Neanderthals

1
Neanderthals
By Nik Heberlein Morgan Jeffries
2
Emergence on the Hominid Line
Homo sapien neanderthalensis
100,000 - 30,000 years before present
3
Neanderthals Range

• Throughout Europe and Southwest Asia
• First recognized Neanderthal fossil found in
  Neander Valley in Germany.

4
Appearance

• Massive bones
• broad shoulders
• short limbs
• stocky body
• broad nose
• bulging brow ridge
• strong musculature
• lacking strong chin
• cheek bones slanted outward
• slanted forehead

Them Us
5
Brain Size

• Neanderthal skull (left) modern human skull
  (right)
• Cranial capacity 1270cc - 1750cc (compared to
  ours 1300cc - 1500cc)
• Although their brain was larger than ours they
  were not as intelligent.

6
Evidence that Neanderthals Were not Brutish and
Savage

• Burial rituals
• Advanced tools
• Organized hunting
• Music
• Art
• Cared for weak and sick

7
Burial Rituals

• Some sort of religion--belief in an after life
• Objects found in graves flower pollen, tools,
  etc.

8
Advanced Tools
Tools required a high level of craftsmanship and
mental skill as adept as modern humans
9
Organized Hunting

• Neanderthals organized their hunts, which
  indicates a high level of social organization and
  some level of communication.
• They hunted the large herds of animals that
  thrived in the cold region.
• Although they hunted in groups they were unable
  to anticipate future events which would allow
  them to take advantage of annual migrations.

10
Neanderthal Musicians

• This flute was found it was made out of bear
  bone
• From the positioning of the holes on the flute
  archeologists discovered that Neanderthals had a
  do-re-mi scale

11
Neanderthal Art

• Neanderthals possessed some artistic ability for
  abstraction, modeling, and manufacturing
  something other than tools

12
Caring for Weak and Sick

• Fossil evidence shows that a serious head wound
  healed because someone cared for it for a long
  period of time
• They had some concept of herbal medicine

13
The Extinction of Neanderthals

• Replacement by Modern humans through natural
  selection
• Neanderthals were too specialized for the warming
  climate
• Genocide
• Interbreeding between the two -- Neanderthal
  characteristics disappeared