The development of human species in the east and west of the old world

Research into human tribal history has made significant progress in recent decades and fundamentally changed our image of the past. New finds and genetic analyses make it possible to understand the development of different human species in more detail than ever before in the history of science. especially the distinction between those in the East andThe west of the Old World is the focus of scientific interest. These considerations shed light on the cultural and biological differences that have emerged over hundreds of thousands of years. In the following, the development from Homo erectus to the Neanderthal is examined from these points of view.

The differences between Eastern and Western monkey people

But the inhabitants of Zhoukoudian also differed from the monkey people who developed in the west of the Old World. The oldest finds from Europe were discovered in 1994 in a chain of caves at Atapuerca in Spain. These bone remains are about 800,000 years old and thus date about the time Homo erectus boarded its boats and colonized Florescould have. In some respects, the finds from Atapuerca were very similar to those in Zhoukoudian and showed parallel characteristics. Many bones are covered criss-crossed with stone tool traces, as a butcher would leave behind when cutting meat.

Discovery of Homo Antecessor

The references to cannibalism conquered the headlines at the time and caused a great public attention. However, the paleoanthropologists found the question more exciting about what the finds in Atapuerca differed from those from Zhoukoudian. The Atapuerca skulls had a larger cavity for the brain and featured quite modern nasal bones and cheekbones.The researchers concluded that a new species had emerged that they called Homo antecessor or primeval man. This discovery helped to understand what a series of finds had been made since 1907.

The find of the Heidelberg man

At that time, workers had found a strange lower jawbone in a sand pit in Germany and thus laid a new trail. This species was named after the nearby university town of Homo Heidelbergensis or Heidelbergmensch and caused discussions. She looked very similar to Homo erectus, but had a skull that already had a high round skull bonewas similar. The brain volume was around 1000 cc and was therefore significantly larger than the average 800 cc of Homo erectus. It looks like the pace of evolutionary changes has accelerated all over the Old World after the Apeman has reached the cold north.

The acceleration of evolution in the north

The individuals were now confronted with completely different climatic conditions, under which random genetic mutations had good chances of asserting themselves. In any case, we have some undisputed facts that clearly separate the lines of development. 600,000 years ago, when Homo Heidelbergensis entered the stage and the Beijing man was in Zhoukoudian in the house, there was in the eastAnd in the west of the Old World actually two definitely distinguished species. Homo erectus was represented with a smaller brain in the east, while in the west Homo antecessor and Homo heidelbergensis were equipped with a larger brain. Whereby, as far as the brain is concerned, size is not everything and not solely deciding on the skills.

Intelligence and Toolmaking

A well-known writer won the Nobel Prize in 1921 with a brain no larger than Homo Heidelbergensis. But he was, it seems, a whole lot more skilful and smarter than older monkey people or as his contemporary Beijing man. Before the Heidelberg man appeared, the stone tools had hardly ever beenchanged and remained very simple. However, around 500,000 years before our time, Homo Heidelbergensis made thinner and therefore lighter specimens and improved the technology. He got finer tees because he probably used soft hammers from wood and no longer just hit stones.

The planning capability of the new kind

This could have been based on better hand and eye coordination, which increased precision. The groups of Homo Heidelbergensis produced much more specialized tools and thus showed cognitive advances. Above all, they began to produce specially shaped core stones that served as prepared blanks. From these, variousTools are beaten, which offered flexibility. This can mean nothing other than that this species could think much better than Homo erectus about what they wanted from the world.

The survival of northern latitudes

They were also able to plan better how their goals could be achieved and what steps were necessary. The fact that the Heidelberg man was able to survive near Heidelberg, far north of the 40th degree of latitude, indicates that he was much more skilful than older monkey people. The inhabitants of Zhoukoudian have little between 670,000 and 410,000 years before our timelinechanged and remained static. The Western ape people, on the other hand, continued their evolution in this period and continued to adapt. If you crawl a few 100 meters into the dark caves in the Spanish Atapuerca, mostly on your stomach, you get to an almost 13 meter deep hole.

