10 recent discoveries that are raising the veil of mystery over Neanderthals

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Neanderthals are considered to be the closest extinct "relatives" of humans. Therefore, it is not surprising that their relationship with Homo sapiens is one of the topical research topics of scientists. Recent findings have helped to understand the dangers faced by Neanderthals, learn about the skills that have helped them survive for millennia, why they looked different from Cro-Magnons, and how they possibly saved Homo sapiens from extinction.

1. Mysterious faces

From the very first days, when researchers learned about the extinct hominids, the question arose: why the faces of Neanderthals are very different from the same Cro-Magnons. Compared to modern humans, their strongly protruding faces had distinctly high cheekbones and large noses. One well-known theory suggested that such facial features provided Neanderthals with the ability to bite harder. Earlier studies of tooth damage showed that Neanderthals used their jaws like …. a third hand to hold onto something. However, a newer 2018 study of human and Neanderthal skulls proved the theory flawed.

It turned out that modern people have a stronger bite, but at the same time thinner facial features. As it turns out, these differences may have something to do with physical needs. Neanderthals had more powerful bodies that used more energy (up to 4,480 calories per day). They traveled a lot and sometimes lived in cold conditions. The study found that thanks to their facial features, Neanderthals were able to inhale 29 percent more air through their noses than humans. This allowed a significant improvement in oxygen consumption, which could help maintain high hominid activity during the winter.

2. The mystery of the separation of humans and Neanderthals

The human lineage is incredibly complex. Despite all the fossils found and modern DNA technology, scientists still don't know the complete history of hominid evolution. In particular, they cannot find the unknown common ancestor of modern humans and Neanderthals. It also remains unclear when they split into different species. It is believed that modern humans appeared 300,000 years ago, but the evidence for the existence of Neanderthals is extremely confusing. The oldest found remains of this species are 400,000 years old, but some genetic studies have found traces of the split of some ancient hominids into humans and Neanderthals 650,000 years ago.

In 2018, researchers studied fossil teeth that were found in two locations in the Apennine Peninsula. There was no way they could determine what kind of hominid they belonged to. However, during the study, the distinctive features of the Neanderthal species were found. DNA results showed that both teeth were 450,000 years old. This confirmed the assumption that the split into homo sapiens and Neanderthals occurred more than half a million years ago. The exact era when humans and Neanderthals became completely separate species remains unknown.

3. Neanderthal boy

In 2010, the remains of a seven-year-old Neanderthal boy were found among the bones of a group of 12 adults and children in El Sidron Cave in Spain. They died 49,000 years ago. A recent study of the boy's remains revealed interesting things. For example, he did not differ at all in height from a modern seven-year-old child. This similarity could be one of the reasons the two species interbred so easily. Although it is already known that Neanderthals had a large brain volume, the boy was still developing (his brain volume was 87.5% of the average volume in an adult). In a modern child of the same age, it is about 95 percent. Neanderthal children matured more slowly, which suggests that the adults cared for and trained them for a longer time. Another difference was found in the boy's spine. Not all of its vertebrae have grown together (in modern people, they grow together at the age of 4-6 years).

4. Tailors and artists

Despite many discoveries showing that Neanderthals were not violent cavemen, their image as rough and clumsy hominids persists to this day. In 2018, the results of a study showed a completely unexpected side of the Neanderthals. It turns out that their hands were quite adapted for such delicate activities as tailoring and creating art objects. Scientists have scanned the hands of modern builders, artists, and even butchers. The researchers then turned their attention to how they developed entheses (joints of tendons to bone that demonstrate which muscles are used the most). For comparison, the hands of 12 prehistoric people (both homo sapiens and Neanderthals) who lived about 40,000 years ago were checked and analyzed. Only half of prehistoric people had entheses on their thumb and forefinger, which indicates that they were engaged in delicate work. The rest of the entheses were more developed on the thumb and little finger, i.e. they were doing hard work. At the same time, incredible as it may seem in all Neanderthals, entheses showed that they were engaged in delicate work.

