Published:
15:00 EST, 1 February 2016
| Updated:
19:11 EST, 1 February 2016
ns have been blamed for killing off the Neanderthals around 30,000
years ago by breeding with them and even murdering them.
But now experts believe it was our ancestors' artistic and innovative abilities that ultimately led to the Neanderthal's demise.
The
experts believe our more advanced lifestyle gave us a cultural and
competitive edge over our ancient cousins and this paved the way for
their extinction.
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Experts believe Neanderthals (model
pictured right) were wiped out by artistic and innovative modern
humans. The study claims our more advanced lifestyle gave us a cultural
and competitive edge over our ancient cousins which ultimately paved the
way for their extinction
Researchers
from Stanford University in California and Meiji University in Japan
used computer models to show a small modern human population was capable
of displacing a larger Neanderthal one, if they had a sufficiently
large cultural advantage - such as artistic capability.
The
Neanderthals faced a vicious circle because as modern humans' cultural
advantages increased, their competitive advantage also increased, which
in turn further boosted their cultural advantage.
The
results, published in the journal Proceeding of the National Academy of
Sciences, add to a growing body of evidence, that modern humans
destroyed the Neanderthals.
HOW ART GAVE OUR ANCESTORS THE EDGE OVER NEANDERTHALS
Research
has shown cultural life became increasingly important for humans with
childhoods becoming longer than those of Neanderthals, for instance.
Neanderthal
children's teeth grew more quickly than modern human children, meaning
they must have had a much reduced opportunity to learn from their
parents and clan members.
Experts
believe our ancestors then moved from a primitive 'live fast and die
young' strategy to a 'live slow and grow old' one - making humans one of
the most successful organisms on Earth.
Elsewhere,
modern humans gained new cultural abilities that allowed them to better
exploit their environments and out-compete groups such as Neanderthals.
Archaeologists
have found cave paintings, rock art and beads dating from after 50,000
years ago, where before then there was limited evidence of art and
culture.
The
study explains art is an indicator of humans' ability to innovate, and
once people start innovating, technology changes rapidly.
It was likely this process that allowed humans to successfully populate the planet.
Professor
Marcus Feldman, of Stanford University in California, said: 'Most
archaeologists argue the advantage to modern humans lay in a higher
culture level, but a sizable minority dispute this view.'
He
continued that competition between the two species may have occurred
when a modern human entered a region occupied by a larger Neanderthal
population.
Professor Feldman said: 'We present a model for this replacement.
'Our
findings shed light on the disappearance of the Neanderthals, showing
that endogenous factors such as relative culture level, rather than such
extrinsic factors as epidemics or climate change, could have caused the
eventual exclusion of a comparatively larger population by an initially
smaller one.'
Research
has shown cultural life became increasingly important for humans with
childhoods becoming longer than those of Neanderthals, for instance.
Neanderthal
children's teeth grew much more quickly than modern human children,
meaning they must have had a much reduced opportunity to learn from
their parents and clan members.
Professor
Feldman believes our ancestors moved from a primitive 'live fast and
die young' strategy to a 'live slow and grow old' one - making humans
one of the most successful organisms on the planet.
This means Neanderthals, who lived in small populations across Europe, were ill-equipped to deal with the newcomers.
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The researchers said: 'Our findings
shed light on the disappearance of the Neanderthals, showing that
endogenous factors such as relative culture level, rather than such
extrinsic factors as epidemics...could have caused the eventual
exclusion [of Neanderthals]' A Neanderthal skull is pictured above
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Modern humans gained new cultural
abilities (a cave painting from Montignac, France is pictured) that
allowed them to better exploit their environments and out-compete groups
like Neanderthals. The study explained art is an indicator of humans'
ability to innovate, and once people start innovating, technology
changes rapidly
Elsewhere,
modern humans gained new cultural abilities that allowed them to better
exploit their environments and out-compete groups such as Neanderthals.
In
particular, archaeologists have found evidence that big changes
occurred in human society around the time the Neanderthals disappeared.
