Neanderthals may have practiced freediving

[dewdropsonrosa]

Pop-science article: Free-Diving Neanderthals Gathered Tools From the Seafloor

New evidence suggests Neanderthals gathered clam shells and volcanic rock from the bottom of the Mediterranean, which they fashioned into tools. The work is yet more evidence that Neanderthals often ventured into the water, and it adds to the body of research showing that they were nothing like the unintelligent, uncoordinated clods they’ve long been portrayed to be.

Original research: Neandertals on the beach: Use of marine resources at Grotta dei Moscerini (Latium, Italy) (open access)

Excavated in 1949, Grotta dei Moscerini, dated MIS 5 to early MIS 4, is one of two Italian Neandertal sites with a large assemblage of retouched shells (n = 171) from 21 layers. The other occurrence is from the broadly contemporaneous layer L of Grotta del Cavallo in southern Italy (n = 126). Eight other Mousterian sites in Italy and one in Greece also have shell tools but in a very small number. The shell tools are made on valves of the smooth clam Callista chione. The general idea that the valves of Callista chione were collected by Neandertals on the beach after the death of the mollusk is incomplete. At Moscerini 23.9% of the specimens were gathered directly from the sea floor as live animals by skin diving Neandertals. Archaeological data from sites in Italy, France and Spain confirm that shell fishing and fresh water fishing was a common activity of Neandertals, as indicated by anatomical studies recently published by E. Trinkaus. Lithic analysis provides data to show the relation between stone tools and shell tools. Several layers contain pumices derived from volcanic eruptions in the Ischia Island or the Campi Flegrei (prior to the Campanian Ignimbrite mega-eruption). Their rounded edges indicate that they were transported by sea currents to the beach at the base of the Moscerini sequence. Their presence in the occupation layers above the beach is discussed. The most plausible hypothesis is that they were collected by Neandertals. Incontrovertible evidence that Neandertals collected pumices is provided by a cave in Liguria. Use of pumices as abraders is well documented in the Upper Paleolithic. We prove that the exploitation of submerged aquatic resources and the collection of pumices common in the Upper Paleolithic were part of Neandertal behavior well before the arrival of modern humans in Western Europe.

 

[Graeme Fraser]

Pretty sure I've seen a few still diving around our way. The large forehead and protruding jaw are usually a giveaway.

 

[WeRtheOcean]

Given that no other extant ape is aquatic, and among monkeys, only the proboscis monkey, it suggests that our propensity to play in the water is a synapomorphy, from our shared ancestor with the Neanderthals. I wonder if its evolutionary origin can be pinpointed -- i.e. before or after Homo erectus or Homo habilis.

 

[lowwall]

There's the Japanese Snow Monkeys that like to hang out in hot springs

 

[drk5036]

Free diving is wild. As someone who hasn’t trained at all, when I snorkel I can dive down and equalize since I have scuba training, but I can only get to probably like 3 meters for 20 seconds before I come back up. But I also know humans are easily capable of extending this to 2 minutes and significantly longer with just some simple training. As you mentioned, I guess this is probably an important feature of humans that differentiates us from other animals

 

[Schwob]

Pretty sure I've seen a few still diving around our way. The large forehead and protruding jaw are usually a giveaway.

☺
I was unaware you met me on a dive. Say "hi" next time will ya! ☺

 

[UGLY]

As you mentioned, I guess this is probably an important feature of humans that differentiates us from other animals

Not sure that this is what the above was saying. Anyhow, check out "mammalian diving reflex". A good way to frame evolutionary fitness in this context.

 

[AfterDark]

If you see me in the water you'd think they still do!

 

[AfterDark]

Not sure that this is what the above was saying. Anyhow, check out "mammalian diving reflex". A good way to frame evolutionary fitness in this context.

That's what sometimes saves children from actually dying after "drowning"; it's thought to be more prevailing in children, but I'll bet it's what makes the difference between freedivers and champion freedivers. The champs have learned how to find it again or never lost it and control it.

 

[IncreaseMyT]

Free diving is wild. As someone who hasn’t trained at all, when I snorkel I can dive down and equalize since I have scuba training, but I can only get to probably like 3 meters for 20 seconds before I come back up. But I also know humans are easily capable of extending this to 2 minutes and significantly longer with just some simple training. As you mentioned, I guess this is probably an important feature of humans that differentiates us from other animals

I actually did a online free diving class with immersion free diving. It is like $40 bucks and I learned a ton.

Everything said is completely correct, and I would like to add that the mammalian reflex (dive reflex) can be conditioned and this is how you get longer breath holds. It is like running, the more you run, the farther you can run. Same with the mammalian reflex, the more you practice, the stronger this reflex becomes.

If you really want to learn how to hold your breath longer, the key is learning how to fill up your lungs completely. I bet even though you think your filling up your lungs, you are only filling them up 50%. I literally doubled my breath hold times immediately after taking the immersion free diving class. So I highly recommend it.

He also teaches a lot of safety stuff, and one thing you can start practicing right away is hook breaths. You want to do this every single time you come to the surface, whether you're down there for 5 seconds, or five minutes.

A lot of people don't realize that 90% of blackouts (shallow water blackout) when free diving actually happen after you have surfaced, not before you surface. In the class he even has videos of this actually happening. I thought I knew what a blackout looked like but I was wrong, and seeing it with my own eyes really helped me to understand how to identify it so I can save my buddy if need be.

Ok Hook breaths. These greatly reduce the chances of you blacking out. Here is how it works:

1. After hitting the surface inhale and hold breath for 3 seconds (exhale fast) but not all the way.

2. Repeat 1

3. Repeat 1

So basically you are just going to take a very short breath, not a full breath, after surfacing and hold for 3 seconds, then exhale, not all the way, but quickly. Do this 3 times in a row.

This helps keep the pressure to your brainstem, preventing a pulmonary dump.

When we ascend the greatest pressure change is the last 10 feet. This can cause cause a dump and now no blood or oxygen is getting to the brain, and this causes a blackout.

Hook breaths only work if you do them every single time you surface.

Even though blackouts can happen when holding your breath for around a minute or less, they are far less likely to happen when holding your breath under 1 minute. So practicing your hook breaths, making them become habit is a good thing to do even before you start holding your breath longer than a minute.

If you hold your breath longer than a minute, your chances of a blackout increases greatly. So until you are really comfortable, and so is your buddy, I would keep them under a minute. You will be surprised how deep you can dive in only a minute, and it feels like an eternity when holding your breath. Most of free diving is a mind game.

Hope this helps and makes sense, let me know if you have any questions.