Neanderthals are basically cousins to modern homo sapiens, evolutionarily speaking. Despite that fact, however, most people not only know very little about them but what they do think they know is actually incorrect.
There are many reasons for this, including the fact that they are often portrayed to be ancient, slow, and stupid in television, movies, and books. The reality, however, couldn’t be further from the truth.
Fortunately, archeologists and other scientists are working hard to correct these misconceptions and help to educate people about Neanderthals.
Read on to learn about some of the most common errors people make, and what the truth actually is.
There is More Neanderthal DNA Today Than Ever Before
While there are no longer any Neanderthals walking about the Earth today, there is actually quite a bit of their DNA in the world. This is because for thousands of years, homo sapiens and Neanderthals lived near each other. Not surprisingly, that means that most of us have some Neanderthal DNA within us.
In an article for The Converstation, it was explained:
“Many Europeans and Asians have between 1 percent and 4 percent Neanderthal DNA while African people south of the Sahara have almost zero.”
Given the fact that there are so many more people in the world than there were back then, it is clear that there is more Neanderthal DNA than ever before.
Neanderthals Didn’t Look The Way They Are Portrayed
In 1911, French paleontologist and geologist Pierre-Marcellin Boule took the time to reconstruct a Neanderthal skeleton. The way he put them together made it look like the Neanderthal was hunched over with its skull pushed out forward, and hips flexed. While this may have been fairly accurate for this one Neanderthal, it was not an accurate representation for all of them.
This is because the bones of the one he put together were later found to be of an old Neanderthal who had evidence of osteoarthritis. Hopefully humans from 50,000 years in the future don’t find the bones of a 95 year old man and assume that is what we all looked like!
Neanderthals Were More Stylish Than You Think
There is quite a bit of evidence that Neanderthals wore jewelry and even makeup. While more research is certainly needed, the evidence so far points to this being purely for cosmetic reasons and not for any survival benefits (other than, perhaps, attracting mates).
Neanderthals Were Much More Caring Than Often Portrayed
One of the most common portals of Neanderthals is of one using a stick to knock out the other so that he could drag her back to his cave to mate with. While that may have happened, our ancient cousins were actually quite a bit more compassionate than most people would assume.
One way that this is shown is by the fact that Neanderthals almost always show evidence of broken, and then healed, bones. While animals in the wild can survive some types of bone breaks, a broken leg or arm is almost always fatal because they are unable to hunt or defend themselves.
With Neanderthals, however, there are lots of examples of individuals surviving this type of injury, even multiple times. This means that it is almost certain that when an individual was seriously injured, the rest of the community cared for them until they could heal.
According to a study, they would help care for the injured even if the injured individual would not likely be able to repay the efforts in the future. With plenty of examples of skeletons showing evidence of degenerative conditions associated with old age, it is clear that Neanderthals cared for each other regardless of the value that individual would have on the future of the tribe.
Neanderthals Are More Interesting Than Ever
These are just a few of the common misconceptions people have about Neanderthals and the true information that scientists have learned over the years. The more we can learn about our ancient cousins, the better we will understand how life was in the past both for them and for our direct ancestors.
I wonder how much Neanderthal DNA I have.
If you think that’s impressive, check out this story about a “goldmine” of lithium that was found in the U.S. that could completely change the EV battery game.
