Good start. I suspect that most of the paleolithic archaeological record is underwater. We know that mesolithic HGs ate a lot of shellfish, and the very early sapiens record in Africa shows shellfish consumption too. Maybe one day we will have the means to explore these sites.
Thanks! I'm inclined to agree with you based on both current evidence and indeed how little of the actual land in the surrounding area is left above water. That said, I do also think there is much more to find - the problem with archaeological data sometimes is it is skewed towards what little we've found, and often if an investigation in a cave found lots of evidence, then more excavations will take place in caves, perhaps leaving other regions to be ignored. Always something to keep in mind when looking at archaeological trends, especially so far back with so little evidence to go off. Also, so far as I understand, we do technically have the means to investigate the landscape below the water, however, it's highly expensive and requires specialised equipment and archaeologists, so unfortunately it's not really worth the cost, time, and effort compared to what we could potentially learn, at least for now!
That's such a good point! Generally humans tend to live by water/coasts and I guess we're jsut looking at the mountain and hill tops now so it's logical to assume the submerged coasts would be a better place for them to have occupied, it would be lovely to find but I wonder how much damage salt water would have done to any evidence
@@claire2088 I have no expertise in such things, but I would speculate that the salt probably doesn't have much of an effect. I think the oxygen levels and pH are more important. Unfortunately, oxygen is usually available in shallow coastal waters, and the pH is nearer neutral than it would be in a peat bog. On the other hand, marine organisms typically aren't evolved to eat terrestrial stuff*, and I think that wood preserves fairly well, at least in colder waters. *I think there is some worm in tropical waters that has figured out how to eat wood.
Awww that's really appreciated, thanks mate! I have more stuff in the works, been busy with house/job hunting hence the gap in the series but should be able to continue in the next couple of weeks so keep an eye out, and in the meantime thanks for watching 😄
Glad I could be the thing to spark that curiosity some more 😆 Just looked it up out of curiosity, in case you hadn't done so - it's most likely Cornish or Irish as there are Kerns recorded in both over the Medieval period, though Ireland's clan dates back later than Kernow's, however, it could also be German, too! Anyway, thanks for watching!
More likely from the Irish. However Kernow is a Cornish surname. As well as meaning Cornwall in Cornish, it is the Cornish word for a male Cornish man.
Very interesting. Sadly the geology of Kernow is neither conducive to the formation of natural inland caves nor the long term preservation of human remains or indeed ultimately, remains of human presence. Limestone caves could be considered in one view to be the abode of choice for Palaeolithic man, based on the volume of evidence found. Another view would be that the chemical composition, and shelter from erosion offered by basic limestone caves, produces a more suitable environment for preservation of artefacts and remains than those exposed to the elements or corrosive acidic geology. Additionally nigh on every square foot of Kernow’s landscape has been manipulated by man repeatedly for millennia. From early clearing, to mining and quarrying, to later agricultural and industrial expansion, few stones have been unturned, down to the bedrock and beyond, with much of that bedrock being deposited on top of anything there previously. A comparison of evidence found in a few small protected geographic anomalies, to the wider contrasting environment is not going to yield any fruitful conclusion. What you see depends mainly on what you look for.
3:09. Does this make sense to anyone? That people would honestly just toss their tools in the mud? Rather than repurpose reuse ? According to what we are told they couldnt just go to Walmart for another low quality throw away tool. Surely these werent consumerist societies of debt släves; practicing the beautiful arts of planned obsolescence, disconnect, waste and greed.
the problem with stone tools is that you cant resharp them. Stone tools can be extremly sharp (sharper than scalpels!) but after they get dull they are useless
quite honestly where else would they toss them? how are you going to re-use a stone blade thats properly broken? you cant exactly melt it down and recast it
I think the small number of artifacts found at least prohibit one from completely ruling out that there were human inhabitation of Kernow during the Paleolitich. It IS entirely possible that there is further evidence that is now drowning in the ocean. I appreciate your conservative inclination not to rashly base any conclusion on the meager finds of artifacts. But I think at the very least there should be a test applied to determine how these artifacts could not indicate human inhabitation at the places they were found. Are you saying that were brought in from somewhere else? Wouldn't the presence of a human-made artifact indicate a human made them and they made them roughly where they were found? What other conclusion is there? Are you saying that you can conclude only that the artifacts indicate an incident of habitation but that you otherwise have to assume it was not permanent? Why would that be the case? Why couldn't they indicate a permanent settlement?
all hominids at this point were nomadic, well before agriculture, so its hard to say if a discarded tool is simply from a group passing through on the hunt from somewhere else or a population that lived, hunted, & foraged in a region for an extended period
It does seem odd that Kernow would remain uninhabited while other areas of Northern Europe were inhabited, so if it actually was uninhabited there must be something about this region that made it uniquely hostile to humans.
