Big Chill Killed Off The Neanderthals

New Scientist ^ | 1-21-2004 | Douglas Palmer

[blam]

Big chill killed off the Neanderthals

19:00 21 January 04

It is possibly the longest-running murder mystery of them all. What, or even who, killed humankind's nearest relatives, the Neanderthals who once roamed Europe before dying out almost 30,000 years ago?

Suspects have ranged from the climate to humans themselves, and the mystery has deeply divided experts. Now 30 scientists have come together to publish the most definitive answer yet to this enigma.

They say Neanderthals simply did not have the technological know-how to survive the increasingly harsh winters. And intriguingly, rather than being Neanderthal killers, the original human settlers of Europe almost suffered the same fate.

The last ice age

Led by Tjeerd van Andel of the University of Cambridge, a team of archaeologists, anthropologists, geologists and climate modellers have compiled a vast new set of biological, environmental and social evidence on life between 20,000 and 40,000 years ago.

It includes data from sediment cores and 400 or so archaeological sites, and information gleaned from fossil bones and stone tools. To this they have added the most up-to-date climate models, and radiometric dates of human and Neanderthal sites and artefacts.

Seasonal migration

The result is a definitive series of maps covering climate change over time, the appearance of animal and plant populations, and how human and Neanderthal communities migrated with the seasons. The resolution is so good that, for the first time, researchers can reliably trace the movements of both hominid species.

Ice cores recovered from Greenland in the 1970s show that Europe's climate varied hugely during the last ice age, especially in the period between 70,000 and 20,000 years ago. Cold glacial periods were punctuated by warmer times, and the average temperature could rise and fall several degrees within a decade or so.

Studies of permafrost patterns, the remains of small animals and pollen grains, as well as fossil bones, show that such changes had a dramatic effect on the flora and fauna of the time, including Homo sapiens and Neanderthals.

The maps show that, facing temperatures that plummeted to -10°C in winter (see map), Neanderthals retreated south from northern Europe 30,000 years ago, a migration which coincided exactly with the southern march of the ice sheets (Neanderthal and Modern Humans in the European Landscape of the Last Glaciation: Archaeological Results of the Stage 3 Project).

It is surprising "the extent to which Neanderthals seem to have been deterred by the cold, and retreated as the going got tough," says archaeologist William Davies, a co-editor of the report based at University of Southampton, UK.

Last refuge

The maps also reveal that the earliest modern humans, the Aurignacian people, who appeared around 40,000 years ago, could not cope with the glacial cold either. They retreated south until 25,000 years ago when they were reduced to a few refuges, such as southwest France and the shores of the Black Sea.

The new maps show that even at the height of the last glacial period, 18,000 to around 22,000 years ago, continental Europe supported extensive grasslands which were fodder for huge numbers of migrant animals such as reindeer and bison.

The archaeological evidence strongly suggests that both hominids coexisted in southern Europe for thousands of years, but competed for ever diminishing resources. And that might have been the end for both Homo sapiens and Neanderthals but for the arrival of the technologically advanced Gravettians.

The Gravettians appeared in eastern Europe 29,000 to 30,000 years ago complete with flash new tools, such as javelin-like throwing spears and fishing nets, which allowed them to catch a greater range of prey.

They also had clothing to keep the cold out, such as sewn furs and woven textiles, and possibly more specialised social structures. Their ability to tough out the colder climes dominating Europe 18,000 to 25,000 years ago revitalised the human population.

Adapt to survive

The Neanderthals, however, without either new blood or new technology, found it impossible to survive and died out, probably around 28,000 years ago.

For Neanderthal expert Paul Pettitt of the University of Sheffield, UK, the evidence that climate adversely affected the Aurignacian people as much as the Neanderthals is fascinating. When the going got tough in northern Europe, says Pettitt, both adopted a "get out of the kitchen strategy".

In contrast, Gravettians used their technological prowess "to reorganise the way the kitchen was used". Pettitt says that step was just as revolutionary as becoming modern Homo sapiens in the first place.

Douglas Palmer

[blam]

I believe that Neanderthals were assimilated with modern humans. We are Neanderthals.

The Neanderthals were around for 250,000 years, I think they could handle the cold.

[11th Earl of Mar]

Big chill killed off the Neanderthals

Then who was that guy screaming at the Iowa caucus?

[blam]

Interesting read here:

The Neanderthal Theory

[anniegetyourgun]

I don't believe that for a moment, but I am hoping that whatever climate change is in vogue now will lead to the extinction of liberals.

[ValerieUSA]

Perhaps they suffered a fashion/grooming trend and began trimming away the excess body hair... Oh, the vanity!

[blam]

RedHeads 'Are Neanderthals' (Amber Gene)

[ValerieUSA]

We are NOT!

[PeterPrinciple]

It is surprising "the extent to which Neanderthals seem to have been deterred by the cold, and retreated as the going got tough," says archaeologist William Davies, a co-editor of the report based at University of Southampton, UK.

And this genius scientist would have stayed there. Makes more sense to me to follow the food as it moved south.

[Darlin']

"Big chill killed off the Neanderthals"

Yep, if you do it right it does every time. hehe

[RightWhale]

Didn't they find neanderthal remains in the Middle East?

[farmfriend]

Gods, Graves, Glyphs
List for articles regarding early civilizations , life of all forms, - dinosaurs - etc.

Let me know if you wish to be added or removed from this ping list.

[GunRunner]

?

[Kirkwood]

Well, I'm just glad they stopped blaming Bush for this.

[miltonim]

lol

[Migraine]

Cold glacial periods were punctuated by warmer times, and the average temperature could rise and fall several degrees within a decade or so.

