Neanderthal(lat. Homo neanderthalensis) - an extinct species from the genus People (lat. Homo). The first people with Neanderthal features (protoanderthals) appeared in Europe about 600 thousand years ago. Classic Neanderthals formed about 100-130 thousand years ago. The latest remains date back to 28-33 thousand years ago.
Opening
The remains of H. neanderthalensis were first discovered in 1829 by Philippe-Charles Schmerling in the caves of Engie (modern Belgium), it was the skull of a child. In 1848, the skull of an adult Neanderthal was found in Gibraltar (Gibraltar 1). Naturally, neither of these finds was considered at that time as evidence of the existence of an extinct species of people, and they were classified as the remains of Neanderthals much later.
The type specimen (holotype) of the species (Neanderthal 1) was found only in August 1856 in a limestone quarry in the Neanderthal Valley near Düsseldorf (North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany). It consists of the cranial vault, two femurs, three bones from right hand and two from the left, part of the pelvis, fragments of the scapula and ribs. The local gymnasium teacher Johann Karl Fuhlroth was interested in geology and paleontology. Having received the remains from the workers who found them, he paid attention to their complete fossilization and geological position and came to the conclusion of their considerable age and important scientific significance. Fuhlroth then handed them over to Hermann Schaafhausen, professor of anatomy at the University of Bonn. The discovery was announced in June 1857; this happened 2 years before the publication of Charles Darwin’s work “The Origin of Species.” In 1864, at the suggestion of the Anglo-Irish geologist William King the new kind was named after the place of its discovery. In 1867, Ernst Haeckel proposed the name Homo stupidus (i.e., Stupid Man), but in accordance with the rules of nomenclature, priority remained with King's name.
In 1880, the jawbone of a child of H. neanderthalensis was found in the Czech Republic, along with tools from the Mousterian period and the bones of extinct animals. In 1886, the perfectly preserved skeletons of a man and a woman were found in Belgium at a depth of about 5 m, also along with numerous Mousterian tools. Subsequently, the remains of Neanderthals were discovered in other places in the territory modern Russia, Croatia, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Iran, Uzbekistan, Israel and other countries. To date, the remains of more than 400 Neanderthals have been found.
Status of Neanderthals as a previously unknown species ancient man It didn't settle right away. Many prominent scientists of that time did not recognize him as such. Thus, the outstanding German scientist Rudolf Virchow rejected the thesis of “primitive man” and considered the Neanderthal skull to be just a pathologically altered skull modern man. And the doctor and anatomist Franz Mayer, having studied the structure of the pelvis and lower extremities, put forward the hypothesis that the remains belonged to a person who spent a significant part of his life riding a horse. He suggested that it could be a Russian Cossack from the Napoleonic Wars era.
Classification
Almost since the discovery, scientists have been debating the status of Neanderthals. Some of them are of the opinion that Neanderthal man is not an independent species, but only a subspecies of modern man (lat. Homo sapiens neanderthalensis). This is largely due to the lack of a clear definition of the species. One of the hallmarks of the species is reproductive isolation, and genetic studies suggest that Neanderthals and modern humans interbred. On the one hand, this supports the point of view about the status of Neanderthals as a subspecies of modern humans. But on the other hand, there are documented examples of interspecific crossings, as a result of which fertile offspring appeared, so this characteristic cannot be considered decisive. At the same time, DNA studies and morphological studies show that Neanderthals are still an independent species.
Origin
A comparison of the DNA of modern humans and H. neanderthalensis shows that they descended from a common ancestor, dividing approximately, according to various estimates, from 350-400 to 500 and even 800 thousand years ago. The likely ancestor of both of these species is Homo heidelbergensis. Moreover, Neanderthals descended from the European population of H. heidelbergensis, and modern humans – from the African one and much later.
Anatomy and morphology
Men of this species had an average height of 164-168 cm, weight about 78 kg, women - 152-156 cm and 66 kg, respectively. The brain volume is 1500-1900 cm 3, which exceeds the average brain volume of a modern person.
The cranial vault is low but long, the face is flat with massive brow ridges, the forehead is low and strongly inclined back. The jaws are long and wide with large teeth, protruding forward, but without a chin protrusion. Judging by the wear on their teeth, Neanderthals were right-handed.
Their physique was more massive than that of modern man. The chest is barrel-shaped, the torso is long, and the legs are relatively short. Presumably, the dense physique of Neanderthals is an adaptation to the cold climate, because. due to a decrease in the ratio of body surface to its volume, heat loss by the body through the skin is reduced. The bones are very strong, this is due to highly developed muscles. The average Neanderthal was significantly stronger than modern humans.
Genome
Early studies of the H. neanderthalensis genome focused on mitochondrial DNA (mDNA) studies. Because mDNA in normal conditions is inherited strictly through the maternal line and contains a significantly smaller amount of information (16,569 nucleotides versus ~3 billion in nuclear DNA), the significance of such studies was not too great.
