 Meet the Neanderthals (Part 1, Some History)
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 Podcast
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First Neanderthal fossil remains were found 151 years ago in Germany; lots has been learned since then, and technology seems to be driving a faster & faster pace of discovery. So to help put things in context, I'll spend this episode talking about the history of Neanderthal work and our societal view of the Neanderthal. I'll follow up with a subsequent episode talking about what it all means to us...
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The Neanderthal first appeared around 230 - 300 KYA, and are thought to have evolved from hominids living in the Middle East. They adapted to the cold climate of the north, and at their peak dominated all of modern day Europe and some of Asia. From Britain & Iberian peninsula in the west to Uzbekistan in the east, and as far south as Israel.
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Modern humans remained in Africa, Middle East and warmer southern climes until about 30K years ago when they arrived in Europe. This, at least, according to the "Out of Africa" model of human development -- so far at least, the predominant if not concensus model.
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Within a few thousand years of modern humans showing up on the scene, the Neanderthals no longer show up in the fossil record.
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The name Neanderthal has an interesting history. Joachim Neander (1650-1680) was a German hymn writer, whose last name was originally Neuman (Newman), and who used a Greek form of his last name (Nea Ander) for publications. In the early 1800s, the valley where he grew up was renamed in his honor -- Neander Thal, New Man's Valley. So ironically, the oldest species considered "human" was named after a "new man."
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 Three big questions:
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Interesting to see how our perspective on Neanderthal changed over time as a function of cultural outlook and new discoveries. Neanderthals are the closest known relatives to modern humans, and how they have been viewed historically is to some degree a reflection of how we've viewed ourselves.
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Neanderthal portrayed differently over time, as more discoveries were made, as analytical technology improved, and as the fields of paleontology and paleoanthropology matured.
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150+ years of history, so here are the high points:
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In 1856, Neanderthal remains discovered by workers in a limestone quarry in Germany's Neander Valley, east of Dusseldorf.
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In 1863, William King, a professor from Queen’s College in Ireland, was first to propose that the bones belonged to an extinct human species.
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The scientific community spends much of the next 140 years arguing over whether the Neanderthals should be considered Homo sapiens neanderthalensis (a subspecies of Homo sapiens) or a separate species, Homo neanderthalensis.
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1886: Marcel de Puydt & Max Lohest find two nearly complete Neanderthal skeletons in association with Mousterian tools in Betche-aux-Rotches cave in Belgium.
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1908: Amédée and Jean Bouyssonie, and Bouffia Bonneval discover a nearly complete Neanderthal skeleton in La Chapelle-aux-Saints, France, along with Mousterian tools and bones of extinct animals.
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Also in 1908 -- Piltdown Man is "discovered"; paleontology is confused for years afterwards...
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1911-13: By way of an article in Annales de Paléontologie, Marcellin Boule publishes first major study of Neanderthals, establishes paleoanthropology as a discipline.
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Largely due to Boule & Piltdown, the predominant view of Neanderthal for the next 20 years will be that they were an apeish side-branch of the human lineage.
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1935: Alberto Blanc finds a Neanderthal cranium within a stone circle in Grotta Guattari, Monte Circeo, Italy. This helped foster a growing belief in Neanderthal ritual behavior, including ceremonial cannibalism.
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1947: Franz Weindenreich develops “multiregionalism” theory. In this scheme, Neanderthal would be just a regional variation (essentially, a race) of human.
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1953: "Piltdown Man" proved to be a forgery.
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1953-1957: Ralph Solecki uncovers nine Neanderthal skeletons in Shanidar Cave, Northern Iraq. Solecki suggested an adult male with a diseased arm was buried with an offering of flowers.
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1955: Camille Arambourg re-analyzes the La Chapelle skeleton. Her findings contradict Boule's assertion that Neanderthals were bent-kneed and slouched.
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1957: W.L. Straus and A.J.E. Cave demonstrate that the La Chapelle skeleton exhibited arthritis, and would have been fully upright, little different than the average modern human.
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At this point, the "relatedness" pendulum swings back toward the subspecies side
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1979: A Neanderthal skeleton is discovered at Saint-Cesaire in France alongside Chatelperronian tools (previously, these were thought to have been made by modern humans). It sparked a re-evaluation of Neanderthals' tool making and intellectual abilities.
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1997: Archaeologists Juergen Thissen and Ralf W Schmitz find more pieces of the original Neanderthal skeleton at the 1856 site. Meanwhile, Svante Pääbo and his team retrieve DNA from this individual.
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Comparisons of this DNA with modern human populations suggests that Neanderthals were an entirely different species from Homo sapiens, with little or no interbreeding between the two. The study also suggests a date of 690,000-550,000 years ago for the split between Neanderthal and modern human lineages.
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2000+: DNA studies, Mousterian tools found at very late dates
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The end of the Neanderthal
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The Neanderthal tools that have been recovered to date are heavier, clumsier than those used by original "modern" humans in Europe.
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Isotopic studies of bones (you are what you eat): Neanderthal diet was almost entirely based on meat.
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Latest theory on their disappearance: lack of division of labor.
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No explicit evidence of combat between modern humans & Neanderthals. Neanderthal may well have been inadvertently starved out of existence by being out-hunted.
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Wrapup
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Neanderthals have been displayed in the same stereotyped way for almost 150 years: hairy, with a bent body, and carrying a club. But there's no evidence for any of this, and what evidence there is would indicate that Neanderthals looked more like a stocky version of modern humans, but with a less-graceful running stride. Neanderthal buried their dead, with at least a little ceremony. Some evidence for culture, but little for art.
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Less-well-known info shows more dimensions to Neanderthal behavior.
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Still lots unknown
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Cognitive abilities -- capable of symbolic thought?
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Language abilities?
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Extent of rituals
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Last 150 years of study of Neanderthal presents an interesting picture of how the process of science proceeds -- in fits & starts, relying heavily on competition to find flaws. This process seems to be easily misinterpreted by those unfamiliar with it. Creationists, in particular, can't get their heads around this...
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Sources and other links
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General info
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Neanderthal culture
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Cannibalism
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Speech
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The full skeleton
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History of discoveries
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Relation to modern humans
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Why they died out
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When they died out
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Neanderthals & creationists
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Neanderthal & co. -- conference & exibitions (in Germany)
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Gorham's Cave, Gibraltar
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Lagar Velho rock shelter, Portugal
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Keywords -- genetics science biology DNA Neanderthal Neandertal mtDNA mitochondria microcephalin introgression evolution
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License The use of these shownotes is governed by a Creative Commons (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5) license
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