  |
|
|
  |
|
These were people who flourished in Europe and the Near East for more than 100,000 years, yet vanished from their last stronghold in Europe about 30,000 years ago - at roughly the same time that modern humans arrived. What happened to them? Or more to the point, what did we do to them?... |
|
|
|
| What did we do to wipe out Neanderthals? (November 2003) |
|
|
|
|
This question has been asked for at least a century and every decade brings a different answer. Until at least the 1960s, the solution to the mystery seemed obvious: Neanderthals just weren't smart enough. They were low-browed cavemen, a near-miss in evolution's attempt to create intelligent life. They couldn't speak, their hands were incapable of fine motor skills - they couldn't even stand up straight. Our ancestors probably wiped them out without breaking a sweat. As appealingly straightforward as that notion might have been, it hasn't stood the test of time. The truth is, Neanderthals could stand up straight (the one skeleton that gave rise to the myth had been deformed by serious arthritis), recent research shows that their hands were every bit as articulate as ours, their brains were bigger than ours and they prospered - for a very long time - in an ice-age landscape. Yet they did die out. The latest investigation into this mystery has, unfortunately, only clouded the picture... |
|
|
|
|
Articles from outside sources do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Wayfarer Online or its creators. (Please note, that from time to time some external links to outside news sources may have expired - our apologies for any inconvenience or email us and we'll endeavour to retrieve the article from our archives and send it on to you....) Wayfarer International, Copyright © John & Melody Anderson, 1997 - 2003. All rights reserved.
home | news | quicklinks | the great land | the real world | the not real world | the doing world |
|
