Homo Neanderthals Research Paper

While survival would have been a key goal for the first Tennesseans as the years went by, the four prehistoric tribes evolved and developed increasingly more advanced techniques to move from simply surviving to living. These four prehistoric tribes include the Paleo tribe, the Archaic tribe, the Woodland tribe and the Mississippian tribe. These tribes dealt with changing climates and fluctuating food sources, which defined their developing lifestyles and left clues for future generations to study and share.

The first Neanderthal remains, discovered in Germany in 1856, were presented to the world of science at a meeting of the Lower Rhine Medical and Natural History Society held in Bonn in February 1857 and named a species, Homo neanderthalensis, by William King in 1864. Some Neanderthal fossils and other remains are in excellent condition, giving a good idea of Neanderthal culture. In 1887, two complete skeletons were found in a cave near Spy in Belgium, and more from sites in France in 1887, 1908 and 1911. These and other finds showed that the Neanderthals had populated Europe widely from about 130,000 to 28,000 years ago after which they became extinct. Most of these fossils were found in caves. Usually they are associated with cold

In a skeleton found in Asia, the discovery of a hyoid bone in the the throat raised the question of whether or not Neanderthals had language capabilities. There has been much debate over this and many different theories, but the most widely accepted is that they were capable of producing human speech sounds, but whether or not they used this speech to communicate in any kind of language is still largely up for debate. In height, Neanderthals were roughly about the same size as modern humans, but did not live as long as modern humans. A Neanderthal who lived into his or her 40's was considered to be long lived, which is comparatively short to our much longer lives of roughly double that. Genetically, Neaderthals and humans differ in their DNA structure both in the mitochondrial DNA and in the nuclear DNA. The significance of the DNA evidence is that it is crucial in determining whether remains that are found are truly Neanderthal or an older hominin relative.

Research speculates that the modern humans and Neanderthals coexisted in Europe for around 5,000 years. To put that into perspective, 5,000 years is around 250 generations in “human-time.” Sharing about 99.5% DNA with the Neanderthals, the largest bone in the foot may be one of the biggest differences that set the modern humans apart to out-live the Neanderthals. Both Neanderthals and modern humans have arched feet, but the height of heal differs. Dr David Raichlen found that because the heal of the Neanderthal was taller, it proved less spring during running and also stabilized the ankle. This made the Neanderthals known for walking, and to which why the lower heal increased the ability for modern humans to out run its closest cousin.

According to “Decoding Neanderthals’ they were consider primitive; without language and art or a high level of thinking. These species hunted by brute force with a simple stone tool. Also, that their intellect cannot be associated or compared with modern humans because their behavior was too way primitive. They began to disappear 40,000 years ago as modern humans came on the scene, stated by “Decoding Neanderthals” documentary movie. However, according to the genetic evidence shows a mysterious presence related with the modern humans genes. Neanderthal’s psychical features demonstrate some facts that these Homo species possessed intelligence. For example, big noses, bulky physiques-adaptation to cold, shorter than Homo sapiens, but bones were thicker, oblique forehead and heavy eyebrows. Also, often Neanderthal’s craniums are larger than modern humans. They had larger ankle joint, elbow joint and shorter forearm, broader ribcage and lower cranium. They were the most advanced group of primates, except modern humans. Neanderthals weren’t fewer intelligent than modern people; they had clothes and had some kind of language. Neanderthal living space showed complex use of the instrument, abstract thoughts and speech, burial of their dead and manufactured primitive art objects. Some stereotypes against these species are that they had limited stone tools and no art or personal ornaments; therefore they seemed less advanced than modern humans. Also, stereotyping their intelligence

Neanderthals were a species of archaic humans who migrated out of Africa and into Europe and Asia. However, around 40,000 years ago the large populations of Neanderthals died off and became extinct. The mysterious circumstances that surrounded their extinction drove various research teams to undertake the task of excavating numerous Neanderthal sites to collect fossilized bones, and artifacts in order to learn more about this group of ancestral humans. Over the past years, major technological advances have allowed researches to analyze the fossilized remains of the Neanderthals which led to major discoveries. For example, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology found that the ear ossicles of Neanderthals and modern humans had similar functions but differed in terms of structure. In the study, the researchers used high-resolution computer tomography (CT) to scan numerous Neanderthal skulls from different sites in order to determine if there are ossicles present in the middle ear cavity (tympanic membrane). The scans revealed ossicles in fourteen different skulls which came as a surprise to the researchers since the bones of the ossicles are fragile and break down easily in the soil. The researchers then used microcomputed tomography scans and 3D geometric morphometrics in order to virtually reconstruct the bones of the ossicles which are composed of the malleus, incus and stapes. The 3D reconstructions of the ossicles allowed the scientists to

