Neanderthals Brain Development

This meant that if Neanderthals did contain larger eyes than AMHs it would mean they possessed much larger visual cortices and for a meaningful contrast between brain volumes, fossil brains must have been adjusted for at least these two effects. In general, their results tie in with the notion that Neanderthal and AMH lineages experienced separate evolutionary trajectories and therefore Neanderthals enlarged their visual and somatic regions, whereas AMHs were able to achieve similarly large brains size by increasing other brain areas instead of merely focusing on a singular aspect so they could adapt their vision to the higher latitudes. If that is the case and anatomically modern humans did achieve correspondingly larger brain size and volume

Another trait seen in primate evolution has been a more elaborate brain. In addition to brain size and gestation periods, the social organization also demonstrates and plays an important role in primate evolution due to its complexity and hierarchy. Brain evolution The fundamental explanation for the evolution of large relative brain size in early primates remains undetermined and disputed (Insel).

The evidence that supports that Neanderthals inter-bred with Homo sapiens is that of a skeleton that was found of a young modern child. The skeleton was determined to be that of an early modern human child, but the skeleton had Neanderthal characteristics as well as modern human characteristics. It was determined that if this child had Neanderthal traits then Neanderthals were part of his ancestry. That would mean that Neanderthals inter-bred with Homo sapiens. Beyond that there has been DNA testing of bone fragments that suggest that even though Neanderthals were different from Homo sapiens they weren't so different that they could not breed with each other. Anatomically modern humans and Neanderthals were the same.

       In the article, "Neanderthal Brain Size at Birth Provides Insights into the Evolution of Human Life History" by Marcia S. Ponce de Leon discussed human life history is characterized by an extended period of developmental immaturity. This pattern of ontogeny is thought to be necessary for higher cognitive capabilities (Ponce de Leon 37). However, recent studies suggest the differences between the human brain growth and the chimpanzees are less evident (Ponce de Leon 37). Humans reach their large adult brains by means of higher growth rates early during ontogeny (Ponce de Leon 37). With that being said, large adult brains are connected with slow life histories (Ponce de Leon 37). Even so, the

Neanderthals are the predecessor to anatomically modern humans. They were hunters, cared for their wounded and the dead, lived rough lives, and are considered to be a highly successful species (who). Living between 180-40 thousand years ago, Neanderthals were considered to be a part of the middle paleolithic era (when). Living in both Europe and southern Asia, Neanderthals never migrated into Africa (where). They co-existed with anatomically modern humans; however the time of coexistence is debatable. Unlike today’s humans, they had a significantly larger head, accounting for a significantly larger brain (what). However, they were equipped with a much smaller frontal lobe, which means they had less capacity and ability for forethought. They

She argues that brain development helped humans achieve getting this far in evolution, stating that they are able to have complex reasoning due to the size increase (2). Although both can agree that brain development was a piece

Professor Holliday also found out a new fact about the Neanderthal skeleton that it was much stronger on the right side than on the left; also the right forearm was much more powerful which allowed the Neanderthal a very strong grip. Professor Steve Churchill, from Duke University, carried out another experiment. The results of this and Holliday's work suggest Neanderthal was an ambush hunter; waiting in a forest for his prey to stray close, and then attacking with a thrusting spear. Neanderthal was possibly the most carnivorous form of human ever to have lived. (www.bbc.co.uk.com). Research of the skull shows that the Neanderthal skull is 20% larger than the average size of a modern human’s brain, and it also showed that the areas of the brain where complex thoughts are suppose to occur were just as advanced as ours. The vocal tract of a Neanderthal was shorter and wider than a modern person, which showed also that their voices could have been much more higher pitched then ours today. Neanderthals could produce a wide range of different voices just as we could. About 45,000 years ago Europe hit a major climate change, it was sudden random bursts between warm and cold conditions, which really messed with the Neanderthals environment. Neanderthals lived in forests with the weather change the forest began to recede, giving way to open plains; “On these plains,

Not everyone is ready to draw such decisive conclusions about the Neanderthal mind from DNA however. John Hawks of the University of Wisconsin-Madison notes that Neanderthals may have carried gene variants that affected their brain function but that have no counterparts in modern humans for comparison. He remarks that if one were to envisage Neanderthal skin color based on the genes they share with modern humans, one would infer that they had dark skin. Yet scientists now know Neanderthals had some genes no longer in circulation that probably led to their possessing light skin. The larger problem with attempting to determine how Neanderthal brains worked from their genes, Hawks says, is that for the most part researchers do not know how genes

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

Ever since Neanderthals have been discovered they have been misunderstood. From their name, physical traits, and their brain power we have misrepresented them in our novels, comic sketches, cartoons, movies and even in scientific literature for a while. Recently in the past couple of decades we have been gaining a better perspective of them through advancements in technology and scientific methods.

Paleoanthropologist discover a skeleton of an 8 year old Neanderthals boy recovered from El Sidrón cave in Spain. Based on the skeleton, Dr.Rosas and his team studied the ancient Neanderthal remains and made an analysis of how the Neanderthal’s brain is different from modern day brain. The Neanderthal people’s brain are much larger but take longer time to grow.

The developmental differences that do exist between Neanderthals and H. sapiens may have a distant evolutionary beginning. An analysis of some 17 skulls dated to 430,000 years ago discovered at the fossil site of Sima de los Huesos, in the Atapuerca Mountains in northern Spain, has shown that members of the population, believed to have been Neanderthal ancestors, had smaller brains than later members of the lineage. The discovery suggests that Neanderthals did not inherit their large brain size from the last common ancestor of Neanderthals and modern humans; instead the two species experienced a comparable brain expansion later in their development. Although Neanderthal brains became approximately as large as those of H. sapiens, this independent

Once those groups grew large and food deficient, especially with the arrival of new waves of immigrants from Africa, such as the Homo sapiens who reached Europe some 43,000 years ago;

Neanderthal and anatomically modern Homo Sapiens shared similar behavioral patterns such as created tools, buried dead, used fire, and hunted for meat. Even if both species interact with each other and in spite of shared behavior, evidence justified the differences between both species. Neanderthals buried their dead as a ritual, whereas Modern Homo sapiens represents the decorative and elaborate array of great goods. Both species may have created tools usable to fits their lifestyle, but the functionality of the tools made huge differences. Modern Homo Sapiens tools are elaborated and extensively made for easier hunting,

Many things can cause evolution. I’m going to be talking about one particular cause and that’s diet. It’s kinda crazy to think something that small can cause something as big as evolution. Most cases of these diets are usually forced though. One example might be during hard ice age winters, carbohydrates are scarce and fat is limited in supply but large animals were available which called for a lot of protein. A higher protein diet makes your liver expand and a larger renal system which means your rib cage has to get bigger to support these organs. So basically all of this protein led to the Neanderthal Evolution. We know this is all true because we have tried experiments like this on animals and both their livers and kidneys expanded.