Transcript Neanderthal PPT

Our Closest Relatives,
the Neanderthals
By: Stephen Thai
Introduction
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Homo Neanderthalensis
Lived in Europe and Southwestern Asia
138,000 to 28,000 years ago
 Mostly
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an Ice Age
Never numbered more than 100,000
1856, Neander Valley, Germany
 1st
Neanderthal skulls discovered
Who is this Neanderthal?
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A very late homonid
A close relative, but
not an ancestor
Lived around the
same time as modern
humans, and even
shared territory
Note: Humans did not
Possibly interbred
evolve from Neanderthals
with humans - not
proven yet.
Neanderthal Bodies Relative to
Humans
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5 ft, 185 lbs – shorter than humans
Larger noses, heads, bones, muscles
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Less agile
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Bulkier, stronger than humans
Efficient and well suited to cold
environments
Short limbs, wide pelvises
Similar brain size
Much stronger with thicker bones
Similarities
Both made tools
 Both made clothing
 Both conducted religious ceremonies
 Both lived in communities and had an
organized social life
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Culture
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Social Unit
 Consisted
of extended family members
 Took care of the sick and injured
 Mostly lived inside caves
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Like humans…
 Knew
how to use fire
 Constructed complex
temporary structures for
shelter when migrating
 Skinned animals
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Lacked art
Burials
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1st known hominids to bury dead
Was it a ritual or simply to avoid attracting
scavengers?
Sites contain multiple individuals
Usually inside caves/ rock shelters
Some filled with items and pollen
 Intentional
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or no?
Occasional cannibalism
Interaction with Humans
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Usually avoided each other when
possible
 Increasing
numbers of humans in
Neanderthal habitats made
avoidance harder
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Culture Changes
 Adoption
of bone and ivory tools
 Puncturing holes into animal bones
for decoration
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Early form of art for Neanderthals
Extinction Theories
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Climate Change
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Sudden swings between warm and
cold rapidly changed environment
 Killed off many species that
Neanderthals depended on for food
 Not intelligent enough to develop
technology for surviving cold, esp.
compared to humans
Extinction coincided w/ coldest
period of Ice Age
 Natural selection would favor
humans
Out-competed (and killed off) by
humans?
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Extinction cont.
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Competition with Humans
 Homo
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sapiens more technologically advanced
Better tools for hunting and survival
 Division
of labor
Human women did not hunt – gatherers
 Neanderthal women hunted – higher rates of death
 Result: reduced birth rates and survival rates of
young children for Neanderthals
 More humans competing with less Neanderthals
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Neanderthal Genome Project
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Sequence the Neanderthal genome
 DNA
extracted from femur bone of
38,000 year old male fossil, Croatia
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Helped in discovery of FOXP2
gene
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DNA similarities
 Human
and Chimpanzee: 98.77%
 Human and Neanderthal: 99.5%
 Possible interbreeding?