Essentially that does follow my line of thinking since we do know, as I mentioned, that in nearby Devon there was limited but consistant occupation and the Palaeochannels in Kernow would've been ripe for exploiting. However there are two key reasons why it would not be guaranteed in Kernow; firstly, the population of early humans in any given part of the world during the Palaeolithic would've been relatively low, meaning it's just not plausible they could've been everywhere all at once. Once we can say from the evidence it's plausible at somepoint someone came by, whether or not anyone would've lived in what is essentially a very small slither of land towards the edge of the continent back then is not a forgone conclusion. Then secondly, as much of Kernow's coast was once land, including one of the old Palaeochannels, just like I mentioned in the video it's possible they lived here but it is now underwater and, if there ever was evidence of their potential activity around Kernow, this fact complicates both whether or not that evidence has survived and how archaeologists can access it - given underwater archaeology is by no means a cheap or simple thing! Anyway, thanks for watching! :)
Good start. I suspect that most of the paleolithic archaeological record is underwater. We know that mesolithic HGs ate a lot of shellfish, and the very early sapiens record in Africa shows shellfish consumption too. Maybe one day we will have the means to explore these sites.
Thanks!
I'm inclined to agree with you based on both current evidence and indeed how little of the actual land in the surrounding area is left above water. That said, I do also think there is much more to find - the problem with archaeological data sometimes is it is skewed towards what little we've found, and often if an investigation in a cave found lots of evidence, then more excavations will take place in caves, perhaps leaving other regions to be ignored. Always something to keep in mind when looking at archaeological trends, especially so far back with so little evidence to go off.
Also, so far as I understand, we do technically have the means to investigate the landscape below the water, however, it's highly expensive and requires specialised equipment and archaeologists, so unfortunately it's not really worth the cost, time, and effort compared to what we could potentially learn, at least for now!
That's such a good point! Generally humans tend to live by water/coasts and I guess we're jsut looking at the mountain and hill tops now so it's logical to assume the submerged coasts would be a better place for them to have occupied, it would be lovely to find but I wonder how much damage salt water would have done to any evidence
@@claire2088 I have no expertise in such things, but I would speculate that the salt probably doesn't have much of an effect. I think the oxygen levels and pH are more important. Unfortunately, oxygen is usually available in shallow coastal waters, and the pH is nearer neutral than it would be in a peat bog. On the other hand, marine organisms typically aren't evolved to eat terrestrial stuff*, and I think that wood preserves fairly well, at least in colder waters.
*I think there is some worm in tropical waters that has figured out how to eat wood.
Really interesting start. I'm looking forward to more
Great to hear! 😌
Love this content, detail is good and facts are relatively spot on, your editing and presentation are awesome, well done❤
Just subscribed BTW
Nicely done; looking forward to catching up. Thanks for the uploads.
THIS WAS SO COOL! Love how cheeky the Neanderthals looked lol
Ahaha thanks! Yeah I saw those photos and just HAD to use them tbh 😂
Cheeky fraudomites
Interesting video! Looking forward the the next :)
Thanks, I appreciate it! 😄
brilliant video chief, love this series. thank you for calling our country Kernow as well!!!! meur ras
Awww that's really appreciated, thanks mate! I have more stuff in the works, been busy with house/job hunting hence the gap in the series but should be able to continue in the next couple of weeks so keep an eye out, and in the meantime thanks for watching 😄
i live in cornwall and its cool to find out about the history look foward to more :)
My last name is Kerns. I’ve always wondered where it came from and seeing your channel name makes me more curious. Great video!
Glad I could be the thing to spark that curiosity some more 😆
Just looked it up out of curiosity, in case you hadn't done so - it's most likely Cornish or Irish as there are Kerns recorded in both over the Medieval period, though Ireland's clan dates back later than Kernow's, however, it could also be German, too!
Anyway, thanks for watching!
