Paleo Project II: Neandertal Project
The first members of our species, Homo sapiens, dates back to around 500,000 years ago with the emergence of archaic humans. Originating in Africa, these species migrated to other parts of the Old World (Lecture Week 14). The fossils discovered of archaic humans in different parts of the Old World were found to have slight differences among them. The fossils found of archaic Homo sapiens in Europe had Neandertal-like characteristics, signifying the origins of Neandertal. The Neandertal lived during a period of time that also overlapped with modern Homo sapiens. The Neandertals occupied the majority of Europe and parts of the Middle East from around 100,000 to 30,000 years ago, while modern humans date back …show more content…
This includes a longer, lower braincases, larger brow ridges, wider nasal apertures, larger infra-orbital foramen, and the lack of the prominent chin present in humans (Lecture Week 15). They also had postcranial differences of having shorter, stockier bodies consisting of large muscle attachments and bulky long, curved bones. Yet, they also shared anatomical features with modern humans. The Neandertals had similar cranial traits to modern humans. For example, the Neandertals had an occipital bun in the back of their braincase; a feature found in a few European modern humans today. They also had similar brain sizes compared to modern humans (Neandertals Lab). Similar mandibular traits include teeth that were also about the same size of modern humans, and the presence of the retromolar space. This gap between the third molar and the anterior border of the ascending ramus was not only found in Neandertals, but also in some archaic human fossils (Neandertals Lab). Besides similar cranial and mandibular traits, the shared a few postcranial traits. They had a hyoid bone similar to humans, and they were capable of speech. The Neandertals were also obligate bipeds like modern humans (Lecture Week …show more content…
They were the same species as modern humans. This is due to various similar anatomic and genetic evidence that they interbred. Although the Neandertal were overall anatomically different than humans, this different was due to environment they lived in. Besides anatomical traits that helped the Neandertals adapted to the cold environment, other anatomical traits suggests that they were not that much different than modern humans. They were a natural variation of the same species. The Neandertal not only lived during the same time period as modern humans, but in some of the same regions. Modern humans had the opportunity to interact with Neandertal, and they did: there is DNA evidences signifying that the Neandertal and modern humans interbred. According to the biological species concept, their ability to interbreed indicates that two are of the same species. Thus, based on various anatomic and genetic evidence, the Neandertal were a subspecies of Homo