Homo neanderthalensis, known as Neanderthals, is a human species that evolved about 440,000 years ago and became extinct between 40,000 and 28,000 years ago.
Yes, Neanderthals are humans too. Because although we constantly use the word "human" for ourselves, this word is used to include all species within the Homo genus.
Neanderthals, also written as Neandertals, are an extinct species or subspecies of archaic humans who lived in Eurasia until about 40,000 years ago. The type specimen, Neanderthal 1, was found in 1856 in the Neander Valley in present-day Germany.
20 Facts About Neanderthals!
1) You are part Neanderthal!
Remember: the reason chimpanzees are always mentioned when talking about human cousins is because they are our living cousins. However, since we separated from our common ancestor with chimpanzees 6 million years ago, many of our close cousins (and ancestors) have lived and disappeared. Each of these is much more closely related to us than chimpanzees. While our genes with chimpanzees differ by 1.23%, our genes with Neanderthals differ by only 0.12%. Considering this percentage, which causes the significant difference between us and chimpanzees, it can be understood how close animal (and human) species Neanderthals are to us. For comparison, the genetic difference that separates you from any other human on Earth is less than 0.1% and is usually between 0.08-0.02%.
2) If you are of Asian or Caucasian descent, your ancestors were interbreeding with Neanderthal humans about 37,000 years ago!
Modern genetic data clearly shows that modern humans and Neanderthals interbred after they met in Europe. Approximately 4% of the genes of Asian and Caucasian societies consist of Neanderthal genes (the percentage here indicates the rate at which a specific gene is inherited from Neanderthals, not genetic similarity).
3) It wasn't a bad thing that our ancestors interbred with Neanderthals; On the contrary, it contributed greatly to our being alive today!
The genes we "stole" from Neanderthals as a result of mating enable us to fight deadly viruses such as Epstein-Barr. This virus has also been linked to the incidence of various cancers, said Stanford University immunologist Laurent Abi-Rached. So if you're alive today, you may owe it to ancestors who interbred with Neanderthals.
4) If you want to find out how much Neanderthal DNA you carry, you can press a piece of cotton on your cheek, roll it up, and send it to National Geographic!
Genographic Project, run by National Geographic, continues genome sequencing studies and can give you extremely interesting information for a certain amount of money. However, this is not complete genome sequencing. Only some specific gene regions are analyzed. If you're a little rich, it's possible to have your entire genome sequenced. For example, in 2010, Ozzy Osbourne, the singer of the metal band Black Sabbath, learned that he had a typical Neanderthal gene on his 10th chromosome.
5) Now that the entire genome of Neanderthals has been sequenced, Harvard University geneticist George Church thinks that a Neanderthal could be reborn using a human mother!
According to him, doing this may even be beneficial for us. Because the fact that Neanderthals may have thought differently from us may contribute to some problems that we cannot solve today.
7) Neanderthals were first discovered in 1856, but it is not easily defined.
Miners working in Germany's Neander Valley discovered fossilized bones that they thought belonged to a bear. A local natural historian living in the area made a closer guess, thinking that it belonged to a Kazakh person suffering from rickets (a type of bone disease).
8) Charles Darwin published his masterpiece, The Origin of Species, which would radically change the history of science, 3 years after this discovery.
The discovered bones were examined for the first time by anatomist William King within the scope of Darwin's theory of evolution. Thus, the species was named Homo neanderthalensis for the first time. However, William King was unable to slow down and claimed that these bones were a transitional species between monkeys and humans. This was incorrect and was later corrected by evolutionary biologists.
9) There was doubt that Neanderthals were a separate human species until a few decades after this identification. It was claimed that Neanderthals actually belonged to people suffering from acromegaly (giantness) or arthritis.
