Neanderthal navigarono tra le isole greche Kefallinia e Zakynthos. Uno studio pubblicato su Journal of Archaeological Science.

I Neanderthal affrontarono il mare tra 110 mila e 35 mila anni fa. Lo afferma uno studio pubblicato il 10 febbraio 2012 sulla rivista Journal of Archaeological Science.
George Ferentinos e i suoi colleghi del Laboratorio di geologia marina e oceanografia fisica del'Università di Patrasso (Greece) hanno trovato che il livello del Mediterraneo circa 100 mila anni fa era nolto più basso del livello attuale. La presenza dei Neanderthal viene indicata dagli strumenti in pietra di tipo Mousteriano (dal sito di Le Moustier, un riparo in roccia nella regione francese della Dordogna, introdotto da G. de Mortillet nel 1872).
Estremamente interessanti i commenti a questa scoperta sul blog The Subversive Archaeologist: Iain Davidson Guest Comment: Seafaring Neanderthals? (March 2, 2012). Senza discutere la preparazione e la competenza degli autori del paper l'archeologo Iain Davidson pone alcuni interrogativi sulla reale consistenza dei trasferimenti su acqua e conclude così: "If we accept all of the other unsubstantiated assumptions involved in this paper, we may simply be looking at crossings that must have been commonplace at the time modern humans were moving out of Africa." (Iain Davidson, March 3, 2012)
Ecco il link all'articolo originale, firmato da George Ferentinos, Maria Gkioni, Maria Geraga, George Papatheodorou, Early seafaring activity in the southern Ionian Islands, Mediterranean Sea. Il paper, pubblicato su Journal of Archaeological Science, è online dal 10 Febbraio 2012.
Abstract
This paper summarises the current development in the southern Ionian Islands (Kefallinia and Zakynthos) prehistory and places it within the context of seafaring. Archaeological data from the southern Ionian Islands show human habitation since Middle Palaeolithic going back to 110 ka BP yet bathymetry, sea-level changes and the Late Quaternary geology, show that Kefallinia and Zakynthos were insular at that time. Hence, human presence in these islands indicates inter island-mainland seafaring. Seafaring most likely started some time between 110 and 35 ka BP and the seafarers were the Neanderthals. Seafaring was encouraged by the coastal configuration, which offered the right conditions for developing seafaring skills according to the “voyaging nurseries” and “autocatalysis” concepts.
Approfondimenti:

• Neanderthals were ancient mariners (New Scientist, 29 February 2012)
  
• The Origins and Early Development of Mediterranean Maritime Activity (Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology, Vol 19, No 2, 2006)
  
• Neanderthal diet like early modern human's (Natural History Museum, 23 September 2008)
  
• Neanderthals had a taste for seafood (Guardian, 22 September 2008)
  
• Neanderthal exploitation of marine mammals in Gibraltar (Pnas, June 16, 2008)
  
• Are you smarter than a Neanderthal toolmaker? (ScienceLine, March 7, 2011)
  
• Shorter legs helped Neanderthals hike (The Johns Hopkins News-Letter, November 2, 2011)
  

Andrea Mameli www.linguaggiomacchina.it 3 marzo 2012