses" of Dolni Vestonice, Willendorff, Lespugue, and Laussel date from inter-Gravitean Solutrean 20,000-18,000 B.C.
Over and over again we read in scientific studies that Cro-Magnon man was just an "anatomically modern human." The experts will say: "The Cro-Magnons lived in Europe between 35,000 and 10,000 years ago. They are virtually identical to modern man, being tall and muscular and slightly more robust than most modern humans."
Notice how they slip in that "slightly more robust" bit. The fact is, the Cro-Magnon man was, compared to the other "anatomically modern humans" around him, practically a superman. They were skilled hunters, toolmakers and artists famous for the cave art at places such as Lascaux, Chauvet, and Altamira. They had a high cranium, a broad and upright face, and cranial capacity "about the same as modern humans" (can we say larger?), but less than that of Neanderthals. The males were as tall as 6 feet. They appeared in Europe in the upper Pleistocene, about 40,000 years ago and "their geographic origin is still unknown." Their skeletal remains show a "few small differences from modern humans."
Cro magnon's tools are described as the Aurignacian technology; characterised by bone and antler tools, such as spear tips (the first) and harpoons. They also used animal traps, and bow and arrow. They invented hafts and handles for their knives, securing their blades with bitumen, a kind of tar, as long ago as 40 thousand years ago. Other improvements included the invention of the atlatl, a large bone or piece of wood with a hooked grove used for adding distance and speed to spears. They also invented more sophisticated spear points, such as those that detach after striking and cause greater damage to prey.[Eric Whitaker, Steve Stewart; Article Reviews; Late Ice Age Hunting Technology (Heidi Knecht) Scientific American, July 1994]
The Cro-Magnon type man was also the "originator" of such abstract concepts as "time." They marked time by lunar phases, recording them with marks on a piece of bone, antler or stone. Some of these "calendars" contained a record of as many as 24 lunations. [Marshack, Alexander, 1991; The Roots Of Civilization - Moyer Bell Limited, Mt Kisco, New York.]
Cro Magnon people lived in tents and other man-made shelters in groups of several families. They were nomadic hunter-gatherers, had elaborate rituals for hunting, birth and death. Multiple burials are common in the areas where they were found. What is most interesting is that from 35 to 10 thousand years ago, there was no differentiation by sex or age in burials. This indicates a culture of partnership, not domination of one sex or class over another. They included special grave goods, as opposed to everyday, utilitarian objects, suggesting a very increased ritualization of death and burial. Symbolic representation by personal adornment in burial becomes more common. [Erin Schirtzinger, December 6, 1994; The Evidence for Pleistocene Burials, Neandertals versus Modern Humans]
They were the first confirmed to have domesticated animals, starting by about 15 thousand years ago (though ancient sapiens may have domesticated the dog as much as 200 thousand years ago). They were the first to leave extensive works of art, such as cave paintings and carved figures of animals and pregnant women. Huge caves lavishly decorated with murals depicting animals of the time were at first rejected as fake for being too sophisticated. Then they were dismissed as being primitive, categorised as hunting, fertility or other types of sypathetic magic. Re-evaluations have put these great works of art in a more prominent place in art history. They show evidence of motifs, of following their own stylistic tradition, of "impressionist"like style, perspective, and innovative use of the natural relief in the caves. Also possible, considering the new concepts of time reckoning practiced by Cro magnon, are abstract representations of the passage of time, such as spring plants in bloom, or pregnant bison that might represent summer. [Reeser, Ken, 1994; "Earliest Art: Representative Art In The Upper Paleolithic Era" (after: Marshack, 1991; Grand, 1967; Ucko, Peter J., and Rosenfeld, Andre, 1967; Brown, G. Baldwin, 1932; Breuil, Abbe H., date unknown) (unpublished)]
Aside from pregnant women and other goddess worship iconography, [Stone, Merlin