In 2006, the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and 454 Life Sciences announced that the Neanderthal genome would be sequenced over the next few years. In May 2010, preliminary results of this work were published. Research has revealed that Neanderthals and modern humans may have interbred, and every living person (except Africans) carries between 1 and 4 percent of H. neanderthalensis genes. Sequencing of the entire Neanderthal genome was completed in 2013, and the results were published in the journal Nature on December 18, 2013.
Habitat
Fossil remains of Neanderthals have been discovered across a large area of Eurasia, which includes such modern countries like Great Britain, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Germany, Croatia, Czech Republic, Israel, Iran, Ukraine, Russia, Uzbekistan. The easternmost find is the remains discovered in the Altai Mountains (Southern Siberia).
However, it should be taken into account that a significant part of the period of existence of this species occurred during the last glaciation, which could have destroyed evidence of Neanderthal habitation in more northern latitudes.
No traces of H. neanderthalensis have yet been found in Africa. This is probably due to the adaptation to the cold climate of both themselves and the animals that formed the basis of their diet.
Behavior
Archaeological evidence shows that Neanderthals spent most of their lives in small groups of 5-50 people. There were almost no old people among them, because... most did not live to be 35 years old, but some individuals lived to be 50. There is plenty of evidence of Neanderthals caring for each other. Among those studied, there are skeletons that have traces of cured injuries and diseases, therefore, during the healing, the tribesmen fed and protected the wounded and sick. There is evidence that the dead were buried, with funeral offerings sometimes found in the graves.
It is believed that Neanderthals rarely met strangers in their small territory or left it themselves. Although there are occasional finds of high-quality stone from sources more than 100 km away, these are not sufficient to conclude that there was trade or even regular contact with other groups.
H. neanderthalensis made extensive use of a variety of stone tools. However, over hundreds of thousands of years, their manufacturing technology has changed very little. Besides the obvious assumption that Neanderthals, despite their large brains, were not very smart, there is an alternative hypothesis. It lies in the fact that due to the small number of Neanderthals (and their number never exceeded 100 thousand individuals), the likelihood of innovation was low. Most of the Neanderthal stone tools belong to the Mousterian culture. Some of them are very sharp. There is evidence of the use of wooden instruments, but they themselves have practically not survived to this day.
Neanderthals used different kinds weapons, including spears. But most likely they were used only in close combat, and not for throwing. This is indirectly confirmed by a large number of skeletons with traces of injuries caused by large animals that Neanderthals hunted and which made up the bulk of their diet.
Previously, it was believed that H. neanderthalensis fed exclusively on the meat of large land mammals, such as mammoths, bison, deer, etc. However, later discoveries showed that small animals and some plants also served as food. And in the south of Spain, traces were found that Neanderthals ate marine mammals, fish and shellfish. However, despite the variety of food sources, obtaining sufficient quantities was often a problem. Proof of this are skeletons with signs of diseases caused by malnutrition.
It is assumed that Neanderthals already had a significant command of speech. This is indirectly evidenced by the production of complex tools and the hunting of large animals, which require communication for learning and interaction. In addition, there is anatomical and genetic evidence: the structure of the hyoid and occipital bones, the hypoglossal nerve, the presence of a gene responsible for speech in modern humans.
Extinction hypotheses
There are several hypotheses explaining the disappearance of this species, which can be divided into 2 groups: those associated with the emergence and spread of modern humans and other reasons.
According to modern ideas, modern man, having appeared in Africa, gradually began to spread to the north, where by this time Neanderthal man was widespread. Both of these species coexisted for many millennia, but Neanderthal was eventually completely replaced by modern humans.
There is also a hypothesis linking the disappearance of the Neanderthals with climate change caused by the eruption of a large volcano about 40 thousand years ago. This change led to a decrease in the amount of vegetation and the number of large herbivorous animals that fed on vegetation and, in turn, were the food of the Neanderthals. Accordingly, lack of food led to the extinction of H. neanderthalensis itself.
Who are Neanderthals?
During the third ice age The outlines of Europe were completely different, not the same as they are now. Geologists point out differences in the position of land, seas and coastlines on the map. Vast areas to the west and northwest, covered today by the waters of the Atlantic, were then dry land, the North Sea and the Irish Sea - river valleys. The ice cap that covered both poles of the Earth pulled huge amounts of water from the oceans, and sea levels continually dropped, exposing vast areas of land. Now they were under water again.
The Mediterranean then may have been a vast valley below general level seas. In the valley itself there were two inland seas, cut off from the ocean by land. The climate of the Mediterranean basin was probably moderately cold. The Sahara region, located to the south, was not then a desert with hot stones and sand dunes, but a humid and fertile area.
Between the thickness of the glacier in the north and the Mediterranean valley and the Alps in the south stretched a wild, dim region, the climate of which varied from harsh to relatively mild, and with the onset of the fourth ice age it became harsher again.
The southward advance of the glacier peaked during the fourth ice age (about 50,000 years ago) and then declined again.