These suspicions were not unjustified. Between 1909 and 1911, pathologist paleontologist Marcellin Boule completed the first complete Neanderthal skeleton. However, luckily, this skeleton actually belonged to an individual suffering from arthritis and sparked controversy. But thousands of bones, belonging to more than 400 individuals in total, were later unearthed, proving that Neanderthals could not all have arthritis or acromegaly, and ensured that they were a separate species. Genetic research has already put an end to the debate: Neanderthals are a separate human species!
10) Until the mid-1970s, the reactionary creationist movement continued to tell the public that the Neanderthal bones found were still diseased human bones.
As a result of thousands of evidence to the contrary, they have just begun to accept that they belong to another human species. In other words, anti-science creationists continue to follow science about a century behind in this matter, as in every other issue, and they distort and blunt the public's perception of science.
11) Neanderthals were very successful manual workers.
They had acquired impressive skills through trial and error and practice. So much so that some of his techniques, especially in stone carving, can hardly be repeated even by people today. But their problem was that they couldn't be creative. There wasn't much variety in their products.
12) We have to give credit to the Neanderthals for a few great ideas!
By hitting one stone against another at very specific angles, they were able to obtain very sharp points. They tied these sharp stones to sticks and strengthened the bond between the stone and the stick with the help of a uhu of their own production. Although the construction of this UHU was quite simple compared to today's ones, it required quite complex fire control for the period. Neanderthals were able to achieve this.
13) Neanderthals hunted bison and woolly rhinoceros with the tools they produced.
Skeletons of individuals who suffered serious injuries or even died due to these injuries were found during these hunts.
14) The injuries Neanderthals received while hunting were not enough for their jubilee.
Neanderthals looked after each other during illness and helped each other recover. This gives one of the most important information about their intelligence: they were empathetic!
15) Neanderthals had medical knowledge of their own!
Traces of chamomile extract, also known as oxeye, and yarrow extract, also known as lamprey, have been found. These two extracts have anti-inflammatory effects. Traces of these chemicals were found in the dental plaque of Neanderthals, indicating that they consumed them.
16) Neanderthals had their own unique cuisine!
Neanderthals, like modern humans, were omnivores: they ate both meat and plants. Again, like us, they had a meat-heavy omnivorous diet. However, just like humans, they balanced this with plant foods as much as they could. It is thought that they kept the fires under control and made smoked meat with vegetables!
17) Neanderthals also had a sense of fashion!
In a Neanderthal cave in southern Spain, archaeologists discovered yellow pigments that they think they applied to their skin. It is possible that Neanderthals used this as a foundation.
18) Neanderthals also had their own sense of art!
In the El Castillo Cave, discovered on the Pas River in Spain in the summer of 2014, wall drawings belonging to Neanderthals that are at least 40,800 years old were found!
19) Neanderthals practiced their art silently; because they couldn't talk much.
The anatomical structure of Neanderthals' voice boxes shows that they were unable to produce some vowels. This must have severely limited their ability to speak.
20) Unfortunately, we lost our chance to communicate with Neanderthals.
Because they disappeared about 25,000 years ago. If we manage to bring them back, we may be able to discover exactly what properties they have. However, for ethical reasons, it seems that conducting such research will take a long time.
21) Neanderthals had a perception of death and a belief in life after death.
They would build graves for their dead and bury them with their loved ones. Varying levels of response to death have been identified in many primate species. Some behaviors such as examining the dead and expressing condolences to the relatives of the dead have been observed in chimpanzees. However, behavior such as burying the dead with their belongings has not yet been observed in any species other than humans.
22) The reason for the extinction of Neanderthals is still unknown.
To date, many reasons have been put forward, all stronger than the other: us occupying their habitat and killing them, not being resistant to the diseases we carry through our migration routes, not being able to adapt to the end of the Ice Age, changing food sources, rapid decrease in the food they hunt, and many more... To date, their extinction has never been attributed to a single cause. They probably became extinct as a result of a combination of these. Some scientists even think that they did not technically disappear, but assimilated into us Homo sapiens as a result of continuous mating.