The Neanderthals: The History of the Extinct Humans Who Were Contemporaries of Homo Sapiens in Europe

by Charles River Editors

*Includes pictures *Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading *Includes a table of contents In popular culture, the term Neanderthal is used as a colloquial insult for a degenerate or someone perceived as stupid. This seems to have been the case even from the first recognition of the Neanderthals as a species. The first Neanderthal fossil discovery was that of a child’s skull in Belgium in 1829, but it was badly damaged. Another would be discovered in 1856 in a limestone mine of the Neanderthal region of what is present-day Germany, and a skull with differing distinct traits (indicating a different species than the Neanderthals) would be discovered just over a decade later in southwestern France. The latter specimen would come to be recognized as an example of the species Homo Sapiens, and these anatomically modern humans arrived in Europe between 45,000 and 43,000 years ago, around the time the Neanderthals are believed to started going extinct. The Neanderthals are a member of the genus Homo just like Homo sapiens and share roughly 99.7% of their DNA with modern humans (Reynolds and Gallagher 2012). Both species even lived briefly during the same time in Eurasia. However, the Neanderthals evolved separately in Europe, away from modern humans, who evolved in Africa. Physically, the Neanderthal skeleton was much more robust, suggesting that there was more room for muscle attachment. However, while Neanderthals were stronger than modern humans, the average height of the Neanderthal male was shorter, standing at only about 5’5 tall. Other physical characteristics that set the Neanderthals apart from modern humans were certain skull traits. The skull in general was low and elongated, featuring a sloping forehead with an occipital bun (a bone projection at the back of the skull), whereas modern humans have a more vertical forehead with no occipital bun. The cranial capacity of the Neanderthal skull was also greater than the modern human at 1,500–1,740 cc, and it lacked a chin and had more circular eye orbits, in contrast to Homo sapiens, which have a chin and tend to feature more rectangular eye orbits (Wolpoff 1999). Despite these differences, the Neanderthals may have been recognizable enough to interact with Homo sapiens or even blend in with Homo sapiens for the thousands of years they lived together in Europe. The Neanderthals lived in Europe and Asia for nearly 200,000 years and thrived in these regions, but they went extinct between 40,000 and 30,000 years ago, around the same time that modern humans began arriving in Europe. This has prompted much speculation as to the nature of the interactions between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens, especially since some researchers believe they interacted with each other for over 5,000 years before the Neanderthals began going extinct at different times across Europe. One hypothesis is that Homo sapiens displaced the Neanderthals and were better suited for the environment, and it is obviously possible if not likely that these two groups had become competitors for food and other resources, with Homo sapiens being more successful in the end. If such close interactions were taking place, there is also a possibility that the relatively new-to-Europe Homo sapiens brought pathogens from Africa with them that were unknown to the Neanderthal’s immune system. A more recent example of this type of resulting interaction is the European expansion into the Americas, which brought diseases like smallpox that the natives of America had never experienced before, especially diseases resulting from the domestication of animals. It is possible that the domestication of the dog by Homo sapiens may have contributed in spreading foreign diseases among the Neanderthals.

Genres: Evolution

76 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 3, 2018

About the author

Charles River Editors is an independent publisher of thousands of ebooks on Kindle, Nook, Kobo, and Apple iBookstore & provider of original content for third parties.

Reviews

[Raquel Bastos · Rating 4 out of 5]

very good interesting book, I like the way Charles Editors lays information and how the facts are shown. There are still so much we don’t know about our genetic cousins but this def painted me a better picture on how the Neanderthals worked physically and psychologically, how they had a sense of community, empathy and (maybe) spiritual rites and how they managed to survive and populate different locations along the globe. I enjoy the books published by Charles Rivers and this is one of the best i’ve read.

[Richard Brylczyk · Rating 2 out of 5]

This volume is an informative collection of facts about the Neanderthals that I hope has been thoroughly researched. Its organization is somewhat jarring with many repetitions and jumps in ideas throughout. The text reads very stiff without a lot of effort provided to make the book readable. It does provide many facts (?) of which I was unaware before.

[David Den Boer · Rating 5 out of 5]

A little Neanderthal in us all

I enjoyed the historical knowledge, presentation and overall point of view this author portrayed. Wondering how many other proto human species there were after reading this piece! :)

[Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Good Brief Overview of Neanderthals

I enjoyed this book because it gave a brief description of Neanderthal characteristics, dispelled common myths and posited several mechanisms for their extinction.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dry, but informative. Audiobook is well read and recorded, but not read in an engaging or inviting manner. If you are interested in the subject matter you will find the information worth it I think.