First Neanderthals
In the earlier Third Ice Age, small groups of early Neanderthals roamed this plain, leaving behind nothing that could now be evidence of their presence (except for rough-hewn primary stone tools). Maybe, besides Neanderthals, there were other species living at that time great apes, anthropoids who could use stone tools. We can only guess this. Apparently they had a variety of different wooden tools. By studying and using various pieces of wood, they learned to give the desired shape to stones.
After weather conditions became extremely unfavorable, Neanderthals began to seek shelter in caves and rock crevices. It seems they already knew how to use fire back then. Neanderthals gathered around open fires on the plains, trying not to move too far from sources of water. They were already intelligent enough to adapt to new, more complex conditions. As for the ape-like people, apparently, they could not withstand the tests of the onset of the fourth ice age (the crudest, poorly processed tools were no longer encountered).
Not only people sought shelter in caves. During this period, cave lions, cave bears, and cave hyenas were encountered. Man had to somehow drive these animals out of the caves and not let them back. An effective remedy attack and defense there was fire. The first people did not go too deep into the caves, because they could not yet illuminate their homes. They climbed just deep enough to be able to shelter from bad weather and store food supplies. Perhaps they blocked the entrance to the cave with heavy boulders. The only source of light that helped explore the depths of the caves could be the light of torches.
What did Neanderthals hunt?
Such huge animals as a mammoth, a cave bear or even a reindeer were very difficult to kill with the weapons that the Neanderthals had: wooden spears, clubs, sharp fragments of flint, which have survived to this day.
It is likely that Neanderthals preyed on smaller animals, although on occasion they, of course, also ate the meat of large animals. We know that Neanderthals partially ate their prey at the site where they were able to kill it, and then took large brain bones with them into caves, split them and ate them. Among the various bone debris at Neanderthal sites, there are almost no backbones or ribs of large animals, but there are large quantities of split or crushed brain bones.
Neanderthals wrapped themselves in the skins of dead animals. It is also likely that their women tanned these skins using stone scrapers.
We also know that these people were right-handed, just like modern man, because left side their brain (responsible for right side body) larger than the right one. The occipital lobes of the Neanderthals' brain, which were responsible for vision, touch and the general state of the body, were quite well developed, while the frontal lobes, associated with thinking and speech, were still relatively small. The Neanderthal's brain was no smaller than that of modern humans, but it was structured differently.
Without a doubt, the thinking of these representatives of the homo species was not similar to ours. And it’s not even that they were simpler or more primitive than us. Neanderthals are a completely different evolutionary line. It is likely that they were absolutely unable to speak or uttered fragmentary monosyllabic sounds. They certainly did not have anything that could be called coherent speech.
How did Neanderthal live?
Homo neanderthalensis
Fire was a real treasure at that time. Having lost the fire, it was not so easy to start it again. When there was no need for a large flame, it was extinguished by raking the fire into one heap. They made a fire, most likely, by striking a piece of iron pyrite against flint over a heap of dry leaves and grass. In England, inclusions of pyrite and flint are found next to each other where chalk rocks and clays are adjacent.
Women and children had to constantly monitor the fire so that the flame did not go out. At times they went in search of dry dead wood to keep the fire going. This activity gradually grew into a custom.
The only adult male in each group of Neanderthals was probably the elder. Besides him there were also women, boys and girls. But when one of the teenagers became old enough to arouse the jealousy of the leader, he attacked his opponent and drove him out of the herd or killed him. When the leader was over forty, when his teeth were worn out and his strength left him, one of the young men killed the old leader and began to rule in his place. There was no place for the elderly near the saving fire. The weak and sick at that time faced one fate - death.
What did the tribe eat at the sites?
Primitive people are usually depicted as hunters of mammoths, bears or lions. But it is unlikely that a primitive savage could hunt an animal larger than a hare, rabbit or rat. It was more likely that someone was hunting a man than he himself was the hunter.
Primitive savages were plant-eaters and carnivores at the same time. They ate hazelnuts and groundnuts, beech nuts, edible chestnuts, and acorns. They also collected wild apples, pears, cherries, wild plums and sloe, rose hips, rowan and hawthorn, mushrooms; they ate the buds, where they were larger and softer, and also ate juicy, fleshy rhizomes and underground shoots of various plants.
On occasion, they did not pass by bird nests, taking eggs and chicks, and picked out the honeycombs and honey of wild bees. Newts, frogs and snails were eaten. They ate fish, live and asleep, and freshwater shellfish. Primitive people easily caught fish with their hands, entangling it in algae or diving for it. Larger birds or small animals could be caught by hitting them with a stick or using primitive snares. The savage did not refuse snakes, worms and crayfish, as well as the larvae of various insects and caterpillars. The most delicious and nutritious prey, without a doubt, were bones, crushed and ground into powder.
Primitive man would not have protested if he had meat that was not the freshest for lunch. He constantly looked for and found carrion; even half-decomposed, it was still used for food. By the way, the craving for moldy and semi-moldy foods has persisted to this day.
In difficult conditions, driven by hunger, primitive people ate their weaker relatives or sick children who happened to be lame and deformed.
