Neanderthals

CHW-3M1

Mr. B. Papadopoulos

Neanderthals (Homo Sapiens Neandarthalensis) are an early species of humans that roamed the earth from about 600,000-30,000 years ago.

What are they?

Where were they discovered?

The first Neanderthal discoveries occurred in the Neander Valley (Thal) near Dusseldorf Germany in 1850.

Range of HabitationNeanderthals lived in broad areas of Europe and the Middle East. Some of the most significant discoveries were made in the Middle-East (especially Iraq and Iran) and France.

Past views and recent views of Neanderthals

Past Views:

-hulking sub-humans

-Low in intelligence

-Lacked ability to speak

-Tool-making skills seemed primitive

Recent Finds and Views

• Tools required high level of craftsmanship and mental skills (deftly worked flint pieces into knives)

• Organized hunting groups• Evidence that they took care of the sick(splints for

broken bones etc.)• Longer life spans also indicate caring for the

elderly.• Buried the dead (religious significance?)

Fossil Evidence- Shanidar Iraq• The fossil evidence of 40 year old Neanderthal

- suffered from severe arthritis (likely from injuries suffered from hunting etc.)

- lesions throughout the body

- right arm was withered. Broken in two places at the elbow- didn’t heal.

- severe arthritis in the ankles…likely limped painfully throughout life.

- most of the injuries were synonymous to injuries suffered by modern firefighters and rodeo riders

Simply put….

Life

Was

HARSH!

Physical Descriptions

• Broad noses (to warm cold air) and thick brow-ridge .• Stocky bodies and short limbs (to survive harsh, cold weather and glacial periods).• Large brained (perhaps larger than humans)• Skulls were slanted towards the back of the head as well as a small forehead.• Thick cheek bones• Used front teeth as a “third” hand…while hunting etc.

Neanderthal skull Human Skull

Neanderthal links…• http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/neanderthals/• http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/tvradio/programmes/hori

zon/neanderthal_prog_summary.shtml

• http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/10/neanderthals/hall-text

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsSOcwY79ig&feature=PlayList&p=F31BE8FC73EE9488&index=32

Other controversial theories…

• Some scientists believe that we are not direct descendants of Neanderthals others do.

• The controversy is whether or not Neanderthals were gradually forced to extinction by a more advanced Homo Sapiens species OR a more advanced Homo Sapiens species “interbred” with the Neanderthals thus gradually “thinning” them out.

Evidence of interbreeding?

A modern human skull recovered from a bear cave in Romania shows a groove at the base, just above the neck muscle, that is ubiquitous in Neanderthal specimens but has never been seen in the remains of a modern human.

One more controversy…

Cannibalism….

Did they eat their own? Why? Jot down the points we discuss…

Did they speak/talk?

• They had a similar bone to modern humans known as the HYOID bone found in the middle of the throat.

• Research indicates they may have had a rudimentary, basic language but nothing as developed as our own.

Neanderthal Artefacts