> [!infobox] <s class="aside-in"><em>mentioned in 3 topics, 1 evergreen, 1 source</em></s> #### <s class="topic-title">[[Homo neanderthalis]]</s> > [!wikipedia] [Homo neanderthalis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neanderthal) > > Neanderthals are an extinct species or subspecies of archaic humans who lived in [[Eurasia]] until about [[40,000 years ago]]. While the cause of their extinction remains “highly contested,” demographic factors like small population size, inbreeding, and random fluctuations are considered likely factors. Other scholars have proposed competitive replacement, assimilation into the modern human genome (bred into extinction), great climatic change, disease, or a combination of these factors. > > For much of the early 20th Century, researchers depicted Neanderthals as primitive, unintelligent, and brutish. Although knowledge and perception of them has markedly changed since then in the scientific community, the image of the unevolved caveman archetype remains prevalent in popular culture. > > Neanderthal technology was quite sophisticated. It includes the Mousterian stone-tool industry and the ability to create fire and build cave hearths, make the adhesive birch bark tar, craft at least simple clothes similar to blankets and ponchos, weave, go seafaring through the Mediterranean, make use of medicinal plants, as well as treat severe injuries, store food, and use various cooking techniques such as roasting, boiling, and smoking. > > Neanderthals made use of a wide array of food, mainly hoofed mammals, but also other megafauna, plants, small mammals, birds, and aquatic and marine resources. Although they were probably apex predators, they still competed with cave bears, cave lions, cave hyaenas, and other large predators. > > A number of examples of symbolic thought and Palaeolithic art have been inconclusively attributed to Neanderthals, namely possible ornaments made from bird claws and feathers or shells, collections of unusual objects including crystals and fossils, engravings, music production indicated by the Divje Babe Flute, and Spanish cave-paintings contentiously dated to before 65,000 years ago. > Some claims of religious beliefs have been made. Neanderthals were likely capable of speech, possibly articulate, although the complexity of their language is not known. > > The total population of Neanderthals remained low, proliferating weakly harmful gene variants, and precluding effective long-distance networks. Nonetheless, there is evidence of regional cultures and thus of regular communication between communities. They may have frequented caves, and moved between caves seasonally. Neanderthals lived in a high-stress environment with high trauma rates, and about 80% died before the age of 40. The 2010 Neanderthal genome project's draft report presented evidence for interbreeding between Neanderthals and modern humans. It possibly occurred 316–219,000 years ago, but more likely 100,000 years ago and again 65,000 years ago. Neanderthals also appear to have interbred with Denisovans, a different group of archaic humans, in Siberia. > > Around 1–4% of genomes of Eurasians, Australo-Melanesians, Native Americans, and North Africans is of Neanderthal ancestry, while the inhabitants of sub-Saharan Africa have no detectable Neanderthal ancestry, save possible traces from early Sapiens-to-Neanderthal gene flow and/or more recent back-migration of Eurasians to Africa. In all, about 20% of distinctly Neanderthal gene variants survive today. > **See**:: [[human evolution]], [[homo sapiens]] ##### ^dataviews > [!dataview]+ Related unlinked notes > > No results to show for list query. > [!dataview]- Other unlinked mentions > > - [[Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari]] > - [[group selection]] > - [[Hunter-gatherer societies were very diverse]]