OT Interesting Read - Maybe Neanderthals Weren't All That Stupid - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Homer J Simpson
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 25, 2016, 11:32:30 pm
content: "Scientists have revealed that elaborate ring-shaped structures located deep in France’s Bruniquel Cave date back 176,000 years""The rings are among the earliest precisely dated structures made by humans."http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/05/25/neanderthals-built-mysterious-rings/84911136/

author: Len
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 25, 2016, 11:48:32 pm
content: Quotefromhttp://arstechnica.com/science/2016/05/unprecedented-discovery-of-mysterious-structures-created-by-neanderthals/ No sign of any electronic devices though.

author: Delta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 25, 2016, 11:59:16 pm
content: I Object To Titles Where Every Bloody Word Is Capitalised For Some Reason!

author: TerraHertz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 26, 2016, 12:01:03 am
content: Interesting, thanks for the link.That blows away Gobekli Tepe, which is only 12,000 years old.

author: Len
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 26, 2016, 12:33:46 am
content: Quote from: wilfred on May 25, 2016, 11:56:54 pmEver since archaeologists disovered the Neanderthals they've been portrayed as stupid, brutish, small-brained, uncivilized, etc.

author: Rick Law
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 26, 2016, 12:54:38 am
content: Well, stupid or not, Neanderthal genes are in us. The closer to Europe where Neanderthal were, the bigger the percentage of Neanderthal gene.Google "neanderthals human interbreeding" and you will find a ton of reference.I don't think they were "stupid" per se. I think what they were good at skills that became outdated for the world they were in. They were not completing just with us, estimation is more than 10 to 20 different human-like species were competing. They got out competed. No different than sword makers today, just hard to make a living making swords even with a war going on.A lot of them were left in us (modern human today). So "they" are still around.

author: Cerebus
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 26, 2016, 01:38:09 am
content: Quote from: Delta on May 25, 2016, 11:59:16 pmYou've got the reason there - "titles" - hence in title case, it's quite a common convention. Must drive you mad reading scientific papers, or book chapter titles.

author: CatalinaWOW
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 26, 2016, 01:50:08 am
content: Quote from: Len on May 26, 2016, 12:33:46 amWell it did start that way. But then people started realizing that Neandertals had pretty good technology for their time. And a larger average brain case size than Homo Sapiens (but a different shape). So for the last thirty or more years the story seems to range from "we don't know" through "maybe a different kind of intelligence" to ....No one now is sure why Neandertals and Denisovans died out after Homo Sapiens showed up. Maybe we were just nastier.

author: SkyMaster
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 26, 2016, 02:21:31 am
content: Quote from: Rick Law on May 26, 2016, 12:54:38 amThanks god, I am 5500 km away from Europe

author: JoeN
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 26, 2016, 03:13:49 am
content: Quote from: Len on May 26, 2016, 12:33:46 amYou mean by Hollywood, in non-serious 50's science fiction movies? If so, yeah, I agree with you. But not really recently, not in anything I have looked at.Quote from: CatalinaWOW on May 26, 2016, 01:50:08 amProbably just numbers. Better intelligence (if that was the case) doesn't help you that much until you can convert that into technology which then gives you leverage. They could be a bit smarter and still lose out if there were just too many Homo Sapiens.

author: Rick Law
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 26, 2016, 07:47:05 pm
content: Quote from: SkyMaster on May 26, 2016, 02:21:31 amYeah, but --- Where were your great great great.......grand parents? Where they closer? How do you know?Studies shown that backs in Africa has the lowest - since those stayed in Africa did not migrated to/through Europe - So except for those who later re-mixed with some Europeans or Asian when/since those former Africans "rediscovered" Africa. African blacks has no interaction with Neanderthal so next to no Neanderthal gene.But hey, don't make it sound like it is anything bad. We have genes from bacteria such as mitochondria that without which we will died. We don't know how smart Neanderthals were, but we do know how dumb mitochondria is. No brain at all - just a protein factory fuel-cell within our cells.We came, we saw, we assimilated, and (hopefully) we got better.

author: SkyMaster
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 30, 2016, 11:26:42 pm
content: Quote from: Rick Law on May 26, 2016, 07:47:05 pmMy reply was not meant to be taken seriouslyYes I know where my ancestors came from. They came from France several hundred years ago. This was back when there was no hardware store, no electricity, no nothing except cold and long winters; for sure life was difficult back then.