Changes

Neanderthals were on average more muscular than humans and they lacked a chin, they were social creatures living in small tribes, like the humans of their time, Neanderthals also possessed the right skull features to be able to speak <ref>Neanderthal Myths <i>Neanderthal, Channel 4</i> [http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/N/neanderthal/]</ref>.

Neanderthals were on average more muscular than humans and they lacked a chin, they were social creatures living in small tribes, like the humans of their time, Neanderthals also possessed the right skull features to be able to speak <ref>Neanderthal Myths <i>Neanderthal, Channel 4</i> [http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/N/neanderthal/]</ref>.

The popular impression of him as a stooping brute is incorrect and derives from the original poor reconstruction in the Neanderthal valley. It has also been suggested that the first individual found suffered from vitamin D deficiency ([[rickets]]) or [[syphilis]].

The popular impression of him as a stooping brute is incorrect and derives from the original poor reconstruction in the Neanderthal valley. It has also been suggested that the first individual found suffered from vitamin D deficiency ([[rickets]]) or [[syphilis]].

 

 

 

==History==

==History==

[[Image:Neanderthal_sites.gif|right|thumb|300px|The last refuges of the Neanderthal.]]

[[Image:Neanderthal_sites.gif|right|thumb|300px|The last refuges of the Neanderthal.]]

Neanderthal man developed from ''Homo erectus'', though the widespread distribution of intermediate form hinders an attempt to resolve any single geographical locality as the place of development. The fate of Neanderthals is equally hard or determine: they either became assimilated into encroaching human populations or merely died out.

Neanderthal man developed from ''Homo erectus'', though the widespread distribution of intermediate form hinders an attempt to resolve any single geographical locality as the place of development. The fate of Neanderthals is equally hard or determine, we know they went extinct between 28,000 and 24,000 years ago

<ref>Neanderthals' 'last rock refuge' <i>BBC News</i> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/5343266.stm]</ref>, but we don't know how or why: many theories have been presented, these are the most common ones:

Neanderthal Man is not considered to be a direct ancestor of modern humans, but their remains are examples of [[transitional fossil]]s along a subsidiary branch, an evolutionary dead end.

- Climate changes. <ref> Climate Change Pushed Neanderthal Into Extinction In Iberian Peninsula <i> GeneticArchaeology.com</i> [http://www.geneticarchaeology.com/Research/Climate_Change_Pushed_Neanderthal_Into_Extinction_In_Iberian_Peninsula.asp]</ref>

 

- Competition with humans over resources. <ref>Did Use of Free Trade Cause Neanderthal Extinction? <i>Newswise</i> [http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/510666/]</ref>

 

- Their reliance on meat. <ref>Meaty appetites may have caused Neanderthal extinction <i> Science & Spirit</i> [http://www.science-spirit.org/archive_cm_detail.php?new_id=317]</ref>

 

- Assimilation into the larger human population. <ref>The assimilation model, modern human origins in Europe and the extinction of Neanderthals <i>Fred H. Smith, Ivor Jankovic, Ivor Karavanic</i> [http://www.ffzg.hr/arheo/prap/the%20assimilation%20model.pdf]</ref>

 

- An interspecies "Zeroth World War". <ref>Odd man out: Neanderthals and modern humans <i>British Archaelogy</i> [http://www.britarch.ac.uk/ba/ba51/ba51feat.html]</ref>

<ref>Did Use of Free Trade Cause Neanderthal Extinction? <i>Newswise</i> [http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/510666/]</ref>

It is likely a combination of at least some of these factors led to the extinction of the Neanderthal.

<ref> Climate Change Pushed Neanderthal Into Extinction In Iberian Peninsula <i> GeneticArchaeology.com</i> [http://www.geneticarchaeology.com/Research/Climate_Change_Pushed_Neanderthal_Into_Extinction_In_Iberian_Peninsula.asp]</ref>

Neanderthal Man is not considered to be a direct ancestor of modern humans, but their remains are examples of [[transitional fossil]]s along a subsidiary branch, an evolutionary dead end.

[[Category:Primates]]

[[Category:Primates]]