Homo sapiens and Neanderthals: what's the difference? Timothy Hefner

What are Neanderthals?

What are Neanderthals? Estimates: First ancestor from apes receiving “homo”: 10 – 4 mya Neanderthals: 550,000 – 30,000 years ago

What are Neanderthals?

What do we know about them? It is hard to discuss Neanderthals because they lived over 30,000 years ago and for a relatively short period of time. Any discussion relies on archaeological evidence. We do know they died out , but we do not know how. Theories include: Simple quirk of fate Direct competition with H. sapiens Neanderthal’s own (unadaptable) behavior Disease Resource availability They were assimilated into the H. sapiens population Etc.

What are Neanderthals to H. sapiens? Some people believe that Neanderthals and H. sapiens shared no significant differences This would suggest the “unlucky” excuse to their extinction I believe that to be a cope out answer. Looking only at the anatomical evidence there are some potentially small differences that could of had large effects. In an anatomical comparison, the Neanderthal brain is 10% larger than the H. sapiens brain (in pure size) At first glance this could mean that they had better brain capacity than us. Neanderthals also had larger bodies. Combined this means that the larger bodies and larger brains had a much larger caloric need! It also suggests that more neural tissue was needed for somatic purposes i.e. regulating and monitoring the body.

What are Neanderthals to H. sapiens?

What are Neanderthals to H. sapiens? The first important note about the H. sapiens’ brain is how globularized it is! The human brain is extremely spherical This makes it much more efficient The connection from each point is as small as it can be Making for faster, denser connections The Parietal Lobe Across all primate species the parietal lobe is the most distinguished part of the anatomically modern human (AMH) brain. The parietal lobe is essential for cognitive functioning: Visuospatial working memory The ability to create internal stable representations of external environment and one’s place in it. Ability to grasp and manipulate objects like tools and understand cause and effect relations in tool use Sense of self, self-representation, and self-consciousness Etc.

How do we compare culture? One way is the Trait List Comparing Neanderthals to AMH around the same time This is flawed because, though they were both hunters and gatherers, they lived in completely different environments with different nutrition. Alternative is to compare Neanderthals to those that lived around the same time and environment as them. Aurignacian people 34,000 to 23,000 years ago, first modern humans in Europe.

Neanderthals and AMH Culture Beads Neanderthals have only been identified with fewer than 10 beads during their 200,000+ years Aurignacian people, within their 10,000 years, have been associated with thousands of beads

What does this suggest? Maybe a symbolic culture? As discussed, symbols represent something else via a arbitrary or conventionalized link But much like the earrings and necklaces we wear today, it is believed these beads were more of a index to social identity Since Neanderthals are found with much less beads: They were much less invested in social marking than the Aurignacian people And thus have potentially weaker/smaller social groups Though indexical marking is not cognitively challenging With larger/more complex groups, there is a need for larger working memory.

High Cost Ritual Further evidence for weaker/smaller social groups is the lack of ritualized behavior. As discussed earlier ritual, especially high cost ritual, leads to constructing more complex, inter-connected societies. There is evidence for ritualized behavior in Neanderthals (burials), but their extent is not as high as AMH. Taking red ochre for example: A widely used pigment in ritualized behavior What makes it unique is how far we believed they traveled in order to procure very specific pigments This results in a higher ritual cost We see ritualized acts of AMH using red ochre 100,000 years before Neanderthals Neanderthals only started around 10,000 years before extinction Further evidence for weaker social groups is lower population densities and less extensive trade networks when compared to AMH.

Language Despite potentially having small social groups it is believed that Neanderthals had language (the extent is unknown). We found a bone (hyoid bone) that is essential for language in AMH With extensive histological evidence, it was seen that the bone was used in the same way modern humans use theirs, suggesting language Studying the morphology of the inner and outer ear, gives similar evidence Stating that they were able to sense and differentiate between different sounds. This makes sense for the coordination of hunting and tool making.

Summary Though Neanderthals are our closest hominin relative, we have few archeological evidence Archeological evidence is limited at that for psychological evaluations Neanderthals had larger brains and bodies, but this resulted in a higher caloric need. All brain regions were smaller than AMH except the occipital lobe Little evidence for higher social groups. Low cost, scarce ritual Few social indexes Could mean a lack of allomothering, grandmothering, active teaching etc. Evidence does suggest Neanderthals used a form of language.