So. Warming is a normal deal, then? Too bad those 'thallers didn't have the good old U. S. of A. to send the bill to back then, like they do now. If having a thick head is a sign of Neanderthalism, then I know where they are hanging out these days -- there is no one more thickheaded than a liberal, and especially those who waste our time and money trying to stop the warming that ended the ice age.

[colorado tanker]

Interesting. Al-Douri is a redhead.

[CathyRyan]

Could you add me to your ping list? Thanks! :)

[farmfriend]

Consider yourself added. If you ever change your mind, or I get you on the wrong list, just let me know.

[Doe Eyes]

Well, I'm just glad they stopped blaming Bush for this.

In this forum, it was Clinton's fault.

[EggsAckley]

[genefromjersey]

I agree,wholeheartedly !

I've seen people -Arnold Schwartzneger is one - with the anthopoid physical characteristics one might associate with the Neanderthal variety of humans.

[NonValueAdded]

From the RedHeads thread: the ancestors of modern man, arrived from Africa about 40,000 years ago.

That settles it! We ALL get reparations!

[templar]

The Neandrthals aren't extinct. ther are acutally quite a few of them left. They mingle among humans and generally live in the larger human cities. I've seen them' most people probably have and just didn't realize it. They usually live in the slums of the large cities, stay out of sight most of the time during the day, are found lurking in the back alleys and decayed areas of the largest cities. Next time you're out for a walk in these one of areas, especially after dark (best time is on the warmer, foggy nights), look closely: They're there, you'll see them.

[dc-zoo]

Would that be "global chillin"?

[Citizen Tom Paine]

I don't believe this. My reason: On the average the Neanderthal had a LARGER brain that H. Sapien did (and does). In short, they had enough smarts.

[blam]

"Didn't they find neanderthal remains in the Middle East?"

Yes, some of the oldest.

[txflake]

There you are. Hey, caldera-dude, come check this out Is California Heating up?

[txflake]

Or maybe I'm thinking of dead.

[DallasMike]

I don't know why, but that picture scares me every time someone posts it. If I have nightmares tonight, it's your fault.

[blam]

"Didn't they find neanderthal remains in the Middle East?"

Did Humans And Neanderthals Battle For Control Of The Middle East?

[EggsAckley]

have some warm milk, works every time.
~</;o)

[bert]

This article ignores the Neanderthals living side by side with Moderns in Isreal for thousands of years. If they made it there, it seems they escaped the cold.

[Free ThinkerNY]

That's a nice picture of Chelsea Clinton.

[blam]

"That's a nice picture of Chelsea Clinton."

That's a reconstructed face of a 'Hybrid' Human-Neanderthal child found in Spain.

[backtobasics]

Then who was that guy screaming at the Iowa caucus?

LOL....when I saw the title, I thought it had something to do with Dean, and Iowa!

[LiteKeeper]

YEC INTREP

[Radix]

 

Sometimes, I just cannot help myself.

[tpaine]

20 posted on 01/21/2004 3:47:25 PM PST by EggsAckley (...................Repeal the Fourteenth Amendment.......................)

______________________________________________

Sure thing 'Egg', -- who cares if our rights to life, liberty & property are violated?

[greenwolf]

I believe that Neanderthals were assimilated with modern humans. We are Neanderthals.

Geneticists describe the neanderthal as a separate species from us and as an evolutionary dead end. DNA test showed them to be enough different from us that crossbreeding would not have even been possible. I would guess that our ancestors got tired of looking at them and killed them all.

[EggsAckley]

The 14th is the one that makes babies born here automatic citizens. It is a holdover from the end of slavery. Due to the illegal immigrants, it needs to be changed.

[Ahban]

It does not need to be repealed. Liberal judges have twisted it. It says all persons born in the U.S. AND SUBJECT TO THE JURISDICTION THEREOF become citizens.

[Ahban]

I think the deluge of Noah got them.

[gcruse]

Neandosexuals?

[Destructor]

"Did Humans And Neanderthals Battle For Control Of The Middle East?"

Yes. The Neanderthals won, and assimilated into the tribe of "Arabs!"

[VadeRetro]

It's misleading to say those mtDNA studies prove we aren't related to Neanderthals. They don't.

[tpaine]

I getcha.. Repeal and we can with-hold citizenship from those pesky neanderthal types.. Great idea..

[greenwolf]

Let's pick a male. He marries a Cro-magnon female. His kids get half his nuclear genes. How much of his mtDNA do they have? Not one of them has any.

Let's pick a female neandethal who marries a Cro-magnon male. Again, her kids each get half of their nuclear DNA from her. How much of their mtDNA do they have? All of them have all of it. "Now we're cooking!" you say.

But let's be real and say half of her brood is male. None of her granchildren from them will have neanderthal mtDNA. It's only her direct female line that will carry the mtDNA. She's only one woman in a village with maybe ten women in it, and the Cro-magnons think she's butt-ugly.

Marriage? Into another species? Isn't that sort of like you marrying a dog or a cat?

Would you let your daughter marry a dog or a cat?

[VadeRetro]

You're begging the question. What we don't really know is whether we could interbreed with them or if we did. Well, there's some ambiguous evidence that some interbreeding might have happened in the Near East earlier. Then there's the Lagar Velho child from 26K years ago in Portugal, another maybe.

[night reader]

"That's a nice picture of Chelsea Clinton."

That's a reconstructed face of a 'Hybrid' Human-Neanderthal child found in Spain.
=======================================
So which Clinton is the human and which is the Neanderthal? And how did Chelsea get to Spain?