The question of the coexistence and the potential interaction between the last Neanderthal and the earliest intrusive populations of anatomically modern humans in Europe has been a topic of debate. The extinction of the Neanderthals occurred during the latter part of the last glaciation which was characterized by a rapidly changing climate, cold conditions and corresponding vegetation and faunal turnover. However, it coincided with the expansion of modern humans out of Africa during the Late Pleistocene. Thus, it has been an ongoing debate on whether the extinction of the Neanderthals was due to competition with anatomically modern humans or due to climate change. It is argued that the inability for the Neanderthals to adapt to climate …show more content…
The Neanderthals’ survival methods were being compromised by the changing environment as they were not equipped with the right physique or technology to survive in plain-dominated environments. The change in climate also helped to boost the expansion of anatomically modern humans. Eriksson A., et al (2012) used a model that quantified the effects of past climate change on demography of modern humans takes into consideration past demographic events and estimated the effect of climate on atomically modern humans (Eriksson A., et al, 2012). The model shows a positive relationship between climate and the expansion of modern humans. Humans were equipped with technology that were favored after the environment changed to a plain-dominated one and thus this change in environment offered opportunities for human ambush hunters (Finlayson, 2004). They were able to travel longer distances and shoot further, which gave them a greater advantage when it comes to attacking these plain mammals (Markova A.K, et al, 2002). This relationship between climate change and anatomically modern humans further restrains the Neanderthals. The Neanderthals are not only less efficient in sourcing for food due to their inability to adapt their methods to the changing environment, but are also faced with resource competition from the modern humans. It is widely acknowledged that the body form of the Neanderthals indicates that they were biologically adapted for the cold. However, this
Humans, Homo sapiens, migrated out of Africa in waves successively increasingly, crossing over to Eurasia before migrating into North America. The residing megafauna in North America would face Paleo-Indians. The genesis of the extinction of megafauna have has been hypothesized to credit to the introduction of modern humans. The sudden introduction of a hunting and big-game predator into regions with megafauna led to the overkill of large faunas. The overkill hypothesis alludes to the fact that extinction of large fauna species such as mammoth’s birds, etc. occurred after modern humans were introduced to the environment. To prove the overkill hypothesis was caused by human hunting large faunas, scientist Steve Wolverton evaluated the support
The Neanderthal’s explanation as to why they are the last living of their species accurately describes the model of natural selection. Because the rest of their species died off due to disease, starvation and unfavorable phenotypes (size/strength), natural selection has selected for them to survive and pass on their traits.
In the “Paleo Period”, the first humans survived on what the land provided. “Louisiana’s climate was cooler and drier, with vast grasslands, with the only large forests by the river.” (The
Hominids are dependent on tools to survive their environments and in a similar way primates use tools to amplify their survival through the use of tools (Barham and Mitchell, 2008). Thus there is a direct correlation between environments and tool usage, furthermore there is an important commonality as extent primates such as apes inhabit the same environments and face the same circumstances as that in which early hominids existed in (Barham and Mitchell, 2008). These are only a limited selection of the numerous benefits to using extent primates as analogues to assist in understanding the developments of early hominids. As important as these advantages are it is essential to mention and examine the disadvantages of this analytical technique. 3.
Traditionally, Neanderthals have been viewed as large, hulking ape like beings that survived by aggression and power through the harshest conditions possible on earth. They have been painted as unsophisticated and unable to compete with humans on an intellectual level. These academics theorized that superior human intellect and reasoning gave humans the advantage in hunting game and securing the most valuable natural resource, eventually driving the Homo neanderthalensis to extinction 30,000 years ago. Popular culture describes Neanderthals as first viewed by science as large, hulking ape like beings. However, new evidence suggests that one of the first reconstructed Neanderthal skeletons did not consider that the individual suffered from acute arthritis. Despite unique, this Neanderthal ‘s hunching posture was associated with the entire species, giving one the impression of a “brutish caveman”. This new understanding has reformed research on the Neanderthal and a new understanding of humanity’s earliest ancestor
The upbringing of Neanderthal children is believed by some scientists to have been harsh. High activity levels and frequent periods of scarcity form part of the basis for this interpretation. However, such trials in childhood may not be distinctive from the normal experiences of early modern human children, or those of hunter-gatherers in particularly cold environments. There is a crucial distinction to be made between a harsh childhood and a childhood lived in a harsh environment. Anatomical analyses of Neanderthal long bones have revealed that survival depended on adapting to high levels of activity and a rugged terrain. However, there is little to distinguish Neanderthal physical stamina from that of early modern humans. Both populations
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.
“Despite intense research efforts, no consensus has been reached about the genetic relationship between early modern humans and archaic human forms such as the Neanderthals” (Serre, 16 March 2004). It is a
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
The evolutionary of human living has taken place over millions of years of geological time. It has evolved millions of generations, and billions of individuals. The human evolution is not understandable completely yet. Evolutionary change within a population can take place at different time and different rates, which yield different consequences. This process still taking place in the natural selection and human evolution. One species may be merged to the new species or developed to the next stage of the same species. Homo Habilis, Homo Erectus, Homo Heidelbergensis, and Neanderthals were the close ancestors of modern human, which developed from Australopithecus afarensis.
While it is important to understand the significance of each hypothesis, the questions surrounding the Neanderthal extinction takes on assorted factors that are not mutually exclusive. Numerous studies have been conducted focusing exclusively on climate, competition or disease as a function of Neanderthal extinction. However, conflicting conclusion suggest that there are several factors involved that overlap and/ or arising from one another. This paper will attempt to better understand how climate, competition, and disease might operate together to account for Neanderthal extinction. First by summarizing each argument of the three arguments and identifying the potential implications for father research. Secondly, aim to develop a framework that will include the most relevant hypothesis.
Nearly 40,000 years ago, Earth was a much different place. Europe was in an ice age, Neanderthals were going on nearly 300,000 years of life, and Homosapiens were making a huge advancement. Was the cause of the Neanderthals diminish due to Homosapiens sudden and large advancement into Europe, or are there other underlying circumstances that could be the reasons for the fall of Neanderthals?
Since their discovery more than a century ago, the Neanderthals have hovered over the minds and have baffled the best-laid theories of paleoanthropologists. They seem to fit in the general scheme of human evolution, and yet they’re misfits. (Jurmain, Kilgore, Trevathan and Ciochon. p.367) In a way they are like us the modern Homo sapiens but yet are a very different species. But the real question that needs to be answered is “why the Neanderthals were considered a different species than the Homo sapiens and what made them go extinct?”
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