Above: These are side views of the skulls of a Cro-Magnon and a Neanderthal. Notice the bigger jaw and the more pronounced brow ridge on the Neanderthal. Right: a model of a Neanderthal

A model of a Cro-Magnon man creating a cave painting

hIGher Iq The human species—Homo sapiens—has been around for about 200,000 years. The Cro-Magnons were a relatively recent group of humans. They were anatomically modern; their bodies were identical to ours. Other groups of anatomically modern humans lived in Africa and perhaps even Asia at the same time. The term Cro-Magnon refers specifically to those who lived in Europe.

Cro-Magnons shared the European continent with a related

T hink your life is tough? Think again. The modern world would be paradise to the Cro-Magnon people. It’s not our

cars or our iPods they would marvel at so much as our warm weather.

The Cro-Magnons were the first humans to inhabit Europe. Named after a rock shelter in south-western France called Cro-Magnon, they lived between 45,000 and 12,000 years ago. For part of that time, Earth was caught in a cooling period—the most recent ice age. Giant ice sheets covered Canada, northern Europe, and northern Asia. The Cro-Magnons woke up every day of the year to deep snow and subzero temperatures.

“Life was incredibly hard for these people,” Brian Fagan explains in his recent book Cro-Magnon. “It’s something we can’t even fully understand by modern standards.”

The resilience of the Cro-Magnons is no surprise, though, if you look at the history of their African ancestors, says Fagan. They survived—barely—the single deadliest natural disaster in human history.

species: the Neanderthals—Homo neanderthalensis. The Cro-Magnons outlasted the Neanderthals, says Fagan, because they had the advantage of what he calls “the greatest development in human history”: superior intellect. “Their ability to plan, to solve complex problems, to communicate with one another in a meaningful way,” Fagan explains, “that’s why Cro-Magnons made it!”

How was that intelligence acquired? Fagan calls that “the question of questions.” He believes

it was induced by a cataclysmic event that almost wiped out Homo sapiens.

worldwIde dISaSTerAbout 73,500 years ago, Mount Toba, a giant volcano on what is now the island of Sumatra in Indonesia, exploded. “The recent volcanic eruption in Iceland would be but a mere child’s burp compared to this,” says Fagan.

Ash fell around the world, cover-ing the ground in anywhere from several centimeters to a meter of it. Sulfur gas emissions from the volcano formed a haze in the sky that blocked the sun, causing temperatures to plummet.

Anybody who couldn’t find immediate shelter from the falling ash probably died of suffocation. Those who found refuge in caves or under cliffs reemerged to find a new world, gray and missing almost all plant life. Starvation killed many more in the coming months. “The human cost was enormous,” says Fagan.

The survivors, most of them in Africa, probably numbered no more than 10,000. The world’s entire human population would have fit into a football stadium!

For the next 1,000 years, the survivors and their descendents endured freezing climates and near-apocalyptic conditions. That period, says Fagan, was “the most critical in human history.” In such harsh conditions, the survivors had to be extraordinarily resource-ful. When temperatures finally

stabilized and conditions improved, Fagan says, “[Homo sapiens] pos-sessed all the awesome mental abilities of modern humanity.”

Outfitted with those abilities, humans eventually migrated out of Africa into Europe. There they discovered they were not alone. A race of short, muscular hunters—the Neanderthals—had been there for tens of thousands of years. The Neanderthals had evolved from another branch in the Homo group of species that left Africa long before the birth of the first anatomically modern humans. The Neanderthals survived the Mount Toba eruption because less ash fell on Europe and because their bodies were well adapted for colder conditions.

SuperIor ToolS Cro-Magnons probably admired the Neanderthals’ physical prow-ess, which the Neanderthals used for hunting, says Fagan. The Neanderthals ate mostly big game—boars, reindeer—which they hunted at close range. Their weaponry was basic—flints (chipped stone tools), which they used to stab animals that they had wrestled to the ground.

In a demonstration of mind over matter, the Cro-Magnons employed their intelligence to devise superior hunting technol-ogy. They engineered long-range spears, which allowed them to hunt animals from a distance—a far safer and more effective method.

The Cro-Magnon intellect went beyond weapon making.

Cro-Magnons had “imaginations that ranged and soared,” says Fagan. They painted vivid cave art and crafted musical instruments. Fagan maintains that Cro-Magnons no longer were “just predators in the food chain,” but “dynamic partners in a world peopled by animals they considered to be living things to be treated with respect.”

Such awareness and under-standing is why, Fagan believes, Cro-Magnons out-competed Neanderthals. The last Neanderthal died around 30,000 years ago, leaving Cro-Magnons the sole masters of the continent.

Cro-Magnon society changed continually during the late ice age and afterward. Eventually, as the planet warmed, agricultural commu-nities replaced Cro-Magnon hunting societies. “Cro-Magnons adapted to changing climate,” concludes Fagan, “just as we are today. ” cs

SurvivorWhy did the Cro-Magnon people outlive their prehistoric rivals?

Cro-Magnon NeanderthalLIFE

December 10, 2010 Current Science 11

By Bobby Oerzen

Volke

r Ste

ger/N

ords

tar “

4 Mill

ion Y

ears

Man

”/Pho

to Re

sear

cher

s, In

c.

Javie

r Tru

eba/

MSF

/Pho

to Re

sear

cher

s, In

c. (2

)

Joe McNally

Left: Philippe Plailly & Atelier Daynes/Photo Researchers, Inc.