Neanderthal Extinction Paper

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

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.

A long, long time ago people would run through the forests they lived in and when they were hungry they would start eating the organic life that grew around them. It is only fitting to assume since the flower is much prettier than most other parts of the plant that it would be eaten first.

The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum was a period of time around the Paleocene-Eocene boundary during which the Earth experienced a significant rise in temperature. As we discussed in class January 27-February 3, the PETM period conveniently coincides with primate evolution and dispersal worldwide. This period of thermal increase is important to primate evolution because this rise in temperature worldwide created an ideal, survivable environment for primates globally. This rise in temperature encouraged primates to expand their territories into areas not previously inhabitable, such as the Arctic Circle. Additionally, I believe that the PETM may have encouraged primates to evolve into broader adaptive radii in order to exploit more tropical food sources and landscapes. In general, it is acknowledged that the PETM allowed primates to become more pervasive worldwide.

It was the extinction that puzzled many anthropologists across the globe. How is it possible that living humans now outlived a subspecies of a hominid with a larger brain than our own? The first Neandertals, otherwise known as the Homo Neandertalensis, appeared in the Eurasian region approximately 150,000 years ago and are believed to roam the planet until just about 30,000 years ago. With their strong and muscular bodies, it was no surprise that they were a likely candidate of survival. The Neandertals endured treacherous weather conditions, shrugged off many broken bones, and barely escaped the clutches of death that came with their risky hunting techniques. What we may deem as extraneously harsh living conditions was a quotidian part of

This in turn allowed them to consider the context of differing abilities to cope with fluctuating resources, different variables, and overall paths in brain development between Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans (AMHs). Although Neanderthals did share similar brain sizes comparable to anatomically modern humans (AMHs), nevertheless Neanderthals brain cases were elongated and not globular as in Homo Sapiens implying that anatomically modern humans (AMHs) and Neanderthals reached fairly large brain sizes along dissimilar evolutionary paths. In their underlying research, they hypothesize that similarly sized brains of both Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans (AMHs) were ostensibly organized differently for two

An ancient human species, known as the Neanderthals, emerged into this world 300,000 to 100,000 years ago. The Neanderthals occupied Eurasia, from Europe to Central Asia. During this time, Europe was in an Ice Age, which means the Neanderthals had a difficult time surviving because of the harsh weather. Around 24,000 years ago, this species disappeared; this was around the time when the Homo sapiens arrived from their original home in Africa (Tuttle). Even though the modern humans showed up and started competing for food and land, the Neanderthals were skilled in a variety of areas. According to the journal Smithsonian, Neanderthals learned how to control fire for warmth and cooking, make clothing for the severe weather conditions, and become

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.

Many scientist have spent their lives trying to unravel the mystery that is the demise of the neanderthals. Today, with their help,using a phylogenic tree, we know that they are closely related to humans and slightly related to gorillas. With that information, we can further conclude that many things impacted them including climate change, interbreeding, and human interaction. Using the Journal Advances in Complex Systems research compiled on the end of Neanderthals came to light. When Neanderthals and early humans land-use patterns changed during the last ice age, computer modeling showed that the two populations began to mingle and mate, leading to the "extinction" of one of the groups because of hybridization. Neanderthals died out.

During the late Pleistocene, a mystery occurred in which large mammals went extinct in North America while they survived in other parts of the world. Scientists studying the late Pleistocene extinction provided a plethora of explanations, including overkill by humans, extraterrestrial events, and climate changes (Faith and Surovell, 2009). However, there was no unified explanation that they all agreed upon. Taking note of this, J. Tyler Faith and Todd A. Surovell conducted tests to discover whether the extinction was a single event or a long-term process. Their findings were important to other scientists in the same field, as they served as a guideline for their explanations of catalysts of the extinction.

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

For a long time, it had been assumed that evolution happened in a systematic manner and that no two or more species of human ancestors existed at the same time. Because of such an assumption, it has become very hard to determine the exact ancestors when two populations dated to the same geographical location and time. In this essay, I will discuss the difference between the Homo Habilis, Homo Rudolfensis, and the Paranthropus Boisei in order to show why I believe the Homo habilis is our direct ancestor despite the three populations having existed within the same region and time span.

When the Homo sapiens migrated out of Africa, they met the Neanderthals. One reason I believe this meeting was important is how the homo sapiens ended up cross

Several different hypotheses have been formulated to explain the extinction of Neanderthals, from climate changes to intoxication from cave-associated contaminants like smoke, from cannibalism to diseases (Herrera et al., 2009). It is only certain that Neanderthals disappeared from fossil record after the arrival of modern humans, around 40,000 years in Asia, and 10,000-15,000 years in Europe (Shreeve, 1995). Fossil evidence shows the presence of modern humans in Middle East from 130,000 to 75,000 years ago, in the same areas where Neanderthals retreated between 65,000 and 47,000 years ago (Mellars, 2004).

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