Read the article, \"The Neanderthal dead: Exploring mortuary variability in Midd

Question

Read the article, "The Neanderthal dead: Exploring mortuary variability in Middle Palaeolithic Eurasia" by: Paul B Pettitt. He discusses the evidence for Neanderthal burial of the dead, in an effort to understand the differences between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens.

Answer the following:

1. How does the author attribute different significance to different kinds of material evidence?

2. Is there a single sharp transition between Neanderthals and our species Homo sapiens? Or is a more gradual change that might be related to something other than biology?

Explanation / Answer

1) neanderthals are recognisable human but have distinctive facial features and a build that were evolutionary adaptation to environment.

Body size and shape

Neanderthals were generally shorter and had more robust skeleton and muscular body than modern humans brain.

Brain size was larger than the average modern human brain and average 1500 cubic centimetre. This is expected as Neanderthals where generally heavier and more muscular than modern humans.

Jaws and teeth

Jaws were larger and more robust then those of modern humans and had a gap called the retromolar space behind the third molars at the back of the jaw.

evidence shows that Neanderthals had a complex culture although they did not behave in the same way as the early modern humans who lived at the same time.

2)no, sharp transition was not there. Interbreeding diluted Neanderthals DNA because there were significantly more homo Sapiens. Neanderthals were a sub species of homo Sapiens rather than a separate species and hence the scientific name is homo Sapiens Neanderthalensis.

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