And Another Thing

Neandertals did not die out because they couldn't sew better-fitting clothes, no matter what any idiot T.A. tries to tell you when he doesn't know the answer to a question in class. Good luck finding an actual Ph.D. to back that one up. Humans didn't even start sewing their clothes until the Neandertals were gone. The earliest verified sewn clothing dates to 22,000 years ago. In Russia. Not Western Europe.

If Neandertals did not interbreed with humans and just evolve out of existence (research the Lagar Velho child to get a taste of that debate), they died out because they weren't ingenuitive enough to compete with the humans for reduced food sources when there was a cooling trend in Europe around 28,000 years ago. Which is when the Neandertals disappeared, btw. Even *I* know that is the prevailing theory, and I don't claim to be some kind of quasi-expert on Neandertals, saying they're "my favorite" and have bigger average cranial capacities than humans (1520cc vs 1350cc, respectively, btw) which means they're totally smart, and have my life's dream be to measure (and probably fondle) their skulls for a living. Inuits have bigger cranial capacities, too, because they live in the cold. Just like Neandertals.

The Neandertals weren't dying off because it got cold out and they couldn't score Columbia jackets. They were built for cold weather, and did have animal skins and furs to keep them warm. Unfortunately, the colder weather drove off some of the food supply, and there were new hominids in the neighborhood to compete with the Neandertals for what was left.

Besides, Neandertals weren't bright enough to ever figure out how to hunt large animals without getting stepped on or gored or whatever. Humans developed weapons that allowed them to hunt from a safer distance. So when there were fewer animals around, humans were getting them and not getting killed in the process. Neandertal remains show all kinds of injuries like this, I'm not just making it up. They weren't all that bright, comparatively speaking, and displayed next to no symbolic thinking. In my ever so humble opinion, they simply lost out to the better hunters.

So stick that in your pipe and smoke it.

Posted by Jenelle at December 13, 2005 10:08 PM | TrackBack