Neanderthals were just humans with their bones disfigured from illnesses
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Claim
Neanderthal man was reconstructed from one or a few fossil skeletons badly deformed by diseases such as rickets or arthritis. Neanderthals are either modern humans or not much different from them.
Source
- Anon, 1985. Life--How Did It Get Here? Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc., p. 95.
- Lubenow, Marvin L., 1992. Bones of Contention: a Creationist Assessment of Human Fossils. Baker Book House. Grand Rapids MI.
- Jack Chick, Big Daddy?, Chick Publications
Responses
- While it is true that some of the best-known Neanderthal fossil remains were shown to be afflicted with diseases such as rickets and arthritis, leaping to the conclusion that these fossil remains were merely those of diseased Homo sapiens is disingenuous.
- Diseases such as rickets and arthritis, while capable of producing deformations in the bone, could not have consistently altered the femur-to-tibia length ratio to a number less than 1, which is one of the hallmarks of Neanderthal Man (Homo sapiens, by contrast, has a femur-to tibia ratio of nearly exactly 1). Disease also could not account for the numerous differences between the skulls of Neanderthal and modern man, such as larger teeth lacking any canines, brow ridges, an enlarged occipital bun, and different brain volume.
- Also, since the first discoveries, several other fossil remains of Neanderthal have been uncovered, some of which were relatively healthy at the time of death, and yet still exhibit the basic discrepancies that clearly mark them as Neanderthal.
- Several fossils of Neanderthal children have been discovered.
- The main differences between modern humans and Neanderthals are their skeletal and cranial characteristics; Neanderthals were specially adapted to life in colder climates. They are typically shorter and more robustly built than modern humans, with shorter arms and legs and a more muscular, stocky build. Most of the anatomical differences between modern humans and Neanderthals are found on the cranium; Neanderthals typically had a longer, flatter cranial vault, a wider flatter cranial base, substantial prognathisism in the mid face, a broad nose with a large nasal aperture, a prominent semi-circular supraorbital torus, a protuberance of the occipital bone (an occipital bun), and lack of a mental protuberance. Their brains were also larger in volume than modern humans, however this must be measured relative to their overall body mass which may have been larger as well. (Conroy 2005:518).
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Fallacies contained in this claim
- Exclusion (differences between humans with rickets and Neanderthals are ignored)
External Links
- Foley, Jim, 2002. Creationist Arguments: Neandertals. [1]
References
- Straus W.L., Jr. and Cave A.J.E., 1957. Pathology and posture of neanderthal man. Quarterly Review of Biology 32(4): 348-363.
