some people look kind of neanderthal.
Posted on 01/27/2004 1:31:28 PM PST by LibWhacker
Jan. 27, 2004 — In a prehistoric battle for survival, Neanderthals had to compete against modern humans and were wiped off the face of the Earth, according to a new study on life in Europe from 60,000 to 25,000 years ago.
The findings, compiled by 30 scientists, were based on extensive data from sediment cores, archaeological artifacts such as fossils and tools, radiometric dating, and climate models. The collected information was part of a project known as Stage 3, which refers to the time period analyzed.
The number three also seems significant in terms of why the Neanderthals became extinct. One of the scientists involved in the research told Discovery News that a combination of three factors did the Neanderthals in.
"My general take on Neanderthal extinction was that they were in competition with anatomically modern humans at a time when there was increasing severe cold stress that was not only affecting them, but also the food resources they relied on," said Leslie Aiello, head of the University College London Graduate School, and an expert on Neanderthal response to weather.
Neanderthals appear to have tolerated temperatures as cold as zero degrees Fahrenheit, but during the last ice age, winter temperatures dipped to well below freezing. In order to cope, Neanderthals would have needed a lot more food than they were used to obtaining in winter.
"The costs of maintaining internal heat production at the required levels would have only been possible if Neanderthals were able to sustain a correspondingly high level of dietary energy intake," explained Aiello, adding that anatomically modern humans were better at dealing with the cold.
Early Homo sapiens, such as a group called the Gravettians that arose in Europe before the Neanderthals became extinct around 30,000 years ago, were loaded with the latest in prehistoric high tech.
They wore warm clothing made of fur and woven materials, lived in enclosed dwellings, and used effective weapons to ensnare animals and fish.
Paul Pettitt, a Neanderthal expert at the University of Sheffield who agrees with the new study findings, said, "(Gravettian) toolkits reveal a very sophisticated range of weaponry."
He said Neanderthals used spears that required close range contact with their prey, such as hyenas. Neanderthals probably thrust spears, like bayonets, into animals. Gravettians were better equipped.
"Far from general purpose spears deployed in the hand, we now see specialist projectile weapons (javelins) perhaps thrown with the aid of spearthrowers to increase effective range," Pettitt told Discovery News.
With such technologies, our ancestors won the prehistoric battle for survival.
While some researchers theorize that Neanderthals also are related to humans, yet another study, published in the current Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, claims that the skulls of Neanderthals and humans differ too much for Neanderthals to be our relatives.
Lead author Katerina Harvati of New York University said in a press release that we now have "the most concrete evidence to date that Neanderthals are indeed a separate species within the genus Homo."
Tough Love
Huh? Fascinating thread, but I haven't posted anything on it. Did you mean your reply for someone else?
Nowadays, they collect every kind of welfare benefit imaginable, outbreed the people paying the bills, eventually take over by sheer force of numbers, and society collapses into the very early stone age.
While some researchers theorize that Neanderthals also are related to humans, yet another study, published in the current Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, claims that the skulls of Neanderthals and humans differ too much for Neanderthals to be our relatives.There is no question that Neanderthals, when they were around, were our nearest relatives. The question is whether they were the same species. In taxonomic terms, it is a question of Homo neanderthalensis versus Homo sapiens neanderthalensis. The difference would be whether interbreeding was likely or even possible.
In either case, both populations have diverged from a common ancestor (Homo erectus, perhaps). It's just a question of how far that divergence has gone.
One of my pet gripes, as someone with a moderately solid background in science, is that many of these newspeople who write about science may know a moderate amount about reporting, but ususally know very little about science.
I dunno. We've all spotted our share. LOL! You know, the kind who'se forehead slopes back...a lot.
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S'posed to be an entire convention of 'em in Boston this week!
You sayin' we're mongrels???
Funny. I was taught that the Neanderthal was adapted to a cold climate i.e. large nasal cavity to warm inhaled air, bulky body etc. Oh well times change!
Hey, if NASA can confuse English and Metric measurements, surely a reporter can be excused for confusing Fahrenheit and Celsius! Journalists ain't the brightest bulbs in the pack, you know!
Roger that! The sensationalist overstatement in much of their medical coverage is another problem. (Dramatic breakthrough! New miracle cure!) It encourages unrealistic expectations and makes life difficult for health care providers. Then there are the flat-out lies these "reporters" spread, such as the phony correlation between second-hand tobacco smoke and major respiratory disease or all the Chicken Little "global warming" alarmism.
Something that bothers me is that if they are so often wrong in the reportage of scientific, medical and health delivery items [things in whch I have some knowledge], what about things that I know little about?
Thank goodness for the internet and sites like FR where I can [sometimes] get accurate, unbiased, information.
Amen, brother!
I am saying that maybe they were just bred out of existance not killed off or out competed by " modern man".
I would imagine that there are no real pure breds in the current population on earth if our distant ancestors were roaming the planet tens of thousands of years ago.
This is an awfully old thread.
I think that's still true. As I read the article, a naked Neanderthal would still be more cold-adapted than a naked "modern" sapiens. The modern population had invented better cold adaptations. (Clothing, improved weaponry to secure food supply, etc.)
The Discovery Channel and other such channels (as well as the networks) have always had a problem with presenting fringe theories as fact but the Discovery Channel has been influenced by their partnership with The New York Times (the "Discovery/Times Channel") and I've noticed an increase in "lefty" subject matter lately.
some people look kind of neanderthal.
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