Neanderthal and Early Modern Humans Essay

Perhaps, where they coexisted, some difference prevented interbreeding or the production of hybrids between these populations and early human ancestors. Usually such differences between related species originate as adaptations to the environment, not as devices for reproductive isolation.

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.

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

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

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.

If Neanderthals did in fact comport themselves in ways once thought to distinguish anatomically modern humans and enable the latter’s rise to world domination, that similarity makes the Neanderthals’ decline and eventual extinction all the more mystifying. One theory is that H. sapiens had a broader variety of tools that may have enhanced their ability to forage. When they brought their superior technology with them out of Africa and into Eurasia, they were thus better able to exploit the environment more effectively than the resident Neanderthals could. Still, the arrival of H. sapiens did not equal an instant demise for Neanderthals. The latest attempt to track their decline, carried out by Thomas Higham of Oxford and his colleagues, applied

Neanderthals lived from 130,000-30,000 years ago and were part of the Archaic Homo sapiens; meaning the Homo neaderthalensis were an earlier member of the modern humans. The living range for the Neanderthals located from Europe to the Middle East. About 50,000 years ago modern humans started to migrate from Africa to Europe and the Middle East, thus causing Neanderthals and modern humans to interbreed. In the two articles “Researchers shed light on Neanderthals’ legacy in humans” and “Surprise! 20 Percent of Neanderthal Genome Lives On in Modern Humans, Scientists Find” they discuss how some genes and phenotypes found in Neanderthals were also expressed in non-African descent modern humans and reason behind it. The study between the Neanderthals

Although modern humans are of the only surviving ancestors in today's society other groups of early humans did used to walk where we walk. Which is why the greatest mystery and biggest question of human evolution is what happened to the Neanderthals. Neanderthals were the early group of humans who used to live in Europe and Asia thousands of years before Homo-Sapiens took over the world population. Many believe Neanderthals died off leaving nothing behind but scientist have provided that most humans have neanderthal DNA within them. Leading people to believe that our ancestors had interbred with Neanderthals. As Neanderthal DNA is 99.7 percent identical to modern human DNA providing that Neanderthal genes continue to lurk on within modern

After watching the films on neanderthals I have learned many new things about them. Neanderthals and humans are similar in many ways. In fact, “What Killed Off The Neanderthals,” film stated that “1 to 2 percent of humans have DNA from neanderthals.

When modern humans walked the earth 65,00 years ago, they were not the only ones who walked on two legs, had opposable thumbs and used tools. The Neanderthals, who we shared 99.5% the same DNA with also roamed the earth with modern humans, but mysteriously vanished between 45 to 28 million years ago. There are a lot of theories as to what could have caused the Neanderthal population to go extinct. But the most plausible reasons for Neanderthals extinction is due to being out competed by modern humans (Homo Sapiens), coupled with a rapidly changing environment.

According to physical evidence, and theories, scholars have concluded upon a whole hypothesis. Based on their knowledge and belief, modern humans diverged from Homo sapiens between 200,000 and 150,000 years ago specifically in Africa, that between 125,000 and 60,000 years ago members of Homo sapiens left Africa, and that these

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

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

There has been a great deal of heated debate for the last few decades about where modern Homo sapiens originated. From the battle grounds, two main theories emerged. One theory, labeled “Out-of-Africa” or “population replacement” explains that all modern Homo sapiens evolved from a common Homo erectus ancestor in Africa 100,000 years ago. The species began to spread and replace all other archaic human-like populations around 35,000 to 89,000 years ago. The rivaling opinion, entitled the “regional continuity” theory or “multiregional evolution” model refutes this theory and states modern humans evolved from various species of Homo erectus who interbred with others that lived in