 |
|
New evidence debunks 'stupid' Neanderthal myth
August 26, 2008Research by UK and American scientists has struck another blow to the theory that Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis) became extinct because they were less intelligent than our ancestors (Homo sapiens). The research team has shown that early stone tool technologies developed by our species, Homo sapiens, were no more efficient than those used by Neanderthals. Published today (26 August) in the Journal of Human Evolution, their discovery debunks a textbook belief held by archaeologists for more than 60 years.
The team from the University of Exeter, Southern Methodist University, Texas State University, and the Think Computer Corporation, spent three years flintknapping (producing stone tools). They recreated stone tools known as 'flakes,' which were wider tools originally used by both Neanderthals and Homo sapiens, and 'blades,' a narrower stone tool later adopted by Homo sapiens. Archaeologists often use the development of stone blades and their assumed efficiency as proof of Homo sapiens' superior intellect. To test this, the team analysed the data to compare the number of tools produced, how much cutting-edge was created, the efficiency in consuming raw material and how long tools lasted.
Blades were first produced by Homo sapiens during their colonization of Europe from Africa approximately 40,000 years ago. This has traditionally been thought to be a dramatic technological advance, helping Homo sapiens out-compete, and eventually eradicate, their Stone Age cousins. Yet when the research team analysed their data there was no statistical difference between the efficiency of the two technologies. In fact, their findings showed that in some respects the flakes favoured by Neanderthals were more efficient than the blades adopted by Homo sapiens.
The Neanderthals, believed to be a different species from Homo sapiens, evolved in Ice Age Europe, while the latter evolved in Africa before spreading out to the rest of the world around 50-40,000 years ago. Neanderthals are thought to have died out around 28,000 years ago, suggesting at least 10,000 years of overlap and possible interaction between the two species in Europe.
Many long-held beliefs suggesting why the Neanderthals went extinct have been debunked in recent years. Research has already shown that Neanderthals were as good at hunting as Homo sapiens and had no clear disadvantage in their ability to communicate. Now, these latest findings add to the growing evidence that Neanderthals were no less intelligent than our ancestors.
Metin Eren, an MA Experimental Archaeology student at the University of Exeter and lead author on the paper comments: "Our research disputes a major pillar holding up the long-held assumption that Homo sapiens were more advanced than Neanderthals. It is time for archaeologists to start searching for other reasons why Neanderthals became extinct while our ancestors survived. Technologically speaking, there is no clear advantage of one tool over the other. When we think of Neanderthals, we need to stop thinking in terms of 'stupid' or 'less advanced' and more in terms of 'different.'"
Now that it is established that there is no technical advantage to blades, why did Homo sapiens adopt this technology during their colonization of Europe? The researchers suggest that the reason for this shift may be more cultural or symbolic. Eren explains: "Colonizing a continent isn't easy. Colonizing a continent during the Ice Age is even harder. So, for early Homo sapiens colonizing Ice Age Europe, a new shared and flashy-looking technology might serve as one form of social glue by which larger social networks were bonded. Thus, during hard times and resource droughts these larger social networks might act like a type of 'life insurance,' ensuring exchange and trade among members on the same 'team.'"
The University of Exeter is the only university in the world to offer a degree course in Experimental Archaeology. This strand of archaeology focuses on understanding how people lived in the past by recreating their activities and replicating their technologies. Eren says: "It was only by spending three years in the lab learning how to physically make these tools that we were able to finally replicate them accurately enough to come up with our findings."
University of Exeter
The Neanderthals, believed to be a different species from Homo sapiens, evolved in Ice Age Europe, while the latter evolved in Africa before spreading out to the rest of the world around 50-40,000 years ago. Neanderthals are thought to have died out around 28,000 years ago, suggesting at least 10,000 years of overlap and possible interaction between the two species in Europe.
Many long-held beliefs suggesting why the Neanderthals went extinct have been debunked in recent years. Research has already shown that Neanderthals were as good at hunting as Homo sapiens and had no clear disadvantage in their ability to communicate. Now, these latest findings add to the growing evidence that Neanderthals were no less intelligent than our ancestors.
Metin Eren, an MA Experimental Archaeology student at the University of Exeter and lead author on the paper comments: "Our research disputes a major pillar holding up the long-held assumption that Homo sapiens were more advanced than Neanderthals. It is time for archaeologists to start searching for other reasons why Neanderthals became extinct while our ancestors survived. Technologically speaking, there is no clear advantage of one tool over the other. When we think of Neanderthals, we need to stop thinking in terms of 'stupid' or 'less advanced' and more in terms of 'different.'"
