Chris Bosley
Freshman Sem.
9:00 M-W-F
Neanderthals
Were they direct ancestors to Homo sapiens orwere they an evolutionary dead end ?
Homo sapiens neanderthalensis were first discovered by Carl Fuhlrott, father of paleoanthropology. The mystery of this wonderful creature was born in 1856, in Feldhofer Cave near Dusseldorf,Germany-Neander Valley. The Neanderthal lived during the most recent glacial period, the Wurm and remains of this species have been dated back to the years 200,000 to 32,000 before present.
The Neanderthal stood around 5.5ft tall. A Neanderthal’s cranial capacity was very large and their braincase was rounded and elongated. They were very stocky and muscular. This was due to their adaptation to the cold environment that they lived in. Their large, elongated braincase moved their entire head closer to their body. They had very large noses because of the ability to create more mucus, which in turn heated the air better when they breathed in. Their stockiness was also due to the reason that they would be able to conserve heat better because of their surrounding environment.
Many a paleontologist today seems to believe that they are our direct ancestors. The studies of today have shown strong evidence that they developed complex social behaviors. There is a long held myth that the Neanderthals were dull, sluggish, stupid creatures who lumbered around grunting and dragging a wooden club behind them. In actuality, they were quite smart and had cranial capacities ranging from 1270cc to 1750cc. That is much bigger than a normal human of today’s time(1300cc-1500cc). Evidence that has led scientists to believe this are the fact that they made stone tools, buried the remains of their dead, belief in afterlife, art, music and fire.
Neanderthals elaborate stone tool making became a very important part of their everyday living. These tools served as instruments for hunting, stripping flesh from animals, processing materials, and creating fire. This tool technology associated with the Neanderthal is called Mousterian. They had tool kits that contained such stone items as hand axes, choppers, scrapers, backed knives, denticulate and points and believe it or not they used their own teeth as tools.
The tools were created by an interesting technique called the Levallois Technique. The technique entailed of a carefully prepared stone core made by removing chips from the tops and sides. The Neanderthals had to have somewhat of a cognitive ability and mental picture of how they wanted the stone to look. This gave rise to the thought that the Neanderthals had to have some idea of symmetry.
The burial for the dead and care for the sick led scientists to believe that they had to have been somewhat intelligent. Evidence of this was that there had been a body found that had received a massive head injury. Further investigation showed that this injury had healed itself. The only explanation for this was that they had been cared for in the time of need. Secondly, there was the fact that they buried their dead. Grave sites were found that cotained pollen residue. This was evidence that there could have been flowers set out at the grave.
Belief in afterlife was another finding. There had been evidence found that the Neanderthal had worshiped the bear. As one saw in music, flute from a bear bone, the bear was important to them and began the belief in afterlife.
Art and music also became evidence that the Neanderthal was an intelligent creature. The Neanderthal had not began to become too involved with art but the art(pendant) that was discovered showed that they possessed some artistic ability and cognitive ability for abstraction, modeling, and manufacturing something other than tools. Music was also evidence of a people’s of higher learning. In 1996, a flute made from a bear bone was discovered. This new discovery indicates that Neanderthals possessed the ability to produce music and possibly express the pre-historic fears, longings, and joys of their lives, much like us modern humans do today.
There has also been evidence that the Neanderthal was just another evolutionary dead end. Two key pints of evidence that prove this statement are- the genetics testing and the distinct feature differences.
As Constance Holden described the relationship between humans and Neanderthals, "There is a consensus concerning the fact that the behavioural and cognitive capacities of the Neanderthals were every bit as advanced as those of the modern day human. Not only that, but also that technological, social and cognitive ‘modernity’ could erupt at different times and places."
Studies of Neanderthal skeletons reinforce the conclusion that they were a divergent lineage that probably made no contribution to the evolution of the modern human. The range of anatomical features are unique to the Neanderthal, from the lower jaw to the complex morphology of the inner ear.
Genetics show through mDNA testing of a Neanderthal bone that the mDNA sequences differ from that of the modern day human. All of this is consistent with the DNA evidence that the two lineages separated at least a half-million years ago.
There are also strong differences in the features of the two that provide us with evidence that they were indeed an evolutionary dead end.
The cranial vault of a Neanderthal was very flat while modern day humans have more rounded ones. The forehead of a Neanderthal was sloping compared to the human’s vertical one. The brow ridge was very prominent in the Neanderthal compared to the modern human. The occipital bun of the Neanderthal possessed a bulge at the back of the skull, in the occipital region as for the human, it is absent. Lastly, the Neanderthal chin was small and receding while ours are more prominent.
The question still remains- Were Neanderthals really linked to us? The only way to tell if organisms belong to the same species is if they are capable of breeding. Since it is impossible at the present time to test if an extinct Neanderthal can actually breed with a modern day human, we will never know truly if they are our direct ancestors.
Bibliography
1) Burenhult, G. (Ed.). (1993).The First Humans. St.Lucia: University of Queensland Press [p.68-72]
2)Hanson, M. (1991). Apes & Ancestors. Auckland: Longman Paul.[p.84-86]
Dallas George
The Human Nature
Dr. Bill Tietjen
February 8, 1999
Are Homo sapiens neanderthalensis ancestors to the modern day man?
A popular question that has caused uproar in the science world today is whether or not Homo sapiens neanderthalensis, (otherwise known as Neanderthals) are a part of the Homo sapiens evolutionary tree or if they were just an evolutionary dead end. Many hours of research and lots of money have gone into testing this hypothesis. However, no true conclusion can be made because in order for the two to be linked together, Neanderthals would have to be capable of producing an offspring with a modern day human. But, there is a great deal of evidence that both supports and destroys the theory that Neanderthals evolved into what is now the modern day man.
