Grantmasters
Neanderthal Exhibit
A day at the museum.
First stop on the tour:
Neanderthals lived between 230,000 and 30,000 years ago, during the last Ice Age, and were found only in Europe and the Middle East, where they coexisted with modern humans for the later part of their existence.
All Neandertals are heavily built but those from Western Europe are particularly robust. Their heavy physique was probably an adaptation to the extremely cold conditions in which they lived.
However, the key differences between Neanderthals and modern humans lie in features of the skull. The average cranial capacity is 1450cc, larger than the modern norm, although this may be a reflection of their greater bodily bulk.
Neandertals made a wider range of complex tools - belonging to the Mousterian tool culture. Sculpture and art has been dated in the range of habitation of Neanderthal. However, it is unclear whether they were responsible for the conceptualisation or whether it was due to interactions with modern humans.
Recently scientists have been able to extract mitochondrial DNA from Neandertal bones. This has allowed them to compare DNA sequences from Neandertals and modern humans, an interesting experiment considering that in the past Neandertals have been viewed as direct ancestors of modern sapiens. The multiregional hypothesis of human origins also takes this stance. While there are problems with this technique, the data appear to show that Neandertals were not closely related to modern humans, but belonged to a separate species.
Neanderthal Exhibit
A day at the museum.
First stop on the tour:
Neanderthals lived between 230,000 and 30,000 years ago, during the last Ice Age, and were found only in Europe and the Middle East, where they coexisted with modern humans for the later part of their existence.
All Neandertals are heavily built but those from Western Europe are particularly robust. Their heavy physique was probably an adaptation to the extremely cold conditions in which they lived.
However, the key differences between Neanderthals and modern humans lie in features of the skull. The average cranial capacity is 1450cc, larger than the modern norm, although this may be a reflection of their greater bodily bulk.
Neandertals made a wider range of complex tools - belonging to the Mousterian tool culture. Sculpture and art has been dated in the range of habitation of Neanderthal. However, it is unclear whether they were responsible for the conceptualisation or whether it was due to interactions with modern humans.
Recently scientists have been able to extract mitochondrial DNA from Neandertal bones. This has allowed them to compare DNA sequences from Neandertals and modern humans, an interesting experiment considering that in the past Neandertals have been viewed as direct ancestors of modern sapiens. The multiregional hypothesis of human origins also takes this stance. While there are problems with this technique, the data appear to show that Neandertals were not closely related to modern humans, but belonged to a separate species.