Dear 7B,
Here’s a mystery from history for you to contemplate. How come the Neanderthals died out or became extinct? They had already survived the most life-threatening conditions you could possibly imagine. They were strong and well adapted to the cold. Their brains were larger than any other hominid’s, before them or since. That includes us!
There are many questions that surround the Neanderthals’ existence and their premature departure from this earth. For instance, scientists have been trying for many years to determine whether modern humans could have interbred with Neanderthals. The Max Planck Institute in Germany found evidence of Neanderthal genes in our genome in 2010. Only recently, however, another group of scientists have cast doubt on the theory that Neanderthals could have interbred with Homo sapiens. You can read information on these topics by clicking on the links below.
It seems to me that the Neanderthals were tantalizingly similar to us, yet mysteriously different as well:
♦They didn’t farm, but then neither did we at that time in our past. No one farmed until 10,000 years ago. By then the Neanderthals had been gone for over 20,000 years.
♦They didn’t create rock art (at least to the best of our knowledge).
♦Yet they buried their dead and looked after their old and infirm. There is evidence to show that they were already burying their dead 120,000 years ago.
♦You might even assume that they should have been more likely to survive than we were. For instance, they were better adapted than Homo sapiens to a frozen world. They survived thousands of years of Ice Age. Their bones were far stronger than ours. Our bones are finer, more fragile, much more breakable. They would have won a wrestling contest with us easily.
So why did they, around 35000 years ago, become extinct?
Image from wpclipart.com
Here’s your chance to plumb the depths of this mystery and go back to the time before Homo sapiens were the only human beings on the planet. Have a look at each link below to view some fascinating speculations about Neanderthals:
- Latest news: doubt cast on the interbreeding theory
- Not enough genetic variation in an already endangered species?
- Für Tom Y: Diese Website ist auf Deutsch! Hoffentlich findest du hier etwas Interessantes über Neandertaler!
Of course, many of these ideas are theory or speculation rather than fact.
After you have read these sites, write a comment about the Neanderthals. It must be written in correct English. What do you find interesting about them? What information have you gleaned from your reading? What might have made the Neanderthals vulnerable to extinction? Do you have an opinion on whether they interbred with us? Include in your comment any websites you may have located that might educate other students (and your teacher) about these remarkable lost people.
Kind regards,
Ms Green.
In case you lose your “Possibility Words” handout: A Mystery of History – Neanderthals
You can also view the details of this task on Compass.
The Neatherthals
The Neatherthals were extremely cool to learn about. Their bodies were built so well for the cold conditions, they would have seemed invincible. It was awesome to learn about the mystery of how the Neatherthals died out even when their bodies were built better for the environment. But as soon as the conditions changed and the environment changed they might have struggled in the new environment. In open plains their body and their hunting skills put them at a disadvantage for hunting, while the faster and more agile Homo sapiens thrived. It still amazes me how such a dominant species in the ice ages died out slowly over time with the new conditions. And I love the mystery behind the Neatherthals. Even though there is evidence of why, there will never be fact behind the extinction of the Neatherthals.
I believe the Neanderthals may have died out due to a lack of food. The climate change that occurred after the last Ice-Age may have killed either the animals which the Neanderthals ate, or the Neanderthals themselves. Their bodies were used to the cold and snowy weather, but the sudden change of temperature may have shocked their bodies, causing the end of the Neanderthal era.
-Christian 7B
The Neanderthals
The Neanderthals were cool to learn about them. They have many differences to Homo sapiens. They have been built stronger and better than us which makes their hunting skills unique. I cannot believe they were on the earth for so long and that they lived through the Ice Ages. It is cool that they had to eat a lot of meat to keep themselves warm. Interestingly enough, their skull looks like a human’s but has features a little like those of a gorilla. I think that this fact would have backed up Charles Darwin’s theory that humans and apes may have had a common ancestor! Anyway they are believed to have been the first to bury their dead. It is strange that they died out and we homo sapiens took the land, Which makes it an mystery. It is amazing to find out about extinct relatives.
I was quite interested to find that some Neanderthals looked a bit like Ron in Harry Potter.
-Christian 7B
The Neanderthals
The Neanderthals are really cool to be learning about and how they survived in the ice ages because they were biologically adapted to the cold. It’s really interesting that they were stronger than the modern human and that they killed wild animals with spears that were made from only wood and stone. The Neanderthals’ skulls were different from ours: they had almost no chin and a long forehead. Some scientists believe that we are related to the Neanderthals. The Neanderthals were slowly dying out until they finally became extinct. People have been researching the Neanderthals for years and they have found many bones that can be used to investigate the differences between them and Homo sapiens.
The earliest Neanderthals lived all over Europe, but around 30,000 years ago they all disappeared.
Neanderthals looked like us except they were much shorter and more solidly built, giving them the ability to survive through the ice ages. Their skulls show that they did not have a chin, but they had eyebrows that stuck out of their head, and receding foreheads.
As well as looking different to us, their brains were slightly bigger than ours. But they may have had a smaller prefrontal lobe. Homo sapiens were probably faster and more agile. Due to us being faster, this might have contributed to why we survived and they died out. Homo sapiens may have also been better suited to hunting on the open plains.
