What do you think of this idea? Do you agree or disagree? Explain in full senten

Question

What do you think of this idea? Do you agree or disagree? Explain in full sentences

If Neanderthals did not become extinct and shared the earth with modern humans I believe they would be intergrated into modern human society. However they would be in a very cold climate such as Alaska. Due to their extremely large cranial capacity if they were able to adapt to society they would be able to make a very positive impact on society. However, I feel majorly of Neanderthals would not even bother trying to adapt to society and just live in an extremely cold climate such as Alaska and follow their cultural practices. One of their cultural practices include making decorated shells and burying the dead which reflects a sense of abstract thinking. The Neanderthals that did attempt to adapt to human society would be integrated with human society and they might find occupations as construction workers due to their large stocky bodies. Their short stocky bodies would be an advantage when lifting heavy wood and construction materials. Another occupation Neanderthals might be are security guards and cops. Since Neanderthals are natural born hunters jobs like these might come second nature to them. Neanderthals also show evidence of traumatic injuries such as broken bones. This would be an enormous advantage being a cop or security guard because if they were to get injured on the job they would still be able to adapt and do their jobs since their bodies are naturally able to recover and keep functioning even with an injury or broken bone.

Explanation / Answer

The standard size of fossil brains for body mass and visual processing requirements. Once the differences in body and visual system size are taken into account, the researchers were able to compare how much of the brain was left over for other cognitive functions.

Previous research by the Oxford scientists shows that modern humans living at higher latitudes evolved bigger vision areas in the brain to cope with the low light levels. This latest study builds on that research, suggesting that Neanderthals probably had larger eyes than contemporary humans because they evolved in Europe, whereas contemporary humans had only recently emerged from lower latitude Africa.
'Since Neanderthals evolved at higher latitudes and also have bigger bodies than modern humans, more of the Neanderthal brain would have been dedicated to vision and body control, leaving less brain to deal with other functions like social networking,' explains lead author Eiluned Pearce from the Institute of Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology at the University of Oxford.

'Smaller social groups might have made Neanderthals less able to cope with the difficulties of their harsh Eurasian environments because they would have had fewer friends to help them out in times of need. Overall, differences in brain organisation and social cognition may go a long way towards explaining why Neanderthals went extinct whereas modern humans survived.'

'The large brains of Neanderthals have been a source of debate from the time of the first fossil discoveries of this group, but getting any real idea of the "quality" of their brains has been very problematic,' says Professor Chris Stringer, Research Leader in Human Origins at the Natural History Museum and co-author on the paper. 'Hence discussion has centred on their material culture and supposed way of life as indirect signs of the level of complexity of their brains in comparison with ours.
'Our study provides a more direct approach by estimating how much of their brain was allocated to cognitive functions, including the regulation of social group size; a smaller size for the latter would have had implications for their level of social complexity and their ability to create, conserve and build on innovations.'

Professor Robin Dunbar observes: 'Having less brain available to manage the social world has profound implications for the Neanderthals' ability to maintain extended trading networks, and are likely also to have resulted in less well developed material culture -- which, between them, may have left them more exposed than modern humans when facing the ecological challenges of the Ice Ages.'

The relationship between absolute brain size and higher cognitive abilities has long been controversial, and this new study could explain why Neanderthal culture appears less developed than that of early modern humans, for example in relation to symbolism, ornamentation and art.

Related Questions

Navigate

• Browse (All)
• Browse W
• Subjects

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