Neanderthals lived in a high-stress environment with high trauma rates, and about 80% died before the age of 40. They may have frequented caves, and moved between them seasonally. Despite this, there is evidence of regional cultures and thus of regular communication between communities. The total population of Neanderthals remained low, proliferating weakly harmful gene variants, and precluding effective long-distance networks. The Neanderthal skull was more elongated and had smaller parietal lobes and cerebellum, morphological traits used to assign specimens to species. The braincases of Neanderthal men and women averaged about 1,600 cm 3 (98 cu in) and 1,300 cm 3 (79 cu in) respectively, which is within the range of the values for modern humans. Average Neanderthal men stood around 165 cm (5 ft 5 in) and women 153 cm (5 ft 0 in) tall, similar to pre-industrial modern humans. Nonetheless, they had cold-specific adaptations, such as specialised body-fat storage and an enlarged nose to warm air (although the nose could have been caused by genetic drift ). Researchers often explain these features as adaptations to conserve heat in a cold climate, but they may also have been adaptations for sprinting in the warmer, forested landscape that Neanderthals often inhabited. Ĭompared with modern humans, Neanderthals had a more robust build and proportionally shorter limbs. Neanderthals were likely capable of speech, possibly articulate, although the complexity of their language is not known. Some claims of religious beliefs have been made. A number of examples of symbolic thought and Palaeolithic art have been inconclusively attributed to Neanderthals, namely possible ornaments made from bird claws and feathers or shells, collections of unusual objects including crystals and fossils, engravings, music production indicated by the Divje Babe flute, and Spanish cave paintings contentiously dated to before 65,000 years ago. Although they were probably apex predators, they still competed with cave bears, cave lions, cave hyaenas, and other large predators. Neanderthals made use of a wide array of food, mainly hoofed mammals, but also other megafauna, plants, small mammals, birds, and aquatic and marine resources. It includes the Mousterian stone-tool industry and ability to create fire and build cave hearths, make the adhesive birch bark tar, craft at least simple clothes similar to blankets and ponchos, weave, go seafaring through the Mediterranean, and make use of medicinal plants, as well as treat severe injuries, store food, and use various cooking techniques such as roasting, boiling, and smoking.
Neanderthal technology was quite sophisticated. Although knowledge and perception of them has markedly changed since then in the scientific community, the image of the unevolved caveman archetype remains prevalent in popular culture. For much of the early 20th century, European researchers depicted Neanderthals as primitive, unintelligent, and brutish. The type specimen, Neanderthal 1, was found in 1856 in the Neander Valley in present-day Germany. Neanderthals are known from numerous fossils, especially from after 130,000 years ago. The oldest potential Neanderthal bones date to 430,000 years ago, but the classification remains uncertain. The date of divergence of Neanderthals from their ancestor H. It is unclear when the line of Neanderthals split from that of modern humans studies have produced various intervals ranging from 315,000 to more than 800,000 years ago. Other scholars have proposed competitive replacement, assimilation into the modern human genome (bred into extinction), great climatic change, disease, or a combination of these factors. While the "causes of Neanderthal disappearance about 40,000 years ago remain highly contested," : 1 demographic factors such as small population size, inbreeding, and random fluctuations are considered probable factors. Neanderthals ( / n i ˈ æ n d ər ˌ t ɑː l, n eɪ-, - ˌ θ ɑː l/, also Neandertals, Homo neanderthalensis or Homo sapiens neanderthalensis) are an extinct species or subspecies of archaic humans who lived in Eurasia until about 40,000 years ago.
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