5. Ancient, very ancient medicine

When studying the history of Neanderthals, their medical skills are often overlooked. These hominids have existed for thousands of years, with small groups in which each person was probably considered valuable to the group. Neanderthals only learned to survive when they developed their own health care practices. In 2018, the remains of over 30 Neanderthals who had any physical problems were examined. Interestingly, they all recovered from various injuries during their lives, and on the remains of each found evidence that these injuries were treated. This was the first conclusive evidence that Neanderthals had an advanced medical system. Moreover, researchers now believe that Neanderthal healers even practiced obstetrics.

6. Strange message in stone

Several decades ago, in the Crimean cave Kiik-Koba, researchers discovered the remains of an adult Neanderthal and a child. When re-examined in 2018, a flint knife with strange 13 marks on its surface was found in the cave. The artifact was about 35,000 years old, and the lines on it were clearly not drawn by accident. Scientists hypothesized that a Neanderthal with a fairly well-developed hand coordination and eye gauge used several pointed stone tools to create zigzag lines. Such efforts also required a lot of mental focus. Scientists also came to the conclusion that this process was too laborious to be the usual scribbles of a bored Neanderthal, so the patterns could carry some kind of specific information. Naturally, hardly anyone will know what this message was.

7. Genes that resist flu

A scary 2018 study by scientists at Stanford University showed that modern humans could once become extinct from the flu. And they were saved only by mating with Neanderthals. Most Europeans today have about 2 percent Neanderthal DNA. Were examined 4500 human genes that interact with viruses. Surprisingly, 152 of these were inherited from Neanderthals and served to protect against hepatitis C and modern influenza A. When humans first arrived in Europe, Neanderthals had lived in the region for millennia. Their genetic code was already well adapted to fight infectious European diseases. This was not the case with the new immigrants from Africa. If the two groups never met, people would naturally have to develop their resistance to disease. Thus, they could become extinct from the common flu.

8. They hunted in groups

About 120 thousand years ago, two deer died, whose remains were discovered in 1988 and 1997 in the Neumark-Nord region, Germany. These bones "told" interesting facts about Neanderthals. In 2018, researchers analyzed the skeletons and found that the deer had been killed by cavemen. The bones bore marks identical to those of the Neanderthal spears. This led to the assumption that the animals were killed by a skilled group of hunters. If proven, this fact will surely "hammer another nail in the coffin" of the theory that Neanderthals were "stupid cavemen." Scientists made hunting simulations like spears, which they threw at real deer skeletons wrapped in ballistic gel to simulate soft tissue. Bone damage was consistent with those found on the bones of ancient deer.

9. A child eaten by birds

A terrible find was made in the Polish Ciemna Cave in 2018. About 115,000 years ago, a Neanderthal child died at the age of 5-7 years. Although it is unclear exactly how this child died, it may have been killed by huge birds of prey, which in prehistoric times were a huge danger. It turned out that the child had indeed been eaten by such a bird, since damage was found on his finger bones, characteristic of passage through the digestive tract. It is also possible that something else caused the death of the child, and the bird simply ate his corpse.

10. Neanderthal brain

The strangest study of Neanderthals was carried out in a California laboratory. In 2018, while trying to understand why Neanderthals became extinct, and people still flourish, scientists decided to grow the brain of a caveman. Since the complete Neanderthal genome was already known, it took several genetic tricks to transform human stem cells into brain cells corresponding to an extinct hominid. The next step was to grow an organoid (a smaller version of an organ). It took 6-8 months for the mini-brain to grow by about 0.5 centimeters. The most interesting was the shape of what happened. Human brain organelles are round, but a Neanderthal brain organoid looks like some kind of unusual popcorn. The neural network was also less complex than that of humans. This doesn't necessarily mean that the Neanderthals were dumber, they just were a little different.