Neanderthals 'Had Hands Like Ours'

BBC ^ | 3-27-2003 | Helen Briggs

[blam]

Neanderthals 'had hands like ours'

By Helen Briggs
BBC News Online science reporter

The popular image of Neanderthals as clumsy, backward creatures has been dealt another blow.

Neanderthals used tools and had a capacity for speech It was always thought they were a somewhat ham-fisted lot.

However, computer reconstructions of fossilised bones show their hands had almost the same manual dexterity as ours.

Far from being "butter fingered", they would have been adept at using implements such as axes and knives.

The finding is important because it casts doubt on the idea that Neanderthals died out because of a physical inability to use stone tools.

Earlier evidence had suggested that our ancestors triumphed over their more primitive cousins because they were better at DIY.

"It shows it's not just because they were ham-fisted that they became an evolutionary dead end," says Clive Gamble of the Centre for the Archaeology of Human Origins at the University of Southampton, England.

Ice Age hunters

Neanderthals lived between 230,000 and 28,000 years ago in Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East.

They were skilled hunters and well-adapted to living during the ice ages.

But they started to die out after modern humans (Cro-Magnons) appeared on the scene in Europe about 40,000 years ago.

Millions of tools from both tribes of ancient people have been found. The Neanderthals made mainly flake-based tools but the Cro-Magnons created long, slender stone implements as well as carved bone and antler.

New discoveries are revealing just how sophisticated some of our ancestors were and how much further back in time that complexity of behaviour existed - much earlier than we thought

The latest research looked at fossilised thumb and index-finger bones of Neanderthals found at La Ferrassie site in France.

Scientists carried out a 3D computer reconstruction and found that the tips of their thumb and index finger could touch, giving a precision grip.

Neanderthals' demise cannot be attributed to any physical inability to use or make tools, based on this and archaeological evidence, says a team led by Wesley Niewoehner of the department of archaeology at California State University, San Bernardino.

"Rather, the explanation lies in the enigmatic reasons for the Neanderthals persistent use of a behavioural repertoire that emphasised physical strength and endurance over technological innovation," Dr Niewoehner told BBC News Online.

The research is published in the journal Nature.

[blam]

We are Neanderthals.

[HuntsvilleTxVeteran]

French are cross between neanderthals and apes!

[gov_bean_ counter]

Earlier evidence had suggested that our ancestors triumphed over their more primitive cousins because they were better at DIY.

Psssst. They were better at SEX.

[Mears]

I had a boyfriend some years ago that had hands like a Neanderthal!

[amused]

As evidenced by Clinton's hairy palms

[TenthAmendmentChampion]

If the women don't find you handsome, at least they should fined you handy!

[TenthAmendmentChampion]

fined = find

[scouse]

Neanderthals 'had hands like ours'

Yes! But could they pronate their wrists after hitting a lob wedge eighty yards under the overhanging branches of a weeping willow and land the ball less than six feet from the pin?....I don't think so.

[gov_bean_ counter]

Don't anybody ask for a show of hands?

[gov_bean_ counter]

?=!

[Batrachian]

Anyone who's read "Clan Of The Cave Bear" knows this ;)

[Oldeconomybuyer]

[APBaer]

"Neanderthals 'had hands like ours'"

This is true.
Many times on the Subway Neanderthals have given me a finger.

[stands2reason]

Duh. I'm not surprised. I always thought the neanderthals were victims of "species-cide" by modern man.

[sneakers]

Don't you just love Red Green! Especially the duct tape thing.

[TenthAmendmentChampion]

Yeah, my son loves it. It's one of the few good shows from Canada since SCTV went off the air. But the older shows were better (Red used to read poetry: one segment was called The Winter of Our Discount Tent.) I wish they would air the old shows. Good to see Red's nephew Harold back on the new series, though.

[KarlInOhio]

Yes! But could they pronate their wrists after hitting a lob wedge eighty yards under the overhanging branches of a weeping willow and land the ball less than six feet from the pin?....I don't think so.

But can you drive the ball 500 yards off the tee because you have been wrestling wolly mammoths since you were five?

[HungarianGypsy]

My husband (although still quite handsome) has a sloped forehead and long arms. I often wonder if someone were to find our skeletal remains in a few hundred years if they would think that someone had buried a Neanderthal in a casket.

[aruanan]

However, computer reconstructions of fossilised bones show their hands had almost the same manual dexterity as ours.

The idea of Neanderthals as slow-moving, dim-witted, hulking folk came from the study of the first skeletons which were of individuals who had suffered from arthritis; the specious 19th century view of evolution as being progress toward perfection didn't help matters either.

[Redcloak]

It's more likely that their culture did them in. Neanderthals were slow to adopt new ideas and new technologies. This is evidenced by their stone tools. They stuck to the same tool designs for thousands of years. It wasn't until modern humans arrived that they started to toy with new designs. It's probably a fair guess that they didn't change other aspects of their culture either. This would have posed a problem if the environment changed too rapidly.

Rapid change could have resulted from the activities of the modern humans. In particular, the moderns probably used fire to alter the environment. Many hunter-gatherers burn off undesireable plants to allow more valuable plants to thrive. For example, here in Southern California, the Indians were all hunter-gatherers. They burned off the chapparel to allow sagebrush to grow. They then collected the sage seeds to grind into meal. This destroyed habitat for some animals and created it for others. Any species depending on the previous mix of game animals would suffer as a result of the change. Modern Humans changing the environment through fire in Europe and the Middle East would have affected the Neanderthals, but the Neanderthals were loathe to change their habits to adapt; even though they had the physical and intellectual ability to do so.