The Speculist

I caught The Science Channel's special "Neanderthal: The Rebirth" last night. With that title I was hoping the show would touch on the possibility of resurrecting Neanderthal - at least virtually - with recovered DNA. They didn't go there.

Instead, the special showcased the heroic efforts to piece together a full Neanderthal skeleton and what that skeleton reveals about the great Neanderthal mystery - why are they gone while we remain?

Neanderthals were very stong. Muscle attachment points on the upper arm were much more obvious than seen in modern humans. They were short and squatty and possessed no waist to speak of. Their hands were stronger. A Neanderthal pinky, for example, is nearly as big and powerful as his other fingers. These adaptations helped Neanderthal perform well with up-close hunting using heavy hand spears in thick forests. It also protected him against the cold.

Other reconstruction work showed that Neaderthal had a bigger brain than modern people and, more importantly, a fully developed neocortex. Voice box reconstruction showed that Neanderthal could have talked - but, interestingly, with a higher pitched voice. I imagine their voices sounded rather nasal too.

The bones in the inner ear showed that Neanderthal was not adapted to be as agile as modern humans. A universal rule about agility across all species is that the more acrobatic a species, the larger the space between the bones of the inner ear. Neanderthal inner ear bones indicate that Neanderthal was less agile than even more primitive hominids. Modern humans are more agile than either Neanderthal or other forerunners.

Lastly the show emphasized the changing climate at the time of the Neanderthal extinction. It had been cold for thousands of years. It remained cold, but grew much dryer. The forests that the Neanderthals were adapted to hunt were replaced by open plains.

Modern humans were better suited to hunt these open plains because they were better adapted to run. They also, according to the program, possessed a spear launching technology called atlatl. This basically gave modern humans the leverage of another arm's length when throwing their light throwing spears.

The awkwardness with which the show dealt with the issue of Neanderthal intelligence was humorous. It was almost as if they were afraid of actually living out those GEICO commercials. Even though Neanderthal had a large brain and a voice box, it seems likely that there were cognitive and/or communicative differences. Intelligence and language has allowed modern humans to be flexible enough to adapt to almost all climates. Had Neanderthal been as flexible, those short, squatty guys might be running GEICO. Instead, it appears that even the atlati technology was beyond them.

"Neanderthal: The Rebirth" made a good case that direct confrontation between the two human species would have been unnecessary to cause Neanderthal's extinction. Neanderthal's more muscular body required more calories - not an advantage during a famine. His adaptation to up-close hunting meant that his range shrank as the forests died back. This would have shrank and fragmented the Neanderthal population. Extinction was inevitable.

Still, its a uniquely human trait to function beyond our physical adaptations or limitations. Neanderthal must have been doomed by a lessor ability to adapt to a changing environment.