PLOS Reddit AMA on Neandertal Jewelry

On Wednesday 23rd September, the PLOS Paleo Community are pleased to announce a new Paleo-themed PLOS Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything). It’ll be with David Frayer, who’ll be online to talk about his PLOS ONE paper that found Neandertals created jewelry from eagle talons!

This continues the highly successful science Reddit AMA series for the Paleo Community, the most recent being by our very own Andy Farke on a new ceratopsian dinosaur he and colleagues named from North America.

David is a retired professor at the University of Kansas, whose research focuses on paleoanthropology, with an emphasis on later European human evolution and, most recently, on the relationship between Neandertals and the humans that followed them.

David recently published an article in PLOS ONE with three Croatian colleagues (Davorka Radovčić, Ankica Oros Sršen & Jakov Radovčić) titled Evidence for Neandertal Jewelry: Modified White-Tailed Eagle Claws at Krapina. The study documents eight talons and a foot bone from the Krapina Neandertal site in Croatia, dated at 130,000 years ago. These elements bear cut marks, highly polished areas on some talons and a dull sheen on their sides indicating that Neandertals assembled them into jewelry. These talons, along with other paleocultural evidence, provide multiple new lines of evidence for Neandertals’ abilities and cultural sophistication.

David will be answering your questions at 1pm ET, Ask Me Anything!

The PLOS Paleo Community will be online and on Twitter during the AMA, so if you have any questions or comments, please use the hashtag #PLOSredditAMA. We look forward to seeing you there!