What’s the name of the time period Neanderthals were living in (the geologic tim

Question

What’s the name of the time period Neanderthals were living in (the geologic time period)? What are two ways in which Neanderthals were anatomically built for the cold?

What are three ways in which Archaic Homo sapiens different than modern Homo sapiens (us)? At least one trait must be behavioral.

Neanderthals had a larger absolute brain capacity than us- does this mean they were more intelligent than us? Explain why you think they were more intelligent or not by discussing three pieces of evidence from the textbook or videos.

Explanation / Answer

1) Time period - 250,000 - 40,000 years ( Middle-late Pleistocene)

2) Two ways anatomically built for the cold

i) Large upper body and shorter legs (Following Bergmsn's rule)

ii) Lot of body hair (they were furry) compared to modern humans

3) Three ways in which Archaic Homo sapiens different from modern Homo sapiens

i) Archaic HS - Prominent supra orbital ridges (SOR) ----- Modern HS - SOR absent

ii) Archaic HS - Chin is absent ---------------------------------- Modern HS - Prominent chin

iii) Archaic HS - Hunted more frequently than --------------- Modern HS

4) Neanderthals not intelligent despite larger brain size

i) Neanderthal cephalon was devoted to vision and body control activities. Their eyes were bigger than other ancient humans and also modern humans. This may be because they evolved in Europe (higher latitude and hence poorer light conditions) compared to Homo Sapiens which evolved in Africa.

ii) Neanderthals also had a large upper body, thicker bones and overall massive muscular built. This took a lot of brain capacity for body control.

iii) Therefore the amount of brain volume left over for other tasks like social interactions, complex cognitions etc was significantly smaller for Neanderthals than us.

Hence Neanderthals were not intelligent than us despite having a bigger brain (1600cc [Neanderthals] vs 1400cc [Us])

Related Questions

Navigate

• Browse (All)
• Browse W
• Subjects

Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.