Objectives: * What are the Hybridization and Out of Africa models? * What are the physical differences between Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans? * When and in what part of the world did Neanderthals live? * How can anthropologists and scientists test the Out of Africa and Hybridization Models? * What are mitochondrial DNA and recombinant DNA and how are they used to test the Out of Africa and Hybridization Models? * What does genetic research tell us about the origins of anatomically modern humans? * How was the behavior of Neanderthals similar to and different from anatomically modern humans? * What are some of the different kinds of intelligence? According to Steven Mithen, what are the five different kinds of intelligence?
Who are the Neanderthals? What happened when we met them? Did modern humans interbreed with them or did we exterminate them?
Two models: * Hybridization: * Milford Wolpoff, * We carry around the remnants of Neanderthal DNA today * Descended from them * Out of Africa * Chris Stringer * Diverged long ago, two different species * Too genetically different to produce fertile of viable offspring
Archaeological Evidence: * Neanderthals and modern humans in Middle East and Europe at the same time * Neanderthals evolve from Homo Erectus in Europe * Meaning we share a common ancestor * Neanderthals: 170,000 to 30,000 bp * Modern humans enter Europe 40,000 bp
DNA Evidence from Neanderthal Bones: * Mitochondrial DNA * Neadnerthals and modern humans common ancestors >400,000 * Neanderthals evolve from Homo Erectus * Recombinant DNA * Interbreeding? * Easy possibility for contaminating DNA evidence * Theory that small percent of modern genome from Neanderthals * Interbreeding happened in Middle East * Africans did not have interbreeding genes, Non-Africans did * Still should be skeptical about process * Shared genes could be a product of natural selection processes
When and in what part of the world did Neanderthals live? * Cold weather and northern latitudes, Europe
What are the physical differences between Neanderthals and modern humans? * Artist depictions vary from brute-like, hairy, and ape-like to very similar to modern humans * Not many differences from the neck down * Slightly different pelvic alignment * Neanderthals had shorter, more robust skeleton * Main differences found in skull * Neanderthal skull: strong browridge, receding forehead, large occipital bun, no chin * Human skull: steep forehead, delicate browridge, smaller occipital bun, chin * The ability for speech depends on shape of soft tissues * Neanderthals may have been able to produce enough sounds to qualify as speech
How was the cognition and behavior of Neanderthals similar and different from modern humans? * Neanderthals: * Hunting strategies: tools used in hunting indicate stabbing and thrusting, as opposed to throwing * Traumatic injury: evidence of many broken bones * indicates that hunting strategies used brought them very close to dangerous animals * Higher metabolism, needed more calories hunt bigger game * Healed injuries: indicate care and nuturing * Little change in tool technology * Mousterian tool tradition * Highly sophisticated * No composite tools or complex tool production * No bone or ivory tools * No colonization of islands * Limited range of habitats * No art or personal ornaments
Why did Neanderthals behave differently from us? * Different kinds of intelligence * Spatial * Creative * Social * Emotional * Athletic * Brain endocasts: indicate no structural differences * Steven Mithen- 5 kinds of intelligence: * General * Social * Ecological * Technological * Linguistic * Chimp Cognition: the development of specialized intelligences * Social, general, and ecological * Neanderthals: highly specialized intelligences * Language, social, technical, general, ecological * Modern human cognition: specialized intelligences connected
Things like metaphors set us apart
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