Neanderthal
From Open Encyclopedia
- For other uses of "Neanderthal", see Neanderthal (disambiguation).
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| image = laferr3.jpg | image_width = 220px | image_caption = H. neanderthalensis La Ferrassie 1 | regnum = Animalia | phylum = Chordata | classis = Mammalia | ordo = Primates | familia = Hominidae | genus = Homo | species = H. neanderthalensis | binomial = Homo neanderthalensis | binomail_authority = King, 1864 }}
The Neanderthal or Neandertal was a species of Homo (Homo neanderthalensis) that inhabited Europe and parts of western Asia from about 230,000 to 29,000 years ago, during the Middle Paleolithic period.
Neanderthals were adapted to the cold, as shown by their large braincases, short but robust builds, and large noses — traits selected by nature in cold climates, as observed in modern sub-arctic populations. Their brain sizes have been estimated as larger than "modern" humans, but their brains may in fact have been approximately the same as those of modern humans. On average, Neanderthal males stood about 1.65m tall (just under 5' 6") and were heavily built, and muscular due to their physical activity. Females were about 1.53 to 1.57m tall(about 5'-5'2").
The characteristic style of stone tools in the Middle Paleolithic is called the Mousterian Culture, after a prominent archaeological site where the tools were first found. The Mousterian culture is typified by the wide use of the Levallois technique. Mousterian tools were often produced using soft hammer percussion, such as bones, antlers, and wood, rather than hard hammer percussion, using stone. Near the end of the time of Neandertals, they created the Chatelperronian tool style, considered more "advanced" than that of the Mousterian. They either invented the Chatelperronian themselves or "borrowed" elements from the incoming modern humans who are thought to have created the Aurignacian.
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Name and classification
The term "Neanderthal Man" was coined in 1863 by Irish anatomist William King. Neanderthal is now spelled two ways: The spelling of the German word Thal, meaning "valley or dale", was changed to Tal in the early 20th century, but the former spelling is often retained in English and always in scientific names, while the modern spelling is used in German.
The Neanderthal or "Neander valley" was named after theologian Joachim Neander, who lived there in the late seventeenth century.
The original German pronunciation (regardless of spelling) is with the sound /t/, rather than the sound /θ/ which is typical of the digraph th in English. When used in English, the term may get an anglicised /θ/ or an original /t/, depending on the speaker.
For many years, professionals vigorously debated about whether Neanderthals should be classified as Homo neanderthalensis or as Homo sapiens neanderthalensis, the latter placing Neanderthals as a subspecies of Homo sapiens. However, recent evidence from mitochondrial DNA studies have been interpreted as evidence that Neanderthals were not a subspecies of H. sapiens. Still, some scientists argue that fossil evidence suggests that the two species interbred, and hence were the same biological species.
Discovery
Image:Neandertals48.jpg A Neanderthal skull was first discovered in Forbes' Quarry, Gibraltar in 1848, eight years prior to the "original" discovery in a limestone quarry of the Neander Valley (near Düsseldorf) in August, 1856, three years before Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species was published.
The type specimen, dubbed Neanderthal 1, consisted of a skull cap, two femora, three bones from the right arm, two from the left arm, part of the left ilium, fragments of a scapula, and ribs. The workers who recovered this material originally thought it to be the remains of a bear. They gave the material to amateur naturalist Johann Karl Fuhlrott, who turned the fossils over to anatomist Hermann Schaafhausen. The discovery was jointly announced in 1857.
That discovery is now considered the beginning of paleoanthropology. These and other discoveries led to the idea that these remains were from ancient Europeans who had played an important role in modern human origins. The remains of over 400 Neanderthals have been found since.
Physical traits
The following is a list of physical traits that distinguish Neanderthals from modern humans; however, not all of them can be used to distinguish specific Neanderthal populations, from various geographic areas or periods of evolution, from other extinct humans. Also, many of these traits occasionally manifest in modern humans, particularly among certain ethnic groups. Nothing is known about the skin color, the hair, or the shape of soft parts such as eyes, ears, and lips of Neanderthals.
