Scientists have clear evidence of Neanderthal hunting from uncovering sharp wooden spears and large numbers of big game animal remains were hunted and butchered by Neanderthals. There is also evidence from Gibraltar that when they lived in coastal areas, they exploited marine resources such as mollusks, seals, dolphins and fish. Scientists have also found plaque on the remains of molar teeth containing starch grains—concrete evidence that Neanderthals ate plants.
The Mousterian stone tool industry of Neanderthals is characterized by sophisticated flake tools that were detached from a prepared stone core. This innovative technique allowed flakes of predetermined shape to be removed and fashioned into tools from a single suitable stone.
Acheulean tools worked from a suitable stone that was chipped down to tool form by the removal of flakes off the surface. Neanderthals used tools for activities like hunting and sewing. Left-right arm asymmetry indicates that they hunted with thrusting rather than throwing spears that allowed them to kill large animals from a safe distance.
Neanderthal bones have a high frequency of fractures, which along with their distribution are similar to injuries among professional rodeo riders who regularly interact with large, dangerous animals. Scientists have also recovered scrapers and awls larger stone or bone versions of the sewing needle that modern humans use today associated with animal bones at Neanderthal sites.
A Neanderthal would probably have used a scraper to first clean the animal hide, and then used an awl to poke holes in it, and finally use strips of animal tissue to lace together a loose-fitting garment. Neanderthals were the first early humans to wear clothing, but it is only with modern humans that scientists find evidence of the manufacture and use of bone sewing needles to sew together tighter fitting clothing.
Neanderthals also controlled fire, lived in shelters, and occasionally made symbolic or ornamental objects. This may be one of the reasons that the Neanderthal fossil record is so rich compared to some earlier human species; being buried greatly increases the chance of becoming a fossil! Both fossil and genetic evidence indicate that Neanderthals and modern humans Homo sapiens evolved from a common ancestor between , and , years ago. Neanderthals and modern humans belong to the same genus Homo and inhabited the same geographic areas in western Asia for 30,—50, years; genetic evidence indicate while they interbred with non-African modern humans, they ultimately became distinct branches of the human family tree separate species.
In fact, Neanderthals and modern humans may have had little direct interaction for tens of thousands of years until during one very cold period when modern humans spread into Europe. Over just a few thousand years after modern humans moved into Europe, Neanderthal numbers dwindled to the point of extinction.
All traces of Neanderthals disappeared by about 40, years ago. The most recently dated Neanderthal fossils come from small areas of western Europe and the Near east, which was likely where the last population of this early human species existed.
But scientists are constantly in the field and the laboratory, excavating new areas and conducting analyses with groundbreaking technology, continually filling in some of the gaps about our understanding of human evolution. Below are some of the still unanswered questions about H. King, W. The reputed fossil man of the Neanderthal.
Quarterly Review of Science 1, Trinkhaus, E. Pathology and the posture of the La Chappelle-aux-Saints Neanderthal. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 67, Trinkaus, E. The Neanderthals: Changing the Image of Mankind. Knopf: New York. The answer may lie in cultural differences. Did the Neanderthals also live alongside another human species in Europe? An interesting case making headlines in was the discovery of a finger bone and tooth from Denisova cave in Russia.
The bones were found in and date to about 30,, years old. Little else could be gleaned from these studies so scientists started work on extracting nuclear DNA. This produced far more information. The 'Denisovians', as they have been nicknamed, were more closely related to Neanderthals than modern humans. This suggests the Neanderthals and 'Denisovans' shared a common ancestor after modern humans and Neanderthals split. Perhaps this ancestor left Africa half a million years ago with the Neanderthals spreading west to the Near East and Europe while the Denisovans headed east.
However, this does not necessarily mean they are a 'new' species as they may be already known from fossils that have no DNA record to compare, such as Homo heidelbergensis or H.
See Nature, December s. Neanderthals are recognisably human but have distinctive facial features and a stocky build that were evolutionary adaptations to cold, dry environments. Evidence shows that Neanderthals had a complex culture although they did not behave in the same ways as the early modern humans who lived at the same time.
Scholars debate the degree of symbolic behaviour shown by Neanderthals as finds of art and adornment are rare, particularly when compared to their modern human contemporaries who were creating significant amounts of cave paintings, portable art and jewellery.
Some researchers believe they lacked the cognitive skills to create art and symbols and, in fact, copied from or traded with modern humans rather than create their own artefacts. However, others suggest the scarcity may have been due to social and demographic factors.
The Neanderthals had a reasonably advanced tool kit classified as Mode 3 technology that was also used by early members of our own species, Homo sapiens.
This was also known as the Mousterian, named after the site of Le Moustier. At the end of their long history in Europe, they began manufacturing a more refined toolkit known as the Chatelperronian , similar to the blade tools of Homo sapiens.
This occurred at about the same time as modern humans entered Europe. Many archaeologists think that the Neanderthals were attempting to copy the types of tools that they observed modern humans making.
Alternatively, they may have obtained these tools by trading with the modern humans. The Neanderthals built hearths and were able to control fire for warmth, cooking and protection. They were known to wear animal hides, especially in cooler areas. However, there is no physical evidence that Neanderthal clothing was sewed together, and it may have simply been wrapped around the body and tied. Neanderthals left behind no known symbolic art and only limited evidence for body decoration. One of few decorative items found at a Neanderthal site is a pendant from Arcy-sur-Cure in France, found amongst bone tools and other artefacts that were attributed to a culture known as Chatelperronian which most researchers consider Neanderthal.
