Essay on Neanderthals

These stone tool might have served as a chopper, useful in cutting wood, cracking nuts, or breaking open bones for their marrow.One advance was the development of composite tools, like the spear.To maintain a successful Hunting/Gathering economy, these early modern humans had to be mobile. That is, they had to be able to relocate often and quickly. Hunter/Gatherers could not afford to gather possessions. They had no pack animals to help them carry loads

Throughout the documentary “Decoding Neanderthals” there was a push of research to push the human view of Neanderthals. Over the year’s research showed that we coexisted with Neanderthals and out beat their species. Many believed that Neanderthals where like the stereotypical unintelligent and wild caveman. With new technology, enhanced research, and the exposing documentary “Decoding Neanderthals” pushed the boundaries of these past ideologies. Through this we have learned how intelligent, symbolic, and closely related this species is to homo-sapiens species. This research proved that the Neanderthal may have not became extent due to in ability to create weapons but, due to inter breading with humans

This article states that Homo sapiens were not the first to create jewelry, but according to the author Neanderthals were also the first to have a "particular level of abstract thinking" meaning Neanderthals may have been a lot smart than people credit them to be. For many years researcher had never gathered any information to lead then to think Neanderthals had any intelligence until the findings if their jewelry, the researchers also stated "These talons provide multiple new lines of evidence for Neanderthals abilities and cultural sophistication, they are the earliest evidence for jewelry in the European fossil record and demonstrate that Neanderthals possessed a symbolic culture long before more modern human forms arrived in Europe." it is said that all of their jewelry comes from one bird. An extremely difficult bird to capture both

In a skeleton found in Asia, the discovery of a hyoid bone in the the throat raised the question of whether or not Neanderthals had language capabilities. There has been much debate over this and many different theories, but the most widely accepted is that they were capable of producing human speech sounds, but whether or not they used this speech to communicate in any kind of language is still largely up for debate. In height, Neanderthals were roughly about the same size as modern humans, but did not live as long as modern humans. A Neanderthal who lived into his or her 40's was considered to be long lived, which is comparatively short to our much longer lives of roughly double that. Genetically, Neaderthals and humans differ in their DNA structure both in the mitochondrial DNA and in the nuclear DNA. The significance of the DNA evidence is that it is crucial in determining whether remains that are found are truly Neanderthal or an older hominin relative.

Back in the Stone Age, the early man created tools to help them do everyday tasks they needed to survive. In document #2, figure 2 shows a variety of tools and weapons created by early man such as bows, arrows, and spear throwers and so on. The materials needed to make these include bones, antlers, and teeth because they were durable. Some types of tools that early man made was sharper blades for hunting, fishhooks for fishing, and needles for sewing. In document #5, a picture shows a group of people doing tasks to help out with the community. One woman is crafting fur/skin into clothes, another woman is taking care of a child and the men are hunting for food. Without tools, these tasks would take a longer time to accomplish and would be even harder to do. Depending on the group, the cultures could be different, which could effect on how they make a

Excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Paleolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. The Ancient peoples of pre-Roman Italy – such as the Umbrians, the Latins (from which the Romans emerged), Volsci, Samnites, the Celts and the Ligures which inhabited northern Italy, and many others – were Indo-European peoples; the main historic peoples of non-Indo-European heritage include the Etruscans, the Elymians and Sicani in Sicily and the prehistoric Sardinians.

