The Neanderthal, or Homo Neanderthalensis were a subspecies of humans, found in the Neander River in Germany, which they are named after. It is thought they went extinct around 40,000 to 28,000 years ago. The remains of Neanderthal have been located throughout much of Northern and western Asia as well as Western Europe. They are typically classified as a separate lineage of Homo Sapiens, which separated around 600,000 years ago.
Neanderthals were closely related to modern humans (Homo Sapiens Sapiens), with DNA of around 99.5% the same. While looking at their physical similarities to modern humans, they are also quite similar in that regard as well. Their bodies were overall shorter than modern humans, with males standing somewhere between
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Mousterian class tools are typically found all throughout Europe, North Africa as well as the Middle East. Neanderthals typically used a technique called soft hammer percussion which focussed on constructing hammers out of bones and wood, instead of hard hammer percussion, which used hammers made of stone instead. As a result, their bone industry is quite simple, that is, the tools they made out of bones were simple as a result of their production methods. The Neanderthals were not limited to only bone tools, they also used many sophisticated hand axes and spears as tools as …show more content…
They not only constructed and built their own tools, but there is some evidence also for the possibility of a Neanderthal language. In an article by Melissa Hogenboom (BBC News, December, 2013), in which she cites a research article by a group of scientists researching the possibility of speech and language within Neanderthals (Micro-Biomechanics of the Kebara 2 Hyoid and Its Implications for Speech in Neanderthals, 2013). In the article, it makes mention of the hypoid bone, and how this bone is “crucial for speaking as it supports the root of the tongue. In non-human primates, it is not placed in the right position to vocalise like humans.”. The team of scientists from the original research group analysed a fossil throat bone using three dimensional x-rays, with one of the professors stating that “We would argue that this is a very significant step forward. It shows that the Kebara 2 hyoid doesn 't just look like those of modern humans – it was used in a very similar way.”. Professor Stephen Wroe then goes on to comment that “Many would argue that our capacity for speech and language is among the most fundamental of characteristics that make us human. If Neanderthals also had language then they were truly human, too.”(BBC News, 20th December 2013). The research done by these scientists and professors is extremely important, as it suggests the possibility that anatomically modern humans may not have been the only
The Neanderthal fossil was first discovered in 1829 but it was not until 1856 that conclusions were made. Originally they were not categorized as possible human ancestors until further discoveries of fossils were discovered in the mid-19th century. The taxonomy of the Neanderthals has been highly debated between homo neanderthalensis or homo sapiens because of their close physical similarities with humans, eventually they were ruled as a subspecies of homo sapiens. The similarities between Neanderthals
The Neanderthals are an extinct species of human that lived in ice age Europe between 120,000-35,000 years ago. This species is known for their receding forehead and prominent brow ridges. We know this species as the uncivilized or unintelligent person or group. Neanderthals are often portrayed as “unintelligent cavemen in animal-skin clothing.” Scientists’ first thought the Neanderthals’ were subhuman, but that thought is beginning to change. The original name given to the Neanderthals when they
The ancestral lines of Neanderthals and modern humans is split roughly about 800,000 years ago, making them our closest relatives in the hominid ancestry. Neanderthals inhabited Europe and parts of the Western Asia before going extinct around 30,000 years ago. Neanderthals made and used a range of tools, they were able to control fire, make and wore clothing, were very skilled hunters of large animals however also ate plant foods, they lived in shelters, and occasionally made symbolic or ornamental
Introduction: The idea of Neanderthals behaving in a human way is a very debated topic in both archeology and anthropology. Since the first Neanderthal bones were discovered in 1848, Scientists have repeatedly argued over the idea that Neanderthals shared characteristics of our human nature. To answer this question of whether Neanderthals had humanity we must first obviously compare Neanderthals with modern day humans. This essay will cover a few of the many exciting biological, social and cultural
Were Neanderthals the same as modern humans, or were they an entirely different species? This is a major topic of debate among Anthropologists, and many people strongly argue each view, backing their opinion with evidence from physical remains and inferred ideas about behavior. The proponents of the separate species hypothesis believe that they had a common ancestor, but Neanderthals and modern humans were separate species. They argue that the Neanderthal line was a dead end, and that for some reason
Decoding Neanderthals Neanderthals are an important element in the humans ' origin. According to the movie Decoding Neanderthals by PBS Nova, Neanderthals lived during the Ice Age in Europe, and their life was harsh and short. Scientists believe that Neanderthals lived during 300,000 years, but they started to disappear around 40,000 years ago when a new human species appeared. Some of the characters of the movie Decoding Neanderthals consider Neanderthals like moronic individuals. However, are
The origin of modern humans has been debated for years. On either side of the debate lies the multi-regional theory, and the Out of Africa theory. The multi-regional theory states that Homo erectus left Africa, and after separating into different regions, collectively evolved into the modern humans we see today. The Out of Africa theory states that modern humans evolved in Africa, and then migrated to different regions. In this theory, it is believed that modern humans replaced all other descendants
presence of bipedal locomotion in Neanderthals has made it possible to classify them as part of Modern Humans’ family tree/ phylogenetic tree. The time of their existence also contributes to this classification; making Neanderthals the closest related Hominids to modern humans (Noonan, 2010: 547). However, even with that acknowledgment, there are constant debates about Neanderthals relationship to modern humans and if they are the direct ancestors of what we considered modern Europeans, if they contributed
The origin of modern humans is one of the most widely debated concerns in the area of paleoanthropology. Ever since the discovery of the Neanderthal in the mid 1800’s, scientists such as Charles Darwin and many others have been overly curious about the similarity of man to certain great apes and how over long periods of time have evolved from different archaic forms of humans up to today’s homo sapiens. There are two major theories that encompass how modern humans may have evolved from the various
primitive species of man, the Neanderthal. It all started when the first Neanderthal fossil to get a lot of attention was found in 1856 in Dusseldorf, Germany, due to it being the full being, rather than a few scattered bones (Walter, 102). Another skull soon after was found in Maba, China that had the same Neanderthal similarities. However, not much archaeological work has been done in the Far East. Aiello, an Archaeologist, states, “[He has] no doubt that Neanderthals could have migrated farther
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
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
NEANDERTHALS TO HOMOSAPIENS Neanderthal the most recent archaic human, who was introduced to this world between 300,00 and 100,000 years ago then after many years were replaced by humans between 35,000 and 24,000 years ago. Neanderthals inhabited Eurasia from the Atlantic regions of Europe eastward to Central Asia and from as far north as present-day Belgium southward to the Mediterranean and southwest Asia.” (www.britannica.com). Human populations that were very similar to Neanderthals lived in
that all men are related, and that there has been inter breeding between different groups of men. (I.e. the Neanderthals from Eurasia at some point bred with the homo sapiens of Africa.) Others believe that certain groups of men evolved in a completely different time period in a completely different place. Three incomplete skulls of Homo sapiens were discovered in 1997. Bruce Bower’s article “African Legacy: Fossils plug gap in human origins” discusses the fossils. These findings are important because
“hairlessness” in modern humans. Modern humans do not have a single coat of undiversified hair, unlike