Not Neanderthal specifically, but when early man was living in caves etc, was there a "nerd class" who were tolerated because they invented things, even though they weren't very adept at hunting? On a less serious note, did they have also have their own versions of Star Trek and Dungeons & Dragons? Just wondering.
202201
Yeah the tv show was called "Far Trek(to go to find fire)" and the game was called "Caveholes and Dinosaurs". I got to level twenty, Ug
500362
That's a great question, esp. since creationists have tried to co-opt evolution to an extent, by saying "Oh, God just took longer than the Bible says" and other claptrap.\n\nI'm not a creationist, but am more interested in the new info on Neanderthals (I majored in Anthropology). Can you add some details to the question and give links to articles? I'd really like to read them! I'm rather behind the times regarding new discoveries, and the Discover Channel's programs about it are SO questionable! I've got to read more!(I'm serious).\n\n***********\n\nThanks---for the links! Can you believe some of the whacko ideas people have? You'd think it hadn't been 150 yrs. since Neanderthal was first found!
90018
I'm always so puzzled at how ignorant americans can be. Evolution doesn't say we evolved from apes. The skulls aren't fake and haven't disappeared. The world didn't start in 6000 BC. Get some culture, people! And, dear Asker, that's what you get from asking this in the Religion section. It should be in Science, you'd get better results.
126189
The connection is humans.\n\nHumans find large fossilized bones and reassemble them into the likeness of museum dinosaurs (sometimes making mistakes, like putting the wrong head on the "brontosaur").  These creatures were dead long before man's first story.\n\nHumans also made written lists and drawings of creatures told but unseen but most: Elves, Dwarfs, Unicorns, Griffins, Centaurs, Dragons.  These creatures became alive with the telling of man's first story.
561771
hey check out this link,it will really help:\n\nhttp://www.extinctanimal.com/prehistoric.htm
298378
Dinosaurs are still the most diverse class on the planet, but we call them birds! Pretty cool huh? As an amature paleontologist I can honestly say the no professional paleontologist can honestly that any classic dinosaurs are still around. Another thing about dinos: Dinosaurs were land living animals so no dinos lived in the oceans. Sometimes fossilization is not total and some original bone is still in the fossil and sometimes it appears bleached and to the untrained eye looks fresh. Sorry, but no paleontologist has told me (I am in contact with most of them) that there is a possibility that classic dinosaurs are extant (not extinct) except for their only direct descendents - the class Aves (birds).
561196
Yes there are at least two other sub-species of H sapiens. Naturally, there is debate on this in scientific circles. What you teacher was referring to was H sapiens neanderthalis (the neanderthals), H sapiens sapiens (modern humans) and H sapiens floriensis (the so-called hobbit found on the island of Flores in Indonesia). Recently some Neanderthal DNA from a 30,000 year old leg bone has been sequenced and it appears Neanderthals may be reclassified to H neanderthalis. There's no DNA yet available from the Flores hobbit but some scientists are saying it's a subspecies of H erectus, not H. sapiens. We'll have to wait and see on that one.\n\nPS, you're right. Human evolution is a fascinating area! Well done for doing the course. Maybe you should do a degree in molecular biology!!
664376
The only game that I remember back then was Zork it almost sounds like that but I don't think it is.  Good question I would like to remember some of them they were the best expecally with your imagination.
643005
Not necessarily.  We do all those things because protohumans were exposed to evolutionary and selective pressures that lead to creative humans capable of technological advancement.\n\nIf, and that's a big IF, any of those animals you mentioned which that are rather intelligent get exposed to these same selective pressures over a LONG period of time (it took us 2 million years to figure out fire, so it'll be a while), then sure why not.  But the odds of that happening are very small, but you never know, we'll see in 5 million years what happened...\n\nCheers.
140159
- Are we slaves of spoons and forks,  trains, etc ?\n\n- Was stone age man slave of stone-made hammer and other  tools?\n\n-Still, your question is not without logyc. But it would take too much space to discuss it.\n\n-If you are not afraid of being slave to your employer, as some popple see it, then tehcnology will be ok...
383319
It is theorized that there were actually a number of "lines" that evolved from the common evolutionary ancestor of man and ape, but that those lines ended for one reason or another.\n\nThe thing to keep in mind is this... adaptation is always a result of environmental pressures.  Something happened in the environment of our ancestors to cause intelligence and "big brains" to be selected above instinct and "small brains".  Remember, many species of small brained hominids existed unchanged for hundreds of thousands of years, and some still exist.\n\nThere are many theories as to what the "something" was that allowed our line to thrive, but it was probably a combination of events (changing climate, food supplies, etc) that together helped thinking hominids out compete our less intelligent cousins.\n\nIn actuality, there is no way to be sure.  It could have been something fantastically simple like one day one of ancestors threw a stick, and suddenly we had invented the "distance weapon."  This allowed members of our species to kill game at a distance, where our less intelligent neighbors could not, and hence we survived to populate the earth.  It really could have been that random and simple.  We just don't know for sure.