Compared to modern humans, Neanderthals were larger in size and had distinct morphological features, especially of the cranium, which gradually accumulated more derived aspects, particularly in certain relatively isolated geographic regions. Their relatively robust stature is thought to be an adaptation to the cold climate of Europe during the Pleistocene epoch. Image:Neanderthaler.JPG
- Cranial
- Suprainiac fossa, a groove above the inion
- Occipital bun, a protuberance of the occipital bone that looks like a hair knot
- Projecting mid-face
- Globe-shaped skull (from rear)
- Low, flat, elongated skull
- Supraorbital torus, a prominent browridge
- 1200-1700 cm³ skull capacity (10% greater than modern human average)
- Receding chin
- Crest on the mastoid process behind the ear opening
- No groove on canine teeth
- A space behind the last molars
- A broad, projecting nose
- Bony projections on the sides of the nasal opening
- Distinctive shape of the bony labyrinth in the ear
- Larger foram in skull for facial blood supply.
- Post-Cranial
- Considerably more muscular
- Large round finger tips
- Barrel-shaped rib cage
- Long, gracile pelvic pubis (superior pubic ramus);
- Large kneecaps
- Long collar bones
- Short, bowed shoulder blades
- Thick, bowed shaft of the thigh bones
- Short shinbones and calf bones
Based on a 2001 study, some commentators speculated that Neanderthals exhibited rufosity, and that some red-headed and freckled humans today share some heritage with Neanderthals. [1] However, more recent research indicates that this is not likely. [2]
Language
The theory that Neanderthals lacked complex language was widespread until 1983, when a Neanderthal hyoid bone was found at the Kebara Cave in Israel. The bone that was found is virtually identical to that of modern humans. The hyoid is a small bone that holds the root of the tongue in place, a requirement to human speech and, therefore, its presence seems to imply some ability to speak.
Many people believe that even without the hyoid bone evidence, it is obvious that tools as advanced as those of the Mousterian Era, attributed to Neanderthals, could not have been developed without cognitive skills encompassing some form of spoken language.
A recent study conducted on the Neanderthal hyoid found that due to the physical characteristics of Neanderthals and the fact that their larynx would have been stouter than that of modern man, the average note emitted by Neanderthals would have been high pitched and sharper than that of modern man, contrary to the media stereotype of Neanderthals having ape-like grunts.
The base of the Neanderthal tongue was positioned higher in the throat, crowding the mouth somewhat. As a result, Neanderthal speech would most likely have been slow-paced and nasalized.
There is still some debate, however, over whether Neanderthals actually had language, or merely had the physical ability to produce a wide enough range of sounds that under certain circumstances they could have developed language.
Tools
Image:Neanderthal hunter.jpg Neanderthal (Middle Paleolithic) archeological sites show both a smaller and a less flexible toolkit than in the Upper Paleolithic sites, occupied by modern humans that replaced them.
There is little evidence that Neanderthals used antlers, shell, or other bone materials to make tools: their bone industry was relatively simple. However, there is good evidence that they routinely constructed a variety of stone implements. The Neanderthal (Mousterian) tool case consisted of sophisticated stone-flakes, task-specific hand axes, and spears. Many of these tools were very sharp.
Also, while they had weapons, none have as yet been found that were used as projectile weapons. They had spears in the sense of a long wooden shaft with a spear head firmly attached to it, but these were not spears specifically crafted for flight (perhaps better described as a lance). However, a number of 400,000 year old wooden projectile spears were found at Schöningen in northern Germany. These are thought to have been made by the Neanderthal's ancestors, Homo erectus or Homo heidelbergensis. Generally, projectile weapons are more commonly associated with H. sapiens.