No matter how primitive it may seem to us now primitive, it can be called the most advanced of all animals, because it represented the highest stage of development of the animal kingdom.
No matter how the more ancient Paleolithic people treated their dead, there is reason to assume that the later homo neanderthalensis did this at least with respect for the deceased and accompanied the process with a certain ritual. One of the most famous Neanderthal skeletons found belongs to young man, whose body, perhaps, was even deliberately buried.
Human and Neanderthal skull
The skeleton lay in a sleeping position. The head and right forearm rested on several pieces of flint, carefully arranged like a pillow. Next to the head was a large hand ax, and many charred, split bull bones were scattered around, as if left over from a funeral feast.
Neanderthals roamed Europe, camped around campfires, and died over a period that spanned 100,000 years or more. Moving higher and higher on the evolutionary ladder, these people improved, straining their limited opportunities. But the thick skull seemed to fetter the creative powers of the brain, and until the very end the Neanderthal remained a low-browed, undeveloped creature.
There is an opinion among scientists that the Neanderthal type of man, homo neanderthalensis, is an extinct species that did not mix with modern people (homo sapiens). But many scientists do not share this point of view. Some prehistoric skulls are considered by them to be the result of mixing of Neanderthals with other types of primitive people.
One thing is absolutely clear - the Neanderthal was on a completely different evolutionary line.
Last Paleolithic People
When Tasmania was discovered by the Dutch, they found there a tribe isolated from the rest of the world, whose level of development was almost no different from the man of the Lower Paleolithic. The Tasmanians were not the same type of people as the Neanderthals: this is proven by the structure of their skulls, cervical vertebrae, teeth and jaws. They had no ancestral resemblance to Neanderthals. They belonged to the same species as us.
The Tasmanians represented only the Neanderthaloid stage of development in the evolution of modern humans. There is no doubt that over many millennia (during which only scattered groups of Neanderthals were human beings in Europe) somewhere in other regions of the planet, modern humans developed in parallel with Neanderthals.
The level of development, which turned out to be the limit for Neanderthals, was only the starting level for others, but among the Tasmanians it was preserved in its original, unchanged form. Finding themselves far from those with whom they could compete or learn from, living in conditions that did not require constant effort, the Tasmanians unwittingly found themselves behind the rest of humanity. But even on these outskirts of civilization, man did not stop in his development. Tasmanians early XIX centuries were much less clumsy and undeveloped than their primitive relatives.
Rhodesian skull
1921, summer - a rather interesting find was discovered in one of the caves in the Broken Hill area, South Africa. It was a skull without a lower jaw and several bones of a new species of homo (Rhodesian man), intermediate between Neanderthal and homo sapiens. The skull was only slightly mineralized; as you can see, its owner lived only a few thousand years ago.
The discovered creature resembled a Neanderthal. But the structure of his body did not have specific Neanderthal characteristics. The skull, neck, teeth and limbs of the Rhodesian man were almost no different from modern ones. We know nothing about the structure of his palms. But the size of the upper jaw and its surface show that the lower jaw was very massive, and the powerful brow ridges gave their owner an ape-like appearance.
Apparently it was a human being with a monkey's face. It could well last until the time of the appearance of a real person and even exist in parallel with him in South Africa.
In several places South Africa The remains of people of the so-called Boskop type, very ancient, were also discovered, but to what extent they have not yet been reliably established. The skulls of the Boskop people were more similar to the skulls of modern Bushmen than to the skulls of some other peoples living today. It is possible that these are the most ancient human beings known to us.
Skulls found at Wadiak (Java), shortly before the discovery of the remains of Pithecanthropus, may very well bridge the gap between Rhodesian man and the Australoid aborigines.
In 1856, not far from Düsseldorf, in the Neanderthal Valley, a remarkable event occurred, which at first was not noticed: quarry workers came across a skeleton of unknown origin. Well, bones and bones - why pay attention to them? They took it and threw it into the dump... it was there that the German scientist I.K. discovered them. Fulrott.
The bones became the subject of controversy: the famous German anatomist R. Virchow believed that this was the skull of a mentally disabled person, other scientists saw signs of syphilis in these bones, it was even suggested that these were the remains of... a Russian Cossack who died during the war with Napoleon - of course, Who else could the Western world declare a person who doesn’t quite look like a human being! But there was still no doubt that this was a man and not a monkey... but which one?
Subsequently, when other similar remains were found, it became clear that we were talking about a hitherto unknown species of ancient man, named - after the place of the first discovery - Neanderthal man (Homo neanderthalensis) - or simply Neanderthal. In the light of Darwin's theory, his for a long time considered our ancestor.
What were Neanderthals like?