The pit of the bones in Atapuerca

Sometimes the help of ropes is also necessary to reach and explore the deep spots. This place is called Sima de los Huesos or pit of the bones and is of great importance. Rightly so, because there you found the densest concentration of relics of the ape people that was ever discovered and documented. Over 4000 fragments have been recovered since the 1990s, whichperiod between 600,000 and 564,000 years before our era. Most bones belong to teenagers or young adults and give insight into demographics.

The classification of the finds

What they have done so deep underground will probably remain a mystery and pose challenges for the researchers. But Sima de los Huesos, like older deposits in Atapuerca, contained relics of amazingly different monkey people and variants. The Spanish excavators classified most as Homo Heidelbergensis and assigned them to this species. Many foreignResearchers think they are more of a different species and identify them as Neanderthals. These most famous of all cavemen were discovered and known in a quarry in the Neandertal near Düsseldorf in 1856.

The first discovery in the Neander Valley

There, workers found a skullcap and 15 other bones, which they presented to a teacher and handed them over to the exam. Excavations in the 1990s brought another 62 fragments to light and supplemented the picture. He, in turn, showed the finds to an anatomist, who classified them as an emblem with astonishing restraint. The Atapuerca finds suggest that the Neanderthals arePeriod of a quarter of a million years spread and spread. It was probably neither climate change nor the expansion into new habitats that provided conditions.

The spread of the Neanderthals

Under these conditions, a few mutants were able to emerge and eventually ousted the Heidelberg people. Rather, they were purely random deviations in the population’s genetic population, which made many different types of ape people coexist. The classic Neanderthals appeared 200,000 years ago and spread in the following100,000 years over most of Europe. They advanced all the way to Siberia and settled large parts of the continent. China or Indonesia, however, as far as we know, they have not reached and left no traces there.

Physical comparison with Beijing man

How much Neanderthals differed from Beijing people and showed which characteristics. They were usually about the same size as the Eastern monkey people and had similar body measurements. But with their fleeing forehead and the weakly pronounced chin, they might look even more primitive and seemed more robust. They had large incisors that were often worn out becausethey were used as tools and were heavily used. A protruding bit and nose shaped the face and gave them a characteristic appearance.

Adjustments to the cold climate

The big nose is interpreted as an adaptation to the cold in the Ice Age Europe and explains its form. Neanderthals were heavier than Beijing people and had a more massive constitution. They had wider hips and shoulders and were physically very strong. They were as strong as wrestlers and possessed the stamina of marathon runners. They were probably wild ones toofighters and had to assert themselves against many enemies.

injury pattern and lifestyle

Although their bones were heavier than most monkey people, Neanderthals often suffered injuries and suffered from it. The patterns of their bone fractures correspond to give a modern comparison, which professional western riders and show extreme stress. Because 100,000 years ago, in the days of the Neanderthals, there were no bucking wild horses from which theyIf he could have fallen, paleoanthropologists assume that they sustained their injuries in battles. This happened in fights with peers and wild animals and was part of their lives. Neanderthals were wild hunters and relied on their physical strength.

Nutrition and Cannibalism

Analyzes of nitrogen isotopes in their bones have shown that they mainly fed on meat. They obtained an amazingly high proportion of their protein requirements from meat food and were specialized. Archaeologists had long suspected that the Neanderthals covered part of their needs by eating conspecifics. Just like the Beijing peoplethey practiced this under certain circumstances. Finds made in France in the 1990s have now undoubtedly confirmed this and provided evidence.

The treatment of bone residue

At this site, bones of half a dozen Neanderthals were discovered mixed with bones of five red deer and other animals. Monkey people and deer had been treated in the same way and showed no distinction in processing. First they were cut up with stone tools and then the meat was scraped off the bones. Eventually, the skulls wereand crushes the long tubular bones to get to the brain and bone marrow. After the details I have listed so far, Neanderthals have not been very different from Beijing people, but there is still a lot to add.