However, redating of the site's layers in suggest contamination occurred between layers and that the artefact may have been made by modern humans, as they also occupied this site in later times. There is only one other undisputed Chatelperronian site that has yielded personal ornaments, and even these may have been obtained by trade with modern humans Homo sapiens , or been made in imitation of artefacts made by modern humans.
In researchers uncovered artefacts at two sites in Spain - Anton rock shelter and Aviones cave - that provide indirect evidence of symbolic art. The former held naturally-perforated scallop shells painted with orange pigments and the latter a cockleshell that may have been used as a paint container as it had residue of red and black pigments.
The Avione finds date to between , years ago, which is before modern humans arrived in Europe so could not have been copied from them. The dead were often buried, although there is no conclusive evidence for any ritualistic behaviour. However, at some sites, objects have been uncovered that may represent grave goods.
This species occupied a range of environments across Europe and the Middle East and lived through a period of changing climatic conditions. Ice Ages in Europe were interspersed with warmer periods but by , years ago average temperatures were on the decline and full glacial conditions had appeared by 40, years ago. There is evidence that the Neanderthals hunted big game and chemical analysis of their fossils shows that they ate significant amounts of meat supplemented with vegetation.
Despite this mixed diet, nearly half of the Neanderthal skeletons studied show the effects of a diet deficient in nutrients. Researchers have long debated whether Neanderthals also included human meat in their diets.
It is not always easy to determine if cut marks on human bones are due to cannabilism, some other practice or even animal teeth, but in recent years new evidence has emerged that suggests some Neanderthals may indeed have been cannibals on occasions.
Neanderthals persisted for hundreds of thousands of years in extremely harsh conditions. They shared Europe for 10, years with Homo sapiens. Today they no longer exist. Beyond these facts the fate of Neanderthals has generated much debate. Theory 1: They interbred with Homo sapiens sapiens on a relatively large scale.
Followers of this theory believe that although Neanderthals as organisms no longer exist their genes were present in early modern Europeans and may still exist today. Neanderthals were a sub-species of Homo sapiens rather than a separate species and hence their scientific name is Homo sapiens neanderthalensis.
Theory 2: They were essentially replaced by Homo sapiens. In this case, Neanderthals are a separate species from Homo sapiens. This model does allow for peripheral interbreeding but no significant genetic input from Neanderthals to modern Europeans. Today, most theories accept that Neanderthals displayed advanced behaviours and adaptive strategies and were not sluggish brutes that stood no chance against the vastly superior Homo sapiens.
However,the incoming Homo sapiens were doing something that was different enough, and just that little bit more superior, to give them an edge under the circumstances.
Exactly what was 'a little bit more superior' is debated. Of particular interest are a number of new studies that focus on the role of climate change and the subtle differences that behaviour and biology play in these conditions.
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The distinctive features of Neanderthals are already apparent in this adolescent individual. This was the first Neanderthal skull ever found.
Its significance was not realised until , after the discovery and publication of another Neanderthal skull discovered in the Neander Valley in Germany in Unfortunately, the exact provenance of the Gibraltar skull is uncertain so it has yet to be accurately dated.
The skull is one of the best-preserved Neanderthal crania found and is probably a female. Its age is 45, years old. Pronounced differences in the braincase, ear bones and pelvis can still be recognised in fossils of Neanderthals and modern humans from , years ago. This suggests a separate evolutionary history going back much further - so far so good for differentiating H. Complications come when we consider a particular definition of species - one which Linnaeus did not develop, but which he probably would have appreciated.
The biological species concept states that species are reproductively isolated entities - that is, they breed within themselves but not with other species. Thus all living Homo sapiens have the potential to breed with each other, but could not successfully interbreed with gorillas or chimpanzees, our closest living relatives.
Critics who disagree that H. This indicates that the two interbred with each other when they met outside Africa about 55, years ago. In the face of this seemingly decisive evidence, why do I cling to my belief that Neanderthals and Homo sapiens are distinct species?
Well, in my view the problem is not with ancient couplings between our ancestors and Neanderthals, but with the limitations of the biological species concept. We now know from the same kind of genomic research that many other species of mammal interbreed with each other - for example different kinds of baboons genus Papio , wolves and wild dogs Canis , bears Ursus and large cats Panthera. A puma-leopard hybrid.
You can see this specimen on display at the Museum at Tring. We now know that many mammal species can interbreed. Thus the problem is not with Neanderthals and modern humans and all the other species that interbreed with each other, but with the biological species concept itself.
It is only one of dozens of suggested species concepts, and one that is less useful in the genomic age, with its profuse demonstrations of inter-species mixing. The reality is that in most cases in mammals and birds, species diverge from each other gradually. It may take millions of years for full reproductive isolation to develop , something that clearly had not yet occurred for H.
In my view, if Neanderthals and Homo sapiens remained separate long enough to evolve such distinctive skull shapes, pelvises, and ear bones, they can be regarded as different species, interbreeding or not.
Humans are great classifiers, and we do like to keep things orderly. But we should not be surprised when the natural world past and present does not match up to our neat and simple schemes.
But what about the archaeological evidence that is also commonly cited in favour of uniting the Neanderthals with us as Homo sapiens - that they had 'cultural' behaviours such as burying their dead and painting designs on the walls of caves? Well, interesting as that is, it should be excluded from the biological classification of species, since behaviours are potentially more plastic, evolve more quickly, and spread more easily within and between species than traits based on anatomy and DNA.
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