Blog Post #6
When we think of the word “neanderthal” some of the first things that come to mind are the types that pop culture has explained. For example, I have always thought of the type of comedic neanderthals, such as the Flintstones or even the cave-man in certain Geico commercials. We stereotype them to be “lesser” or more uneducated than us, and we often use the word as an insult. However, what many people don’t realize is that neanderthals were very real, and we absolutely would not be who we are today without them. Truthfully, we ARE them.
About three hundred to four hundred thousand years ago, homo sapiens began to evolve from these neanderthals. This level of our evolutionary cycle was discovered in 1856 as a cluster of bones and a broken skull inside Germany’s Neander Valley (hence where they would eventually get their names). What they found resembled humans unlike any ancestor they have seen before. In fact, it’s discovery completely turned around scientists understanding of human genetics and the public’s understanding of where they came from. Many were upset, for they followed the church’s science of everyone sharing one common ancestor: Adam and Eve. This confused many because now there was proof of another form of evolution taking place so long ago.
Though this did confuse both the public and scientists together, its discovery turned out to be one of the biggest aids to the understanding of where we come from and why we are who we are now. For example, the video assigned in class explained how we are still able to find genes of neanderthals in humans today, specifically in Europe and Asia. This is important because no neanderthal groups lived in these areas at the time they were alive, proving that the neanderthals must have migrated to the middle east and mated with those who would later spread to those areas of the world later. We can now have proof of where humans have migrated and where they ended up.
Another example of how science’s understanding of our ancestors was changed was their use of tools and hunting techniques. We could see near the fossils and skeletons of neanderthals that there were many tools created by them around the sites. These were sharpened objects such as animal ribs, looking almost identical to the spears we see from our human ancestors. It makes sense that neanderthals needed tools to hunt, but what was discovered that their inventions were what made the path to all the weapons and hunting techniques we have today. Items found were things such as scrapers, notches and hand axes.
So, once we are able to notice our similarities and understand how vital neanderthals were in making us human, it is harder to underestimate them and use the phrase “neanderthal” as an insult. Instead of looking down on them, we must thank them, for without them we would never have existed. I believe that the only way for us to truly know ourselves is to look deep into the past, and these fossils and skeletons are the key to this knowledge.