Although much has been made of the Neanderthal's burial of their dead, their burials were less elaborate than those of anatomically modern humans. The interpretation of the Shanidar IV burials as including flowers, and therefore being a form of ritual burial (Ralph Solecki 1975), has been questioned (Sommer 1999). On the other hand, five of the six flower pollens found with Shanidar IV are known to have had "traditional" medical uses, even among relatively recent "modern" populations. In some cases Neanderthal burials include grave goods such as bison and aurochs bones, tools, and the pigment ochre.
Neanderthals performed a sophisticated set of tasks normally associated with humans alone. For example, they constructed complex shelters, controlled fire, and skinned animals. Particularly intriguing is a hollowed-out bear femur with four holes spaced like four holes in the diatonic scale claimed by many to have been deliberately bored into it. This flute was found in western Slovenia in 1995 near a Mousterian Era fireplace used by Neanderthals, but its significance is still a matter of dispute.
See also: prehistoric music and Divje Babe.
Key dates
- 1848: Skull of ancient human found in Forbe's Quarry, Gibraltar. Its significance is not realised at the time.
- 1856: Johann Karl Fuhlrott first recognizes the fossil called “Neanderthal man.”
- 1880: The mandible of a Neanderthal child was found in a secure context, associated with cultural debris, including hearths, Mousterian tools, and bones of extinct animals.
- 1899: Hundreds of Neanderthal bones were described in stratigraphic position in association with cultural remains and extinct animal bones.
- 1908: A nearly complete Neanderthal skeleton in association with Mousterian tools and bones of extinct tools discovered.
- 1953-1957: Shanidar Cave, Northern Iraq: Ralph Solecki uncovers nine Neanderthal skeletons.
- 1975: Erik Trinkaus’s study of Neanderthal feet confirms they walked like modern humans.
- 1987: New thermoluminescence dates in the Levant place Neanderthal levels at Kebara at ca. 60,000 BP and modern humans at Qafzeh to 90,000 BP. These dates are confirmed by ESR dates for Qafzeh (90,000 BP) and Skhul (80,000 BP).
- 1991: New Electron Spin Resonance (ESR) dates for Near Eastern remains show Tabun Neanderthal to be contemporaneous with modern humans from Skhul and Qafzeh.
- 2000: Igor Ovchinnikov, Kirsten Liden, William Goodman et al. retrieve DNA from a late (29,000 BP) Neanderthal infant from Mezmaikaya Cave in the Caucausus.
- 2005: The Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology launches a project to reconstruct the Neanderthal genome.
Popular culture
Popular Literature has tended to greatly exaggerate the ape-like gait and related characteristics of the Neanderthals. It has been determined that some of the earliest specimens found in fact suffered from severe arthritis. The Neanderthals were fully bipedal and had a slightly larger average brain capacity than a typical modern human, though it is thought the brain structure was organised differently.
In popular idiom the word Neanderthal is sometimes used as an insult, to suggest that a person combines a deficiency of intelligence and an attachment to brute force, as well as perhaps implying the person is old fashioned or attached to outdated ideas, much in the same way as "dinosaur" is also used. Counterbalancing this are sympathetic literary portrayals of Neanderthals, as in the novel The Inheritors by William Golding and Jean M. Auel's Earth's Children series, or the more serious treatment by palaeontologist Björn Kurtén, in several works including Dance of the Tiger, and British psychologist Stan Gooch in his hybrid-origin theory of man.
Science fiction has depicted Neanderthals in several ways:
- In The Ugly Little Boy by Isaac Asimov, a Neanderthal child is brought into the present via time travel.
- Michael Crichton's 1976 novel Eaters of the Dead places a small Neanderthal population in Europe as the source of the battles recorded in Beowulf.
- In the Riverworld series, Philip José Farmer introduces a prominent Neanderthal character named Kazz, who interacts with modern humans. Jose Farmer's novella The Alley Man concerns a Neanderthal whose family has survived into modern times.