They lived on Earth 200 thousand years ago - long before our species appeared. Now their appearance seems ugly to many of our contemporaries (to such an extent that the word “Neanderthal” is even used as an insult), but they were beautiful in their own way: they were on average shorter than us (about 165 cm), but stockier, broad-boned, with huge muscles - more powerful than those of Homo sapiens - with a height of 165 cm, they weighed 90 kg, a sort of “ball of muscles” (here she is - real male beauty!), and their facial features were distinguished by masculinity: a wide nose, sloping cheekbones and chin, powerful brow ridges, developed lower jaw, sloping forehead. Their chests were barrel-shaped and their arms were short. Their women had a wider pelvis and therefore gave birth more easily, and their children were born more mature and developed faster: at the age of 12, a Neanderthal became a sexually mature individual, and by the age of 15 he reached full physical maturity. They became old by the age of 40 - however, few lived to that age: many died before the age of 20 from illnesses and other dangers.
The volume of the skull (and, accordingly, the brain) exceeded that of modern humans (1400-1740 cm³). Of course, this does not mean a more perfect mind, but the fact that Neanderthal was not inferior to Homo Sapiens in this is obvious: just like Homo Sapiens, Neanderthal knew fire and made tools. For the first time, Neanderthal tools were found in the town of Le Moustier, and this culture was called Mousterian. The tools are striking in their diversity: saws, awls, stone knives, pointed points, skin scrapers, axes, etc. - this means that the labor operations they carried out were diverse. Neanderthals were not primitive savages - in any case, no more than our ancestors at that time.
In addition, Neanderthals believed in afterlife. This is evidenced by the fact that they buried the dead - no one else does this Living being, just us and the Neanderthals. Moreover, they not only buried the deceased, but tried to take care of him: they placed tools, food and... flowers in the grave. Yes, such a custom existed even then - and the Neanderthals were the first to do this. One can only guess about the original meaning of such a custom, but it is noteworthy that the flowers, the remains of which are found in Neanderthal burials, are not just flowers, but medicinal plants that are still used in medicine today. folk medicine. Maybe they perceived death as a disease - and tried to “treat” it?
Did Neanderthals have art? We can reliably talk about only one real drawing belonging to the Neanderthals - an image of a leopard scratched on a bone, found at the Pronyatin site (Ukraine), but shells with remains of paint were found at Neanderthal sites. Scientists suggest that it was... decorative cosmetics.
But if art Neanderthals are almost unknown to us, then the first known musical instruments found specifically among Neanderthals - it was a bone flute. Maybe they still had a more perfect mind and created a more abstract art - music - before painting?
But if one can still argue about art, then the rudiments of medicine definitely existed among them: many skeletons were found with traces of healed fractures. This speaks not only about the ability to heal, but also about the moral character of Neanderthals. It should be noted that the remains of cripples and toothless old people were found who lived in this state for several years - this means that the disabled were taken care of, and food was even chewed for the old people (it is worth comparing this behavior with a modern person who is seriously considering the issue of euthanasia... who is the bigger “savage”?)
Were Neanderthals our ancestors? Now scientists answer this question confidently: no, they weren’t. This answer was made possible by the decoding of the Neanderthal genome, carried out in 2006. The question remains open whether they could interbreed with our ancestors: on the one hand, the genetic differences are too great for this to be possible, on the other hand, several skeletons are known that combine the features of Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens.
But if they were not our ancestors, then they were definitely neighbors on the planet. This neighborhood was not always peaceful - gnawed bones of Neanderthals are sometimes found at Homo Sapiens sites, as well as vice versa. Our ancestors had some advantage over Neanderthals - the latter's physique did not allow them to run fast. It is possible that our ancestors simply exterminated the Neanderthals - which gives rise to even talking about “paleogenocide”. But even if our ancestors did not exterminate the Neanderthals directly, they could have “brought” diseases from Africa to which the Neanderthals had no immunity.
Many researchers attribute the extinction of Neanderthals to climate change, to which they were unable to adapt.
And finally, another version: Neanderthals did not go extinct! It was them that our ancestors called “goblin”, “albasty”, etc., and now they are called “yeti” or “ Bigfoot" Alas, scientists do not take this version seriously, since even the very existence of the creatures mentioned has not been proven... but anything is possible!
The first discoveries of Neanderthals were made about 150 years ago. In 1856, in the Feldhofer Grotto in the valley of the Neander (Neanderthal) River in Germany, school teacher and lover of antiquities Johann Karl Fuhlrott, during excavations, discovered the skull cap and parts of the skeleton of some interesting creature. But at that time, Charles Darwin’s work had not yet been published, and scientists did not believe in the existence of fossil human ancestors. The famous pathologist Rudolf Vierhof declared this discovery to be the skeleton of an old man who suffered from rickets in childhood and gout in old age.
In 1865, information was published about the skull of a similar individual, found in a quarry on the rock of Gibraltar back in 1848. And only then did scientists recognize that such remains did not belong to a “freak,” but to some previously unknown fossil species of man. This species was named after the location where it was found in 1856 - Neanderthal.
Today, more than 200 locations of Neanderthal remains are known in the territory modern England, Belgium, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Crimea, various parts of the African continent, Central Asia, Palestine, Iran, Iraq, China; in a word - everywhere in the Old World.
