disturbed_bassist Posted March 19, 2004 #1 Share Posted March 19, 2004 Basically the way I see it, is that Neanderthals were supreme at specializing, from what I've read their bodies and limbs were small and short yet very sturdy to cope with living in caves, and their diet consisted of over 80 percent meat. Humans are supreme generalists. easily adapting to whatever environment is thrown at them, within reason of course. either we hunted them all down (which wouldn’t have been too hard to do over 100's of years seeming though they lived in very small clans) or we interbred with them - although scientists believe they have proven that no Neanderthal DNA resides within humans. It is interesting to wonder whether or not humans and Neanderthals initial encounters were hostile or not. Perhaps Neanderthals and humans coexisted happily and shared skills and knowledge, could Neanderthals have impacted human history in ways previously unthought-of or could the interbreeding of the 2 have given humans far better thinking power than before. I suppose we can only speculate and never really know any of these answers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STIX Posted March 20, 2004 #2 Share Posted March 20, 2004 (edited) of course they interbred where do you think ----- came from? hahaha, Im kidding (for all the ------ here) and for all you ------, I mean -------. EDIT: Grow up, STIX. Any more deliberately racist comments, however hilarious you think they are, and your posting abilities will be in peril. Edited March 20, 2004 by Aslan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PsychicPenguin Posted March 20, 2004 #3 Share Posted March 20, 2004 But neanderthals lived in Europe If they were short and sturdy, then they might be the source of our tales about dwarfs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seraphina Posted March 20, 2004 #4 Share Posted March 20, 2004 Neandethals probably died out due to a failure to adapt to the changing climate...what few survived (there is evidence that they survived right up until a few thousand years ago) were likely wiped out in trival warfare and the like, as humans are prone to do. I don't think we could have wiped them out in a population wide struggle...certainly, not with the speed with which they declined; neaderthals were physically stronger and tougher than we were, and more likely than not just as intelligent. It's more likely they just failed to adapt at the end of the ice age, while as you put it, modern man is a "supreme generalists", and simply would have grit his teeth, and ploughed on regardless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erikl Posted March 20, 2004 #5 Share Posted March 20, 2004 What about a desease? Could it be that a desease, carried by an insect that didn't exist before the climate change, only affacted Neanderthals (as humans were genetically different from Neanderthals)? Or maybe another wave of human migration from africa brought it to Europe (This will explain why Neanderthals lived many years with Humans, untill suddenly they started to die out)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mekorig Posted March 20, 2004 #6 Share Posted March 20, 2004 Tey can evolve to a better form....there are tales of "Almas" or others man-like furry creatures whit an almost man inteligence in the Urals and Causcaso Mountains. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PsychicPenguin Posted March 20, 2004 #7 Share Posted March 20, 2004 I think the alliens came in and took every single neanderthals and moved them to a new planet ... It cannot be explained... must be the alliens.. alliens did it! *go to grab more psychadelic pills* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WorkMonkey Posted March 20, 2004 #8 Share Posted March 20, 2004 I think the alliens came in and took every single neanderthals and moved them to a new planet ... It cannot be explained... must be the alliens.. alliens did it! The penguin raises an interesting point. I second this notion Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
disturbed_bassist Posted March 21, 2004 Author #9 Share Posted March 21, 2004 penguin, thats the funniest thing ive heard all day round them up, were taking them home as pets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morpheus Posted April 15, 2004 #10 Share Posted April 15, 2004 Ive some experience with this whole Anthropology thing so allow me to chip in my two cents. Neanderthals lived primarily within small family units consisting of a few individuals to around 15 or so while Homo Sapien lived in much larger tribal units consisting of several family units(if I remember correctly). Neanderthal and Homo Sapien did co exsist, and not always peacefully, neanderthals and H. Sapiens are very similar, we evolved from a common ancestor, this is called Divergent Evolution. Because the climate wasn't the most hospitable territory was at a premium and since there were more of us than there were of the neanderthal, our ancestors pretty much dominated the hunting, pushing the smaller family unit of neanderthals further into less than ideal locals, now since the neanderthal family units were so small and the Homo Sapient tribes were in comparison quite large they didn't have the genetic diversity that we did, so inbreeding was common place, which leaves the offspring suseptable to genetic diseases or deformity, in order for neanderthal to aquire fresh genetic stock they were required to abduct females from neighbouring family units but since they had been pushed away from their traditional grounds they probably found it tough to locate any other family units, and Homo Sapien doesn't take to kindly to kidnapping. So from what information is out there a combination of factors, not a single event must have caused the eventual extinction of the neanderthals. There has been one