Now that it is established that there is no technical advantage to blades, why did Homo sapiens adopt this technology during their colonization of Europe? The researchers suggest that the reason for this shift may be more cultural or symbolic. Eren explains: "Colonizing a continent isn't easy. Colonizing a continent during the Ice Age is even harder. So, for early Homo sapiens colonizing Ice Age Europe, a new shared and flashy-looking technology might serve as one form of social glue by which larger social networks were bonded. Thus, during hard times and resource droughts these larger social networks might act like a type of 'life insurance,' ensuring exchange and trade among members on the same 'team.'"
The University of Exeter is the only university in the world to offer a degree course in Experimental Archaeology. This strand of archaeology focuses on understanding how people lived in the past by recreating their activities and replicating their technologies. Eren says: "It was only by spending three years in the lab learning how to physically make these tools that we were able to finally replicate them accurately enough to come up with our findings."
University of Exeter
Neanderthals Current Events and Neanderthals News RSSEarly human hunters had fewer meat-sharing rituals
A University of Arizona anthropologist has discovered that humans living at a Paleolithic cave site in central Israel between 400,000 and 250,000 years ago were as successful at big-game hunting as were later stone-age hunters at the site, but that the earlier humans shared meat differently.
Unlocking the key to human fertility
Scientists at Leeds and Bradford have discovered a unique 'DNA signature' in human sperm, which may act as a key that unlocks an egg's fertility and triggers new life.
Clarke clarifies pattern recognition theory
Recent commentary has suggested that the extent to which anomaly theories have become ingrained in the minds of academics and popular commentators alike has led to certain common assumptions and misconceptions about Clarke's pattern recognition theory of humour.
Study shows competition, not climate change, led to Neanderthal extinction
In a recently conducted study, a multidisciplinary French-American research team with expertise in archaeology, past climates, and ecology reported that Neanderthal extinction was principally a result of competition with Cro-Magnon populations, rather than the consequences of climate change.
Bone parts don't add up to conclusion of Palauan dwarfs
Misinterpreted fragments of leg bones, teeth and brow ridges found in Palau appear to be an archaeologist's undoing, according to researchers at three institutions. They say that the so-called dwarfs of these Micronesian islands actually were modern, normal-sized hunters and gatherers.
Britain's last Neanderthals were more sophisticated than we thought
An archaeological excavation at a site near Pulborough, West Sussex, has thrown remarkable new light on the life of northern Europe's last Neanderthals. It provides a snapshot of a thriving, developing population - rather than communities on the verge of extinction.
Ancient DNA reveals that some Neanderthals were redheads
Ancient DNA retrieved from the bones of two Neanderthals suggests that at least some of them had red hair and pale skin, scientists report this week in the journal Science.
Inconsistencies with Neanderthal genomic DNA sequences
Were Neanderthals direct ancestors of contemporary humans or an evolutionary side branch that eventually died out?
New evidence on the role of climate in Neanderthal extinction
The mystery of what killed the Neanderthals has moved a step closer to resolution after an international study led by the University of Leeds has ruled out one of the competing theories - catastrophic climate change - as the most likely cause.
Choosing a mate: what we really want
While humans may pride themselves on being highly evolved, most still behave like the stereotypical Neanderthals when it comes to choosing a mate, according to research by Indiana University cognitive scientist Peter Todd.