Brain size and manual dexterity

On the one hand, Neanderthals had a large brain that was larger than ours and had considerable dimensions. On average, they measured 1520 cubic centimeters compared to our average of 1350 cubic centimeters, thus surpassing us. They also had a wider neural canal than the Turkana boy and had anatomical features. The resulting thicker nerve strands of the spinal cordgreater manual dexterity and precision. Their stone tools were better worked and more diverse than those of the Beijing man and showed progress.

Specialized tools and hunting techniques

They had specialized scrapers, blades and tips for various tasks and purposes. Traces of tar at such a tip found in the throat of a wild donkey indicate that it was a spearhead. This was attached to a wooden skewer and was used for hunting. signs of wear on some tools indicate that Neanderthals used them beforeused everything for woodworking and were versatile. Wood usually decays and is rarely preserved over long periods of time.

The Spears of Schöningen

In the underwater site near Schöningen in Lower Saxony, however, four beautifully carved spears were recovered in addition to piles of bones from wild horses. These were two meters long and testify to high craftsmanship. The spears were balanced as thrusters and not as throwing weapons and were intended for close combat. The Neanderthals may have been clever, but they may notcoordinated enough to be able to use projectiles. The need to approach threatening animals at short distances may be the reason for the Neanderthal wounds reminiscent of Western riders.

Social Behavior and Care

But there are also finds, such as those from the Shanidar cave in northern Iraq, which point to completely different characteristics and show empathy. One of the skeletons belonged to a man who survived for years despite his deformed legs and despite losing a forearm and left eye. According to this find, an author named the crippled spiritual leader of a groupNeanderthals in Crimea. A character from a well-known novel showed this situation impressively. Another man from Shanidar suffered from an arthritic stiffening of the right ankle, but he too apparently struggled for so long.

Survival of disabled individuals

Until a stab wound killed him and ended his life. Having larger brains has undoubtedly made it easier for the weak and crippled to fend for themselves and survive. Neanderthals could certainly light fires and probably also make clothing and protect themselves from animal skins. And yet it is hard to imagine that the two men from Shanidarwithout the help of healthy companions or family members. Even the most sober scientists assume that Neanderthals show something that we can only call humanity.

The question of language ability

Unlike older species of the genus Homo and unlike their contemporaries in Zhoukoudian, they showed social behaviour. Some paleoanthropologists even believe that the large brain and wide neural canal allowed Neanderthals to speak in much the same way as we do. Like modern humans, they already had the movable hyoid bone, on which the larynxthis facilitates the functions of speaking, swallowing and breathing and enables communication. Other scientists disagree and view the anatomy more critically.

Anatomical limits of language

The Neanderthal brain was large, but it was also longer and flatter than ours and shaped differently. This is probably why the language centres were less pronounced and less effective. Even if this is confirmed by only three preserved skulls, it must be assumed that the larynx in Neanderthals was located very high up in the throat. So that, despite her hyoid bone, she is probablycould only produce a limited range of tones. Maybe they could produce single syllables and form simple sounds.

Communication through gestures and sounds

We could speak here of a simple idea in which only basic terms were exchanged. They may also have been able to express important thoughts and communicate. To do this, however, they will have combined gestures and sounds to reinforce the meaning. Just as a clan in the aforementioned novel gave Neanderthals a developed sign languageattributed to, it could have been. In 2001, it looked like genetics could shed light on this matter and provide clarity.

The discovery of the FOXP2 gene

Scientists found that in a British family whose members had suffered from a language disorder over three generations, a mutation of the Foxp2 gene also occurred. This verbal developmental dyspraxia was associated with the gene. This gene encrypts a protein that influences and controls brain activities when talking and speaking. howeverDoesn’t that mean that Foxp2 is the language gene and is solely responsible. Speaking is an infinitely complex process in which countless genes are involved.

The complexity of language genetics

We have no idea about their interaction and that we have to research it first. FoxP2 noticed the scientists because sometimes only one link in a chain has to be faulty to break the whole structure. A mouse bites a cable and my car doesn’t start, it’s the same here. This can result in functional disorders of Foxp2 and theGetting complicated brain language networks and causing problems. However, some archaeologists suspect that random mutations that produced FoxP2 and related genes have given modern humans linguistic skills.

