Decoding Neanderthals
- Thread starter Petzel
- Start date
Because their brains were smaller and they didn't have the ability to adapt as humans can.
One theory is that they mixed with us.
Similar to what is happening to caucasians in North America..........
No doubt the cro magnons were correcting the pronunciation of the 'thals, (is someone going to get offended on their behalf if I call them that?). They did, however, have no difficulty mastering the nasal accent.
We domesticated wolves that befriended us and trained them to become our
helpers. Dog lovers rule.
They didn't live in an law abiding, good welfare, and weak social darwinism society in which their big and strong physique would be highly valued.
Apparently, the data documentated so far says that the genes we inherited from Neanderthals is the gene that activates our immune system and helps our bodies fight disease. This is what the Neanderthals gave us when they interbred with homo sapiens.
Not quite that simple, but close. Size, shape and development after birth all make their mark on their abilities. The skull/brain of Hs changes shape after birth from a shared elongated initial shape, and the more globular shape allows for better development in very important areas giving rise to the development and improvements in bow &arrows, spear throwing sticks/atlatl, composite stone tools, and needle and thread.
Neanderthals actually had an average brain size of 1,450 cc with a range from 1,125cc to 1,750cc. The average modern human brain size is 1,330cc.
It's also a function of brain weight to body weight. position of the cranial foramina that allows for improved posture and blood circulation and so on and so on. The improvements allowed for faster population growth expansion and eventually swamping Hn population. the cross breeding would have just execrated it.
They gave us genes to fight diseases common in the colder climates that HS hadn't dealt with before in their travels. Think of the Aztec in reverse.
neanderthals created art, burial ceremonies , speech, technology, weapons ... they were not dumb
Never said they were, but the improvements that did follow were exponentially better.
they are being judged by homo sapiens
if a neanderthal was the judge i think the result would be different
Without going into a lengthy dissertation on how these suppositions are arrived at, combined with cerebral neurobiology (not one of my long suits) suffice to say paleontology is not a new science and had lot of time to fine tune its skill set. Georges Cuvier, the father of modern paleontology did his thing in the late 1700's and the techniques have fine tuned themselves at a rapid rate since then.