+6
Researchers believe the artistic and inventive attributes
(illustrated) of modern humans led to us out-competing Neanderthals
These include cave paintings, rock art and beads dating from after 50,000 years ago.
Before then there was limited evidence of art and culture.
The
study explained art is an indicator of humans' ability to innovate, and
once people start innovating, technology changes very rapidly.
It was likely this process that allowed humans to successfully populate the planet.
However,
the study will prove controversial because jewellery thought to have
been made by neanderthals up to 130,000 years ago has previously been
earthed.
Eight
talons taken from a white-tailed eagle found at Neanderthal site in
Krapina in Croatia were used to create a necklace or bracelet.
And
last year, experts claimed weapons used by modern humans were no better
than the Neanderthals' handiwork, signifying our direct ancestors were
not technologically superior.
Dr
Seiji Kadowaki, first author of this earlier study from Nagoya
University, Japan, said: 'We're not so special, I don't think we
survived Neanderthals simply because of technological competence.'
Early modern humans expanded the geographic area they inhabited out of Africa during a period of 55,000 to 40,000 years ago.
The
researchers studied stone tools that were used by people in the Early
Ahmarian culture and the Protoaurignacian culture, living in south and
west Europe and west Asia around 40,000 years ago.
They used small stone points as tips for hunting weapons like throwing spears.
Researchers
previously considered these to be an important innovation - one that
helped the humans migrate from west Asia to Europe, where Neanderthals
were living.
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Previously, researchers studied stone
tools that were used by
people in the Early Ahmarian culture and the
Protoaurignacian
culture, living in south and west Europe and west Asia
around
40,000 years ago. They found the human tools (pictured)
were no
more effective than Neanderthal-created tools of the same era
However, the research revealed a timeline that doesn't support this theory.
If the innovation had led to the migration, evidence would show the stone points moving in the same direction as the humans.
But
the study showed the possibility that the stone points appeared in
Europe 3,000 years earlier than in the Levant, a historical area in west
Asia.
'We
looked at the basic timeline revealed by similar stone points, and it
shows that humans were using them in Europe before they appeared in the
Levant - the opposite of what we'd expect if the innovation had led to
the humans' migration from Africa to Europe,' said Dr Kadowaki.
'Our
new findings mean that the research community now needs to reconsider
the assumption that our ancestors moved to Europe and succeeded where
Neanderthals failed because of cultural and technological innovations
brought from Africa or west Asia.'
They believe the timings imply several new scenarios about the migration of modern humans into Europe.
NEANDERTHALS WERE KILLED OFF BY MODERN DISEASES, EXPERTS CLAIM
In
April last year, scientists claimed it may have been infectious
diseases carried by our modern human ancestors as they migrated out of
Africa that finished the Neanderthals off.
Experts
studying genetic, fossil and archaeological evidence said that
Neanderthals suffered from a wide range of diseases that still plague us
today.
They
have found evidence that suggests our prehistoric cousins would have
been infected by diseases such as tuberculosis, typhoid, whooping cough,
encephalitis and the common cold.
But
anthropologists from Cambridge University and Oxford Brookes University
said that new diseases carried by modern humans may have led to the
downfall of Neanderthals.
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A previous study said Neanderthals may
have succumbed to infectious diseases carried to Europe by modern
humans as they migrated out of Africa. Bacteria that cause tuberculosis
are shown above
They
speculate that pathogens like Heliocbacter pylori, the bacteria that
causes stomach ulcers, were brought to Europe by modern humans from
Africa and may have infected Neanderthals, who would have been unable to
fight off these new diseases.
However,
Neandethals may have also helped modern humans by passing on slivers of
immunity against some diseases to our ancestors when they interbred.
Dr
Simon Underdown, a principal lecturer in anthropology at Oxford Brookes
University and co-author of the study, said: 'As Neanderthal
populations became more isolated they developed very small gene pools
and this would have impacted their ability to fight off disease.
'When Homo sapiens came out of Africa they brought diseases with them.
'We
know that Neanderthals were actually much more advanced than they have
been given credit for and we even interbred with them.
'Perhaps the only difference was that we were able to cope with these diseases but Neanderthals could not.'
