New Evidence Debunks 'Stupid' Neanderthal Myth

26 August 2008

 The Journal of Human Evolution has published a paper that “debunks a textbook belief held by archaeologists for more than 60 years.” What is this NEW EVIDENCE that may cause the rewriting of the textbooks? Stone tools.

 A detailed analysis of the stone tools was done to determine the “efficiency in consuming raw material and how long tools lasted.” With this new information they have determined that since the tools look similar, the intelligence of the Neanderthals and the Homo sapiens must be similar too. For years it has been known that Neanderthals did things like: communicated with each other, bury their dead, wear clothes, etc. So why do we think they were less than human?

 Stone tools are probably not a very good sign of how intelligent someone is because we have no way to know the condition they needed to be made in. Was the hunter in the middle of a hunt and had to make a tool quickly? Was their an abundance of raw materials so he did not need to be conservative on his spear making?

If it looks like a human, acts like a human, and can breed with humans... Then it is a human.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080825203924.htm