Hominin Skulls Suggest Game of Thrones-Style Conflict in Ancient Europe

[Rhykker]

Hominin Skulls Suggest Game of Thrones-Style Conflict in Ancient Europe

According to a new study, Neanderthals evolved as distinct groups of their ancestors clashed for territory.

The study, published in the journal Science, analyzed 17 fragmented skulls found in northern Spain and revealed an unexpected level of diversity in the facial features of 430,000 year old hominins. In a recent news conference, lead study author and professor of paleontology Juan-Luis Arsuaga, compared ancient Europe to Game of Thrones, with "houses" of Neanderthal ancestors clashing for territority.

"As in the famous saga, there was never a unified and uniform middle Pleistocene kingdom, but a number of houses living in different regions and often competing for the land," said Arsuaga. "According to this scenario, hominid evolution was not a peaceful and boring process of very slow change across an immense land. There was not simply one kind of hominin living in that big territory."

According to the authors, these skulls, found in an excavation site known as Sima de los Huesos in Atapuerca, have offered great insight into the evolution of Neanderthals, but they did not belong to Neanderthals. They instead belong to Neanderthal ancestors to which the authors have yet to ascribe an official name.

"I'll give you an answer in the next month," Arsuaga said when questioned.

Might I suggest Homo Baratheon?

Source: LA Times [http://www.sciencemag.org/content/344/6190/1338]

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[Daystar Clarion]

You mean people in the past killed each other with martial weaponry, over pieces of land, because of cultural and physical differences?


You're fucking shitting me.

Someone better tell G R R Martin that his books might be based on something.

 

[Jodan]

Game of thrones style conflict? you mean polotics. id say this is more interesting from a historical and anthropological point of veiw, i.e. the presence of polities. i dont really see how humans or proto humans clashing over territory is anything surprising, creaturs come together and stick to what they are familiar with creating distinct groups when seen objectivley, but if you want game of thrones go study the war of the roses.

 

[Rhykker]

You mean people in the past killed each other with martial weaponry, over pieces of land, because of cultural and physical differences?


You're fucking shitting me.

Someone better tell G R R Martin that his books might be based on something.

The surprise is that this was happening before the times of the Neanderthals.

 

[Darren716]

You mean people in the past killed each other with martial weaponry, over pieces of land, because of cultural and physical differences?


You're fucking shitting me.

Someone better tell G R R Martin that his books might be based on something.

The surprise is that this was happening before the times of the Neanderthals.

Then why are you calling it "Game of Thrones style Conflict" when all it is is normal fighting over territory and political dispute, but that wouldn't sound interesting so you throw in a reference to something topical in order to get a few more page views.

 

[Mr.Mattress]

So Neanderthals where actually more akin to Pre-Roman Societies then just tribal groups? I never knew that, that's cool.

Of course, I could have guessed they would have some variations based on were they where located. But now I'm curious to know how they where different? Like, where they more tan the closer they got to Italy? Where they hairier in the North to account for the colder climate? I'd really like to know what these physical differences where, and if they mimic human physical differences or if they had special differences...

 

[Rad Party God]

Spoiler: There already is a Homo Baratheon.

Great!, now I'm expecting them to find the remains of dragons and ice zombies too!

 

[Rhykker]

You mean people in the past killed each other with martial weaponry, over pieces of land, because of cultural and physical differences?


You're fucking shitting me.

Someone better tell G R R Martin that his books might be based on something.

The surprise is that this was happening before the times of the Neanderthals.

Then why are you calling it "Game of Thrones style Conflict" when all it is is normal fighting over territory and political dispute, but that wouldn't sound interesting so you throw in a reference to something topical in order to get a few more page views.

Who exactly are you accusing? The researcher himself made the Game of Thrones reference. I didn't make that up myself.

 

[Phrozenflame500]

Might best change the title to specify the Neanderthal connection. Because, as people have pointed out, it can be mistakenly read as "ancient Europe similar to series based on ancient Europe".

 

[Ftaghn To You Too]

This is an interesting article, both for its content and its nature. The article title is pure clickbait, but only because the researcher himself has indulged in stupid academic clickbait.

 

[klaynexas3]

You mean people in the past killed each other with martial weaponry, over pieces of land, because of cultural and physical differences?


You're fucking shitting me.

Someone better tell G R R Martin that his books might be based on something.

The surprise is that this was happening before the times of the Neanderthals.

Then why are you calling it "Game of Thrones style Conflict" when all it is is normal fighting over territory and political dispute, but that wouldn't sound interesting so you throw in a reference to something topical in order to get a few more page views.

So, did you actually read the article? Because from this statement, it seems pretty obvious you missed a good bit. Like the actual information from the researcher making the direct comparison. And considering a sizable amount of this article is a quote, that's pretty impressive.

 

[funksobeefy]

yeah this would be more interesting if if wasnt so click baity. I like Game of Thrones and I like anthropology and cultural development but lets not start combining the two for comments

 

[Darren716]

You mean people in the past killed each other with martial weaponry, over pieces of land, because of cultural and physical differences?


You're fucking shitting me.

Someone better tell G R R Martin that his books might be based on something.

The surprise is that this was happening before the times of the Neanderthals.

Then why are you calling it "Game of Thrones style Conflict" when all it is is normal fighting over territory and political dispute, but that wouldn't sound interesting so you throw in a reference to something topical in order to get a few more page views.

Who exactly are you accusing? The researcher himself made the Game of Thrones reference. I didn't make that up myself.

Sorry about that, I didn't misread it saying the researcher made the reference, still doesn't make sense since it seems to be standard political and territorial fighting. Still is cool to see it this far ago though

 

[Baresark]

Wow, afraid your findings weren't relevant enough so you made a comparison to GoT? That is fuckin' retarded. Ummm, all social competitions are over some resource or another. Since Neanderthals, like us, relied on groups to succeed and survive, it's little surprise that this is the case. It's also the case with most species of Chimpanzee, Great Ape, and Monkey, as well as Ants and a huge portion of the Canine family. Ugh, I'm disgusted by this guy.

 

[Thaluikhain]

As mentioned, rather clickbauty there. Nobody is too surprised by the idea of different family or tribal groups fighting each other.

 

[TKretts3]

Might I suggest Homo Baratheon?

What, you mean Renly? LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!
Ahh, gosh darnit, SupahGamuh beat me to it. -_-

 

[Monsterfurby]

Escapist, what are you doing? I seem to stumble upon articles that are either outright advertisements or just clickbait far more often recently.

 

[Lono Shrugged]

This article is hilarious for all the wrong reasons.

 

[JET1971]

Apes also have wars over territory. Orangutans plan travel routes ahead and make sure all members of the group knows the route.

Not just the great apes and monkeys will compete for territory but many other species do as well such as wolves and lions do not mix packs unless forced to do so from outside forces and most hive insects will compete and battle each other. Whoever is surprised they discovered an ancient extinct species that did as well surprises me because they are surprised.