By Muhammad Omer Zahri
By Adam and Eve the ordinary man understands the first man and woman. Science, of course, explains that man and woman did not suddenly come into existence in the form in which they exist today, but that they evolved gradually from lower animals. One of the extinctforms of humans is of Neanderthals. The term “Neanderthals” comes from Neander Valley near Dusseldorf, Germany. They were subspecies of ancient human, belongs to the genus Homo, which became extinct around 40,000 years ago. Majority of them lived in Europe and Central Asia. Many Scientists claimed that they were closely related to modern humans. Many say that 99.5% of their DNA is similar to the modern human. In the other words we can say that they were close evolutionary cousins of our species which is Homo sapiens.
Many traces found that shows that the Neanderthals of early stage lived in Europe around 200,000 years ago. Modern humans, on the other hand, spread out of Africa around 100,000 years ago. When it comes to an anatomy of the Neanderthals so the average height of the Neanderthal man recorded to be 5 feet 6 inches, which is considered pretty short nowadays. Many scientists are with the point that Neanderthals were muscular and also stand with the point that they were hard workers. They had a big
Neanderthals had massive brow ridges with protruding nose, jaws and teeth. Their brains were 20% bigger than the average modern man. Comparatively, Neanderthals had short limbs and wide rib cages. However Neanderthals ear canals were smaller than that of the modern humans, so we can come to the point that there were also less agile. A bone in the Neanderthals throat called Hyoid shows that the Neanderthals could have spoken. They had no proper language; however they had a voice box which allowed speech such as grunts, screams, roars and ugaugas. Neanderthals had higher pitched voices as compared to ours. They clothed themselves in skins.
In addition to this, Neanderthals were good enough in hunting. Wild Horses, Rain Deer, Bison, Grains, Legumes and Berries were the part of their diet plan.Neanderthals used tools, which were frequently produced using soft hammer thump, with hammers made of materials like bones, deer horns and wood, rather than hard hammer thump, using stone hammers. Moreover, Neanderthals tools most commonly consisted of modern stone-flakes, specific hand axes, and spears. Many of these tools were very sharp.
Some other interesting facts about Neanderthals are that they also had medicines. Traces of chamomile and yarrow, two anti-inflammatory medicines have been detected in the plaque on Neanderthal teeth. Some other fact about the Neanderthals is that they were better painters than that being better talkers. Moreover, they are the first beings known to have buried their dead.Neanderthals had deep affection for jewelleryandglitter.
The Neanderthal man had learned the use of fire, an advantage not possessed by the men of the tertiary period. This and the improvement in stone implements made the struggle for existence less terribly severe. There was no marriage in the Neanderthal period, and the woman was regarded as the owner of her children. Such relationship as was recognized must have been purelyMatriarchal.
There is not a lot of evidence of the extinction of the Neanderthals, but many scientists are with the view that the extinction of the Neanderthals occurred due to the climate change. But there extinction is still a history mystery.
Published in Young Nation magazine on December 10, 2016