Phil said:It is, of course, easy to see any seemingly 'out-of-place' object as having ritual significance, but it is tempting to see these ammonites in such a context. Certainly our cave-dwelling ancestors thought they were worth keeping, so could possibly they have seen them in a religious vein?
This is a tricky issue and (while I'm still searhcing for the specific references) there are claims for Neadnerthal's having an understanding of aethetics due to various fossils and minerals in Middle Palaeolithic assemblages. Although (as far as I'm aware) none of the fossils are actually cephs (largly gastropods and bivalves)
I'm struggling to find the paper I was thinking of but there is a good general review here:
Chase, P.G. & Dibble, H.L. (1987) Middle Paleolithic symbolism: A review of the current evidence and interpretations. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology. 6 (3). 263 - 96.
Its probably this (or one of his many other publications):
Marshack, A. (1988b) The Neanderthals and their human capacity for symbolic thought: Cognitive and problem-solving aspects of Mousterian symbol. In Bar-Yosef, O. (ed.) L’Homme Neanderthal. Vol 6. La Pensée. Etudes et Recherches Archéologiques de l’Université Liège 33. ERAUL, Liège. 57 - 92.
but be wary:
Bar-Yosef, O. (1988) Evidence for Middle Palaeolithic symbolic behaviour: A cautionary note. In Bar-Yosef, O. (ed.) L'Homme de Neanderthal. Vol 5. La Pensée. Etudes et Recherches Archéologiques de l’Université Liège 32. ERAUL, Liège. 11 - 16.
I did a quick search and found this:
Evolution - August 1996: The 1st Paleontologist was a Neanderthal
and both mineral and fossil collection may have oroginated earlier in the Lower Palaeolithic (with crinoids):
Goren-Inbar, N., Lewy, Z. & Kislev, M.E. (1991) Bead-like fossils from an Acheulian occupation site, Israel. Rock Art Research. 8. 133 - 6.
However, we should be cautious about reading too much into it. I doubt we can infer a religious element to the inclusion of the ammonites but it is certainly intriguing
Phil said:This is extremely interesting and I wish I'd been aware of this when I wrote the 'Myths and Legends' article as I certainly would have included it.
Well if you want to reprise and expand your article on fossil cephs and mythology then it does sound like something the Fortean Times might be interested in - after all you have already been published on their pages
Emps