For the most part, Neanderthals were of average height and powerful build - physically they were superior to modern humans in almost all respects. Judging by the fact that the Neanderthal hunted very fast and agile animals, his strength was combined with mobility. He completely mastered upright walking, and in this sense was no different from us. He had a well-developed hand, but it was somewhat wider and shorter than that of a modern person, and, apparently, not so dexterous.
The size of the Neanderthal brain ranged from 1200 to 1600 cm 3, sometimes even exceeding the average brain volume of a modern person, but the structure of the brain remained largely primitive. In particular, Neanderthals had poorly developed frontal lobes, which are responsible for logical thinking and inhibition processes. From this we can assume that these creatures “didn’t grab stars from the sky”, were extremely excitable, and their behavior was characterized by aggressiveness. Many archaic features have been preserved in the structure of the skull bones. Thus, Neanderthals are characterized by a low sloping forehead, a massive brow ridge, and a weakly defined chin protuberance - all this suggests that, apparently, Neanderthals did not have a developed form of speech.
This was the general appearance of the Neanderthals, but in the vast territory they inhabited there were several different types. Some of them had more archaic features that brought them closer to Pithecanthropus; others, on the contrary, were closer to man in their development modern look.
Tools and dwellings
The tools of the first Neanderthals were not much different from the tools of their predecessors. But over time, new, more complex shapes guns, and the old ones disappeared. This new complex finally took shape in the so-called Mousterian era. Tools, as before, were made of flint, but their shapes became much more diverse, and their manufacturing techniques became more complex. The main preparation of the tool was a flake, which was obtained by chipping from a core (a piece of flint that, as a rule, has a specially prepared platform or platforms from which the chipping is carried out). In total, the Mousterian era is characterized by about 60 different types of tools, many of them, however, can be reduced to variations of three main types: the hewer, the scraper and the pointed point.
Hand axes are a smaller version of the Pithecanthropus hand axes already known to us. If the size of hand axes was 15-20 cm in length, then the size of hand axes was about 5-8 cm. Pointed points are a type of tool with a triangular outline and a point at the end.
Pointed points could be used as knives for cutting meat, leather, wood, as daggers, and also as spear and dart tips. Scrapers were used in cutting animal carcasses, tanning hides and processing wood.
In addition to the listed types, tools such as piercings, scrapers, burins, denticulated and notched tools, etc. are also found at Neanderthal sites.
Neanderthals used bones and tools to make tools. True, for the most part only fragments of bone products reach us, but there are cases when almost complete tools fall into the hands of archaeologists. As a rule, these are primitive points, awls, and spatulas. Sometimes larger guns come across. So, at one of the sites in Germany, scientists found a fragment of a dagger (or maybe a spear), reaching 70 cm in length; A club made of deer antler was also found there.
Tools throughout the territory inhabited by Neanderthals differed from each other and largely depended on who their owners hunted, and therefore on the climate and geographic region. It is clear that the African set of tools should be very different from the European one.
As for climate, European Neanderthals were not particularly lucky in this regard. The fact is that it is precisely during their time that there is a very strong cooling and the formation of glaciers. If Homo erectus (pithecanthropus) lived in an area reminiscent of the African savanna, then the landscape that surrounded the Neanderthals, at least the European ones, was more reminiscent of a forest-steppe or tundra.
People, as before, developed caves - mostly small sheds or shallow grottoes. But during this period, buildings appeared in open spaces. Thus, at the Molodova site on the Dniester, the remains of a dwelling made from the bones and teeth of mammoths were discovered.
You may ask: how do we know the purpose of this or that type of weapon? Firstly, there are still peoples living on Earth who to this day use tools made from flint. Such peoples include some aborigines of Siberia, indigenous people of Australia, etc. And secondly, there is a special science - traceology, which deals with
studying the traces left on tools from contact with one or another material. From these traces it is possible to establish what and how this tool was processed. Experts also conduct direct experiments: they themselves beat pebbles with a hand chopper, try to cut various things with a pointed tip, throw wooden spears, etc.
What did Neanderthals hunt?
The main hunting object of the Neanderthals was the mammoth. This beast did not survive to our time, but we have a fairly accurate idea of it from realistic images left on the walls of caves by Upper Paleolithic people. In addition, the remains (and sometimes whole carcasses) of these animals are found from time to time in Siberia and Alaska in the layer permafrost, where they are very well preserved, thanks to which we have the opportunity not only to see the mammoth “almost as if alive,” but also to find out what it ate (by examining the contents of its stomach).
In size, mammoths were close to elephants (their height reached 3.5 m), but, unlike elephants, they were covered with thick long hair of brown, reddish or black color, which formed a long hanging mane on the shoulders and chest. The mammoth was also protected from the cold by a thick layer subcutaneous fat. The tusks of some animals reached a length of 3 m and weighed up to 150 kg. Most likely, mammoths used their tusks to shovel the snow in search of food: grass, mosses, ferns and small shrubs. In one day, this animal consumed up to 100 kg of coarse plant food, which it had to grind with four huge molars - each weighed about 8 kg. Mammoths lived in the tundra, grassy steppes and forest-steppes.
