To get a sense of what it is to be human, at least in the evolutionary world, we need only to compare our modern selves to our ancestors such as the Neanderthals. The Neanderthals were our closest hominin relative and died out thousands of years ago. Like us, they walked on two legs, hunted , made fire and tools, and lived in shelters (caves). They were more advanced than many of us imagine they were thanks to the way they are portrayed in the media. They had brains similar in size to ours, they stood fully upright (not hunched over), and had a surprisingly complex culture. When asked what it means to be human, you can compare many different aspects of our lives, such as biology, culture, and even religious beliefs. We obviously have no way of comparing our relgious beliefs to those of the Neanderthals, so in this essay, I will compare modern humans to Neanderthals on a biological, behavioral and cultural basis.
Similar to other pre-human hominins, Neanderthals were found throughout Africa, Asia and Europe and their anatomical features varied by their location likely due to climate and other factors of the region. For instance, the Neanderthals of Eastern Europe and Western Asia tended to be less “robust” than those found in Western Europe likely because it wasn't as cold in those areas. Neanderthals had large brains and most were even larger than today's modern human brain, which is believed to be the result of climate adjustment and more efficient metablolism better suited to cold climates. Their skulls, again, similar to their older hominin relatives, was large and bulged out at the sides, with a forehead that rose upwards more vertically than previous hominins and had a browridge that arched over the eye sockets, rat...
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...avioral nor cultural. It's all of those combined, but I believe in this day and age, it's the cultural aspect that makes being human distinctly different. Biologcially, our brains have allowed us the means to have genius thinkers among us that have led to huge cultural advancements. When we label a country as a “third world country” it's typically due to it's primitive culture and lack of technology, including modern medicine. When we label a culture as lower on the totem pole and treat the humans as such, this leads me to believe that our culture ultimately defines what it means to be human and the less advanced your culture is, the less human you are perceived to be, which would mean that in no way was Neanderthal human.
Works Cited
Jurmaln, R., Kilgore, L., & Trevathan, W. (2011). Essentials of physical anthropology. (9th ed., p. 5). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Chinese and Malaysian Homo Sapiens have very close features to the Neanderthal. The skull analysis of Neanderthals and Homo sapiens are usually considered more accurate if the entire skull is examined, rather than certain ...
Around 1.8 million years ago, two hominids were born, first the Homo Erectus and then the Neanderthals. Although the two very different humans. However, were they that different? Our ancestors were very versatile hominids. They lived in various places and lived in a variety of ways. The Homo Erectus and Neanderthals were all special in their ways. They had similarities and differences that set them apart. They had similarities, but in the same way, their differences helped them survive if they had not adapted to how they lived they would have lasted the same time that their ancestors have lived. The Neanderthals lived for an average lifespan 30 years. They had to have some mistake that decreased their lifespan because if the Homo Erectus had done the same, there’s a chance that we might not be here now. Their differences set the future that we live in today. These
The human archaeological record is a long and undefined story that may be the most complex question researched today. One of the big questions in human history is the disappearance of the Neanderthal people from the archaeological record around 30,000 BP. While for thousands of years Neanderthals and Anatomically modern humans crossed paths and perhaps lived in close relations, we have yet to really understand the degree to which they lived together. My hypothesis is that these two hominids, Neanderthals and Anatomically Modern Humans, interbred exchanging genes after Modern Humans dispersed from Africa and creating like cultures and material remains. The differences between Neanderthal and Modern humans are not only physical but also genetically evolved and this research will determine an estimated amount of admixture between the two groups.
Even though Neanderthals had some physiological differences between humans, there are proves to say that Neanderthals had some characteristics that related them to humans, and they were really intelligent like
The first morphological features that later would become typical of Neanderthals, the projecting middle part of the face and a depression at the back of the skull, have been observed in fossils found in Europe as old as 400,000 years (Stringer & Hublin, 1999). These fossils belonged to Homo heidelbergensis, which in one of the various evolutionary scenarios that ties Neanderthals and modern humans is considered the ancestor of both Homo neanderthalensis and Homo sapiens (Hubmlin, 2009).
In recent years, the Homo Neanderthalensis were viewed as “subhuman brutes”, but are now seen as a different species from our own (Balter 2001). The Neanderthals were a branch of the Homo genus that evolved in Eurasia at least 200,000 years ago (Fagan 2010). The first Neand...
