Some years back, a Mousterian tool---that's Neanderthal technology---was found in New England. It was determined that the stone tool had been taken up in a load of gravel that formed the ship's ballast. The stony ballast was dropped when the ship took on cargo in the new world. Wonder if that happened here...

"Recent" medical reports? While hide pipe bags are still available, I'd guesstimate that most pipers use a synthetic bag these days. And the bag treatment and sealing preparations are all modern chemicals these days. Unless the pipe bands in Philadelphia are really old-school, this sounds dubious.

Buddy Bolden is generally considered to have introduced improvisation in to jazz, before it was even called jazz.
http://www.redhotjazz.com/buddy.html
and http://www.neworleansonline.com/neworleans/music/musichistory/musicgreats/buddybolden.html

I'm an anthropologist, and have lived with Sami and Chukchi. After breaking through ice & snow with the hoof, reindeer use the antlers to sweep away the ice & snow to get to the forage below. They don't shed their antler until the very brief spring.

FINISH THE QUOTE!

"There is a strong chance that these results imply Neanderthal authorship," Prof Zilhao explained. "But I will not say we have proven it because we haven't, and it cannot be proven at this time."

This is not complete! The full movie is about 9 minutes long. Here's one link to it:
http://kennykeil.blogspot.com/2012/02/jim-hensons-time-piece.html

I too am perplexed at the "fake" Basque comment. Clarification please?

If you examine the anthropological literature on this subject, you find that most of these so-called "feral" children are either abandoned and living on the edges of their society, or deliberate hoaxes to "prove" some point in the nature-nurture debates.

Agreed with all of the above. I'm an anthropologist, teaching at a small college. I spend an inordinate amount of time trying to counteract these kind of "articles" and their basic cable cousins. For the record, the Maya and the Khmer did not "disappear," nor are they lost. They know right where they are, thank you very much, and you can even go talk to them about it if you like, and can afford the air fare.