Fate of the Neanderthals

How Neanderthals got their name!!

The first such fossil was discovered in 1856 in the Neander Thal, or "Neander Valley" in German, and became known as "Neanderthal Man".

In 1904, German spelling was regularized to be more consistent with pronunciation, and "thal" became "tal".

Who would’ve thought that a child’s bones could have such an impact on the way we view our ancestors?

When a four year olds bones were discovered and later examined. Anthropologists made the discovery that the child had been mixed Neanderthal-early American ancestry. This discovery taught us that the Neanderthals didn’t just disappear.

The bones reflected that the chin featured the characteristic “snow-plow” shape which was found in Cro-Magnon people.

•First anatomically modern humans

•Appearance on the European continent coincides with the disappearance of Neandertals

The child possessed an anatomy that could only be explained as the result of a mixed Neandertal - early modern human ancestry.

•Neandertals had arctic boy proportions (short limbs – especially the lower parts of the arms and legs

•European early modern humans had topical body proportions (long limbs)

The child remains appear to be that of possibly a hybrid descendant (a neandertal mother and a modern human father – or vice versa)

•Mixture of populations

•Neandertals had not disappeared without descendants

•They had been absorbed, through extensive interbreeding into modern human groups approximately 30,000 years ago

Humans vs Neandertals Thought to have

created cave art and delicate carvings

To have engaged in specialized hunting

Are associated with stone and bone tool-kits called Aurignacian

Viewed as scavengers or opportunistic hunters

Deny any role in the manufacture of tools

Neandertals had already accomplished their own transition to behavioral modernity. (no doubt that late Neandertal culture emerged in Europe well before any modern humans established themselves in neighboring areas)