Dear 7E,
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:
- Neanderthals may have been less likely to suffer from mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia.
- From the Max Planck Institute in Germany: Modern humans have Neanderthal genes, suggesting that we must have interbred with Neanderthals
- Latest news: doubt cast on the interbreeding theory
- Not enough genetic variation in an already endangered species?
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
