Top-Rated Free Essay
Preview

Teeth Size of Neanderthals

Better Essays
1178 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Teeth Size of Neanderthals
The Teeth size of Neanderthals has given Anthropologists and scientists a plethora of information to what types of foods they ate in the past. Scientists have studied Neanderthals teeth and the dental plaque to discover their past food tastes. It has been shown that food had gotten stuck on the teeth of these cavemen, allowing the types of food they ate to be researched and studied. Neanderthals show knowledge and capabilities that have never been thought, and may be smarter than given credit.
Scientists predicted what Neanderthals once ate is by the types of animal remains found near and around the places they once inhabited, and by the isotopes found in their teeth. By knowing what types of animals lived around the area of the Neanderthals, we can only assume that they hunted and ate them. The Carbon isotopes found in the Neanderthal teeth was the main evidence of an intricate diet. The Microfossils of plants were found in the plaque of their teeth from many years ago. When dental plaque forms it becomes isolated, and the plant remains are leftover. This shows that we are able to benefit from bad dental care and the poor hygiene of the Neanderthals.
Studies of the showed the Neanderthals had a very diverse diet. The study allowed the people of today to see that these people of the past enjoyed sweet treats like nuts, cereals, and legumes. Studies show the cavemen may have eaten water lilies, which were not polluted during this time. Evidence led us to believe that the Neanderthals were capable of harvesting food. Pollen was found close to these sites also gave more reason to believe that their diets were not strictly meat; the pollen proves the Neanderthals ate some type of plants (Viegas 2010).
It is has been shown that these people of the past lived over 200,000 years. It’s hard to believe that the Neanderthals were able to survive extreme climate changes, especially such harsh freezing climate. (Goudarzi 2008)
As modern humans, we have assumed that the Neanderthals died off due to their meat only eating habits. Poor teeth cleaning habits of the Neanderthals benefited modern humans, by giving us information on the past. Accusations of poor meat only eating habits were only because of lack of plant evidence.
According to many university studies, the Neanderthal diet was in fact more than just meat. The proof of a diet with variety is shocking because we have assumed the Neanderthals died off because they just ate meat. The other foods eaten like dates and nuts were high in nutrients, proving that the Neanderthals were able to adapt to their conditions and surroundings. (Smithsonian 2011)
The plaque and decay on the Neanderthal teeth showed that these people were intelligent enough to cook the barley they ate. This is shocking to many people because we have just assumed the Neanderthals were not smart enough to do so, and were not capable of cooking. Amanda Henry, an anthropologist, said “Overall, these data suggest that Neanderthals were capable of complex food-gathering behaviors that included both hunting of large game animals and the harvesting and processing of plant foods,” (Viegas 2010)
It is now known the Neanderthals were very refined. These cavemen were not only able to hunt, but were capable of returning to different plants according to their harvest time. The Neanderthals became extinct about 30,000 years ago. We have believed that the reason for this was due to a diet lacking important nutrients. In fact, these past people actually had a type of sophisticated diet for their time period. Microfossils were the key to us unlocking the past. Neanderthal remains have given us an abundance of information that we did not previously know.
The teeth examined came from Europe and the Middle East. The evidence shown by the research was that these people often ate starches, green vegetables, and nuts. This evidence directly shows us that the Neanderthals were progressive (Prigg 2012).
While we are advanced technologically, we have just believed the Neanderthals were ignorant due to their lack of technology. Through examination of dental plaque, we learned that the people of the past were able to adjust a lot better than we once believed. A primary example of the Neanderthals being advanced was because they were able to recognize they could use plants for self-medication. We have assumed that the Neanderthals used self-medication because of the variety of plants discovered near the sites they inhabited. The way we are positive of diverse plant life near the Neanderthal sites is due to the dental plaque. They not only hunted large game animals, but were capable of plant gathering. The fact that these people were able to cook and recognize plants could have a medicinal use makes us question what else the Neanderthals were able to do. It is thought they were not even able to do simple tasks we do today, but this study has shed light on what happened in the past. The diversity of the plant life found in tooth decay and plaque shows us that the cavemen were well informed and aware of the variety of plants that could access.
The Neanderthals even had enough knowledge to self-medicate, which is astonishing because it has always been thought they weren’t capable, and even lacked the knowledge. They also were able to adjust to extreme climate changes, which also makes us think how they were able to do so. (Prigg 2012)

It’s hard to believe that we have gained such knowledge and evidence of these Neanderthals due to lack of brushing and flossing their teeth. This evidence found was a huge breakthrough in helping us understand the past, and allowing us to know what really happened to these people. It has shed light on the Neanderthals, and instead of assuming they only ate meat and weren’t knowledgeable we now know they were smart and had a complex diet.
In conclusion, Neanderthals were a knowledgeable group of people and were more than capable of adjusting to their surroundings. They may due with the small amount of resources they were able to obtain. The Neanderthals were not just Carnivorous, but ate different types of food creating a complex diet. This find that the Neanderthals did not just eat meat has allowed us to become curious, and wonder how the Neanderthals really became extinct.