Neanderthals were another type of human from the ancient period. Their brains were 20% bigger than our brain. Points of interest about them were that they were carnivorous and they were the first people to bury their dead. They were well adapted to the cold; because of their body shape they could retain heat. Their strong bones and cold adaptation meant they had the ability to survive the ice ages. Maybe they could have died out because even though they were gaining calories from eating meat, the meat is full of fatness which meant they could have had health problems like cancer or diabetes. During the years when they became extinct, it’s highly probable that when the modern-day humans arrived and the ice ages ended, the animals in Europe needed to be hunted on open plains, which meant that more agility was required to hunt them successfully. If the Neanderthals had difficulty hunting on the open plains, they would have had less meat and one by one they would have died until they were all extinct.
The Neanderthals were hominids that were shorter, more heavily built and much stronger than Homo sapiens. They also had no chin and had a forehead that sloped backwards. They mostly ate meat, meaning they were carnivores; both genders hunted. They lived near forests providing them with shelter and food. Earliest Neanderthals were found in Europe 200,000 years ago. They have found out that we, Homo sapiens have 2% DNA of Neanderthals.
The Neanderthals might have died out because of the sudden climate change for they were adapted to the cool weather and survived through the Ice Ages. The question is, why did have to die out 35,000 years ago?
It is probable that the climate could have been a factor in the extinction of the Neanderthals more than 30,000 years ago. Possibly, there could have been a heatwave, or a change in the climate, that could have affected the availability of food or water. The Neanderthals lived on the edge of the forest in Europe; if there was a change in the climate, it may have affected their natural habitat and their surroundings. For example, a species of animal or plant may have been affected by the difference in temperature, which may have caused a shortage of food, especially because the diet of the average Neanderthal mostly consisted of meats.
Neanderthals
What did they look like…
Neanderthals were hominids that looked much like humans although they were shorter, more heavily built and much stronger. Their brain case was lower but longer. The Neanderthal’s skull shows that they had no chin and their foreheads were sloped backwards. Their brains were 20% bigger than ours. It is said that their ribcages would have helped them through the ice age.
What are some of the problems they faced…
Both females and males had to hunt. It was very difficult for the females because even if they had a baby they would have to hunt. They got injuries as bad as today’s rodeo riders.
When did they die out…
Neanderthals died out but modern humans survived. Neanderthals had been alive for many thousands of years, so the question is, why did they die out? They lived through the toughest times and were biologically adapted to the weather.
Interesting facts about Neanderthals…
Their right hand was the dominant hand, the hand used to thrust the spear. They were powerful and very intelligent. The eye hole on the skull was huge. Neanderthals weapons couldn’t be thrown. They had a very powerful grip and were more powerful on the right than the left. In this sense they were similar to modern humans.
It is possible that the Neanderthals may have died out 30,000 years ago, because of possible birth problems caused by their jutting brows and the narrowness of the Neanderthal women’s pelvises, or maybe the climate change could have reduced their chances of living and they didn’t know how to live with it all, because of the many ice ages they had survived, or maybe there was a disease in the food, animals or the air around them.
By Amelia 7B
Neanderthals died out around 35,000-30,000 years ago. They may have died out slowly because of gradual changes in the weather. Many of the forests they hunted in changed in the new, warmer environment, which meant that they needed to hunt in large clearings. This would have made it hard for Neanderthals to hunt with their methods. They were well adapted to the cold so if the weather changed to hot they would have got hotter than Homo sapiens. All hominids had bigger ear canals, which is linked with agility; the Neanderthals, however, lacked this attribute, which suggests that they were quite slow in running speed. Although they had bigger brains by around 20% than Homo sapiens, they weren’t as smart as Homo sapiens. They needed more food to survive because they needed to have enough body fat to survive in the cold weather.
My name is Will, and in History I have enjoyed learning about the Neanderthals. Here is just some information about them.
Neanderthals looked much like modern humans but they were shorter, more heavily built and much stronger than Homo sapiens (particularly in the arms and hands).
Their skulls showed that they didn’t have a chin and that their foreheads sloped backwards. Their brain case was slightly lower than ours but longer, housing a larger brain than that of a modern human.
Some archaeological evidence revealed that the earliest Neanderthals lived in Europe around 200,000 years ago.
But then, about 30,000 years ago, they seemed to have disappeared…
One story is that our ancestors spread throughout the world about 100,000 years ago with better brains and more sophisticated tools. As they came across Neanderthal territory, they simply “wiped out” their primitive cousins. However, there is no evidence of widespread conflict between the two groups and some scientists believed they could have interbred. This is still not certain.
Neanderthals may have had more difficulties with birth: “The birth would have been at the limit of what was possible, and the baby’s head would have had to turn by a quarter in order to get through the narrow lower pelvis,” Christoph Zollikofer said — as is required of the smaller-headed babies of modern humans.
The Neanderthals had the same distribution of hair and skin colour as modern humans. That means that about 1 percent of all Neanderthals were quite probably redheads with pale skin and freckles.
