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The biggest myths about Neanderthals - Bruce Hardy - Video học tiếng Anh
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The biggest myths about Neanderthals - Bruce Hardy
The biggest myths about Neanderthals - Bruce Hardy
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0:06
In 1856, quarriers working a cave in Germany’s Neander Valley
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discovered several mysterious fossils.
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The remains changed hands until being identified
0:19
as the skullcap and femur bones
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of something ancient and human, but not quite us.
0:28
It soon became clear they belonged to an extinct human species—
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the first ever known to science:
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Homo neanderthalensis, or simply, Neanderthals.
0:41
Not long before the discovery,
0:43
many believed the world was only about 6,000 years old.
0:48
However, by the mid-1800s,
0:51
naturalists were more comfortable with geological timelines
0:55
and evolutionary theory.
0:57
The idea that ancient remains could belong to another human species
1:03
was finally becoming conceivable.
1:06
But misconceptions persisted, and much “Neander slander” ensued.
1:12
Early on, Neanderthals were depicted as dim-witted oafs
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who died out because of their inferiority to modern humans,
1:22
aka Homo sapiens.
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One popular illustration suggested that,
1:27
in addition to being hairy and club-carrying,
1:31
Neanderthals stooped and had ape-like opposable toes,
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even though this wasn’t reflected in skeletal findings.
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Over the next century, however,
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archaeologists discovered more hominin species,
1:47
as well as the remains of over 300 Neanderthal individuals.
1:53
Compared to modern humans, Neanderthals had larger, deeper-set eyes;
1:59
were shorter and more muscular,
2:01
had higher caloric needs with slightly bigger bodies,
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including their hearts and brains.
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For over 350,000 years, they lived across Europe and Western Asia.
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For at least their final 10,000 years,
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they spatially overlapped with Homo sapiens.
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And archaeological finds have suggested that they led much more complex lives
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than initially suspected.
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In the 1950s, scientists unearthed the remains of a Neanderthal
2:36
in a cave in northern Iraq who had a severed right arm, injured leg,
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and was likely partially blind and deaf.
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Yet, he survived long after these injuries,
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suggesting his community provided him extensive, daily support.
2:54
And another skeleton from a French cave belonged to an older Neanderthal
3:00
who probably had trouble walking
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and had lost so many teeth he may have needed his food ground up.
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Both excavation sites also showed signs of burial,
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all suggesting that Neanderthals went beyond
3:16
immediate, practical concerns for survival
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and cared for their ailing and dead.
3:23
Teeth analyses also indicate that Neanderthals
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might have used anti-inflammatory and antibiotic plants medicinally.
3:32
For a while, researchers assumed that Neanderthals hunted big game
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with unsophisticated, brute force ambush attacks.
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But cut marks on rabbit bones
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and tools with apparent traces of scales and feathers
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suggest Neanderthals were capable of the skill required to capture small game,
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perhaps utilizing snares and fast-moving projectiles.
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In fact, we know they fashioned and wielded many types of tools,
4:06
sometimes affixing them with glue they made from heated birch bark.
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They also shaped hardwood digging sticks with fire
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and created reinforced, 3-ply string using bark fibers.
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Other findings have also raised questions
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about whether Neanderthals thought symbolically,
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seeing beyond direct utility, into realms like art and language,
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long considered a hallmark of Homo sapiens.
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Potentially for personal adornment, there’s evidence of Neanderthals
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selectively removing bird’s flight feathers,
4:44
painting and perforating shells,
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and wrapping eagle talons in what seems to have been another kind of animal tissue.
4:53
They likewise made markings on a giant elk’s toe bone
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and created three cave paintings in Spain,
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if the original 65,000-year-old dating estimate holds.
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Meanwhile, broken, rearranged, and burned stalagmites
5:13
deep within a French cave
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left scientists wondering if the mysterious structures
5:18
held spiritual or ceremonial significance to Neanderthals.
5:24
Clearly, they weren’t as different as originally believed.
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And following the first fully sequenced Neanderthal genome in 2010,
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researchers realized our species interbred.
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All modern humans retain some Neanderthal DNA—
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up to about 4%—
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the result of hundreds of discrete interbreeding events.
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So, what happened to Neanderthals?
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Theories from rampant cannibalism, to disease and climate change,
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to aggressive Homo sapiens have been floated.
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But another idea is that,
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because Neanderthals lived in smaller groups,
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as they interbred with larger populations of Homo sapiens,
6:13
they just sort of got gradually absorbed.
6:18
Overall, consensus has begun shifting away
6:22
from representing human evolution as tree-like
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and more towards a kind of braided stream,
6:29
with different hominin groups separating and rejoining at various junctures.
6:36
As we continue to learn more about our evolutionary cousins,
6:40
each discovery raises questions about just how much we share.