WASHINGTON—Around 50,000 years ago, anatomically modern humans
shacked up with some Neanderthals—and the genetic consequences are still
doing a walk of shame through our generations.
The questionable interbreeding left traces of Neanderthal DNA
that are linked to mood disorders, mostly depression, as well as
tobacco-use disorders, skin conditions, and hypercoagulation (excessive
blood clotting), according to a new study published Thursday in Science.
The findings lend support to the theory that our past hominin hook-up
has had a lasting influence on modern humans’ health. The data also
offers hints at genetic adaptations of our ancient ancestors and,
potentially, new insights into the diseases they help cause in modern
humans, the authors suggest.
Having these traces of Neanderthal DNA doesn’t “doom us” to having
these diseases, cautioned John Capra, bioinformaticist at Vanderbilt
University and coauthor of the study. The genetic traces linked to
disease in modern humans doesn’t mean that Neanderthals were stricken
with those diseases either, he added. In fact, some of them could have
been advantageous.
For instance, excessive blood clotting can result in strokes and
heart attacks in modern humans. However, quick clotting is also a
natural defense against bacteria entering a wound site, Capra explained.
He hypothesizes that some of the Neanderthal traces that linger in
modern humans may have been advantageous at one point. This would make
sense, since the Neanderthals were likely highly adapted to their own
environments, he added. “Perhaps spending a night or two with a
Neanderthal is a relatively small price to pay for getting thousands of
years of adaptations,” Capra said.
Researchers have hypothesized for some time that Neanderthal DNA—the
bits that have been maintained in modern humans’ genomes, that is—can
influence health. After all, Eurasian genomes contain about 1.5 to 4
percent Neanderthal DNA. But proving that the tiny fragments of ancient
DNA has influence has been tricky.
For the study, Capra and colleagues harvested genetic and disease
incidence data from the electronic health records of more than 28,000
adults of European ancestry. Next, the researchers compared the genetic
data with that of Neanderthal genomes, looking for genetic fingerprints
of the ancient hominin’s DNA in modern genomes. Then they looked for
links between the presence of Neanderthal DNA and disease incidence in
the adults. Capra and colleagues found a number of links, some of which
seemed to be associated with sunlight exposure, they speculated. The
researchers found Neanderthal DNA variations associated with skin
conditions, including actinic keratosis, precancerous skin lesions
linked to over exposure to the sun. There were also Neanderthal links to
depression, a mood disorder that can in some cases be linked to sun
exposure in modern humans, the authors point out.
Less clear, however, was the link to tobacco-use disorders, which was
found in the analysis. It’s unlikely that Neanderthals were taking
smoke breaks 50,000 years ago outside their caves, Capra said. But the
genetic hitch in modern humans in their modern environments may confer a
complex neurological trait that now creates a predisposition to
nicotine addiction. Studying the link further could offer new
information on understanding and even treating addiction in humans,
Capra explained.
Moving forward, Capra expects that more research using big genetic
and disease datasets will reveal more ancient fragments of our genome
and their influence on health. After all, he said, human’s family tree
is a lot more bush-like than tree-like. Science, 2015. DOI: 10.1126/science.aad2149 (About DOIs).
![The researchers said: 'Our findings shed light on the disappearance of the Neanderthals, showing that endogenous factors such as relative culture level, rather than such extrinsic factors as epidemics...could have caused the eventual exclusion [of Neanderthals]' A Neanderthal skull is pictured above](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_uVQIMmkYacpGgq6GVU6xzUWrEL-3TxbfkHKFwkadqCbHIkOrt_hPaZ457Be2yBInhrnaFs0QALPTOeVXSzWpvM0BpFpxh5oB63G7CwOfhXzMoYynRQREjW9Z0Dsi4aTja4AvouhAcz-DgA2K6ijTxII_o6euKDb1DW0QbTcT5_tEgF4ihLHVeETS9hbZlIY6ofmsx4JmjqAMBOPWRVti7AzUTIJbQop7uwHVNcZQhi6UeQ_meMUm-r0wH1A7Ade69-tg=s0-d)
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