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 ...
Hey, my hair used to be red, when it still had color in it! LOL
I read that too. It's all the rovers we're sending up there, I tellya.
Exactly. We did not invite them and actually tossed big rocks at them frequently
You know it's a losing position when the liberals start squabbling among themselves about it.
A lefty columnist who gets equal time in the Investors Business Daily editorial page was defending Bush today on this racial point. While basically saying Bush was an idiot (all the while claiming it wasn't quite true) he said that he was not a racist and was a truly compassionate man. The semi intelligent liberals are running from this goofy theme as fast as they can.
George, Who had all those thermometers 40,000 years ago to get the exact temperature in various locations? And, how and where was the data recorded?
I agree with your first point, they still exist. I ride the train with some of them every day.
You know this is true. Everytime I see a cave man on TV they always have no clothes on to speak of.
The slightest chill and BAM they are going to catch a cold.
I think all the bad stuff following "Let there be light" is still his responsibility, isn't it? TV tells me it is so, it must be true.
". . . I'm surprised they haven't jumped on this thread, denouncing the whole notion of Neanderthals being our 'relatives'..."
By most currenet thinking, homo sapein neatherthalis (I think that is the right name) and homo sapien sapiens have only a fairly distant ancestor in common --- different family tree branch, so to speak --- so they'd probably be close to right.
That said, the graves of Neaderthals, indicating intentional burial, replete with jewelry and weapons left with the dead, certainly indicate they had something going on upstairs more than the average ape man.
And, I'll bet the last member was heard to say with his dying gasp, "Whose bright idea was it to leave paradise?..."
Humanity is reserved for the upper-classes; books are just another weapon.
Me thinks they were assimilated.
huh. I coulda sworn it was global warming.
I see them too. I believe they are everywhere. My wife says I look like modern man but act Neanderthal. She means that as a compliment referring to my total lack of metrosexuality.
Dear mic9852; I noticed that, too - that scientists keep changing their minds.
It's like they keep on being wrong all the time.
The Bible calls it "Science, falsely so-called". (1 Tim. 6:20)
I just wonder how we will ever know if they are right???
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