Sunday, 20 December 2020

Did Our Ancestors Rip van Winkle?

A paper by Juan-Luis Aruaga and Antonis Bartiokas has suggested that our Neantherthal ancestors, some 400,000 years ago, may have survived very harsh winters, at that time, by hibernating in caves (https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/dec/20/early-humans-may-have-survived-the-harsh-winters-by-hibernating). Hibernating involves the slowing of metabolism and conserving energy by sleeping for several months. Their conclusion is based on examining bones from the Sima de los Huesos ('Cave of Bones') at Atapuerca in Northern Spain. Some of the bones had lesions, which were very similar to those seen in animals, we know to hibernate, such as cave bears. Perhaps we ought to try it again, until the Covid-19 pandemic is over?
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