Re: Neanderthals
Dan Hook (guldann@ix.netcom.com)
Fri, 11 Jul 1997 17:12:44 -0400
> From: John K Clark <johnkc@well.com>
> Date: Friday, July 11, 1997 4:14 PM
>
> Neanderthals lived from 300,000 to 30,000 years ago, fully modern humans
came
> along about 120,00 years ago, so they coexisted for about 90 thousand
years.
> Neanderthals had brains at least as large as modern humans and they made
> tools almost as sophisticated, the main difference in culture was that
Humans
> produced Art and Neanderthals did not. That's probably significant but I
> confess I don't quite know what to make of it.
That's not the only difference. Evidence examining the bones of
Neanderthal children and the children of modern humans of the same period
showed that Neanderthals kept their children on the move (the activity
shows in slight breaks and healing in the bone normal in any demanding
physical activity) thus exposing them to more dangers and stress. This may
be the reason modern humans won out or it may not. The important thing is
that it shows the major difference was probably cultural as opposed to
biological.
Dan Hook
guldann@ix.netcom.com