- Robert Sawyer's Neanderthal Parallax trilogy portrays contact with an alternate world where Neanderthals, not Homo sapiens, became the dominant species. The first book in this series, Hominids, won the Hugo Award in 2003. (Sawyer's 1997 novel Frameshift used Neanderthal DNA as an element of a plot set in modern-day America.)
- In John Darnton's 1996 novel Neanderthal a group of surviving Neanderthals is discovered in the mountains of Afghanistan. In the novel Neanderthals are said to possess the ability to read minds due to their larger cranial capacity.
- In Darwin's Radio by Greg Bear (winner of 2003 Nebula Award), a phenomenon which cause the Neanderthals to die off now threatens modern humans.
- In the 1989 Doctor Who serial Ghost Light a Neanderthal named Nimrod is a butler. He shows good intelligence throughout the serial. Neanderthals also appear in the 2005 Ninth Doctor Adventures spin-off novel Only Human where they also show good intelligence but struggle with concepts such as fiction and lies, and they appear to not understand why humans 'are always making things'
- Neanderthals are portrayed as having been brought back from extinction to fill low paying jobs in Jasper Fforde's novel Lost in a Good Book, as well as later novels in the series.
- Hindu Epic Ramayana mentions human-like apes and bears resembling Neanderthals.
- A character in Sergio Bonelli's comic book, "Martin Mystère", is a Neanderthal called Java. He is a part of the last surviving Neanderthal population, living in a hidden city in Mongolia.
- A Neanderthal named Java also appeared as a supporting character in the adventures of Metamorpho the Element Man by DC Comics. The name of this character and the 'Java' from Martin Mystère are both inspired by the Java Man remains.
- Down in the Bottomlands by Harry Turtledove is set in an alternate time-line where Europe is still inhabited by Homo neanderthalensis.
See also
External links
- 'Neanderthals "mated with modern humans"' - BBC (April 21, 1999)
- 'Neanderthals had hands like ours' - Helen Briggs, BBC (March 27, 2003)
- geocities.com - 'The Neanderthal Sites at Veldwezelt-Hezerwater, Belgium'
- 'Comparing Neanderthals and modern humans' (cranio-facial reconstructions) - IFI.unizh.ch
- 'Neanderthals: A Cyber Perspective' - Kharlena María Ramanan, Indiana State University
- Krapina.com - 'Krapina: The World's Largest Neanderthal Finding Site'
- Neanderthal Flute -- oldest known musical instrument matches 4 notes of do-re-mi scale. Was it made by carnivores, or is it an artifact?
- Neanderthal.de - 'Neanderthal Museum'
- Picture of Fossilized Human Footprints found back in 1970 on Volcanic layers near Demirkopru Dam Reservoir Manisa - TURKEY
References
- C. David Kreger 6/30/00 Homo Neanderthalensis (archive link, was dead)
- Dennis O'Neil 12/6/04 Evolution of Modern Humans Neandertals retrieved 12/26/2004
- Fink, Bob (1997) The Neanderthal Flute... (Greenwich, Canada) ISBN 0912424125
- Hickmann, Kilmer, Eichmann (ed.) (2003) [http://www.greenwych.ca/studies.htm Studies in Music Archaeology III International Study Group on Music Archaeology's 2000 symposium. ISBN 3896466402
- Solecki, R. S. (1975) Shanidar IV, a Neanderthal flower burial in N. Iraq Science 190 (28) 880
- Sommer, J.D. (1999) The Shanidar IV 'Flower Burial': A Reevaluation of Neanderthal Burial Ritual, Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 9 127-129.
- Eva M. Wild, Maria Teschler-Nicola, Walter Kutschera, Peter Steier, Erik Trinkaus & Wolfgang Wanek (19 May 2005) Direct dating of Early Upper Palaeolithic human remains from Mladeč, Nature 435:332–335. link for Nature subscribers
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