| Term Paper Title | The Neandertals |
| # of Words | 1041 |
| # of Pages (250 words per page double spaced) | 4.16 |
The Neandertals
Staring into the gloom, I imagine the cave's ancient inhabitants,
wrapped in bear skins, huddled near a fire. The haunches of a
reindeer roast in the fire. A mother nurses her infant. Children
playfully throw pieces of bone into the flames. An old woman tends
the wounds of a hunter with an herbal ointment. The strong smells
of smoke, unwashed bodies, and rotting carcasses thicken the air.
Until recently, nobody would have assumed that the above passage (Rick
Gore, pp.6) was about how the Neandertals lived. However, recent studies have
shown that Neandertals are smarter than we first thought.
The geography of the Neandertals domain was quite odd. 230,000 years
ago Europe was filled with caves, marshes, and grasslands. It was a very harsh
and cold wilderness. The Neandertals were in existence right in the middle of
the Ice Age, and although occasional warm periods would create subtropical
conditions as far north as England for thousands of years, the glaciers would
always return and the Neandertals would always be forced south again. The
Neandertals could be found as far north as England and as far south as Spain,
from Gibralter to Uzbekistan.
Neandertal bones have been found in the Neander Valley and Dusseldorf
Germany, in Altamura, Italy and Vindija, Croatia. These are major sites for the
European caves the Neandertals lived in. Although the Neandertals went to the
southern tip of Italy, they never crossed the Mediterranean Sea to Africa. They
migrated from central Europe to central Asia to the Middle East and always came
back. Their main mode of moving around was on their feet, and they usually
travelled in bands of no more than 30 people.
The Neandertals had broad noses, and scientists think this was to warm
the cold air. They also had thick browridges, receding chins, high foreheads,
and their skulls sloped back over their brains. They learned to hunt in groups
in order to kill the bigger game. The Neandertals lived with modern humans for
10,000 years, but they didn't change, and eventually it is believed the modern
humans conquered them with their more advanced technology.
Although not much is known about the Neandertal's culture,
anthropologists have some ideas of how they lived their life.
It is believed by many that the Neandertals practiced cannibalism for a
death ritual. There is evidence of this on the skulls and big bones of
Neandertals. There are cut marks and some bones have been broken open and are
without marrow. Why would they do this? Maybe they liked the way their
neighbors tasted, or maybe it was a ritual for a religion of theirs. There is
other evidence they have a religion. One archaeologist found a carved and
polished ivory tooth, and since it looked to have no purpose as a tool, it is
most probably a spiritual object. The bodies of people were found in a cave
with flowers around them. This also suggests some sort of religion.
Scientists had always thought that the technology of the Neandertals was
"primitive". However, they have changed their minds. "You need a lot of brains
for flint knapping," Jacques Pelegrin of the French Center for Archaeological
Research. Recent excavations show that Neandertal tools required a high level
of craftsmanship and ment...Read entire document
|
|