Neanderthal heritage sequencing

These skills were lacking earlier species that included Neanderthals, and only developed later. But then things got interesting and took a new turn. As everyone knows today, deoxyribonucleic acid is the basic building block of life and carries the genetic information. In 2000, geneticists managed to sequence and decipher the human genetic material. lessIt is known that in Leipzig as early as 1997, scientists in Leipzig were able to extract ancient deoxyribonucleic acid from the arm bone of the Neanderthal skeleton, which was found near Düsseldorf in 1856.

The challenges of DNA analysis

This was an extraordinary achievement, because deoxyribonucleic acid chains begin to break shortly after death. which is why in such old material only the smallest fragments can survive and be analyzed. The Leipzig working group certainly had no intention of cloning cavemen and opening a Neanderthal facility. But between 2007 and 2009 that tooNederthal genome sequenced and completely deciphered. This in turn led to a remarkable realization and surprised the professional world.

The Foxp2 gene at Neanderthals

Even the Neanderthals had the Foxp2 gene, which was previously doubted and has now been refuted. So maybe the Neanderthals were no less willing to communicate than we were and were able to communicate well. But it could also be that FoxP2 is not the key to language skills and understanding and other factors count. One day we will know that and morehave clarity. At the moment, however, we can only examine the material traces left and left by the Neanderthals.

Social structures and burials

They lived in larger groups than earlier forms of ape people and were more socially organized. They hunted more effectively and were more successful in procuring food. They occupied territories for longer periods and remained more sedentary. They took care of each other, as earlier monkey people were not able to do and surpassed them. You also have some of your dead very carefullyburied and showed piety.

References to spiritual life

maybe even performed rituals about their dead and held ceremonies. These are the earliest references to the most human of all skills, of a spiritual life. If we interpret the finds correctly and do not misinterpret them. In Shanidar, for example, some bodies have definitely been buried and placed in the ground. The earth in one of the graves contained pollenin high concentration and points to plants.

The interpretation of the pollen finds

Which could mean some Neanderthal groups would embed and adorn the body of a beloved dead man on spring flowers. Less romantic is the hint of other archaeologists who offer a different explanation. The grave is criss-crossed by rat walks and animals. Rats often dragged flowers into their hiding places and left the pollen. In another case,Monte Circeo near Rome, construction workers discovered a grave in 1939.

More grave finds and doubts

that was buried by a rock fall 50,000 years before our time and was preserved. They told the archaeologists that a Neanderthal skull was lying on the ground in the middle of a circle of stones. But they had previously moved the skull, which made many scientists doubt their report. Last there is Teschik-Tash in Uzbekistan and aAnother location. There, a famous researcher found a boy’s skeleton around which, as he reported, five or six pairs of wild goat horns had been laid.

The need for further evidence

However, this researcher did not present any location sketches or photographs to convince skeptics. that the horns formed a meaningful pattern and were intentional. We need clearer proofs before we can shelve and complete this question. I myself assume that there is no smoke without fire and the evidence speaks. The Neanderthals knewIn this respect, a certain form of spiritual life and faith determines.

Possible shamans and healers

There may have been healing experts and shamans among them, like characters from well-known stories. However, the time machine I was already talking about could be expediting one of us to Shanidar and also to Zhoukoudian. We would be able to see real differences in behavior between Beijing people in the East and the Neanderthals in the West. and only with someWe could be careful not to think that the West was more developed then than the East. This could have been the case 1.6 million years earlier when the dividing line emerged.

The danger of racist interpretations

100,000 years later it was undoubtedly so and the difference was clear. Again, the specter of racist theory of long-term determinism lifts his head and reports. If the West rule the world, because today’s Europeans descended from the genetically superior Neanderthals as heirs. The Asians, on the other hand, from the more primitive Homo erectus and its descendants. this questionRemains open and warns to be careful with interpretations.