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Human Nature, Human, And The Human Past

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Neanderthals:
Are We Really That Different?

Mitch Charlton
Student #250833199

Anthropology 1020E 001 5A
Alexis Dolphin
November 9 2015
Introduction
Evolutionary studies are undoubtedly a large, significant aspect of biological anthropology. Anthropology can be defined as “the study of human nature, human society, and the human past” (Lavenda and Schultz 2016:5). Evolution includes the past, present, and future. It revolves around how we got to where we are today; what are our origins as modern day humans? Neanderthals are an important piece of that puzzle that has yet to be properly placed. The role, significance, and similarity between modern day humans and Neanderthals are topics of special interest for many biological anthropologists. John D. Speth discusses this exact topic in his article titled News Flash: Negative Evidence Convicts Neanderthals of Gross Mental Incompetence. Neanderthals have been unjustifiably placed in a category of inferior cognitive abilities based primarily on negative evidence, a form of evidence that is not testable, therefore not capable of proving anything, thus demonstrating that Neanderthals were intelligent beings and do not differ from modern day humans in intelligence.
Article Summary John D. Speth authored the article, News Flash: Negative Evidence Convicts Neanderthals of Gross Mental Incompetence, a piece where Speth argues that Neanderthals have not been properly proven of inferior cognitive abilities. Speth says,

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