Ouch! That hurt! I was kicked so ferociously into the net which provided a blanket to my ill-treating. I wonder why people cheer and clap hands for my beating. I’m just a tiny ball covered with white and black spots in contrast to the towering humans. I seem to be just a tool for entertainment and the main focus of a game which these people play. The game consists of Neanderthals who are split into two teams and the main goal of this game is to transfer me by foot into a netting shaped as a rectangle. The only thing that stands in the way are eleven other homo sapiens who have to score on the opposite netting. My favorite human is the ones who stand in the middle of the netting and rarely move compared to the other teammates. I like him the most

Several different hypotheses have been formulated to explain the extinction of Neanderthals, from climate changes to intoxication from cave-associated contaminants like smoke, from cannibalism to diseases (Herrera et al., 2009). It is only certain that Neanderthals disappeared from fossil record after the arrival of modern humans, around 40,000 years in Asia, and 10,000-15,000 years in Europe (Shreeve, 1995). Fossil evidence shows the presence of modern humans in Middle East from 130,000 to 75,000 years ago, in the same areas where Neanderthals retreated between 65,000 and 47,000 years ago (Mellars, 2004).

An ancient human species, known as the Neanderthals, emerged into this world 300,000 to 100,000 years ago. The Neanderthals occupied Eurasia, from Europe to Central Asia. During this time, Europe was in an Ice Age, which means the Neanderthals had a difficult time surviving because of the harsh weather. Around 24,000 years ago, this species disappeared; this was around the time when the Homo sapiens arrived from their original home in Africa (Tuttle). Even though the modern humans showed up and started competing for food and land, the Neanderthals were skilled in a variety of areas. According to the journal Smithsonian, Neanderthals learned how to control fire for warmth and cooking, make clothing for the severe weather conditions, and become

This lecture connection made was made to the Article “Neanderthal were people, too “by Jon Mooallem. Introducing his story to the audience about Gorham’s cave and the knowledge behind his excavation to the caves. The article describes and reflects back to humanity in the change of old view and assumption. Describing the Neanderthals as peoples and their shared ancestry with us. The Neanderthals did similar belief as the human species being they buried their dead. They had faith and reason to their functions. Believed in ceremonial purpose relating how we humans also believe in faith and ceremonial purpose there is a reason. Through congruence, both centuries had knowledge from experience and practical understatement.

The next major step in human development is the Neanderthal. In Comparison to the other primates discussed this far, Neanderthals existed very recently and existed alongside Homo Sapiens during their time until they became extinct 40,000 years ago. Humans and Neanderthals share DNA that is 99.7% identical as compared to the next closest genetic relative the Chimpanzee(98.8%). Physically Neanderthals had short legs and long bodies (compared to humans). Neanderthals had a cranial capacity of 1,427 cubic centimeters on average,this is very close to the H. sapiens cranial capacity..

Although Neanderthals were a branch of the human family tree, they have been seen as a primarily forgotten species. They were known for a variable diet, hunting, and lacking language and art. It was also believed that they lacked the capacity of knowledge as modern species. However, due to new discoveries, we realize that Neanderthals are much closer to the modern human species and more intelligent than we believe.

Upon investigating the bones Schmerling did not recognize them as a distinct species (Sawyer et al. 2007).The first true Neanderthal was discovered in the Neander Valley, near Dusseldorf in 1856 by a group of miners who were blasting out a cave in the area. When the crew uncovered archaic bones they contacted a local schoolteacher, Johann Karl Fuhlrott. Fuhlrott was the first to recognize the fossils as a new species. In 1864, William King in the Quarterly Journal of Science identified this new species as Homo neanderthalensis after the location of its unearthing (Sawyer et al. 2007).

There are multiple styles of lithic tools found at the site. The two types of blades and production are Aurignacian and Gravettien. The Aurignacian style, which is usually associated with larger blades (the longest found on site was 127mm made of brown chert), and the Gravettien which generally favored shorter blades (the longest of which was 85.2 mm made of radiolarite) (Joachim Hahn, Linda R. Owen 1985). The materials used for the Aurignacian blades were local chert and radiolarite, both obtained from the Danube (Joachim Hahn, Linda R.

Homo habilis is thought to have mastered the Lower Paleolithic Olduwan tool set which used stone flakes. These stone flakes were more advanced than any tools previously used, and gave H. habilis the edge it needed to prosper in hostile environments previously too formidable for primates.