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We
used to be told that the Neanderthals were stupid-looking, dark and
swarthy. Some scientists still peddle
this line. But to me it’s sheer
prejudice. It never made any sense. These folk lived for hundreds of thousands of
years in a very harsh sunless environment.
Of course they weren’t stupid. Or
dark.
This is the latest picture of a Neanderthal. It comes from Science (26.10.07) so it must be right. It gives them a pale face and ginger hair.
The Neanderthals had no cod liver oil capsules. So, with sunshine in short supply, they
needed pale skins just as we modern northern Europeans do, to get enough
Vitamin D.
Since I started following this story, I’ve been struck
by the way the differences between our two peoples have gradually
evaporated. Every new piece of research
seems to indicate that we were increasingly alike.
Now some DNA has been successfully extracted from the
bones of two Neanderthals. They haven’t
fully sequenced the genomes yet, but one of the first two specific genes to be
retrieved shows that both specimens had pale skins and ginger hair.
The other gene, FOXP2, showed something even more
striking. We’ve long been told that the
Neanderthals lacked the brain power or the ‘vocal tract anatomy’ to be able to
speak. Well their vocal tract seems to
have been different from ours, so they would have made different sounds. They may also not have been able to make such
a wide range of sounds as us. But FOXP2
is one of the genes associated with speech – and these guys’ FOXP2 is exactly
the same as ours. This doesn’t prove
anything on its own, but it certainly says “watch this space”. (In fact the Neanderthal gene wasn’t quite
the same. It was ‘functionally’ the
same, but it had enough minor differences to give confidence that there hadn’t
been any contamination with human material.
This is a very important point, because it is incredibly easy to
contaminate a sample in this way.)
The Neanderthals are (thought to be?) the direct
descendents of the Homo heidelbergensis
people, who lived in
This makes the Neanderthals unique in that they
evolved in the cold of
However the Neanderthals arose in the cold north,
whereas we arose in warm
This map from New
Scientist shows the maximum extent of the Neanderthals’ range. Until around 35 ky ago, they
had
For a time we shared parts of the Middle East with
them. Or perhaps we took it in turns to
occupy the sites. Every time the climate
warmed up, the Neanderthals migrated north, and we took over. Then when the cold returned, so did the
Neanderthals. Eventually however, some
30 ky ago (according to this map) we drove them out of much of their territory. By around 25 ky ago, we had replaced them
everywhere except the remote parts of the Iberian peninsula. I’ve read recently that their final stand was
in a cave on Gibraltar.
The Neanderthals were short, stocky and well adapted
to the cold. So they occupied areas
where no other species of human could live.
They were extraordinarily strong, but their skeletons often show damage
which shows how tough life was for them.
Their brains were slightly larger than ours. But views differ as to whether they were
actually as smart. Some scientists, the
Neanderthal-ophiles, reckon that they were as smart as us if not smarter. Others denigrate them at every
opportunity. In particular they claim
that all the Neanderthals’ tool and jewellery making skills (of which there
were many) were copied from us. Maybe
the two groups of scientists will come together at some point. But we shouldn’t hold our breaths.
The Neanderthals are normally associated with the
Mousterian toolkit (more). Modern humans are associated with the more
advanced Aurignacian kit (see link).
However I’ve read that, for quite a long time, we were both using the
Mousterian kit. On the face of it, this
seems odd. But we can make sense of it
by going back to the time when we shared the
The Neanderthal family life seems to have been fairly
similar to our own. They evolved
‘advanced’ culture, i.e. personal
adornment, jewellery and such, at much the same time as us. But their versions differed from ours – just
enough to cause scientists to argue over how far, if at all, they copied
us. In particular, when we wanted to
make a necklace out of animal teeth, we scraped the base of the teeth thin and
then made holes in them. The
Neanderthals carved a groove round the base of each tooth so that they could
tie a string round it. This picture comes from Scientific American (April 00).
The tooth on the left is Neanderthal.
The one on the right is one of ours.
The increasing similarity between the Neanderthals and
us brings up a rather thorny question.
How much, if at all, did they interbreed with us? If they were that similar then surely they must
have. And yet scientists have found no
evidence so far to suggest that they did.
The scientists also looked at the men’s Y chromosomes. They reckon that the were too different from
ours for any interbreeding to have been possible. Other research has failed to reveal any sign
of interbreeding as well. I have to say
that I find this very puzzling.
Let’s say a little more about talking. I’ve long felt that our ancestors, right back
to the chimps, have been far better at communicating than many scientists have
given them credit for (more) – though I’m now
getting the impression that the scientific community is gradually coming round
to the same view.
There used to be a general impression that the
Neanderthals couldn’t talk, because they lacked the vocal equipment that we
find necessary. Scientists are good at
assuming that, if some creature can’t do something the way we do, then they
can’t do it at all. But It seems
certain that the Neanderthals had complex tongue control. So they would have been able to make a wide
range of different sounds, even if they couldn’t speak the way we do.
In any case it is surely inconceivable that they could
have survived the harsh climate, and
carried on a complex social life and
produced advanced tools and ornaments without having pretty sophisticated communication
skills. Richard Cowen argues, in his
textbook History of Life, that the Homo erectus
folk were into language – of a kind anyway – 1½ to 2 million years ago. And for broadly similar reasons.