Stanford, Craig B., John S. Allen, and Susan C. Antón. Exploring Biological Anthropology: The Essentials. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2010. 17. Print.
Most of their evidence comes from the fossilized bones of Neanderthals and Cro- Magnons, or modern man’s ancestors (Shreeve, 150). There is a definite difference between their bone structures, and it may be a significant enough difference to divide them into species. There is a set of traits that distinguishes Neanderthals. Their general proportions are short, robust, and strong. Males and females of all ages have thick bones, and very pronounced muscle and ligament attachment sites. They also have distinct facial and cranial features. They have a large skull with no chin, a significant brow-ridge, and a large nasal opening (Shreeve, 49-150). They have large brains, around 1400cc, that protrude in the back, causing an occipital bun in the skull (Lecture, 4/19). Cro-Magnons on the other hand look more like humans do today. They are more slender and not as muscular, with chins and rounder skulls with slightly smaller brains among other traits.
Neanderthals represent one of the most complex early human cultures. They were a rugged people with complex social and material lives. They lived under very rough environm...
According to rationalwiki,“Multiregionalism or the Multiregional Evolution (MRE) hypothesis is a model of Pleistocene human evolution, which argues the human species emerged in Africa 2 million years ago, and developed their modern forms in every area of the Old World.” This specific theory states that modern humans came from different ancestors that were descendants of a more common ancestor, Homo erectus. According to this theory, Neanderthals are only an ancestor of some Homo sapiens today, around the Europe area, and not the ancestors of Homo sapiens from other parts of the globe. The evidence for this, explained by American Institute of Biological Science, are facts such as that after each region 's common ancestor, there was a lot of interbreeding that caused the one Homo sapien species today. That being said, the excess of interbreeding this theory suggests, assumes that that is the primary causation for why modern day Homo sapiens don’t look different from each other despite having different
“The scientific study of how humans developed did not begin until the 1800s in Europe. Until that time, people relied on religious explanations of how humans came into existence. Starting in the 1500s a scientific revolution began to sweep Europe. Thinkers started using scientific methods and experiments to try to better understand the world and the creatures living in it. Eventually these methods were turned to the question of human origins” (The Nature Of Human Origins, 1). Earth made it possible for species to change over time because Ancient Earth provides ability to plenty of time.The Homo Sapien a is very complex creature. The species started off very simple by living in caves and surviving with little food and then later evolved into a species that were able to do many more complex things. The first species was Sahelanthropus tchadensis They were one of the most simple humans in that time period and on. They had very small skulls compared to Homo Sapiens today and their motor skills were just the same. We have evolved and changed for the better both mentally and physically. The Evolution of Homo Sapiens started off simple, such as the Neanderthals, and now we are the most advanced species to ever walk the planet so far.
One Difference is Their Foods. “Women gathered animal skins”(Article 1). “In the fall animals were slaughtered”(Article 2) Gathering foods seemed a little hard to do but it wasn’t for them because they have been doing it for the most part of their life. Another Difference is Housing. “Most Lived in Caves”(Article 1).“The Manor system allowed peasants to have land and farm,...”(Article 2). For them Being in the Same Location, Europe, You would have probably thought that their living situation would be the same but the much different. The Final Difference is Religious Beliefs. “Neanderthals may have practiced rituals connected with their belief of Afterlife”(Article 1). “People Celebrated births, marriages, and Religious Holidays, which were a chance to feast”(Article 2).Their Actual Religious cultures were almost similar but didn’t make the
Jurmaln, R., Kilgore, L., & Trevathan, W. (2011). Essentials of physical anthropology. (9th ed., p. 5). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Human nature is that quality that sets us apart from other living things; it is the definition of what we are.
Humans are extremely complex and unique beings. We are animals however we often forget our origins and our place in the natural world and consider ourselves superior to nature. Humans are animals but what does it mean to be human? What are the defining characteristics that separate us from other animals? How are we different? Human origins begin with primates, however through evolution we developed unique characteristics such as larger brain sizes, the capacity for language, emotional complexity and habitual bipedalism which separated us from other animals and allowed us to further advance ourselves and survive in the natural world. Additionally, humans have been able to develop a culture, self-awareness, symbolic behavior, and emotional complexity. Human biological adaptations separated humans from our ancestors and facilitated learned behavior and cultural adaptations which widened that gap and truly made humans unlike any other animal.