Neaderthals and the Human Race Essay

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

A famous philosopher Socrates once said, 'the unexamined life is not worth living.' With that idea, the question 'Are Human Beings Intrinsically Evil?' has been asked by philosophers for many years. It is known as one of the unanswerable questions. Determinists have come to the conclusion that we are governed by the laws of science, that there is nothing we can do about ourselves being evil because we naturally are. Evil is simply the act of causing pain. In this essay I will argue that human beings are born with a natural reaction to 'fear and chaos' to be instinctively evil.

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.

This would be like a good past time or hobby for them. The importance of art for some of the people back then was to try to gain some sort of control over their environment by magic or rituals. Neanderthals used to live solely in Europe and in Western Asia around the time of the fourth glaciation. Neanderthals in this time period are depicted to be slouched over, brute, and apelike. Scientists assumed that Neanderthals had arthritis, as they all weren’t able to walk upright. Neanderthals were known to be very short and stout. They averaged only about 5 feet, but were very muscular and had strong legs, hence due to their traveling and wanderings. Since Neanderthals ate an abundant amount of meat, their front teeth were quite large, and much larger than the modern day human. Astoundingly, Neanderthals’ brain size was much bigger than some of the modern day humans. Many thought that Neanderthals hunted larger animals like mammoths, cave bears, and reindeers, but since they were hunters-gatherers, they instead ate

     Chimps and gorillas have at least a simple capacity for langueage. They may never have invented a

Neanderthals and modern humans coexisted for well over 100,000 years.  Then suddenly Homo neandertalensis began to die out and surrender the earth to Homo sapiens.  Paleontologists and anthropologists have entertained several possibilities to the causes of this event: interbreeding among Neanderthals and humans, competition for natural resources, and Darwin’s theory of “survival of the fittest.”  What the real cause has been has plagued scientists for years. Now, due to an international research team from Germany, those possibilities have been even further deduced, making it easier to pinpoint the exact reason Homo neandertalensis became extinct.

Also, in the scene where Ayla is alone in a cave throughout a cold period, it shows her using a stone hand axe to create notches in the end of her spear for better grip. The use of fire was also accurately portrayed throughout the film. In one scene, Ayla created fire by “turning a stick rapidly in a hole in a dry log” (Ancient Civilizations (Pg.21)). You can also see the people of the clan throughout the movie using fire to cook their food and “harden the points of wooden spears so that the weapon could pierce skin” (Ancient Civilizations (Pg.21)). Throughout the Stone Age, these were all common activities you could see the Neanderthal partaking in.

The Neanderthals and Homo sapiens were alike comparing to a few details. By watching the “Could Neanderthals talk to use.” After going over the data presented to us in the modules I agree with the notion in which the argument is they could talk. The data presented was the Anatomy of the Neanderthal and Us in comparison to whether they could communicate. The connection of the hyoid bone from the modern human to their anatomy was identical. I understand they had body language to communicate

There are two theories as to how the Neanderthals died, the first is that humans are the culprit, the second is that it was caused by natural factors such as disease or climate change. The first theory is built on the belief that Homo Sapiens had a greater talent for tool creation and social innovation. The story is that Homo sapiens had hunted all of the Neanderthals food, and took away many of their vital resources, driving them into the deep jungle. The second theory is that Homo sapiens had nothing to do with it and that the Neanderthals were driven into the deep jungle by the warming climate, diseases or another natural reason. Most people believe that “about forty-five thousand years ago...the hot front moved in [and] the forests shrank, leaving behind parched grasslands stretching to the horizon.

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

Since the beginning of the human race, the ocean has been a major source of food. People near the shores have been taking of advantage of the ocean’s rich and diverse source of nourishment for centuries, both as a source of food and a livelihood. However, since the dawn of the industrial age, humans have begun to take from the ocean more that it can give. As a result, the ocean can no longer provide the human race with the abundance that it once did. As technology rapidly advances, populations skyrocket, and global warming spreads havoc, the ocean’s biodiversity and once abundant supply of fish is dwindling, calling marine scientists and experts to race to find solutions that will restore the oceans health while battling world hunger.

To hunt effectively a group of hunters must have a type of language to communicate during hunts. The Kebara 2 hyoid bone found in 1989 was studied and found to be anatomically comparable to modern human hyoid bones allowing support for the base of the tongue. The FOXP2 gene found during sequencing the Neanderthal genetics suggested the Neanderthals had the capacity for speech, however the gene does more than allow speech. Finding the hyoid bone was necessary to establish the fact Neanderthals had language because the FOXP2 gene is pleiotropic and could have had other roles in body function other than language. Culture and language are interrelated, culture being taught by language and language is learned through culture. Science has

There is evidence to suggest that Homo neanderthalensis and Homo sapiens had coexisted for approximately 35-40,000 years, (Fagan 2010) from around 60,000 years ago to 25,000 years ago when they finally went extinct (Gibbon 2001). Anthropologists are still uncertain what the cause of their extinction was. This paper will analyze three main theories of Neanderthal extinction. The first theory is the competition theory, which claims that the Homo sapiens and Neanderthals had to compete for resources, ultimately leading to their demise. The second theory I will discuss is the climate change theory, which claims that Homo sapiens lived while Neanderthals died because they were better adapted to the climate. The last theory I will discuss is

The human race has advanced a great deal over the course of recent history, particularly so since the 18th century. Countless of these developments in society can be attributed to the achievements of engineers - however, despite this, many do not realise their contribution and importance. One of the fundamental bases behind these engineering feats is the harnessing of energy sources, such as electrical and heat energy. This has allowed for many innovations, for example power stations, transportation, communications and computers, which have all become critical to society and the modern world in which we live.