To catch such a huge beast, ancient hunters had to work hard. Apparently, they set up various pit traps, or drove the animal into a swamp, where it got stuck, and finished it off there. But in general it is difficult to imagine how a Neanderthal with his primitive weapons could kill a mammoth.
An important game animal was the cave bear - an animal about one and a half times larger than a modern one brown bear. Large males, rising on their hind legs, reached a height of 2.5 m.
These animals, as their name suggests, lived primarily in caves, so they were not only the object of hunting, but also competitors: after all, Neanderthals also preferred to live in caves, because it was dry, warm and cozy. The fight against such a serious opponent as a cave bear was extremely dangerous, and did not always end in victory for the hunter.
Neanderthals also hunted bison or bison, horses and reindeer. All these animals provided not only meat, but also fat, bones, and skin. In general, they provided people with everything they needed.
In southern Asia and Africa, mammoths were not found, and the main game animals there were elephants and rhinoceroses, antelopes, gazelles, mountain goats, and buffalos.
It must be said that Neanderthals, apparently, did not disdain their own kind - this is evidenced by a large number of crushed human bones found at the Krapina site in Yugoslavia. (It is known that in this way - by crushing KOC~tei - our ancestors obtained nutritious bone marrow.) The inhabitants of this site received the name “Krapino cannibals” in the literature. Similar finds were made in several other caves of that time.
Taming Fire
We have already said that Sinanthropus (and most likely all Pithecanthropus in general) began to use natural fire - obtained as a result of a lightning strike on a tree or a volcanic eruption. The fire produced in this way was continuously maintained, transported from place to place and carefully stored, because people did not yet know how to produce fire artificially. However, Neanderthals, apparently, had already learned this. How did they do it?
There are 5 known methods of making fire, which were common among primitive peoples back in the 19th century: 1) scraping out fire (fire plow), 2) sawing out fire (fire saw), 3) drilling out fire (fire drill), 4) carving out fire, and 5) producing fire with compressed air (fire pump). The fire pump is a less common method, although it is quite advanced.
Scraping fire (fire plow). This method is not particularly common among backward peoples (and we are unlikely to ever know what it was like in ancient times). It is quite fast, but requires a lot of physical effort. They take a wooden stick and move it, pressing hard, along a wooden plank lying on the ground. The result is fine shavings or wood powder that, due to the friction of wood against wood, heat up and then begin to smolder. Then they are combined with highly flammable tinder and the fire is fanned.
Sawing fire (fire saw). This method is similar to the previous one, but the wooden plank was sawed or scraped not along the grain, but across it. The result was also wood powder, which began to smolder.
Fire drilling (fire drill). This is the most common way to make fire. A fire drill consists of a wooden stick that is used to drill into a wooden plank (or other stick) lying on the ground. As a result, smoking or smoldering wood powder appears quite quickly in the recess on the bottom board; it is poured onto the tinder and the flame is fanned. Ancient people rotated the drill with the palms of both hands, but later they began to do it differently: they rested the drill against something with its upper end and covered it with a belt, and then pulled alternately on both ends of the belt, causing it to rotate.
Carving fire. You can strike a fire by hitting a stone on a stone, hitting a stone on a piece iron ore(sulfur pyrite, or pyrite) or by striking iron on stone. The impact produces sparks that should fall on the tinder and ignite it.
"Neanderthal Problem"
From the 1920s until the end of the twentieth century, scientists different countries There was heated debate over whether Neanderthal man was the direct ancestor of modern humans. Many foreign scientists believed that the ancestor of modern man—the so-called “presapiens”—lived almost simultaneously with the Neanderthals and gradually pushed them “into oblivion.” In Russian anthropology, it was generally accepted that it was the Neanderthals that eventually “turned” into Homo sapiens, and one of the main arguments was that all the known remains of modern humans date back to a much later time than the found bones of Neanderthals.
But at the end of the 80s, important finds of Homo sapiens were made in Africa and the Middle East, dating back very early time(the heyday of the Neanderthals), and the position of the Neanderthal as our ancestor was greatly shaken. In addition, thanks to improvements in dating methods for finds, the age of some of them has been revised and turned out to be more ancient.
To date, in two geographical areas of our planet, the remains of modern humans have been found, the age of which exceeds 100 thousand years. These are Africa and the Middle East. On the African continent, in the town of Omo Kibish in the south of Ethiopia, a jaw was discovered, similar in structure to the jaw of Homo sapiens, whose age is about 130 thousand years. Finds of skull fragments from the territory of the Republic of South Africa are about 100 thousand years old, and finds from Tanzania and Kenya are up to 120 thousand years old.
Finds are known from the Skhul cave on Mount Carmel, near Haifa, as well as from the Jabel Kafzeh cave, in the south of Israel (this is all the territory of the Middle East). In both caves, skeletal remains of people were found who, in most respects, are much closer to modern humans than to Neanderthals. (However, this applies only to two individuals.) All these finds date back 90-100 thousand years ago. Thus, it turns out that modern humans lived side by side with Neanderthals for many millennia (at least in the Middle East).
