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Neanderthal Division of Labor

News February 19, 2015

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(CSIC Communications Department)
MADRID, SPAIN—A study published by the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) has concluded that within communities of Neanderthals, some jobs were divvied up between men and women according to their sex. While the research showed that both sexes had dental grooves as a result of the use of their mouths as a kind of third hand, the grooves in the teeth of adult women were longer than those in adult men, leading to the conclusion that each sex performed different jobs, although it is not yet clear exactly which belonged to men and which to women. "Nevertheless, we believe that the specialization of labor by sex of the individuals was probably limited to a few tasks, as it is possible that both men and women participated equally in the hunting of big animals,” says Almudena Estalrrich of the CSIC. To read about the Neanderthal genome project, go to “Neanderthal Genome Decoded.” 

 

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