Neanderthals 'Were Ahead Of Their Time'

The Telegraph (UK) ^ | 6-15-2007

[newfreep]

I’ve always wondered how the cavemen could be reconciled on a time scale with Biblical teachings of Adam & Eve being the origination of humans?

[Harrius Magnus]

“Lynndie England: the missing link between neanderthals and modern man?”

Ah, but, to my knowledge, she’s managed to crank out several (fatherless) babies... In my neighborhood, she would be considered a Darwinian success story.

[lepton]

If that were true, whales would be the most intelligent creatures on earth.

Whales brains have a very large task-specific portion of their brain, which appears devoted to sonar and associated spatial navigation. As I recall, Neanderthal's brain is enlarged most prominently in the areas associated with the visual cortex and navigation.

[lepton]

yet we have not a single clue what *they* are saying.

Really? I knew a dozen or so sounds that each of my dogs would make, and what each meant. The problem was more that they would use the same "word" for a score of different things.

[lepton]

I’ve always wondered how the cavemen could be reconciled on a time scale with Biblical teachings of Adam & Eve being the origination of humans?

Use the same definition of "human".

[blam]

"As I recall, Neanderthal's brain is enlarged most prominently in the areas associated with the visual cortex and navigation. "

The 'Hobbit' skull(s) found on the Indonesian island of Flores have a Broca's Area four times larger than Modern Humans. No-one knows why.

[U S Army EOD]

It is a good joke, one I will lie about to people. Thanks for the ammo.

[Dysart]

Mark

[HamiltonJay]

Size alone does not dictate intelligence... The surface area of the brain certainly seems to have a large impact in general. But overall size by weight or by volume does not.

[norton]

"If “Neanderthals” were stronger and smarter than we, Why are we the survivors?"

Alleys, late at night, one at a time.

[PGalt]

We were all created. Many devolve.

[norton]

"If that were true, whales would be the most intelligent creatures on earth.
perhaps they are..."

'So long and thanks for all the plankton'?

[blam]

IQ Intelligence: The Surprising Truth

[Jedi Master Pikachu]

Neanderthals were men. They may not have been as similar genetically as two people randomly selected from around the world today, but they were human.

[SunkenCiv]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1850445/posts?page=53#53

[Jedi Master Pikachu]

There are cavemen still in existence today (in Malta). And probably a few eccentrics in other parts of the world.

As for Neanderthals, Creationist models vary. One idea is that modern day Europeans and people in the Levant and Central Asia (the places where Neanderthals used to live) are the descendants of Neanderthals.

Another is that they could have been people who actually obeyed the command to spread out after the Flood, and sort of became a subspecies of humans while the rest of humanity loitered in Mesopotamia, and after Babel, some of those Mesopotamians--the ancestors of modern mankind--wiped out the Neanderthals.

A rarer view is that Neanderthals were humans living in the antediluvian world; this hypothesis is chiefly for other advanced hominids such as Homo erectus and Homo habilis and similar homo species (as in Latin nomenclature)--less advanced homo species were probably just types of ape that have since gone extinct (and humans aren't apes).

[Jedi Master Pikachu]

It isn’t the volume (at least that is the modern, general consensus).

[ElkGroveDan]

But Neanderthal man was not as slow-witted as he looked and was in reality as smart as we are, an archaeologist claims.

For those of us who follow these stories, the above line has become a painful cliche. It is included in EVERY story about Neanderthals. No well-read person thinks they were dumb brutes any more, and hasn't for the past 30 years. Sheesh ...