Data obtained using genetic methods, which is rapidly developing in Lately, also indicate that Neanderthal man is not our ancestor and that modern man arose and spread across the planet completely independently. And besides, living long time side by side, our ancestors and Neanderthals did not mix because they do not share the same genes that would inevitably arise from mixing. Although this issue has not yet been finally resolved.
So, on the territory of Europe, Neanderthals reigned supreme for almost 400 thousand years, being the only representatives of the Noto genus. But about 40 thousand years ago, modern people invaded their domain - Homo sapiens, who are also called “people of the Upper Paleolithic” or (according to one of the sites in France) Cro-Magnons. And this is already in literally words our ancestors - our great-great-great... (and so on) -grandmothers and -grandfathers.
Judging by studies of human evolution, Neanderthals could have descended from one of the subspecies of Homo erectus -. Heidelberg man was one of several species and was not the ancestor of humans, although he had the ability to make tools and use fire. Neanderthal became his descendant and the last in this evolutionary line.
The name “Neanderthal” itself refers to the discovery of the skull of a representative of this species. The skull was found in 1856 in West Germany in the Neanderthal Gorge. The gorge itself, in turn, was named after the famous theologian and composer Joachim Neander. It is worth noting that this was not the first discovery. The remains of a Neanderthal man were first found in 1829 in Belgium. The second find was made in 1848 in Gibraltar. Subsequently, many remains of Neanderthals were found. Initially, they were attributed to the direct ancestors of humans, and it was even suggested that human evolution could look like this - Australopithecus-Pithecanthropus-Neanderthal-modern man. However then given point view was rejected. As it turned out, neither Neanderthal nor Neanderthal are related to the ancestors of humans and are parallel branches of evolution that are completely extinct.
After studying the remains of Neanderthals, it became clear that they were almost as developed as the Cro-Magnons. Moreover, there are suggestions that the Neanderthal man could have been even smarter than the Cro-Magnon man, since the volume of his cranium was even larger than that of a modern person and amounted to 1400-1740 cm³. Neanderthals were approximately 165 cm tall. They also had a massive build. By appearance they were different from modern people and our ancestors, the Cro-Magnons, who existed at the same time. Distinctive Features their faces had powerful brow ridges, a wide protruding nose and a small chin. Short neck leaned forward. The Neanderthal's arms were short and paw-shaped. According to some assumptions, Neanderthals had light skin and red hair. The structure of the Neanderthal brain and vocal apparatus suggests that they had speech.
The Neanderthal man was clearly superior in strength to the Cro-Magnon man. He had 30-40% more muscle mass, and the skeleton is heavier. Apparently, having met one on one, the Neanderthal could easily defeat the Cro-Magnon. However, despite this, the Cro-Magnon turned out to be the winner in the interspecies fight. Archaeologists find Neanderthal bones at Cro-Magnon sites that bear traces consistent with eating. Necklaces made from Neanderthal teeth were also found - apparently they belonged to warriors and were worn as a trophy showing military achievements. Another interesting find is the tibia of a Neanderthal, which the Cro-Magnons used as a box containing ocher powder. These and many other finds suggest that Cro-Magnons and Neanderthals could wage war for territory, and Cro-Magnons even ate Neanderthals as food.
Despite the fact that external signs Neanderthals were more powerful, Cro-Magnons were still able to exterminate them. Scientists make assumptions that this outcome of events occurred due to the fact that there were much more Cro-Magnons, that the Cro-Magnons had new weapons (throwing weapons, more modern spears, axes), which the Neanderthals did not have. There are also suggestions that by that time, the ancestors of people were able to domesticate the dog/wolf, which made it possible to hunt people of other species more efficiently. In addition, there are suggestions that the Neanderthals were not completely destroyed, and some of this species were assimilated to the Cro-Magnons.
Neanderthals knew how to create tools for labor and hunting. They could use stone-tipped spears for close combat. Neanderthals also developed art. For example, an image of a leopard was found on a bison bone, and decorations were painted shells with holes. Findings of birds with their feathers cut off may indicate that Neanderthals decorated themselves with feathers, like the American Indians.
It is believed that Neanderthals may have first appeared the beginnings of religious ideas and life after death. This conclusion can be drawn from studies of Neanderthal burials. In one of the burials, a Neanderthal rests in the form of an embryo. Researchers attribute this method of burial to ideas about the rebirth of the soul, when the deceased is given the form of an embryo, believing that this will help him become a newborn again and come into the world in a different body. Near another Neanderthal grave, flowers, eggs and meat were found left behind, which speaks to Neanderthal cult beliefs - feeding the spirit or making offerings to the spirits. However, other researchers doubt the religious beliefs of Neanderthals, explaining the presence of colors and fetal positions random factors or later strata.
Cro-Magnons. Archaeological finds and reconstruction:
