THE NEANDERTHALS
By Tim Lambert
Neanderthals and their place in history
Many people have an image of the Neanderthals as stupid and brutish but that is far from the case. The Neanderthals emerged in Europe and western Asia by 250,000 years ago. They lived in Europe during the last ice age and they must have been a resourceful people just to surivive in such a harsh environment.
However Neanderthals could not compete with Cro-Magnons and they gradually became extinct. The last Neanderthals lived about 28,000 years ago.
Neanderthal burials
We do not know if the Neanderthals had any kind of religion. They did bury their dead under cave floors but that may simply have been a way of removing a nuisance that would attract predators. It doesn't necessarily mean they believed in an afterlife. It is true that bodies were found with animal bones on them or around them but it is not clear if they were placed there deliberately. The Neanderthals left clutters of flints and bones lying on the floors of their caves. In time they would be buried and forgotten. When the cave floor is excavated it might look as if a body was deliberately buried with bones on or around it.
One Neanderthal grave was found with flower pollen on it. That may mean the dead person was buried with flowers but it has been suggested the pollen was introduced by burrowing rodents.
Some dead Neanderthals were buried in the foetal position as if they were sleeping. Perhaps they were deliberately buried to resemble a sleeping person. However that may simply have been the easiest way to bury a body.
Neanderthals appearance
Neanderthals did not look quite the same as modern humans. They were short and squat with thick bones and powerful muscles. The average male Neanderthal was 1.65 metres tall. The average female was slightly shorter. Neanderthals had barrel shaped chests with thick ribs.
Neanderthals had larger brains than modern humans (which does not mean they were more intelligent!). However Neanderthal skulls were longer and lower than modern human skulls. A Neanderthal skull was shaped rather like a loaf.
Furthermore Neanderthals had prominent brow bridges, much bigger than in modern humans. Also the Neanderthal face would look to us as if it had been pulled forward. They also had large noses.
It most unlikely that Neanderthals communicated just by grunting. They must have co-operated to hunt large animals and so they must have had a complex language.
Neanderthal technology and art
Clearly the Neanderthals were not stupid. They must have been resourceful to survive in a very harsh and dangerous environment. Nevertheless Neanderthal technology was primitive. They made simple tools of wood, stone and antler. Using spears they hunted reindeer, horses, red deer and bison. They also sometimes ate mammoth and woolly rhinoceros.
The Neanderthals made simple clothes from animal skins. They used stone borers to make holes in the edges of skins and threaded leather thongs through.
Moreover evidence of Neanderthal art is very meagre. In 1996 a bone was found with holes in it. At first it looked like a Neanderthal flute but some people dispute this. They think an animal chewed the bone and the holes are tooth marks. So far no other evidence of Neanderthal musical instruments has been found.
In 2003 a stone was found that looks like a very crude carving of a human face. Furthermore animal teeth and shells with holes have been found and it is believed they were pendants. However the pendants were made by the very late Neanderthals and they may have just been imitating modern humans who had entered Europe by then.
To read about Homo erectus click here.