Experiments reveal that Neanderthals used rhino teeth as hammers

Neanderthals had some wild stuff in their toolkits.

See full article...

 

[MilanKraft]

I feel like we might be able to work this into the new LoTR movies...

"It is I: the great Rhyno Hammertooth of Boglands fame. I have come to treat with you before evil befalls us all on this ominous night."

 

[MeeshMosh]

Super pedantic, but I get irritated with writing that imparts agency on evolution:

Rhinos may have evolved in areas where readily available plant life was tough, but neither they nor their teeth consciously chose to change in response. The ones that were better at chewing tough plants got more food and thus survived.

I guess their way was shorter, but I'd like to see more care put into writing about evolution so that its more comprehensible.

what's your solution to the sentence?

 

[DNA_Doc]

what's your solution to the sentence?

There are many ways to rewrite that sentence to be more accurate. Here is one:

Selective pressures of a diet requiring tough chewing resulted in rhinos developing enamel that is thicker and harder than that of most other animals.

 

[BigEddieD]

Everyone knows that weapons you make from the boss are super effective against that type of boss, so once they had the first rhino-tooth hyperhammer it would have been simple to collect the parts for more. The real question is, why so many similar rhino teeth at the same site? This sounds to me like someone forgot to restrict a merchants wallet, and so they could sell items repeatedly without having to wait for inventory resets. Either that or someone was dead set on getting their smithing leveled up to 100 and they weren't gonna dick around on getting there.

 

[Snark218]

But some of the items in a Neanderthal’s toolkit seem surprising and unusual to us now because of how the world has changed.

Makes total sense to me. A lot of what we think various things are useful for is shaped by experience and conventional wisdom; we don't think of tooth as a toolmaking material because why would we? But if your entire existence is hunting large, angry megafauna because it's a big risk and a big reward, you're going to find uses for that critter. It's highly unlikely that they fucked with the real gristly bits and offcuts much, but claws, teeth, and usefully shaped bones are easy to remove as you strip an animal down and very useful.

As the article notes and my dentist pointed out this morning, filling my chipped tooth, enamel is the toughest bone tissue in the body, regardless of species. Rock is hard but brittle. Rhino tooth was, in fact, probably far and away the most durable and resilient material available to anyone before the development of metallurgy. You don't waste that, especially when it's a useful byproduct of not starving to death.

 

[Snark218]

Super pedantic, but I get irritated with writing that imparts agency on evolution:

Rhinos may have evolved in areas where readily available plant life was tough, but neither they nor their teeth consciously chose to change in response. The ones that were better at chewing tough plants got more food and thus survived.

I guess their way was shorter, but I'd like to see more care put into writing about evolution so that its more comprehensible.

I don't think that phrasing does imply agency to evolution.

 

[NoReallyJustSaying]

This article was absolutely bang-on. Really struck a nerve for me. Truly a smashing effort.

 

[chantries]

This article was absolutely bang-on. Really struck a nerve for me. Truly a smashing effort.

Agreed. I thought it had real bite.

 

[llanitedave]

We’re learning that Neanderthals made and used items from a surprising range of materials. Some aren’t that surprising: wood for digging sticks and spears, plant fibers for string, grasses and leaves for bedding, hides for clothes or bags, birch tar for glue or antiseptic, and antler or deer bone for scraping, knapping, drilling, and hide-working—even shells or eagle talons for jewelry.

Meh, I've known that since the 1990's, just from reading "Clan of the Cave Bear."

 

[+Griz]

It's highly unlikely that they fucked with the real gristly bits and offcuts much, but claws, teeth, and usefully shaped bones are easy to remove as you strip an animal down and very useful.

"use every part of the buffalo" etc

bones and tendons turn into soup if you can't use them for fiber or tools

 

[Wheels Of Confusion]

bones and tendons turn into soup if you can't use them for fiber or tools

Keep boiling and they turn into a pretty dang useful glue, too.
The glue can also be soup.

 

[Fred Duck]

Ultra pedantic, but I get irritated with people confusing its and it's.

When one has written four entire sentences, proofreading them would be a kind gesture.

As a writer, I agree with the "I'd like to see more care put into writing" sentiment.

 

[Wheels Of Confusion]

Ultra pedantic, but I get irritated with people confusing its and it's.

When one has written four entire sentences, proofreading them would be a kind gesture.

As a writer, I agree with the "I'd like to see more care put into writing" sentiment.

Damn scalawags!

 

[RadarLuv]

“We’ll be saying a big hello to all intelligent life forms everywhere, … and to everyone else out there, the secret is to bang the rocks together, guys.”

Or in this case, bang the rocks and teeth together!

 

[RadarLuv]

Super pedantic, but I get irritated with writing that imparts agency on evolution:

Rhinos may have evolved in areas where readily available plant life was tough, but neither they nor their teeth consciously chose to change in response. The ones that were better at chewing tough plants got more food and thus survived.

I guess their way was shorter, but I'd like to see more care put into writing about evolution so that it’s more comprehensible.

There is nothing whatsoever wrong or misleading about the statement in the article.

The statement in the article was:
“Rhino enamel is thicker and harder than that of most other animals because it has evolved to do a lot of very tough chewing.”

I doubt anyone in their right mind thinks rhino tooth enamel has consciousness and somehow chose of its own volition to become thicker.

I think virtually all Ars readers understand that the concept of evolution through natural selection works as a natural process.

When a leaf is said to float down a river, nobody interprets it to mean that either the leaf or the river made a conscious decision. Similarly it is commonly understood that when a species evolves, it is simply being changed over time through a natural process, not through conscious action.

 

[Snark218]

"use every part of the buffalo" etc

bones and tendons turn into soup if you can't use them for fiber or tools

Interestingly enough - and I say this as an interested nerd, not an expert - I think the consensus is that megafauna hunters didn't use every part of the mastodon. They used the choicest, most energy dense parts and the parts that were useful and could be turned into shelter, tools, whatever, and generally left the rest, because they had no way to preserve it and knew the carcass would attract scavengers.

 

[chantries]

Ultra pedantic, but I get irritated with people confusing its and it's.

When one has written four entire sentences, proofreading them would be a kind gesture.

As a writer, I agree with the "I'd like to see more care put into writing" sentiment.

When it's (!) in a comments section, I attribute -- in my charitable way -- at least some of the confusions to auto-corrupt which, along with AI, is one of the world's more annoying innovations.