More likely from the Irish. However Kernow is a Cornish surname. As well as meaning Cornwall in Cornish, it is the Cornish word for a male Cornish man.
Very interesting. Sadly the geology of Kernow is neither conducive to the formation of natural inland caves nor the long term preservation of human remains or indeed ultimately, remains of human presence.
Limestone caves could be considered in one view to be the abode of choice for Palaeolithic man, based on the volume of evidence found. Another view would be that the chemical composition, and shelter from erosion offered by basic limestone caves, produces a more suitable environment for preservation of artefacts and remains than those exposed to the elements or corrosive acidic geology.
Additionally nigh on every square foot of Kernow’s landscape has been manipulated by man repeatedly for millennia. From early clearing, to mining and quarrying, to later agricultural and industrial expansion, few stones have been unturned, down to the bedrock and beyond, with much of that bedrock being deposited on top of anything there previously.
A comparison of evidence found in a few small protected geographic anomalies, to the wider contrasting environment is not going to yield any fruitful conclusion.
What you see depends mainly on what you look for.
Living near an estuary is almost always a good idea. I beleive the artifacts are underwater.
Curnow here - is that a common surname in Cornwall still?
Yes.
Good to know! Hopefully I’ll be able to make the next international family reunion
A drastic sinking of land? Or a drastic rise of the ocean?
Liquefaction is a major part of the amnesia through time.
3:09. Does this make sense to anyone? That people would honestly just toss their tools in the mud? Rather than repurpose reuse ?
According to what we are told they couldnt just go to Walmart for another low quality throw away tool.
Surely these werent consumerist societies of debt släves; practicing the beautiful arts of planned obsolescence, disconnect, waste and greed.
the problem with stone tools is that you cant resharp them. Stone tools can be extremly sharp (sharper than scalpels!) but after they get dull they are useless
quite honestly where else would they toss them? how are you going to re-use a stone blade thats properly broken? you cant exactly melt it down and recast it
I think the small number of artifacts found at least prohibit one from completely ruling out that there were human inhabitation of Kernow during the Paleolitich. It IS entirely possible that there is further evidence that is now drowning in the ocean. I appreciate your conservative inclination not to rashly base any conclusion on the meager finds of artifacts. But I think at the very least there should be a test applied to determine how these artifacts could not indicate human inhabitation at the places they were found. Are you saying that were brought in from somewhere else? Wouldn't the presence of a human-made artifact indicate a human made them and they made them roughly where they were found? What other conclusion is there? Are you saying that you can conclude only that the artifacts indicate an incident of habitation but that you otherwise have to assume it was not permanent? Why would that be the case? Why couldn't they indicate a permanent settlement?
all hominids at this point were nomadic, well before agriculture, so its hard to say if a discarded tool is simply from a group passing through on the hunt from somewhere else or a population that lived, hunted, & foraged in a region for an extended period
Splann yw henna.
Meur ras! 😅😌
It does seem odd that Kernow would remain uninhabited while other areas of Northern Europe were inhabited, so if it actually was uninhabited there must be something about this region that made it uniquely hostile to humans.
Essentially that does follow my line of thinking since we do know, as I mentioned, that in nearby Devon there was limited but consistant occupation and the Palaeochannels in Kernow would've been ripe for exploiting.
However there are two key reasons why it would not be guaranteed in Kernow; firstly, the population of early humans in any given part of the world during the Palaeolithic would've been relatively low, meaning it's just not plausible they could've been everywhere all at once. Once we can say from the evidence it's plausible at somepoint someone came by, whether or not anyone would've lived in what is essentially a very small slither of land towards the edge of the continent back then is not a forgone conclusion.
Then secondly, as much of Kernow's coast was once land, including one of the old Palaeochannels, just like I mentioned in the video it's possible they lived here but it is now underwater and, if there ever was evidence of their potential activity around Kernow, this fact complicates both whether or not that evidence has survived and how archaeologists can access it - given underwater archaeology is by no means a cheap or simple thing!
Anyway, thanks for watching! :)
Nearly home trees 😬
Well spotted! Had to include them somewhere! 😉
Land sank? Pretty sure sea levels rose when the glaciers started to melt.
Proper job. Meur ras🏴☠
Meur ras rag henna.
Possibly good video completely ruined by overpowering non stop violin music drowning out the dialogue on the whole..
I can barely hear music, maybe check your audio settings.
Wouldn't say it drowns it out. Perhaps focus less on ee