The common belief in today’s society on Neanderthals is that they were just a brute, violent, creature with no intelligence. However, that is a misconception. In all actuality, Neanderthals developed complex social behaviors. They used tools, buried their dead, believed in a spiritual world, cared for there sick and injured, and used fire. And if that isn’t enough, Neanderthals are linked to the oldest known instrument, the flute.
Recent studies reveal that the Homo neanderthalensis’s culture not only used tools, but also was the first of their kind to form them in a desired shape. Since the Neanderthals were able to shape their tools, this allowed them to create a variety of tools to be used in a variety of ways. On today’s standards, these tools are considered primitive, but for their time compared to the tools prior to them, they should be viewed as "power tools."
Paleontologist, Dr. Ivan Turk discovered an ancient bone flute segment at a Neanderthal campsite in 1995. The flute is reconstructed from a bear bone and is estimated to be about 43,000 to 82,000 years old. According to Bob Fink, a musicologist, the flute had fundamental elements of the diatonic scale, which means that the flute was on the same scale as ours is today. Many have concluded that this flute was capable of playing do-re-mi. This bear bone instrument is more than just a flute, but a discovery that raises many valid points about the Neanderthals linkage to us. It reveals the qualities of creativity and complex thinking. Here is a Neanderthal Flute reconstructed from a bear bone.
Not only our Neanderthals linked to modern day humans through music, but they may very well be linked to us through speech. In 1989, a Neanderthal hyoid bone, the bone supporting the larynx, shows many similarities to ours. Analysis of the hypoglossal canal, according to anthropologist at Duke University suggests that Neanderthals had the same vocal capabilities and the potential to pronounce and speak as we do.
There is strong evidence indicating that Neanderthals prepared ritual burials and cared for the sick. Some skeletons of Neanderthals reveal healed wounds and injuries that had been treated on and cared for. John Denton points out that taking care of the injured instead of leaving them to die supports the idea that Neanderthals exercised "humanity", which he states as the "exercise of mental thought principles over physical actions." This concludes that Neanderthals were able to form abstract thoughts, which gives reason to the fact that they may have been the first to believe in religion.
There have also been sites found where the fossil show that they had unquestionably been buried and not just covered up by sediments. At some burial sites, pollen was retrieved suggesting that flowers were laid with the body. In a cave in Iraq, a man, two women, and an infant were uncovered with pollen grains. Other burial sites trace sprinkling of red ochre on the bodies. Tools as well as animal bones have been found with these bodies. This also suggests that the Neanderthals may have believed in an afterlife.
Speculation suggests that Homo neanderthalinsis were the first to have an existence of religion. No evidence yet has been revealed to believe that the form of religion existed prior to the Neanderthals. Their concept of life and death and the fact that they buried their individuals with animal bone and tools leads many to believe that they believed in some type of a spiritual world.
While Homo neanderthalinsis has a social structure that very well could have evolved into a structure as complex as ours is today, anatomically, they differ from Homo sapien sapiens today. The main differences between the two were in the skull.
As you can see, Neanderthals had flat heads while ours are more . rounded. Their foreheads are sloping while humans are vertical. Neanderthals had prominent brow ridges while modern man is more absent. They had very small and receding chins while ours were more prominent.
Neanderthals may differ in looks and bone structure from you and me, but their differences were just an adaptation to the weather climate. They lived during the period of the Ice Age, so the weather was cold and their bodies had to adjust to the environment. In fact, a Neanderthal’s body structure is much like modern day Eskimos.
While all this substantial evidence encourages that the Neanderthal man was direct ancestor of human beings, there is scientific evidence that seems to stand in the way. Genetics show through mitochondria DNA (mtDNA) of a Neanderthal bone that mitochondria DNA sequences vary to that of the modern day humans.
In 1997, CNN reported that scientist extracted DNA from a Neanderthal bone specimen and compared it to human DNA. The results showed that there were too many differences in the sequence for the two to be directly related. No trace of genetic intermixing was found. Thus they concluded that it is impossible for Neanderthals to be direct ancestors to modern day man.
However, many scientist feel that it is too early to declare Homo neanderthalinsis as an evolutionary dead end. Their conclusion that intermixing genes never occurred came from one individual and it is hard to generalize an entire species on one particular fossil.
Thus it is my conclusion that in time, when more Neanderthal artifacts are found, more in depth studies of mtDNA can be conducted. Then, if studies show that human’s mtDNA sequences differ from Neanderthals mtDNA, it can more accurately be announced that Neanderthals were an evolutionary dead end and not part of our ancestor lineage. Until then, it is best left in the question, "Were Homo neanderthalinsis direct ancestors to Homo sapien sapiens, or were they just an evolutionary dead end?"
Reference:
Wong, Kate. Neanderthal Notes. [Online] Available
http://www.sciam.com/09997issue/09997scicit4.html, September 1997.
Holden, Constance. Anthropology: How Much Like Us Were the Neanderthals. [Online] Available gopher: http://cas.bellarmine.edu/tietjen/images/anthropology(HowMuchLikeUsWereTheNeanderthals).html, 1998.
Wong, Kate. Ancestal Quandary. [Online] Available
http://www.sciam.com/1998/0198issue/0198scicit3.html, January 1998.
Hawkins, Chris. Neanderthal Heaven. [Online] Available
http://www.iinet.net.au/~chawkins/heaven.htm, September 25, 1998.
Mellars, Paul. The fate of the Neanderthals. [Online] Available gopher: http://cas.bellarmine.edu/tietjen/Fate%20of%20Neanderthals.pdf, 1998.