More Neanderthals Current Events and Neanderthals News Articles
 |
The Humans Who Went Extinct: Why Neanderthals died out and we survived by Clive Finlayson (Author) Just 28,000 years ago, the blink of an eye in geological time, the last of Neanderthals died out in their last outpost, in caves near Gibraltar. Thanks to cartoons and folk accounts we have a distorted view of these other humans - for that is what they were. We think of them as crude and clumsy and not very bright, easily driven to extinction by the lithe, smart modern humans that came out of Africa some 100,000 years ago. But was it really as simple as that? Clive Finlayson reminds us that the Neanderthals were another kind of human, and their culture was not so very different from that of our own ancestors. In this book, he presents a wider view of the events that led to the migration of the moderns into Europe, what might have happened during the contact of the two populations,... |
 |
The Neanderthals (Peoples of the Ancient World) by Friedemann Schrenk (Author) The Neanderthal is among the most mysterious relatives of Homo sapiens: Was he a dull, club-swinging muscleman, or a being with developed social behavior and the ability to speak, to plan precisely, and even to develop views on the afterlife? For many, the Neanderthals are an example of primitive humans, but new discoveries suggest that this image needs to be revised. Half a million years ago in Ice Age Europe, there emerged people who managed to cope well with the difficult climate – Neanderthal Man. They formed an organized society, hunted Mammoths, and could make fire. They were able to pass on knowledge; they cared for the old and the handicapped, burying their dead, and placing gifts on their graves. Yet, they became extinct, despite their cultural... |
 |
History Channel: Clash of the Cavemen Starring: Clash of Cavemen Directed By: not available It was an epic battle of brains versus brawn that determined the course of human history. In this scenario, based on scientific theories, witness our prehistoric ancestors as they clash with a completely different species of humans, the Neanderthals, some 30,000 years ago in Ice Age Europe. In CLASH OF THE CAVEMEN, cinematic re-creations and state-of-the-art CGI bring to life the Neanderthals--stocky, powerful and able to tolerate intense pain--and their foes, the Cro-Magnons--weaker and more fragile but with a superior brain capable of complex thought. This cinema-quality documentary from HISTORY uses the latest science to re-create the surroundings and dangers they endured: massive four-legged predators, punishing temperatures, and the unrelenting threat of... |
 |
In Space by Neanderthals |
 |
The Neanderthal's Necklace: In Search of the First Thinkers by Juan Luis Arsuaga (Author), Andy Klatt (Translator) The Neanderthals provide a surprising mirror for modern-day humanity. They belonged to our evolutionary group and lived like the Cro-Magnons, our ancestors, did - worshipping, socializing, and hunting. The struggle between Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons lasted thousands of years. The Cro-Magnons were not biologically fit for extreme cold weather, but their ingenuity allowed them to settle down, band together, and survive. In this tale of life, death, and the awakening of human awareness, Juan Luis Arsuaga, Spain's most celebrated paleoanthropologist, depicts the dramatic struggle between two clashing species, of which only one survives. |
 |
Neanderthal: Neanderthal Man and the Story of Human Origins by Paul Jordan (Author) The story of Neanderthal man. Was he our direct ancestor, or was he perhaps a more alien figure, genetically very different? This title brings us into the Neanderthal's world, his technology, his way of life, his origins and his relationship with us. |
 |
The Last Neanderthal : The Rise, Success, and Mysterious Extinction of Our Closest Human Relatives by Ian Tattersall (Author) Scientists have long known that the popular image of the Neanderthal as a primitive, hairy, heavily browed, club-wielding brute is not supported by the fossil evidence. But to date, no such consensus has existed on the riddle of Neanderthals’ disappearance. The Last Neanderthal, written by one of the most respected authorities on the subject and supported by a dazzling wealth of material, paints the first full portrait of the most familiar and haunting of human relatives. Drawing on the latest findings and sophisticated new techniques of analysis, Ian Tattersall marshals the best available evidence to unravel the mysteries of the Neanderthals - who they were, how they lived, how they succeeded for so long. Drawing on his own research and the work of others, Tattersall takes on the most... |
 |
Ancient Mysteries: The Fate of the Neandertals Starring: Artist Not Provided More than 70 thousand years ago, a clan of cave dwellers roamed the cliffs of Le Conte in Southwestern France. They were Neandertals, distant cousins to modern man. The caves, among other archaeological sites, have revealed much about Neandertals. But new disoveries have prompted more questions and mysteries. No other prehistoric group has received as much attention as the Neandertals. No other group carries such a weight of scientific and popular misconceptions or has its name associated with savagery, stupidity and animal strength. Fossils records place the last Neandertal on earth 30,000 years ago. Then they vanished. Or did they? There is more to Neandertals than their fossil remains. This hour will explore the Neandertals who, despite new and enticing clues, remain a people of... |
 |
National Geographic Magazine October 2008 Neanderthals Revealed by National Geographic National Geographic Magazine October 2008 Neanderthals Revealed Ozarks India Whale Watch |
 |
The Singing Neanderthals: The Origins of Music, Language, Mind, and Body by Steven Mithen (Author) The propensity to make music is the most mysterious, wonderful, and neglected feature of humankind: this is where Steven Mithen began, drawing together strands from archaeology, anthropology, psychology, neuroscience--and, of course, musicology--to explain why we are so compelled to make and hear music. But music could not be explained without addressing language, and could not be accounted for without understanding the evolution of the human body and mind. Thus Mithen arrived at the wildly ambitious project that unfolds in this book: an exploration of music as a fundamental aspect of the human condition, encoded into the human genome during the evolutionary history of our species. Music is the language of emotion, common wisdom tells us. In The Singing Neanderthals, Mithen... |
| © 2009 BrightSurf.com |