Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

HUMANS WOULD BEAT NEANDERTHALS IN MARATHON
Discovery News ^ | Jan 28, 2011 | Jennifer Viegas

Posted on 01/29/2011 4:56:25 AM PST by Pharmboy

Humans, versus other great apes, are built for running fast and long as opposed to very impressive strength, but what about Neanderthals? If a modern human and a Neanderthal competed in a marathon, who would win?

(Comparison of Neanderthal and Modern Human skeletons. Credit: K. Mowbray, Reconstruction: G. Sawyer and B. Maley, Copyright: Ian Tattersall)

In a short sprint, the Neanderthal might have had a chance, but most fit humans would always win longer races, suggests new research accepted for publication in the Journal of Human Evolution.

Anthropologist David Raichlen of the University of Arizona and his colleagues determined that our modern human ancestors were better runners. The researchers did this by studying the hominids' fossilized remains.

Marathon Running Made Easy (Sort of)

Recent research suggests that the energy cost of running at a given speed is strongly related to the length of certain limb bones. The longer these bones (Achilles tendon moment arm and calcaneal tuber from the calcaneus) are, the more energy it takes for the individual to run.

The scientists' measurements of such bones determined that Neanderthals were lousy at endurance and distance running when compared to modern humans. The sturdy Neanderthal bones, however, were built for long-distance walking and strength.

Humans Left Trees 4.2 Million Years Ago

"Endurance running is generally thought to be beneficial for gaining access to meat in hot environments, where hominins could have used pursuit hunting to run prey taxa into hyperthermia," Raichlen and his team conclude. "We hypothesize that endurance running performance may have been reduced in Neanderthals because they lived in cold climates."

Since there is an inherent trade-off between speed and strength in species throughout the animal kingdom, it is likely that Neanderthals were built more for brawn, with humans evolving lighter, more aerodynamic bodies for running. (This doesn't take into account food consumption and other behavioral factors that can add heft.)

A hypotheical Summer Olympics featuring both Neanderthals and humans would have certainly been memorable, with Neanderthals probably acing events like wrestling, rowing and archery, and humans winning cycling, triathlon and marathon competitions.

In the real-life battle for survival, running and endurance must have won out for prehistoric humans, even when they encountered Neanderthals in Europe, but why? Hopefully future studies can shed further light on this present mystery.


TOPICS: Science; Sports
KEYWORDS: evolution; godsgravesglyphs; humans; neandertal; neandertals; neanderthal; neanderthals
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-51 last
To: muawiyah
Hilarious visual imagery re: those snake handlers. I have seen those guys on TV a few times and always got the feeling that their best qualities weren't amplified by TV.;-)

Where was the neighborhood (generally) into which they moved? I presume it wasn't the Upper West Side of Manhattan (though I can imagine a very interesting sitcom from such a clash of cultures).

41 posted on 01/29/2011 3:27:32 PM PST by SonOfDarkSkies (Obama and the Radical Left: 'People of the Lie')
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 40 | View Replies]

To: SonOfDarkSkies
Indianapolis East Side ~ otherwise so Lutheran and Catholic they had their own private school systems ~ but with snake handlers loose in the public schools.

They follow me around. When I first moved here a guy a few blocks away was arrested by the state police when several of his black mambas got loose. He'd been raising them and other types of cobras for use by both American and Indian origin snake handlers.

There's stuff going on you just don't know about...........

42 posted on 01/29/2011 3:35:49 PM PST by muawiyah
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 41 | View Replies]

To: Verginius Rufus
Athenians did beat Persians in Marathon.

Well, not surprising. Persians are great sprinters but are really poor distance runners...particularly the long hairs.;-)

43 posted on 01/29/2011 3:37:37 PM PST by SonOfDarkSkies (Obama and the Radical Left: 'People of the Lie')
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 35 | View Replies]

To: muawiyah
When I was a kid growing up in the deep South, I was often depressed by the fact that life was so d@mn dull.

If only I had known then what I know now. Life is a lot of things, but dull it isn't!

Don't know if we had any snake handlers...but wouldn't be surprised.

44 posted on 01/29/2011 4:01:22 PM PST by SonOfDarkSkies (Obama and the Radical Left: 'People of the Lie')
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 42 | View Replies]

To: Pharmboy

Read some more on the subject....


45 posted on 01/29/2011 11:00:02 PM PST by freebilly
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 37 | View Replies]

To: freebilly

If you think the guy on the left could compete in chess with the guy on the right, well...what can one say?

Clearly, it is you who has to read more. Start here, for instance. The following is from the reference cited:

The brains of adult Neanderthals were a different shape than ours — theirs were less globular and more elongated, which was the norm for more than 2 million years of human evolution, and is seen in chimpanzees as well.

"The interesting thing is within modern humans, the size of the brain correlates only very weakly with any measure of intelligence," he said. "It's more the internal structure of the brain that is important.

"And the Neanderthal, they were smart because they had a huge brain, but we think that internal structures must have been different because they grew differently, so we don't think the Neanderthal saw the world as we do."

46 posted on 01/30/2011 3:55:17 AM PST by Pharmboy (What always made the state a hell has been that man tried to make it heaven-Hoelderlin)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 45 | View Replies]

To: Pharmboy
Uhhh....we had better weapons and they couldn't outrun us. AND we were smarter and could come up with better tactics.

One of my favorite bits from The Cartoon History of the Universe (highly recommended, BTW) shows early humans hunting down other hominids as they say, "We're smart! We're handsome! And we haven't invented morality yet!"

47 posted on 01/30/2011 6:41:55 AM PST by Abin Sur
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Pharmboy

Ignorance is bliss.

http://www.darwinismrefuted.com/origin_of_man_06.html


48 posted on 01/31/2011 9:23:58 PM PST by freebilly
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 46 | View Replies]

To: Pharmboy

ps, since I’m of Asian descent, I’m smarter than you are, for a variety of reasons, so you should continue this discussion with someone who’s intellectually your peer.... ;)


49 posted on 01/31/2011 9:31:49 PM PST by freebilly
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 46 | View Replies]

To: freebilly

Racial/Ethnic IQ curves

50 posted on 02/01/2011 5:53:17 AM PST by Pharmboy (What always made the state a hell has been that man tried to make it heaven-Hoelderlin)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 49 | View Replies]

To: Pharmboy
None of you monkeys can even teleport objects with you mind.

Savages.


Today is a good day to die.
I didn't say for whom.

51 posted on 02/01/2011 7:15:54 AM PST by The Comedian (It's 3am all over the planet.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-51 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson