THE LOST HUNTER / Robert Bluestein, 2020©
Homo-Sapiens Meet Neanderthals For The First Time
''.....The Sole meaning of life is to serve humanity.''
Leo Tolstoy
From My Collection: Flints, Hand-Axes, and Sewing Artifacts that range from 75-500,000 years ago
(Acquired from the Estate of a retired Professor of Anthropology at Rice University, Houston
INTRODUCTION
Fossil remains of humans are very rare. In the field of human history, we find few fossils of other species on our family tree. But over the past two decades enormous findings with the help of crowd-sourcing and mapping have begun to point us in new directions in our search for the Lost Hunter.
I like to imagine what it would be like to meet one of our ancestors. Who hasn't visited a zoo and felt a fascinating pull when looking into the eyes of one of the great apes that still exist today? Whether we wonder about these things when in the moment or whether we wonder these things when the moments are in us helps to make the pursuit of this kind of knowledge far greater than we could have expected. Our grasp begins to extend past our reach and soon we develop an insatiable curiosity about ourselves and who we are amongst one another. Sadly, we don't have a living comparison to judge ourselves by, and it was long thought that we evolved rather alone. Only the Neanderthals and Denisovans seemed to conclusively lived when Sapiens did.
But just in the past twenty years, a radical change in thinking has emerged. Our family tree is far more complicated than Dr. Richard Leakey's ''Rising Ape-to-Man'' theory of the sixties and seventies. Instead, we have a tree with many branches, some of which never evolved much past their starting point. Others died out for inexplicable reasons, and still others evolved and settled until they eventually became us.
We have learned, often with great astonishment, that we were growing quickly in numbers alongside other species of Homo. Naledi and Malapa are fair examples. The discovery of Dr. Berger in 2013 in Shining Star Cave in Africa shook the world of paleo-anthropology. Initially thought to be much older, Naledi turned out to be quite younger, and in fact a contemporary of Sapiens. With their small brains but rather elegant bodies have competed with us for food? We may never know. But even with their smaller brains, they managed to eek out an existence that came with ceremonial burial.
These things cannot help but to stir the imagination. With only the knowledge we had then, how would we have reacted to these different members of our same family tree? We get one of our most profound answers from the Neander river valley in Europe, where one of the great discoveries of all time happened quite by accident.
In 1856, two miners digging in a cave found what he thought was a skull-cap and nearly threw it aside. Thinking about it, he decided it would be of interest to a local schoolmaster and gave it to him to study. Interested but unsure, he handed it off to a local scientist who realized at once this was not a homo-sapien skull cap because it had extremely high and pronounced eye ridges, like a gorilla. But it also had a large brain-case, much larger than any primate. The skull-cap however would remain in a box until 1922 when Dr. Raymond Dart, a professor of Anatomy, pulled it from its confinement in a box and began to really wonder what this meant.
It was our first hint at another member in our family tree and if true, would challenge the scriptural literacy of Adam and Eve. It sounds foreign to us now, but at the time it was very real. The population of Europe, long living under a catechism of the Church had to come to grips with the possibility that human life was far more complicated than they could ever have known.
One of he Greatest ''What-If's'' in history is to wonder what might have happened if we had stumbled upon one of these off-shot branches of our lineage. How might we have reacted?
Would these multiple species and multiple cultures been able to co-exist? How would they have communicated? Would we have been able to come-together and perhaps cross-breed, or would we have spurred conflict and war or otherwise remained separated?
Consider the idea that had Neanderthal lived, he might have served in the Greek Armies under Alexander the Great. Neanderthals might have been the perfect mercenary barrier to the Barbarians, Saxons and Huns of the Human-Middle Ages. But it didn't happen in that manner. Neanderthal died out long before cradles of civilization were developed.
Would the American story of Independence been able to promise that 'All Species of Homo-Sapiens and Neanderthals to be created equal?''
This is my second trip to lower Congo. In the past, these people were called ''The Bushmen''. Today they are a sub-group of the Khosan in Botswana
But there was indeed a time when Homo-Sapiens and Neanderthal met for the first time. Like everything else that seems to be part of Human history, this meeting happened in the current country of Israel. No one knows exactly what happened next, but the Sapiens retreated, leaving Neanderthals as the dominant species over Asia and Europe for an additional 100,000 years or more.
The brains of early homo-sapiens were not quite yet what they are today. They were somewhat ahead of Neanderthal but not quite where we are today. Trying to get either to understand a language like English or try to explain the nature of God would have been a hopeless task. But contemplating and understanding how these individuals communicated with one another would have equally been as difficult for us.
This is one of the greatest 'What If's'' in all of history. This book takes a glimpse of what such a moment might have been like by looking at our own pasts.
I have worked on this for the better part of the past twenty years, traveling, researching, attending lectures, asking questions and doing an extensive amount of investigation of what I hope will be an interesting and easy to read book. I utilized notes from college courses I took and this has become an assimilation of all the information I have collected. While there is no new theories or groundbreaking discoveries, it does explain many confusing things in a hopefully interesting manner.
DIPPING OUR TOES INTO THE DEEPEST OCEANS OF OURSELVES
The human experience on the earth is well beyond all measure of imagination and of elegant truths, of exquisite relationships, and of the awesome machinery of evolution. We wonder about our origins, where we came from, and where we are ultimately going. Built into each of us is a nomadic impulse to explore and to seek answers for questions long thought to be nothing more than rhetorical. Are we to assume that ‘Creation’ is complete and that there is nothing more for us in the future?
It begins several million years ago and it has undergone many changes through time. We have lingered on the outskirts of our human understanding. But it is time for wandering deeper into the ocean of our time. Understanding gives birth to joy and knowledge is prerequisite to our survival.I am on a quest to find answers. I have seen just a few of the corners of the planet and met countless people but still haven’t seen all there is to see. It stokes my curiosity and desire to learn new things. Nonetheless, I embarked on a journey almost twenty-five years ago to become a lifetime student of history, anthropology and paleontology.
The study of human history doesn’t begin in one of the cradles of civilization. It begins several million years ago and it has undergone many changes through time. We have lingered on the outskirts of our human understanding. But it is time for wandering deeper into the ocean of our time. Understanding gives birth to joy and knowledge is a prerequisite to our survival.
I am most excited by ‘Catalyst Moments’ in time. I wonder what it would have been like to be in the same room with Alexander Graham Bell when the telephone was first tested. I wonder what it would have been like to see the earth from outer space or to witness the Battle of Gettysburg. But imagine what it would have been like if you had just transverse thousands of miles, through rough terrain, losing loved ones along the way, only to discover you weren’t alone! What would go through your mind? Would you be afraid? Would you strike fear in those you encountered? What would that moment in time be like?
1.9 - 1.4 Million Years Ago, Homo-Ergaster set out for a journey that would take them along the African plains and into Europe and Asia. Then an ice-age happened that trapped our brethren into a small geography in Africa where for the next several million years we remained isolated in two worlds.
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Bonobo (Below Right) Chimpanzee (Below)
Pan-paniscus Pan-troglodytes
Humans have evolved to maximize their geography and climate in order to survive. The visible diversity in humans today are indicative of how we have overcome differences in our genetic code and then replicated the strengths and eliminated the weaknesses. We need to look no further at how climate and geographical evolution has affected the great primates.
Geography has a huge affect on evolutionary progress and Allopatric Speciation. It's very name gives us clues as to how Allopatric Speciation is defined. It tells us that one species can divide due to geographical events and become isolated from one another. Consider the recent geologic changes just two-t0-three million years ago. At that time, the rise of the Zaire River separated one common ancestor of todays primates. The geographic event had to happen quickly and decisively.
Geologists are somewhat divided over how this happened. The rapidly changing landscape of the African continent reminds us that we are still subjects to our planet. But how is it possible that these two primates are so vastly different in social behavior and physical differences? Researchers from the University of Florida noted that infanticide is almost unknown among bonobos. Their constant sexual activity obscures paternity.
This results in removing the incentive for infanticide, and the pervasive bonding of female bonobos, who form coalitions for mutual support and protection, removes the opportunity. Preventing infanticide is a huge evolutionary advantage for bonobo females, because more of their offspring will survive.
Geographic Range of Primates
Why, then, have chimps not evolved this social structure? The answer may lie in the history of the habitats they occupy. Both species of primates live in tropical forests along the Zaire River -- chimps north of the river, bonobos to the south. Their environments seem to be quite similar today. But about 2.5 million years ago, there seems to have been a lengthy drought in southern Zaire that wiped out the preferred food plants of gorillas and sent the primates packing. After the drought ended, the forests returned, but the gorillas did not.
This also may explain why bonobos are more apt to walk upright. In the environment that existed in the Pleistocene, bonobos had to go further and carry food back to the others. It answers a lot of other questions too. Bonobos are more apt to share than chimps are. In the world of chimpanzees the alpha-male will get his fill first. In the world of Bonobos, it is much more egalitarian.
North of the Zaire River, the chimpanzees had to compete with gorillas for fruit and fiber-rich foods. The social structure of the chimpanzee world requires that the females forage for food with their infants. Social bonds and structure don't favor females in the world of chimpanzees, and as a result, give way for more violence amongst them.
The few researchers who have actually come into contact with these apes report that they are ravenous meat-eaters and hunters. The local tribes say that
they actively hunt in packs and have well coordinated hunting parties. Are these inbred species, or are we perhaps looking at another geographical Allopatric Speciation?
Left: Bili or Bondo Ape
(Continued from above)
Homo-Ergaster seems to have evolved into Homo-Erectus (Neanderthal) and was living in the caves of Spain, France, and Germany. The other world saw Darwin’s evolution of multiple different humans whose survival was for the strongest only. Then the Ice Age ended as suddenly as it began. Once it subsided, Homo-Sapiens began to follow that same path out of Africa into Europe.
One day, probably between100,000 - 30,000 years ago, Homo-Sapiens met Homo-Erectus for the first time. Imagine that incredible moment. This chapter is from one of the greatest mystery stories of our human history that we could ever know. This detective story is going to require a collective effort and approach in order to solve. This will require Historians, Anthropologists, Archaeologists, Sociologists, Linguists, Art-Historians, Forensic-Historians, and Bio-Evolutionary Specialists. This first meeting must have been a life-changer for those who were eyewitnesses to it. It is absolutely one of the most seminal moments in the story of humanity.
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"In 1915, a young boy was looking for stone tools near his missionary home in Ethiopia. His name was Louis Leaky and so began a life-long obsession with human origins. Prior to this time, Anthropologist Raymond Dart, had uncovered the skull of a small child that was older than anything else he had seen. It was found in a nest with fossilized bird eggs. It was an odd discovery in an odd place."
On a rock in the desert in Tanzania is a seemingly pristine story, painted carefully on a wall with red-ochre. Like art through the ages, it transfers a message. It tells the story of humanity and of survival. Its artist probably did not know it would last so much longer than the generation of his or her own children. No one knows who did it, why they did it, where they came from, how they did it….we only knew it is very old. We cannot know for sure, but perhaps the intention of the artist was to perpetuate memories. It’s the beginning of the recording of our story.
It was a series of amazing luck, misfortune and bizarre coincidences that put life on this earth. When you look at the narrow window of events that had to happen in just such an order, it would seem like humankind was a highly unlikely occurrence. So many things could have gone wrong!
Science is great at telling us ‘what’ happened in time, but it cannot answer the question as to ‘why’. This is a separate matter of individual faith and whether it fits into our narrative or not is a matter of each person. And just as we wonder about dinosaurs, saber-tooth tigers and giant Mastodons, we wonder about the other species of Humankind and how different our lot may have been had we just happened into a few random changes. The more we learn about ourselves and our history, the more improbable our existence emerges.
Where do we come from? It is the question of the ages. Only now, at a most recent time in our existence are we even close to finding answers. We enter this world and exit it almost too fast to really learn what all of this is about. Can we know where we are going without knowing where we came from?
The search for where we came from spans over 300,000 generations. To put that vast number into perspective, most people born in 2015 had parents who were born thirty years earlier, 1985. A grandfather- by these numbers – would have been born in 1955. A great-grandfather, just THREE generations, would have likely been born in 1925. At FOUR generations, we have our Great-Great-Grand Father, born in 1895. And, at FIVE generations, you have an ancestor born at the end of the Civil War. That is a grand total of FIVE generations, assuming you are pro-creating every thirty years.
Mathematically, if you took your parents birth and then their births, and you took one of your parental lines backward in time, to 1635, you would have a minimum of 16 generations and your would have 69,476 direct-line relatives. This does not include cousins either. If you average - conservatively - that each sets of parents have even two siblings, the numbers go upward diametrically. The mathematical formula suggests that each person would have almost 100-million collateral relatives! Its a mind boggling exercise!
As we go back in time, the average age of puberty in females was around eight years of age. Children were born at a much earlier age than they are now. In today’s world, a majority of people living in America had already brought one-human into the world by the age of 25. That equates to FOUR generations every One-Hundred Years. It would be 40 generations to equal 1000 years. You can then figure that conservatively – you would have 80 generations to return to the beginning of the modern era.
Since these numbers are conservative, the actual number of generations might be considerably lower. If you figure out the average birth age expectancy every decade and you examine Europe and later America into the averages, there might well be as few as 65 generations between ourselves and the time of Christ.
Our search seduces us to at least 300,000 generations. Instead of thousands of years, it’s millions of years. Considering how little we knew about the concept of time and how little we knew about science, to consider the leap of faith it must have taken for Anthropologists to look backward so far, in search of ourselves. Not even considered was the growing business of fossil hunters and having to consider an even much more vast expanse of time!
But the age of exploration captured the imaginations of the peoples of Europe and elsewhere. There are countless stories of wild animals, bizarre and strange peoples, absurd landscapes, and astonishing customs. Ships carrying precious cargo of historical artifacts, spices, and botanical examples of the environments they encountered only sparked the imaginations of the British, the Spanish, the French and especially the Germans.
Darwin’s breakout book ‘’The Origin of Species’’ came about due to the British sense of adventure and the desire to understand our own origins. It was an exciting time in history to be an explorer, for the sciences of Anthropology, Archaeology, and Paleontology were beginning to take off and were growing in popularity. Throughout the mid 1800s, the British Museum was the largest building in all of Europe. With every ship that returned to England, more and more antiquities and curiosities were brought back to the museum.
By 1840, the museum began to sponsor Archaeology digs throughout the world. The result of these excavations was that the museum continued to grow and grow. By 1900-1930s, the museum saw even more growth with the famous research of Howard Carter, (Egypt excavation) and Leonard Wooley’s spectacular discovery of Ur and the incredible Sumerian tablets. But it was not only archaeology that was capturing the interest of the world, but anthropology. The many puzzle pieces of our existence seemed to be in the very beginning stages of discovery.
In later years historians would note that July 1, 1858, as the first public statement on the modern day theory of evolution. But at the time, Darwin’s paper hardly made a ripple. It was interesting, but not ground-breaking – yet. Ideas that contradict traditional theology are not easy to integrate into the every day lexicon.
In the progress of the idea of evolution we witness a distinctly modern phenomenon in the progress of science. Modern times brought new instruments of publicity, the printing press with its new powers of diffusion, scientific societies with their wider and more public forums. Suddenly there new mobility for the scientists themselves, and Darwin was at the forefront of the scientific renaissance.
FINDING THE LOST HUNTER
In 1915, a young boy was looking for stone tools near his missionary home in Ethiopia. His name was Louis Leaky and so began a life-long obsession with human origins. Prior to this time, Anthropologist Raymond Dart, had uncovered the skull of a small child that was older than anything else he had seen. It was found in a nest with fossilized bird eggs. It was an odd discovery in an odd place.
While looking at the skull of a small hominoid, Dart realized that the space inside the skull cavity had been a fossilized brain. The appearance of the brain seemed ‘off’ to him. The brain looked too large for even a chimpanzee, but too small for a modern man. The base of the skull indicated the spine was upright, not bent over like a chimpanzee. The skull was longer.
Dart began to ask questions, and he began to wonder about the changes. But the biggest change was in their ability to walk upright, confirming this as a human ancestor. Was this the ‘Missing Link?’’ The earliest ancestor yet discovered and the first of its kind to be found in Africa, this was clearly going to rock the world as the Missing Link.
He found that the bones of primitive giraffes and saw that the bones were deliberately broken. There was a pattern and it suggested that the apes created crude weapons that would one day lead them to humanness. Many different weapons were found. Apes evolved brains to become better fighters and in-doing-so, became human. According to Dart, The engine for growth was violence.
He had discovered Australopithecus Africanus, the ‘’Southern Most African Man. (It was more commonly called Taung child) His findings were the highlight of his career to that point. But he was shocked when his findings were completely rejected.
The findings revealed that it was the most remarkable discovery of the early 20th century. Despite these areas of success, his work wasn’t even included in the earliest textbooks. In an era of fierce Nationalism, Dart was not British born and it came at a great price for the scientist to pay. Dart was born in Australia, and his ‘’Ape-Man’’ was from Africa, not a prime contender for an Anglo-Specific thinkers of the time.
Anthropology of Darwin’s Era and How It Related to the Other Events of the World at that Time
The Forensic Mystery of Taung Child
The Taung Child was discovered in 1924 by quarrymen working for the Northern Lime Company in Tuang in South Africa. It would be defined asAustralopithecus Africanus. Raymond Dart went to great lengths to describe it as a new species. It is now in repository at Witwatersrand University in South Africa.
Scientists were initially reluctant to accept that the Taung Child and the new genus Australopithecus were ancestral to modern humans. In the issue of Nature immediately following the one in which Dart's paper was originally published, several authorities in British paleoanthropology criticized Dart's conclusion. There were many questions about Taung child. Most finds indicate that we resembled child-like apes rather than proto-hominid. Did we become smarter because of a larger brain, or was the inverse true? Did we walk upright? How did we adapt over time. All of these were questions Dart had while he studied the cranium of homo-neanderthal.
Dart's former mentor Arthur Keith, one of the most prominent anatomists of his time, claimed there was insufficient evidence to accept Dart's claim that Australopithecus was transitional between apes and humans. Grafton Elliot Smith stated that he needed more evidence – and a larger picture of the skull – before he could judge the significance of the new fossil. Arthur Smith Woodward dismissed the Taung Child as having "little bearing" on the issue of "whether the direct ancestors of man are to be sought in Asia or Africa".
These critiques became more fervent a few months later. Elliot Smith concluded that the Taung fossil was "essentially identical" to the skull of "the infant gorilla and chimpanzee" Addressing the claim that the fossil was "the missing link between ape and human", Arthur Keith stated in a letter to Nature that, ''.....an examination of the casts... will satisfy geologists that this claim is preposterous. The skull is that of a young anthropoid ape... and showing so many points of affinity with the two living African anthropoids, the gorilla and chimpanzee, that there cannot be a moment's hesitation in placing the fossil form in this living group.''
Anthropology of Darwin’s Era and How It Related to the Other Events of the World at that Time
Another aspect of Dart’s findings seemed to imply that our ancestors were indeed dark-skinned, hairy and unattractive. Things just didn’t seem to ‘’fit’’ the idea of such a finding. For instance, Tuang-Child had human teeth, but ape-like facial features and a smaller brain than they expected for a ‘’Missing Link.’’
This was certain to shake up the European scholars for the simple fact that half-a-world away, America was in the throes of slavery of dark-skinned individuals and it was not exactly frowned upon anywhere in Europe. In fact, abolition of slavery was seldom even addressed in Europe. To be sure, profiteers were still making money in the slave trade that was in existence in Southern Africa and elsewhere on the globe.
This general misunderstanding began to erode as Europeans colonized the world. European debate over the levels of humanity moved from theology to biology. By classifying all mankind into a single species, Homo Sapiens, Linnaeus seemed in the mid-eighteenth century to join the party of Bartholomew Las Casas was a 15th century priest who was among the very first to ask the Pope to suspend colonial efforts in the New World.
He would become a heroic champion of Native Americans and would raise awareness of indigenous people – something the European people were thirsty for. Linnaeus followed that example and began to write articles that changed world perception.
He listed five types of Homo Sapiens. Without knowing exactly how these men lived, he listed them as ‘’Wild-Men,’’ ‘’American, ‘’European, Asiatic and African’’ and based on education. It was an early try at a complicated answer, and for the most part, people understood what the message was meant to be.
Taung Child – 2.5 Million Years ago a small, 3’2’’ child wandered too far from her mother and was picked up by a huge eagle. The perils were many during this period due to a very weak method of defense.
Humans had barely begin walking upright and were prone to attack.
The Tools of Our Ancestor Handy Man, ‘’Homo-Halibus’’ Note the craftsmanship.
To see a progression of skulls starting in Tanzania and moving north was logical. Africanus lived over two-million years ago and Halibus was 1.3Million years ago. They stumbled on a nearly complete skull. It came out of the rock quite easily and they knew they had unearthed a pivotal find. And yet, there had to be more and more bones within the Four-Million year old rocks and gullies. Outside of Hadar in Ethiopia, almost an entire skeleton was found. She had been small, maybe only 3.5’’ tall. Australopithecus Africanus, Lucy, would forever change the way we viewed our human story.
In 1975 Leaky found another skull from he same period – but it was quite clearly from a different species. This was much more human and less ape-like. It changed the way we looked at Hominoids. We never knew that more than one group was alive at any one time, and yet, we are the lone survivors. It changed our earliest pictures of our origins.
Every ancestral remains of hominoid is extinct accept for one. We humans are the sole survivor, and it is a mystery for all of mankind.
How the Geographic and Climate Change Affected Early Humans
For fifteen million years, subterranean forces have been ripping Africa apart. The mighty forces that bend and shape continents were pulling the center of Pangaea in two. Africa is riddled with volcanoes and plate tectonics. The mighty forces that bend and shape continents created a giant rift valley and chasm. Five million years ago, the land was not nearly as dry as it is now. In fact, it was a wild, plush landscape.
With incredible clarity, the soft volcanic ash made for a soft and permanent record of the first record of our walking upright. We may never know if they were fleeing the volcanic eruption or if they were just out for a walk. But we do know is that it consists of two adult males and two children and they left the first record of upright walking. The ash hardened when it rained, and Mary Leakey happened upon them. It was Australopithecus and it is one of the earliest type of human.
The world here was very different five million years ago. It was primordial savannah and the soil was lush with green. The animal kingdom ruled the earth then as they do now. There were big cats – only then they were even larger. Even scavengers like Hyena were large too. Most of them we would easily recognize today.
In the forest, primates found a nourishing cradle in the trees that also provided protection. We are close to these primates, sharing 95%-98% of our genes with Chimpanzees. But something came between us. The rift valley was split into two, with a desert on one side, and tropical grassland on another. These tree-dwelling ancestors of ours attempted to walk upright in their pathway to development. Instead of walking on their two front limbs, they could walk upright and carry things. It had a profound effect on community for the simple reason you could now carry your kill, and then share it. And walking upright was revolutionary. In doing so, they became the first to journey upright and started our own beginnings.
Three Million years ago, Lucy that left the intriguing trail of footsteps. Later, just about five-hundred miles away from the finding of Lucy was another monumental find in Anthropological History. It was a stunning find. When it is incredible to find a shin-bone, to find such a skeleton forever changed the landscape of humanity. In all, 40% of a complete skeleton was found in 2009.
But Lucy started all of this. The finding in Ethiopia showed changes in skeletal structure. Her spine was straightened so it could walk upright. Her teeth showed that they were vegetarians designed for chewing roots and complex fibers. Our best information is that there were many differences between her and apes. She did have long arms and short legs, like an ape, and hands that clearly showed she was a tree-swinger.
Most of our early ancestors were more human than ape. Others were more ape than human. It is just as interesting to see the ones that didn’t end up making it through the evolutionary cycle as those who did. After all, it is a chance to understand and celebrate the many imperfections in our own physical beings today.
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Height:
Males: Average 4ft 4’’
Females: average 3 ft 11 inches (120 centimeters)
Weight: Males 125 lbs (55 kg)
Females: average 110 lbs (50 kg)
Height & Weight Supplemental Information:
The only body size estimate scientists have made so far is based on the partial female skeleton ARA-VP-6/500 ("Ardi"). She is estimated to have stood 3 ft 11 in (120 cm) tall, weighed approximately 110 lbs (50 kg). Based on the size of the upper canine teeth in males is not much larger than the canines of females, scientists don’t expect Ar. ramidus to have shown much body size sexual dimorphism - so a male individual would have been similar to a female in size. It’s possible that Ar. ramidus males did not compete against each other for dominance, and therefore did not need to grow bigger in size.
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That First Moment
Neanderthals and Humans Meet For The First Time
A team of experts with the Institute for the Study of Human Origins, have even proposed a controversial theory that Neanderthals may have lived there continually for as long 8,000 years! During that time the climate in the Iberian peninsula had seen little change. There was no real impetus to move, that is, until Homo Sapiens came along. And with their arrival, a fierce competition of food, resources and ultimately reproduction with their women, the Neanderthals were no match. There are two different things we learn about Neanderthal when we examine the latest findings:
(1) Neanderthals were not able to reproduce very well. The infant mortality must have been exceedingly high in order to reduce their numbers so drastically and so quickly.
(2) Their demise was met quite quickly, and considering these hearty beings had survived two ice-ages and mass migrations, this was no easy feat. But, imagine if things had been different and there were Neanderthals living with us today. It very nearly happened. And this is the place where our collective imaginations run wild.
We want to know what our brethren looked like, sounded like and whether they were intelligent enough to cope with ever-changing conditions. Scientists recently took a good look at their vocal chords. They noticed that the opening in the throat was larger than that of their human counterparts. Knowing this, we needn’t guess about how Neanderthals sounded. It was certainly very unique.
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The Physical Make-Up of Neanderthals
These people's were exceptionally tough. Any bones we find suggest that they broke just about everything. Much like rodeo performers, the abuses of large animals and the accidents that can happen just trying to hunt them are apparent for everyone to see. Built low and stocky, their bodies were meant to sustain during the sub-zero weather that would kill us today. They developed wide noses to breathe and cool off while working. Incredibly, they adapted fast, losing much of their body hair and building sweat-glands with which to relegate heat. They cooled themselves off by an incredible series of adaptations designed to build a robust and highly advanced people.
The old story about Neanderthals has begun to erode as newer discoveries are being made. One thing is in the proof - Homo Sapiens won out while the Neanderthals did not. Yet their story is indeed somehow our story. In 2015, two bodies were discovered in the forest caverns in Romania. These would be uncovered as the oldest known remains of humans - anywhere.
In 2002, Portuguese archaeologist Joao Zilhoao and several cavers challenged themselves by going deeper and deeper into a cavern. The cave was a part under-water river and mud-pit. But the archaeologists began to find bones. They were cave-bears that clearly hibernated there. The temperature according to those who were there was 40-degrees Fahrenheit. It was humid, dank, and bog-like.
The cave bear bones were plentiful and everywhere. But after two weeks, the findings suddenly astonished Zilhao and team, ''...And just like that, an occipital bone is right in front of me. And then a jaw bone showed up as well.'' At first it was assumed they were part of the same human, but after careful examination, they learned that the jaw bone belonged to a different individual. Both bones suggest that these two hunters were in their teenage years - perhaps they were brothers.
There were no signs that these two hunters lived in the cave, but there was no sign that they were dragged there by the cave bears either. It was clear that these two died elsewhere and were washed into the cavern by rushing waters. The jaw was in very good shape and suggest that he had a pretty good diet. At 40,000 years of age, this begins to challenge traditional thinking about malnutrition and the overall health of those who lived in this time period.
There were subtle anomalies in the skull and jaw bone. The forehead was sloped back at a steep angle compared to modern humans. Moreover, their teeth weren't exactly right either. The molars aren't in the right order. Stunned anthropologists did not know what to make of the strange new features. Had Neanderthal and Humans REALLY interbred? The evidence is very compelling. Up until now, no one had ever been able to prove that such a hybrid existed - perhaps until now.
With Neanderthals already well established in Europe, the arrival of humans must have come as a huge shock to them. The remains that were found in Romania tell a different story. They have the unexpected findings in modern humans. But you will find them in Neanderthals. In 2010, the Max Planck Institute cracked the genome of a Neanderthal. Now, with two distinctly different Human-Neanderthal bones there might be a way to see if there is to our Neanderthal brethren.
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"The new discoveries are complicating our lineage and suggesting that our DNA is far different than some of the earliest of upright man. "