Neanderthal man
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- Warning: some of the details in this article, such as relatedness to modern humans are still subject to some controversy.
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Introduction
Homo neanderthalensis or H. sapiens neanderthalensis is an extinct species of hominid of the genus Homo, commonly known as Neanderthal man (spelling varies slightly). The earliest specimen of this species was found in Neander valley (the German word "thal" means valley). The modern spelling of "thal" is "tal," so many now refer to the species as "neandertals" instead of neanderthals. But the old spelling is always retained for the Latin species designation. Not all paleoanthropologists agree with making the neanderthals a subspecies of Homo sapiens. Those who accept this classification refer to the other subspecies, modern humans, as H. sapiens sapiens.
Neanderthals are thought to have existed from ~130,000 years ago to ~35,000ya (in the archaic) and to have co-existed with humans for some of that time.
Anatomy
Diane L. France describes the neanderthals as follows: "Neanderthals are late archaic H. sapiens and are found only in Europe and the Near East (western Asia). The cranial capacity is very large (actually larger as a group than modern humans—likely because of decreased encephalization, though this is difficult to discern from endocranial characteristics). Neanderthals have long crania, and a bun-shaped occipital bone. The brow ridges are still pronounced, but not as pronounced as in Homo erectus. The forehead rises more vertically from the brow ridges than in H. erectus (though not vertically as quickly as in modern H. sapiens. The face projects forward. The postcranial skeleton is large and robust. Examples of Neanderthal remains include the classic La Chappelle aux Saints from France, with an extremely large cranial capacity (1620 cc) and dated to approximately 50,000 years ago." (Physical Anthropology 2004:176-177)
Culture and technology
The neanderthals used Mousterian technology that improved upon previous Levallois techniques to obtain more flakes per stone core. These flakes were then shaped into points, scrapers, and knives. They lived in open sites, rock shelters, and caves. There is evidence at Moldova in the Ukraine of a tent that enclosed an area of about 26 by 16 feet with several hearths and hundreds of tools. The large number of animal bones at neanderthal sites prove that they were hunters, even going after large mammals. But the neanderthals did not possess spear throwing (atlatl) or bow and arrow technology. Limited to using spears at close range, the neanderthals could suffer serious injury, a hypothesis supported by Berger and Trinkaus in 1995 by examining the trauma in skeletal remains. Neanderthals also ate plants such as berries and nuts. The neanderthals often buried the dead as seen from grave sites at La Chapelle, La Ferrassie, Tabun, Amud, Kebara, Shanidar, and Teshik-Tash. Artwork is uncommon, unsophisticated, and unlikely to have been a focal point for multiple individuals (as is the case with some upper paleolithic art). It is unknown to what extent the neanderthals could use language. The neanderthals are widely regarded as an evolutionary "dead end," possibly diverging from modern humans as long as 690,000 to 550,000 years ago according to Krings. (The information in this paragraph is derived from Jurmain et al., Introduction to Physical Anthropology, 2000:337-351.)
Fossils
The first neanderthal fossil was found in 1856 in the Neander Valley, Germany. No fossil hominid had been found before then and few scientists, let alone lay people, had been influenced by the work of Charles Darwin. The prevailing philosophy of the time could not explain why we should find extinct human-like species and, without evolution to explain them, many dismissed the bones as an arthritic cripple.
Creationists still repeat some of these early claims, though they no longer hold any credibility:
- Neanderthal was based on a disfigured human
- Neanderthals were humans with rickets
- Neanderthal Man, found in France over 50 years ago, is an old man who suffered from arthritis