Works Cited

Goudarzi, Sara. "Neandertals Ate Their Veggies, Tooth Study Shows." National
Geographic. National Geographic Society, 28 Apr. 2008. Web. 24 Feb. 2013.
Harmon, Katherine. "Fossilized Food Stuck in Neandertal Teeth Indicates Plant-rich
Diet." Fossilized Food Stuck in Neandertal Teeth Indicates Plant-rich Diet. N.p., 27 Dec. 2010. Web. 24 Feb. 2013.
Prigg, Mark. "The Real Neanderthal Diet." Mail Online. N.p., 18 July 2012. Web. 24 Feb. 2013.
"Starch Grains Found on Neandertal Teeth Debunks Theory That Dietary Deficiencies Caused Their Extinction." Smithsonian Science. N.p., 3 Jan. 2011. Web. 24 Feb. 2013.
Viegas, Jennifer. "Discovery News." Editorial. DNews. N.p., 28 Dec. 2010. Web. 24 Feb. 2013.

Cited: Goudarzi, Sara. "Neandertals Ate Their Veggies, Tooth Study Shows." National Geographic. National Geographic Society, 28 Apr. 2008. Web. 24 Feb. 2013. Harmon, Katherine. "Fossilized Food Stuck in Neandertal Teeth Indicates Plant-rich Diet." Fossilized Food Stuck in Neandertal Teeth Indicates Plant-rich Diet. N.p., 27 Dec. 2010. Web. 24 Feb. 2013. Prigg, Mark. "The Real Neanderthal Diet." Mail Online. N.p., 18 July 2012. Web. 24 Feb. 2013. "Starch Grains Found on Neandertal Teeth Debunks Theory That Dietary Deficiencies Caused Their Extinction." Smithsonian Science. N.p., 3 Jan. 2011. Web. 24 Feb. 2013. Viegas, Jennifer. "Discovery News." Editorial. DNews. N.p., 28 Dec. 2010. Web. 24 Feb. 2013.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    This cold climate lead to Neanderthals developing a larger stature and more significant culture that contained fire, clothing, and use of shelter to protect against the elements. The Homo Sapiens were largely migratory throughout their expansive territory, migrating as weather patterns changed. This left them perpetually in a warm-moist climate. The Homo Sapiens did have greater mastery of tools, making use of biface tools. Neanderthal groups only had pebble tools. In the third interglacial period Neanderthal groups found their way around the Himalayas into northern India and the Middle East. It was in this period that Homo Sapiens and Neanderthals first had contact and Homo Sapiens assimilated Neanderthal culture. At the onset of the fourth glacial period, Homo Sapiens populations moved south out of Europe, leaving it vacant. The mixed Neanderthals moved north into…

    • 534 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Becoming Human Worksheet

    • 702 Words
    • 3 Pages

    larger Brains short heavy set Body hunters Food Source Why are the teeth of children particularly helpful in providing information about extinct hominids?…

    • 702 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Anthropology

    • 839 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Furthermore, due to the nature of the case and the extensive heat alteration that occurred to the bones, recognition of the bones as human or non-human became hard to discern. However, by employing certain osteological methods anthropologist could characterize the highly fragmented remains. One such method frequently utilized by the forensic team was determining the maturity and architecture of the bones, as well as the analysis of the cranium, which is very distinct from any non-human (Byers, 2011). Similarly, the presence of projecting saber like teeth,…

    • 839 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The Paleo Diet

    • 1425 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Many people believe we should eat like our ancestors, because the Paleo diet has dramatically risen in popularity during the last decade. With modern medicine highlighting many illnesses and disabilities related to lack of a healthy lifestyle, more people are turning to alternative diets to cut out unhealthy foods that they consume. The Paleo diet cuts out many unhealthy foods that people consume in excess. My research paper will illustrate the origins of the Paleo diet, use scientific evidence to describe the benefits of the diet, reveal what opponents have to say against the diet, and will ultimately show why the Paleo diet is the best diet to partake in. Also, it is important to note…

    • 1425 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    evidence of seeds found in Ecuadorian caves from up to 12,000 years ago. Squash was…

    • 586 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Wrangham states that the evolutionary benefits of Homo Erectus stems from the process of cooking food (40). These advantages include smaller jaws, smaller teeth, smaller guts, and a larger brain. With fibers and proteins being broken down from cooking, human jaws were not required to be strong and were “one-eighth the size of those in macaques” (42). Human teeth were small due to consuming soft diets and limits metabolic costs (44). The surface area of a human stomach is significantly smaller than “the size expected for a typical mammal of our body weight” (43).…

    • 555 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Decoding Neanderthals

    • 643 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Archeologists found new evidence that are answering many controversies, unanswered questions, and new perspectives of the legacy of the Neanderthals. The average lifespan of a Neanderthals was thirty. Through these thirty years, they were trained to hunt and gather basic necessities very quickly. According to the video “Decoding Neanderthals,” they were “brooding and stupid-looking with no personality”. They were seen as unintellegent physically and mentally with a lack of the brainpower that Homo sapiens had. Due to their animal like character, they would endure any physical encounters they had with the animal they were trying to kill hunt for food. In modern physical strength comparison, these Neanderthals were technically bench pressing about 500lbs.…