hypothesis put forward that neanderthals didn't entirely die out, some believe that they may have been accepted into H.Sapien communities and bred into extinction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dezavala Posted April 15, 2004 #11 Share Posted April 15, 2004 They survived the Ice Age and became Grendel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pumiky Posted April 15, 2004 #12 Share Posted April 15, 2004 HY. Im an archaeology student and as much as i know for many of your questins even the most respectible scolars dont have answers . First of all i know for a fact that in many sites it is possible to find neandetals and H. sapians living on the same land on prety much the same time... the comon though is that no two species can live like that and scientists dont have an explanation for that!!! as for inbreading... thers a patial skeleton found in north of Lisbon, portugal. it is the bones of a 4 year old child, his bone structure was of a neandertal and a H. sapians together... as much as i know he is the only one found with such a fanomanon. neandartals lived all over the world spreding around from africa out. no one really knows why they died and dissapeard. ther are some suggestions: some say thy didnt adapt well to the changes some think the Homo sapians helpt pushing them away from ther food sources. and for PsychicPenguin some (but not the scientists) think alliens came in and took ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AztecInca Posted April 20, 2004 #13 Share Posted April 20, 2004 Maybe all life on Earth is just an experiment by another far superior race. They may have decided to eradicate all neanderthals from earth so we could exist without any form of competition or they just moved them like the penguin says who knows. This is probably a bit far fetched but why not? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naveed Posted April 20, 2004 #14 Share Posted April 20, 2004 (edited) Don't any of you read fictional books? Come on! Vikings wiped them out! It's in Eaters of the Dead (the 13th Warrior) by Michael Crichton. Actually I think many of the possibilities people have put forth on here are quite plausible. And of course some have said it would explain certain characters in mythology, but personally I think they either died out, or interbreeded (is that even a word?) with us. Edited April 20, 2004 by Naveed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saucy Posted April 21, 2004 #15 Share Posted April 21, 2004 I know I'll get the crap beat out of me for this one, but there is no such things as neanderthals. Evolution is non-existant. They found a couple of skeletons and all of a sudden there's evolution? Come on. Even Charles Darwin said there isn't enough evidence in the rock. There should be millions of skeletons, but there isn't. As far as I know, they have never found more than one skeleton in one area. Throughout the history of man, people are born with disformaties. They are born smaller with smaller skulls, larger, even many diseases effect their growth. Imagine the controversy if the elephant man actually existed three thousand years ago and they found his bones today, not knowing he actually lived. Plus, the found ape skulls in Africa. In Africa! There are supposed to be apes and monkeys in Africa. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naveed Posted April 21, 2004 #16 Share Posted April 21, 2004 Ummm...I've never seen a more biased reply then that. Have you even bothered to research into anything more then just human evolution (if you even researched that)? Evidence for evolution is very strong and if you haven't bothered to research your beliefs beyond probably just reading the Bible, you shouldn't be forming an opinion on something you have not bothered to research. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angelfish Posted April 21, 2004 #17 Share Posted April 21, 2004 **listens intently while the more-educated-than-myself ar- I mean debate** ... ..... .. .... ..... .. ..... ....... .... C'mon! keep going! I wanna hear more!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saucy Posted April 21, 2004 #18 Share Posted April 21, 2004 I used to be a firm believer on evolution for most of my life and no, the bible isn't the only research i've done. I just found the answer to the whole thing. Life cannot start by itself. There's no possible way. A cell does not just suddenly appear and start to evolve. How can one cell evolve into plants, animals, insects and everything else. Remember, when the earth started, there was nothing. Not even oxygen or oceans. How can the first rain fall? Even look back to the "big bang". Matter cannot just suddenly appear then explode. There's no way. Also explain how this explosion caused so much order when every other explosion in history has caused disorder and disarray. It seems to me that the beginning of the universe is too coincidental for their not to be a God. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naveed Posted April 22, 2004 #19 Share Posted April 22, 2004 Well since most of these discussions/debates/arguments started by me or not always wind up in fighting, lets just leave it at, I'll let you believe what you want, and I'll believe what I want and it's all good. *reaches out hand to shake* okee dokee? Other then that lets get this topic back on subject. Does can anyone think of possible neanderthal encounters during the middle ages, etc...besides the possible bigfoot connection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenk Posted April 22, 2004 #20 Share Posted April 22, 2004 You should all read "Clan of the Cave Bear". It's a well researched novel that does a great job showing the life style and interaction of H and N. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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