New View of Neanderthal
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Neanderthals have long been thought of as a very primitive species, but this view is changing as evidence to the contrary emerges. Studies on Neanderthal remains have shown that they were not as primitive as initially thought, and that they possessed the ability for flexible, creative behavior similar to modern man (Brainard, 1998). They have previously been thought of as lacking language skills, foresight, creativity, and other cognitive abilities found in modern humans. In 1977, German anthropologists reported finding aerodynamic wooden spears belonging to ancestors of Neanderthals made 400,000 years ago (Brainard, 1998, p. 72), and stone spearheads have been found at many Neanderthal sites in both Europe and the Middle East (Bower, 1999, p. 4). Scientists investigating Neanderthal remains in a cave in France found evidence of tool marks on the bones of animals found there, and also found ornaments, including pierced animal teeth, suggesting that the Neanderthals wore jewelry and were aware of symbolism. Researchers question whether the Neanderthals developed the use of jewelry on their own, or whether they acquired it by trading with modern man who lived in the same regions at the same time (Brainard, 1998, p. 73). Bar-Yosef also reports on pierced marine shells, probably worn as jewelry, found in caves in the Levant (Bar-Yosef, 1993, p. 100). Evidence from a Neanderthal buried in Kebara cave on the western slopes of Mount Carmel with a jawbone with its hyo
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that Africa was the original source of human mitochondrial DNA patterns, supporting the theory that modern Homo Sapiens appeared in Africa around 100,000 years ago, then spread around the world and, and later replaced Neanderthals who arose later but inhabited the same regions.
While this discovery was considered a breakthrough, there are still those who question its validity (Kunzig and Menon, 1998; Wolpoff, 1999). Kunzig and Menon suggest that we wait until other samples are tested before accepting this hypothesis, and Wolpoff suggests that there is ample possibility that Neanderthal genes could have evolved into the modern genome through mutations, and that the star-shaped genealogy of the human mitochondrial DNA genome reveals a history of selection, meaning post-Neanderthal selection in human mitochondrial DNA who render phylogenetic interpretations meaningless.
More recently, the skeleton of a child was unearthed in Portugal and it appears to be a hybrid of a Neanderthal and a modern human (Bower, 1999, p. 295). Erik Trinkaus of Washington University, an authority on Neanderthals, agreed that the child was a hybrid. Christopher B. Stringer, of the Natural History Museum in London, a proponent of the separate developme
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Approximate Word count = 1672
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)
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