Neanderthals hunted dangerous cave lions, study shows
Neanderthals hunted cave lions and used the skin of this dangerous carnivore, a new study has shown for the first time.
Neanderthals hunted cave lions and used the skin of this dangerous carnivore, a new study has shown for the first time.
Archaeology
Oct 12, 2023
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The Shanidar cave sits in the Zagros mountains of the Kurdish autonomous region of Iraq, in a border region between Iran and southeast Türkiye. Within the cave is one of the longest-debated collections of Neanderthal remains.
Researchers modeling eastern Neanderthal migration from Europe have found the area south of the Caspian Sea in northern Iran to be the most likely route, suggesting there could be significant yet-to-be-discovered archaeological ...
A new paper proposes that Homo sapiens may have been responsible for the extinction of Neanderthals not by violence, but through sex instead.
Evolution
Oct 31, 2022
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626
A hillside dwelling overlooking the picturesque Rhone Valley in southern France proved irresistible for our ancestors, attracting both Neanderthals and modern humans long before the latter were thought to have reached that ...
Archaeology
Feb 9, 2022
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What makes humans unique? Scientists have taken another step toward solving an enduring mystery with a new tool that may allow for more precise comparisons between the DNA of modern humans and that of our extinct ancestors.
Biotechnology
Jul 16, 2021
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The design may be simple, but a chevron pattern etched onto a deer bone more than 50,000 years ago suggests that Neanderthals had their own artistic tradition before modern humans arrived on the scene, researchers said Monday.
Archaeology
Jul 5, 2021
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Modern humans arrived in the westernmost part of Europe 41,000—38,000 years ago, about 5,000 years earlier than previously known, according to Jonathan Haws, Ph.D., professor and chair of the Department of Anthropology ...
Archaeology
Sep 28, 2020
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Homo Neanderthaliensis did not become extinct because of changes in climate. At least, this did not happen to the several Neanderthal groups that lived in the western Mediterranean 42,000 years ago. A research group of the ...
Archaeology
Jul 20, 2020
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3728
Blade-like tools and animal tooth pendants previously discovered in Europe, and once thought to possibly be the work of Neanderthals, are in fact the creation of Homo sapiens, or modern humans, who emigrated from Africa, ...
Archaeology
May 11, 2020
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Palaeoanthropus neanderthalensis[citation needed] H. s. neanderthalensis
The Neanderthal (short for Neanderthal man, pronounced /niːˈændərtɑːl/, /niːˈændərθɔːl/ or /neɪˈændərtɑːl/ in English; sometimes spelled Neandertal) is an extinct member of the Homo genus known from Pleistocene specimens found in Europe and parts of western and central Asia. Neanderthals are classified either as a subspecies of modern humans (Homo sapiens neanderthalensis) or as a separate human species (Homo neanderthalensis).
The first proto-Neanderthal traits appeared in Europe as early as 600,000–350,000 years ago. Proto-Neanderthal traits are occasionally grouped with another phenetic 'species', Homo heidelbergensis, or a migrant form, Homo rhodesiensis.
Genetic evidence suggests interbreeding took place with Homo sapiens (anatomically modern humans) between roughly 80,000 and 50,000 years ago in the Middle East, resulting in 1–4% of the genome of people from Eurasia having been contributed by Neanderthals.
The youngest Neanderthal finds include Hyaena Den (UK), considered older than 30,000 years ago, while the Vindija (Croatia) Neanderthals have been re-dated to between 33,000 and 32,000 years ago. No definite specimens younger than 30,000 years ago have been found; however, evidence of fire by Neanderthals at Gibraltar indicate they may have survived there until 24,000 years ago. Cro-Magnon or early modern human skeletal remains with 'Neanderthal traits' were found in Lagar Velho (Portugal), dated to 24,500 years ago and interpreted as indications of extensively admixed populations.
The earliest Mousterian stone tool culture, associated with the Neaderthal, is dated 300,000 years ago and and developed by Neanderthals in Europe. Later Mousterian culture is also developed in Asia; in Africa dated after 150,000 years ago in Jebel Irhoud site located 620 km south of Giblartar. The late Mousterian artifact were found in Gorham's Cave on the remote south-facing coast of Gibraltar. Other tool cultures associated with Neanderthal include Châtelperronian, Aurignacian, and Gravettian, developed with gradual continuity not distributed by population change.
Neanderthal cranial capacity is thought to have been as large as that of a Homo sapiens, perhaps larger, indicating their brain size may have been comparable, or larger, as well. In 2008, a group of scientists created a study using three-dimensional computer-assisted reconstructions of Neanderthal infants based on fossils found in Russia and Syria. The study showed Neanderthal and modern human brains were the same size at birth, but by adulthood, the Neandertal brain was larger than the modern human brain. Neanderthal males stood about 164–168 cm (65–66 in), and were heavily built with robust bone structure. They were much stronger than Homo sapiens, having particularly strong arms and hands. Females stood about 152–156 cm (60–61 in) tall.
In 2010 a U.S. researcher reported finding cooked plant matter in the teeth of a Neanderthal skull, contradicting the earlier belief they were exclusively (or almost exclusively) carnivorous and apex predators.[not in citation given]
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