    • 643 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A decade after scientists first cracked the human genome, researchers announced that they have done the same for Neanderthals, the species of hominid that existed from roughly 400,000 to 30,000 years ago, when their closest relatives, early modern humans, may have driven them to extinction (1,3,5,9,10). Led by ancient-DNA expert Svante Pääbo of Germany's Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, scientists reconstructed about 60% of the Neanderthal genome by analyzing tiny chains of ancient DNA extracted from bone fragments of three female Neanderthals excavated in the late 1970s and early '80s from a cave in Croatia (6,8). The bones are 38,000 to 44,000 years old. The genetic information turned up some intriguing findings, indicating, for instance, that at some point after early modern humans migrated out of Africa, they mingled and mated with Neanderthals, possibly in the Middle East or North Africa as much as 80,000 years ago (5,7,10). If that is the case, it occurred significantly earlier than scientists who support the interbreeding hypothesis would have…

    • 740 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Becoming Human

    • 629 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Human origins are of great mystery especially to scientists. This intact skull and it having a full set of teeth showed large and pointy canines which help distinguish ape’s teeth from early humans has completely disappeared then…

    • 629 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Much of the Paleolithic Age occurred during the period in the earth's history known as the Ice Age. Around this time glaciers advanced and retreated many times. Because the people during the Paleolithic Age were living during such a harsh time they had to get adjusted to their environment so they started to depend on animals for their source of food. Since the paleolithic people were nomads and hunters and gathers, they followed their source of food. In this time their main source of food were the huge animals that traveled together such as mammoths. They used their environment to help them survive. The paleolithic people lived in caves and tents made from animal skin, their cloth were made from animal skin and leaves.…

    • 836 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    What did the people of the Upper Paleolithic period eat and how did they obtain this food?…

    • 385 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Neanderthal vs. Modern Man

    • 1591 Words
    • 7 Pages

    In the world today, all humans are classified as Homo sapiens. However, exactly 157 years ago, a completely new species is recognized by Johann Fuhlrott in a limestone quarry of the Neander Valley in Germany. In August 1856, a skull cap, two femora, three bones from the right arm, two bones from the left arm, a part of the left ilium, fragments of a scapula, and ribs are excavated and put together into a type specimen named Neanderthal 1. This specimen is believed to be a whole new species: Homo neanderthalensis. Scientists today are still arguing about the origin of the Neanderthals. Do they belong to the same species as modern men, or are they a species of their own? Neanderthals and modern humans have numerous amounts of similarities and differences, and based on these facts, scientists are trying to come up with a final conclusion on what the actual species of the Neanderthal may be.…

    • 1591 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the first place, the comparison of hunt with gathering permits to evaluate the nutritional consequences for the people that belong to foraging societies. Foragers have necessitated meeting their caloric needs through stable supplies of food, both qualitatively and quantitatively, to avoid malnutrition or starvation. Hunting and gathering have provided them with about the same amount of proteins, although they have needed to collect large quantities of edible plants to equal the outcome of proteins supplied by the relatively small pieces of meat. However, gathering has been less energy consuming than hunt because foragers could more simply locate vegetables in the forest or in the open ground than animals. Besides, even the scavenged animals have required humans covered longer distances to amass available carcasses than to cover distances to accumulate vegetable food. The major implication of the concurrent use of hunting and gathering has been the development of a generalized alimentation through a mixed diet. Such a varied nutritional regime offers the foragers flexible eating habits that permit them to conserve a high income of proteins, even in times of paucity of either animal flesh or eatable vegetation, and thus escape starvation.…

    • 723 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    This team of specialists includes a zoo archaeologist, paleoethnobotanist, osteologist, geologist, and a cook. They will play an essential role in the accurate interpretation of findings and data analysis. A zooarchaeologist and osteologist are known for their knowledge of ancient remains. Linking remains left behind gives a general idea of an ancient society by showing how an individual or animal lived (Smith, 4/11). Interestingly, with the right data, we can interpret a skeleton’s gender, age, and development from typical analysis (4/13). Similarly, paleoethnobotanist have the ability to determine an ancient human’s diet. This is vital to understanding what sustained this specific society and hint at what their typical day might have been like. A geologist studies the different layers of strata; upon discover of artifacts their advanced understanding of the Earth’s layers will assist us in accurate absolute dating. (4/11). These numerous dating techniques are a key element of archaeological dating because they will determine how old objects on this site are, therefore suggesting chronology of settlement all together. Lastly, we will need a cook who will prepare meals for the crew. With hours of research and labor rendered in a limited time frame, it is vital that we provide proper nourishment. Collectively, there should…

    • 1497 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Food-poop (from animal remains in stomachs/bodies) be able to see what kind of diet was like…

    • 644 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays

Related Topics