A theory proposes that in a Neanderthal brain, language, creativity and many mental diseases are linked together due to the fact that they may originate in the neocortex, as well as in the densely cell-packed cortex, located at the top of the brain. One theory is that some mental illnesses that plague modern humans could not have developed in Neanderthals, since their brains reached maturity earlier.
A theory was put forward and some scientific evidence has suggested that we modern humans have some Neanderthal genes (approx %2 of our genes are from Neanderthals). Some scientists have argued against this finding, suggesting that these genes originate from an earlier common ancestor.
Neanderthals
How did Neanderthals die out?
I think…
It is possible that Neanderthals died out because of climate change, because they were so used to the cold. Their lifestyle was based on hunting in forested areas as opposed to on the open plains.
Or maybe they died out because of a disease; something may have infected them and it started to spread and then they died.
Or they could’ve died out because during the Ice Age there was an avalanche and they lost all their tools, shelter, food and other useful items and it was difficult to get/make more. This is however unlikely to have affected all the Neanderthals in Europe.
Or maybe, because the time they died out and the Homo sapiens came at that time as well. The Homo sapiens may have sent them away somehow or killed them. However, there is no evidence of a battle or of a mass grave.
These are possible theories of how they died, however there is no definite proof of how they died.
Tejeswi 7B
Neanderthals were very mysterious hominids, who lived in Europe about 200,000 thousand years ago but died out at around 35,000 years ago. The Neanderthals were the first ones to bury their dead and were also well adapted to the cold in the ice age. The Neanderthals skeleton bones are much more powerful than modern humans but they didn’t have the agility of humans. The Neanderthal’s skull was very much like a human’s but had some similar features to a gorilla. There are many theories about how the Neanderthals died out but we still do not know how and why they died out and became extinct. One theory is that they died out because of weather and climate change in their environment, so that their prey (animals) died out and the Neanderthals died of hunger. The Neanderthals are still quite mysterious hominids and I hope their mysteries are soon solved.
Neanderthals lived in Europe for over 200,000 years. They died out 30,000 years ago but no complete Neanderthal’s body was found. Neanderthals were biologically adapted to the cold. They were stronger than Homo sapiens and shorter. Their spears were heavy and would have been difficult to throw, so they hunted by ambushing their prey – a dangerous technique. Their DNA was 0.3% different than modern humans. Neanderthals were classified by palaeontologists as the species Homo neanderthalensis. Remains left by Neanderthals include bones and stone tools which have been found from western Europe to central Asia. I think the Neanderthals died out because they where so adapted to the cold that when the cold change died out and the warmer change came in they were not used to it and they all died out.
Neanderthals were a strongly built ancient human with a sloping forehead and eyebrows that jutted out. Their brains were 20% bigger than modern humans. They were well adapted to the cold because their body shape could retain heat. They were carnivorous and buried their dead. It is interesting that they were well adapted to the cold. They could have died out from the changes caused by a warmer climate after the ice ages. They also could have died out because they lacked the Homo sapiens’ talent for hunting on the open plains. They were less agile and fast than the Homo sapiens.
The Neanderthals were stronger and possibly heavier hominids when compared with Ancient humans. They could have developed a verbal language, and may have needed more sustenance to survive because of their larger muscles. They are nomads meaning they have to eat less food because they could carry less food and weapons for hunting animals to get food by using tools they would have had to harm animals to get food for themselves or their families.
Neanderthals
Neanderthals were in a way partly taking the shape of modern humans. They had 20% bigger brains. Scientists believe that Neanderthals could have talked. They were shorter yet they were stronger and heavier. Both females and males hunted, and they had to hunt every 2 days to survive. They hunted by ambushing their prey, which meant that they had to get quite close to the animals they were hunting – a dangerous lifestyle leading to many injuries. They lived in Europe for over 200,000 years ago and then around 30,000 years ago they disappeared from the Earth. Scientists don’t know why this is, but one explanation could be that Neanderthals could not jump or run very well because of their lack of agility and their heavy body weight. This might have reduced their chances of survival.
I think that Neanderthals became extinct because at the end of the ice ages, they may have found it difficult to adapt to a changing climate, since their bodies weren’t adapted for living in this kind of climate.
I believe that the Neanderthals died out because of the forests becoming depleted and the fields growing. The forests gave the Neanderthals a hunting advantage because they were ambush hunters. The Neanderthal spears could not be thrown because of their weight and size, and even if the Neanderthals had made lighter spears they still could not have thrown them well because of their bone and muscle placement, which meant they were strong but lacking in agility.
Birth could also have presented problems for the women because their pelvises were quite small, so many women died during child birth. This would have made it difficult to have a healthy population.
Neanderthals were Interesting to learn about. Since they had heavy bones and were not very agile, they could not run long distances, nor could they run fast. Their spears were too heavy to be thrown any distance so they could only stab and attack from close range. There has been evidence of them burying their dead with rocks and dirt, meaning they had some sign of intelligence. Some people believe they talked to one another like humans today. I have enjoyed learning about Neanderthals and their way of life.
~Thomas