Neanderthals Vs Evolution (part 2)

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Neanderthals: not stupid, just differentScientists challenge the theory that Homo sapiens was more intelligent

The established view of Neanderthals as backward, primitive, ape-like creatures is challenged today by new research showing they used stone tools as successfully as early humans.

A team from the University of Exeter, Southern Methodist University, Texas State University and the Think Tank Corporation spent three years producing stone tools to compare their use.

Their work suggests the tools Neanderthals used were just as efficient, if not more so, than those developed by Homo sapiens.

Homo sapiens and Neanderthals used flint stone tools known as "flakes'' made from fragments struck from a larger stone ''core''.

Homo sapiens later adopted ''blades'', which were flakes with parallel edges twice as long as they were wide and were thought to be more efficient.

The group tested the cutting ability and rate of manufacture of the two tools, and the findings, published in the Journal of Human Evolution today, show no statistical difference in the efficiency of the two technologies and, in some respects, the flakes used by the Neanderthals were more efficient.

Archaeologist Metin Eren from the University of Exeter said: "Our research disputes a major pillar holding up the long-held assumption that Homo sapiens were more advanced than Neanderthals.''

"It is time for archaeologists to start searching for other reasons why Neanderthals became extinct while our ancestors survived. Technologically speaking, there is no clear advantage of one tool over the other. When we think of Neanderthals we need to stop thinking in terms of 'stupid' or 'less advanced' and more in terms of 'different'."

Neanderthals vanished from Europe 28,000 years ago. By then, they had lived beside humans for about 10,000 years.

Research shows that, like modern humans, they had their own culture, used tools and hunted animals with weapons. It is possible they may even have spoken a rudimentary language.

The belief that Homo sapiens was more intellectually advanced than Neanderthals has persisted for decades.

The scientists believe early modern humans adopted new technology more for cultural or symbolic than practical reasons.

"Colonising a continent isn't easy. Colonising a continent during the Ice Age is even harder. So, for early Homo sapiens colonising Ice Age Europe, a new shared and flashy-looking technology might serve as one form of social glue by which larger social networks were bonded.

"Thus, during hard times and resource droughts, these larger social networks might act like a type of 'life insurance', ensuring exchange and trade among members on the same 'team.'

In recent years, many long-held views about why Neanderthals became extinct have been debunked, with research revealing they were as good at hunting as Homo sapiens and had no clear disadvantage in their ability to communicate.

Neanderthals Vs Evolution

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How Neanderthals met a grisly fate: devoured by humansA fossil discovery bears marks of butchering similar to those made when cutting up a deer

One of science's most puzzling mysteries - the disappearance of the Neanderthals - may have been solved. Modern humans ate them, says a leading fossil expert.

The controversial suggestion follows publication of a study in the Journal of Anthropological Sciences about a Neanderthal jawbone apparently butchered by modern humans. Now the leader of the research team says he believes the flesh had been eaten by humans, while its teeth may have been used to make a necklace.

Fernando Rozzi, of Paris's Centre National de la Récherche Scientifique, said the jawbone had probably been cut into to remove flesh, including the tongue. Crucially, the butchery was similar to that used by humans to cut up deer carcass in the early Stone Age. "Neanderthals met a violent end at our hands and in some cases we ate them," Rozzi said.

The idea will provoke considerable opposition from scientists who believe Neanderthals disappeared for reasons that did not involve violence. Neanderthals were a sturdy species who evolved in Europe 300,000 years ago, made complex stone tools and survived several ice ages before they disappeared 30,000 years ago - just as modern human beings arrived in Europe from Africa.

Some researchers believe Neanderthals may have failed to compete effectively with Homo sapiens for resources, or were more susceptible to the impact of climate change. But others believe our interactions were violent and terminal for the Neanderthals. According to Rozzi, the discovery at Les Rois in south-west France provides compelling support for that argument.

Previous excavations revealed bones that were thought to be exclusively human. But Rozzi's team re-examined them and found one they concluded was Neanderthal. Importantly, it was covered in cut marks similar to those left behind when flesh is stripped from deer and other animals using stone tools.

Rozzi believes the jawbone provides crucial evidence that humans attacked Neanderthals, and sometimes killed them, bringing back their bodies to caves to eat or to use their skulls or teeth as trophies. "For years, people have tried to hide away from the evidence of cannibalism, but I think we have to accept it took place," he added.

But not every team member agrees. "One set of cut marks does not make a complete case for cannibalism," said Francesco d'Errico, of the Institute of Prehistory in Bordeaux. It was also possible that the jawbone had been found by humans and its teeth used to make a necklace, he said.

"This is a very important investigation," said Professor Chris Stringer, of the Natural History Museum, London. "We do need more evidence, but this could indicate modern humans and Neanderthals were living in the same area of Europe at the same time, that they were interacting, and that some of these interactions may have been hostile.

"This does not prove we systematically eradicated the Neanderthals or that we regularly ate their flesh. But it does add to the evidence that competition from modern humans probably contributed to Neanderthal extinction."