Neanderthal demise not caused by inferiority, new study suggests
Source: america.aljazeera.com
Scientific evidence does not support the widely held belief that Neanderthals were dim-witted and that inferior intelligence led to their extinction as the smarter ancestors of modern humans survived, according to a new study published Wednesday in the scientific journal PLOS ONE.
Instead, there is evidence that Neanderthals worked together to hunt and may have participated in cultural rituals, becoming extinct as the result of a gene that made them less fertile than human ancestors.“The evidence for cognitive inferiority is simply not there,” said Paola Villa, who is one of the authors of the report and a curator at the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History. “What we are saying is that the conventional view of Neanderthals is not true.”
Neanderthals thrived across Europe and Asia between 350,000 and 400,000 years ago, and disappeared after Homo sapiens — or anatomically modern humans — crossed into Europe from Africa.
The Neanderthals’ extinction, like those of other archaic populations, is routinely explained by the supposed intellectual superiority of modern humans. Past theories have suggested that Neanderthals did not have the skills that our ancestors had — the ability to hunt, communicate, innovate and adapt to different environments.
Other explanations have posited that Neanderthals did not use complex, symbolic communication, that they were less efficient hunters with inferior weapons, and that they had a narrow diet, putting them at a disadvantage.
But in the new report, scientists at the University of Colorado Boulder say the available evidence does not suggest that Neanderthals were any less advanced than anatomically modern humans. Some evidence even counters such hypotheses.
[...]
Read the full article at: aljazeera.com
Tune into Red Ice Radio:
Troy McLachlan & Theodore Holden - Hour 1 - Cosmos in Collision: Antique Solar System, Neanderthals & Modern Man
Danny Vendramini - Hour 1 - Them & Us: Neanderthal Predation Theory
Rupert Sheldrake - The Science Delusion
Gregg Braden - Crisis in Thinking & False Assumptions of an Incomplete Science
Lloyd Pye - The Intervention Theory
Michael Tellinger - Adam’s Calendar & Slave Species of God
Richard J. Dewhurst - Hour 1 - The Ancient Giants Who Ruled America
Brien Foerster & L.A. Marzulli - Hour 1 - Paracas Elongated Skull DNA Analysis & The Nephilim Connection
