Posted on 09/21/2005 12:22:31 PM PDT by george76
IT IS possibly the longest-running murder mystery of them all. What, or even who, killed humankind's nearest relatives, the Neanderthals who once roamed Europe before dying out almost 30,000 years ago?
Suspects have ranged from the climate to humans themselves, and the mystery has deeply divided experts. Now 30 scientists have come together to publish the most definitive answer yet to this enigma. They say Neanderthals simply did not have the technological know-how to survive the increasingly harsh winters. And intriguingly, rather than being Neanderthal killers, the original human settlers of Europe almost suffered the same fate.
Ice cores recovered from Greenland in the 1970s show that Europe's climate varied hugely during the last ice age, especially in the period between 70,000 and 20,000 years ago. Cold glacial periods were punctuated by warmer times, and the average temperature could rise and fall several degrees within a decade or so.
The maps also reveal that the earliest modern humans, the Aurignacian people, who appeared around 40,000 years ago, could not cope with the glacial cold either. They retreated south until 25,000 years ago when they were reduced to a few refuges, such as southwest France and the shores of the Black Sea.
The Gravettians appeared in eastern Europe 29,000 to 30,000 years ago complete with flash new tools, such as javelin-like throwing spears and fishing nets, which allowed them to catch a greater range of prey.
They also had clothing to keep the cold out, such as sewn furs and woven textiles, and possibly more specialised social structures. Their ability to tough out the colder climes dominating Europe 18,000 to 25,000 years ago revitalised the human population.
The Neanderthals, however, without either new blood or new technology, found it impossible to survive and died out, probably around 28,000 years ago.
(Excerpt) Read more at newscientist.com ...
We are not gone. We went underground.
See?
So when Arianna was talking about those dang Neanderthals and their SUVs, THIS is what she meant?
After having had so many drinks thrown in my face, I had quite a bit invested in that theory.
Bush's fault.
I must have missed the day in school where they weren't humans anymore.
All the victims were Neanderthals. Seems like racism.
Global Warming. Bush's fault.
ping
Scientists keep changing their minds.
From reading this one would think that maybe the Earth's climate has varied throughout history, even before Jan 20, 2001 when President Bush was inaugurated.
History gets rewritten often.
I know the movie sucked, but this is a bit much!
Freon farts.
Maybe it was because they didn't sign the Kyoto Protocol. Cripes, they didn't even read or write.
Or it could be all the greenhouse gas produced by them giant vegetable eating mammals. They died out and the climate leveled out. Cause and effect. Now that's science!
Did we not see an article recently about early humans in America about 40,000 years ago? Something does not add up.
Don't use logic, it is very unscientific.
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