The most recent ancestor to the modern human, Homo neanderthalensis existed between 300,000 and 35,000 years ago. Originating in Africa, ancestors of the early Neanderthals migrated northwards almost 800,000 years ago. These migrants colonized much of the Old World with the majority based in Europe and small groups scattered throughout the Middle East and Asia. Historically, the Neanderthals were among the most resiliant creatures to exist on Earth. As a population, they thrived during the European ice age 40,000 years ago. This ice age enveloped the majority of Northern and Central Europe and due to their physique were the Neanderthals were able to surive. Physcially, the Neanderthals were larger and more muscular than today’s human

It's widely agreed by scientists that Neanderthals and Homo sapiens (modern man) are different species. However, it's thought that 1.5 - 2.1% of DNA from anyone born outside of Africa is Neanderthal which means that they co-existed and interbred with our Homo sapien ancestors approximately 35,000 years ago. Researchers say, the only human ancestors who didn't interbreed with Neanderthals were sub-Saharan Africans. Neanderthals typically lived in Europe and Asia up until approximately 33,000 BC when they are said to have become extinct. They lived during the Ice Age and can be considered as early cave men who are likely to have been covered in hair and had an ape like appearance very similar to the conventional perception of Bigfoot. Their eyes and brains were larger than those of Homo sapiens but they were sophisticated enough to carry tools, make fire and bury their dead. One scientific explanation as to why the Neanderthals died out is climate change, More likely, they were unable to compete with the better adapted early humans who either killed them, took over their land or interbred with them and they were absorbed into our

The Neanderthals lived in areas ranging from Western Europe through central Asia from about 200,000 to between 36,000 and 24,000 years ago. The Neanderthals lived in groups of 30 to 50 individuals, they invented many of the tool types that were to be perfected by fully sapient peoples, they had weapons adequate to deal with both the cave lion and cave bear, they used body paint, buried their dead. Neanderthal Man survived through the Ice Age. They are thought to have had fire. Neanderthals lived side by side with modern humans for over 10,000 years.

The fossils which passed the amino acid tests were called “transitional” elements between the two species.  They represented a part of Europe where the Neanderthals and early humans would have more than likely encountered each other.  The same DNA sequence was found in Neanderthals and early humans, but also in ancient cave bears from Croatia and Austria.  This made the researchers skeptical of their findings and decided to test for mtDNA stands.  When the fossils were further analyzed, the researchers found that the mtDNA embedded in the Neanderthal fossils was of a different strain than that in the early humans, which was of course, different from that of the ancient cave bears.

Contemporary Europeans have roughly three times more Neanderthal variable in their genes involved in lipid catabolism than Asian and African people. Even though Neanderthals are extinct, small pieces of their genomes tend to exist in modern humans. These similarities are unevenly distributed across the genome and some regions are particularly enriched with Neanderthal variants. While analyzing the influence of Neanderthal variants on lipid processing in modern humans, the researchers found revolutionary changes in lipid concentration and expression of metabolic enzymes in brains of humans of European

In the film, Neanderthals on Trial, numerous questions are presented regarding where Neanderthals fit into our evolutionary history. Were they ancestors to modern humans or were they an evolutionary dead end? Are they physically similar enough to be considered humans? Did their level of intelligence match ours or was it inferior? The film provides information on the evidence found to support their assumptions about who the Neanderthals were. There is debate between those who believe Neanderthals were a different species and those who believe they are a subspecies of humans. Despite some anthropologists believing the Neanderthals are not a species of humans, there is evidence supporting that they are, through DNA analysis, as well as analysis of cranial features, stone tools, and behavior, as depicted in the film.

Throughout the documentary “Decoding Neanderthals” there was a push of research to push the human view of Neanderthals. Over the year’s research showed that we coexisted with Neanderthals and out beat their species. Many believed that Neanderthals where like the stereotypical unintelligent and wild caveman. With new technology, enhanced research, and the exposing documentary “Decoding Neanderthals” pushed the boundaries of these past ideologies. Through this we have learned how intelligent, symbolic, and closely related this species is to homo-sapiens species. This research proved that the Neanderthal may have not became extent due to in ability to create weapons but, due to inter breading with humans

The first Neanderthal fossils found in Europe, a fragmented child’s cranium in Belgium in 1830, and an adult cranium in Gibraltar, were not immediately recognized as a divergent kind of human. Only in 1856 after a partial skeleton was found in a cave in the Neander Valley in Germany it became clear that these fossils belonged to an extinct human and our closest evolutionary relative (Hublin and Pääbo, 2006). Since then, questions about their relationship with modern humans have been fiercely debated between anthropologists. But what attracts most interest from scientists and popular media is the possibility of hybridization between Neanderthals and modern humans if, in other words, they were a genetically different specie or a

Upon investigating the bones Schmerling did not recognize them as a distinct species (Sawyer et al. 2007).The first true Neanderthal was discovered in the Neander Valley, near Dusseldorf in 1856 by a group of miners who were blasting out a cave in the area. When the crew uncovered archaic bones they contacted a local schoolteacher, Johann Karl Fuhlrott. Fuhlrott was the first to recognize the fossils as a new species. In 1864, William King in the Quarterly Journal of Science identified this new species as Homo neanderthalensis after the location of its unearthing (Sawyer et al. 2007).