The Neanderthal Enigma

1. The Neanderthal Enigma Homo neanderthalensis

2. Who were they? • Species restricted to Europe, eastern Middle East during height of Ice Age • Evolved to be specifically cold-adapted: • Short and stocky body type • Large nose (nasal passages for warming air) • Barrel chest (also for warming air) • Long, low, thick skull but with large cranial capacity (close to modern humans) • Heavy brow ridge

3. Reconstruction http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/homs/savage.html

4. Maturation • Neanderthals' teeth developed faster than their human cousins, new research has revealed. • This may mean Neanderthals reached maturity at 15 years old, around three years earlier than our early human ancestors. http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn4937

5. Range of sites http://www.ecotao.com/holism/hu_neand.htm

6. Homo neanderthalensisNeandertals (ca. 200-32 kya)

7. Neanderthal Cranial Features

8. Forbes Quarry   Skull ~The second Neanderthal specimen found.  ~Discovered at Gibraltar in 1848

9. Neanderthal 1  Cranium ~Discovered in 1856 in the Neander Valley, Germany ~Neanderthal 1 is the type specimen for Homo neanderthalensis

10. Amud, Israel Amud   Cranium ~Found at Amud, Israel in 1961 by a Japanese excavation team

11. Amud 7   Infant ~Found at Amud, Israel in 1961 by a Japanese excavation team

12. Dederiyeh   Partial Skeleton ~By Takashi Oguchi, from Dederiyeh, Syria, and contains the remains of a 2-year old child

13. Kebara 2   Partial Skeleton ~Found in 1982 at Kebara Cave, Israel ~Dated to 60,000 years

14. Kebara 2 Skeleton (“Moshe”) • The archaeological evidence seems to indicate that Moshe was indeed buried. • He had been placed on his back in a shallow pit with his right arm placed across his chest and his left arm across his abdomen. • Study of the skeleton suggests that Moshe was between the ages of 25 and 35 when he died. • His death was apparently a result of natural causes as there is no evidence of violence or disease in his bones. Moshe was about 1.7 meters tall - a height that is taller than the average European Neanderthal.

15. Neanderthal language • The most important part of this find, however, may be the fact that along with all of the other bones, a complete hyoid bone was found. • Whether or not Neanderthals possessed the ability to speak is a question that incites more furious debates than those on Neanderthal burials. • This hyoid bone is identical to ours, thus suggesting that the Neanderthals shared our capacity for language.

16. Neanderthal sound http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080421154426.htm

17. La Ferrassie 1   Skull ~Found in 1909 at La Ferrassie, France ~Dated to 50,000 years

18. Le Moustier A Juvenile Neanderthal excavated in 1909. http://www.mnh.si.edu/anthro/humanorigins/ha/lemoust.htm

19. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Carte_Neandertaliens.jpg

20. Using teeth as tools http://www.ecotao.com/holism/hu_neand.htm

22. Not the “Cave Men” they were made out to be! • Elaborate Stone and Bone Tool technology • Mousterian tools • First to bury dead • First to create art on rocks and bone • Some degree of altruism • Old Man of La Chapelle • Individual from Shanidar

23. Mousterian Tools: Period of stone tools associated with Neandertals

24. Not the “Cave Men” they were made out to be! • Elaborate Stone and Bone Tool technology • Mousterian tools • First to bury dead • First to create art on rocks and bone • Some degree of altruism • Old Man of La Chapelle • Individual from Shanidar

25. Burial at Tabun, Mt. Carmel, Israel

26. Mt. Carmel Sites

27. Reconstruction of Neanderthal Burial

28. Not the “Cave Men” they were made out to be! • Elaborate Stone and Bone Tool technology • Mousterian tools • First to bury dead • Some degree of altruism • Old Man of La Chapelle • Individual from Shanidar

29. Shanidar 1: Eye Socket crushed-blinded in that eye

30. “Old Man” of La-Chapelle

31. Old Man of La Chapelle • The Old Man of La Chapelle, who dates to about 50,000 years ago, suffered from severe arthritis in his neck, had a deformed left hip, a crushed toe, a broken rib, and damaged patella. • The fact that despite all of these ailments, this individual was able to survive indicates that he was cared for by other members of his clan.

32. Hunting

33. Red-haired Cave Man?

34. Where do Modern Humans fit in?

35. mtDNA • Genetic evidence from a comparison of human and Neanderthal mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) shows that while chimpanzee and human lineages diverged over five million years ago, the Neanderthals diverged from humans over 550,000 to 690,000 years ago. • Bones of Homo antecessor , recovered from the Gran Dolina site, in the Sierra de Atapuerca (Burgos, Spain) have been dated at about  780,000 old and are said to represent the last common ancestor for H. sapiens (modern humans) and H. neanderthalensis (Neanderthals) http://www.ecotao.com/holism/hu_neand.htm(Krings, 1999; Ovchinnikov, et al, 2000 Relethford, 2001)

36. Neanderthal vs. Modern http://www.discover.com/issues/sep-06/rd/cavemanclone/

37. What happened to them? • A study in Nature magazine suggests the species may have lived in Gorham's Cave on Gibraltar up to 24,000 years ago. • The Neanderthal people were believed to have died out about 35,000 years ago, at a time when modern humans were advancing across the continent. • The new evidence suggests they held on in Europe's deep south long after the arrival of Homo sapiens.

38. Cave in Gibraltar

39. Cave area in pre (bottom) and post (top) Neanderthal times.

40. Clone a Cave man? • Scientists reconstruct DNA. • Would it be possible to clone the specimen? • Should we?