Neanderthal: The Rebirth

[Gman]

On the science channel it looks like they are going to debate if the neanderthals were identical to us, or were they crude and primitive creatures, an evolutionary dead end... I think it is appearing this Sunday at 9pm. It might be interesting...

http://science.discovery.com/tvlistings ... hannel=SCI

[Canuckster1127]

Thanks for the heads-up Gman.

[sandy_mcd]

they are going to debate if the neanderthals were identical to us, or were they crude and primitive creatures

Reader, suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.

[AttentionKMartShoppers]

It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. Winston Smith, his chin nuzzled into his breast in an effort to escape the vile wind, slipped quickly through the glass doors of Victory Mansions, though not quickly enough to prevent a swirl of gritty dust from entering along with him.

May I direct everyone's question aimed at me to you sandy...what does your quotation have to do with anything?

[BGoodForGoodSake]

It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. Winston Smith, his chin nuzzled into his breast in an effort to escape the vile wind, slipped quickly through the glass doors of Victory Mansions, though not quickly enough to prevent a swirl of gritty dust from entering along with him.

May I direct everyone's question aimed at me to you sandy...what does your quotation have to do with anything?

You're either very slow or you don't agree with her humorous suggestion that human beings are crude and primitive creatures.

=D

[AttentionKMartShoppers]

id·i·ot Audio pronunciation of "idiot" ( P ) Pronunciation Key (d-t)
n.

1. A foolish or stupid person.

crude Audio pronunciation of "crude" ( P ) Pronunciation Key (krd)
adj. crud·er, crud·est

1. Being in an unrefined or natural state; raw.
2. Lacking tact or taste; blunt or offensive: a crude, mannerless oaf; a crude remark.
3. Characterized by uncultured simplicity; lacking in sophistication or subtlety: had only a crude notion of how a computer works.
4. Not carefully or skillfully made; rough: a quick, crude sketch.
5. Undisguised or unadorned; plain: must face the crude truth.
6. Statistics. In an unanalyzed form; not adjusted to allow for related circumstances or data.
7. Archaic. Unripe or immature.

prim·i·tive Audio pronunciation of "primitive" ( P ) Pronunciation Key (prm-tv)
adj.

1. Not derived from something else; primary or basic.
2.
1. Of or relating to an earliest or original stage or state; primeval.
2. Being little evolved from an early ancestral type.
3. Characterized by simplicity or crudity; unsophisticated: primitive weapons. See Synonyms at rude.
4. Anthropology. Of or relating to a nonindustrial, often tribal culture, especially one that is characterized by a low level of economic complexity: primitive societies.
5. Linguistics.
1. Serving as the basis for derived or inflected forms: Pick is the primitive word from which picket is derived.
2. Being a protolanguage: primitive Germanic.
6. Mathematics. An algebraic or geometric expression from which another expression is derived.
7. Relating or belonging to forces of nature; elemental: primitive passions.
8.
1. Of or created by an artist without formal training; simple or naive in style.
2. Of or relating to the work of an artist from a nonindustrial, often tribal culture, especially a culture that is characterized by a low level of economic complexity.
9. Of or relating to late medieval or pre-Renaissance European painters or sculptors.
10. Biology. Occurring in or characteristic of an early stage of development or evolution.


Primitive and crude are not the same as an idiot or member of Congress though. And I'm not

[AttentionKMartShoppers]

...slow.

[Gman]

I finished watching the show "Neanderthal: The Rebirth" on the science channel last night. I don't really know what they meant by rebirth, since most of what they revealed has already been understood by mainstream science...

Here is a brief overview of the show...

First of all they make the claim that no complete Neanderthal skeleton has ever been found in the world, (from what I know is true). Therefore to reconstruct the past they must fuse Neanderthal parts (frankenstein work as they call it) from two different locations thousands of miles away from each other. They are Israel and Germany. To me this is not good science, but hey, was is these days..

Then they go into why we are here (modern humans) and why they are not.. Here are the reason's...

· They didn't have much of a waist because the had barrel-shaped rib cage.. The claim, it was really cold back then, and that a smaller waistline is better at retaining heat.
· Neanderthals hunted with spears and were ambush hunters. They did not throw spears but thrusted spears into their victims.
· Bone structure was very dense and therefore structured differently. Also their muscles were bigger than ours.
· They had 20% bigger average brains than modern humans. They say that the frontal lobes were the same size as ours, therefore their intellectual abilities could be possibly the same as ours. (I don't see any evidence of this..).
· Could they talk? Apparently they had a hyoid and a throat structure similar to ours. It apprears it was higher pitched than ours perhaps.
· They have a bigger navel cavity than ours. Rightfully so..
· Their inner ears were diffent from ours so they were less runners and jumpers.

Why did they become extinct? Mainly because of a temperature change. They found it harder to hunt since their prey could run away faster in an open field. Modern humans were better to adapt into the warmer clients.. etc..

What they didn't claim.

· They didn't claim that modern humans evolved from the Neanderthals.
· They didn't examine the mitochondrial DNA evidence of the Neanderthals.

I still think this article explains it the best:

http://www.godandscience.org/evolution/descent.html

The nail in the coffin

Therefore, the most accurate date (see note below) for the origin of modern humans indicate that the last common ancestor to modern humans must have existed less than 50,000 years ago (16). Such a recent date left only one potential ancestor for modern humans, that is, Homo neandertalensis (Neanderthals), which lived between 400,000 and 28,000 years ago. Previous anatomical studies had cast doubt on the possibility of Neanderthals being the ancestors of modern humans (23-27). These studies showed differences in Neanderthal's brain case (23) and the presence of an internal nasal margin, a medial swelling of the lateral nasal wall, and a lack of an ossified roof over the lacrimal groove (24-25). None of these features are found in Homo Sapiens, and the last feature is not found in any other terrestrial mammal! A recent analysis of Neanderthal hands has revealed that modern humans and Neanderthals differed markedly in the kind of grip they could use (26). Neanderthals were limited to grips as one has when holding a stone or baseball. Such a grip would have been powerful (you wouldn't want to shake hands with a Neanderthal), but not very dexterous. The anatomy of the Neanderthal's hands would have prevented them from engaging in fine motor skills, such as carving and painting. Another study showed that Neandertals developed much more rapidly than modern humans (or even their own supposed ancestors) (27), further eroding their possible status as mankind's ancestors. In addition, Neanderthals had a huge nasal cavity coupled with a brain size larger than our own. However, with their carnivorous lifestyle, it seems likely that much of their brain might have been devoted to the sense of smell, being the "dog" among the hominids.

G -