290622
Sounds about right to me.\n\nBack in cave man days stories were invented to explain away things that could not be explained.  Fire, thunder, tides, rain, sun etc.  These stories evolved into the Greek and Roman gods, stories were made up about them and their heroic deeds.\n\nLater the Christian God came along and to this day is used as a crutch by the intellectually and educationally impaired.  Living in Bible belt as I do this is so very apparent.  There is a horrible lack of education so God and His mysterious ways is used as an explanation for the complexities of the world.  Why bother learning real facts or science when one can just attend church and be spoon fed opinions and stories that explain everything?\n\nBut I think that you forgot one important reason religion was invented by man:  Power and control.  Religion does explain a lot of things with magical theories, but man has also used religion to control others and subjugate women.
44612
Nice effort and beneficial.\nThey want to trace back the details of human generations which are vague.\nWell, they "search" for Adam, right?\nThey must believe in creationism rather than evolution.\n\nHopefully people will realise that we humans are all the same. We came from the same root. No more racist solicitation.\nThe theory of evolution is focused mostly on physiques. They do not care to think that men have minds and spirit.\nIt is clearly wrong to define us physically just like the animals. We are better than animals. \nMoreover, we are the best creations. \n\nI do not really get the picture with the female ancestor to date earlier than the common male ancestor. Could you explain to me about that?\n\nIt is weird for woman and man to live not in the same time. How could they reproduce?\n\nMaybe I will come back later. By the way, I think "boffin" means buffoons.\n\n\n\nThank you Kurdiatcha for explaining to me.\nI was not expecting you but the questioner herself but thank you.\n\nI would like to edit some more but have no time.\nHere's a little correction:\n\nWhat I meant by define us physically just like the animals is to take ONLY physique into acount.\n\nThe brain differs from the mind. Animals have brains but not minds. They have life but not soul.\n\nBrain is physique. Mind is defined as the ability to learn and understand things by self, not gifted.\nOf course, we need the help of God to understand about something.\nMind is also the sign of rationality of humans.\n\nI will continue later.\n\n\n\nSorry for keeping you waiting so long, Nelly. I had to take time to make a structure of my next explainations which are:\nThis is going to be quite a LONG lecture.\n\n\nHuman = (Physique) (Mind) (Life) (Soul)\nAnimal = (Physique) (Life)\n\nPhysique = Physique?\nIt is most probably. If to follow the law of balance; equation and relation, Human seems to have more advantages such as Mind and Soul, therefore their Physique must be less advantageous than that of Animal.\n\nLife = Life\n\nSoul = Mind (Feelings) (Life)\nMind = Soul (Life) (Physique)\nFeelings = (Physique) (Soul)\nMind ≠ Brain\nBrain = Mind (Physique) (Life) = Brain\nIn this context, Mind means the controller. Brain of Human and Brain of Animal are similar but not the same.\n\nMind = Soul\nMind + Soul (Animal) = Human\nMind and Soul are similar yet they are not one. Plus, they are parallel. Physique capsulizes Brain where in the Brain lies Mind. Life capsulizes Soul. The parallelism of both must be broken and should be met in order to achieve the same goal; finding God. \nOnce they have combined, the journey of finding God will be clearer.\n\nPhysique (Mind) + Life (Soul) = Human\nSoul + Mind ≠ Human\nPhysique + Life ≠ Human\n\nTherefore, Physique and Life make up Animal’s characteristics. Physique capsulizes Life and Life enlivens Physique. It is mutual symbiosis.\n\nPhysique, Mind, Life and Soul make up Human’s characteristics. Physique capsulizes Life, Soul and Mind, Life and Soul enlivens Physique, Mind controls Physique and Life, so does Soul. Soul controls Mind but Mind decides initially.\n\nConsider Human like a box (Physique) powered by Life externally. Inside the box, there is a ball of Soul and Mind; Mind takes up only the core while Soul is the ball inside out. With the ball, the box is generated internally.\n\nThe three parts: Physique, Life and Soul must be available in order for a Human to love but irrationally minded. Therefore, Mind is the only part of rationality. It is the only part of intelligence.\n\n\nThe above equations show the difference between Human and Animal. I know it is quizzical to you, so it is to me.\nThe sign with the small "l" is actually a small number 1, indicates Human.\n\nWell, if we to trace the generations of human, we must primarily try to understand human. If you do not understand anything, tell me. I will try to make you understand the equation. Even I do n
122262
I think that some cavewoman already came up with that one...most likely the cavemen had to make a truce and in turn lead to what we have today...archaic as it is with all of the games that some or most people want to play...But, if the right gal came along, and clubbed me over the head, that would be fine. :)
422599
This is actually a great question, and entire books have been written on it.  I am not going to try an condense down those books (look for authors like Jared Diamond and Stephen j. Gould) but I will just give you my thoughts.  \n\nFirst, the neandertal were very close to us in intelligence.  There is much debate on how close, but the evidence points towards them being almost as adaptable as us and probably capable of symbolic thought.  This shows lightning can strike twice.\n\nSecond, you say no other animal comes remotely close, but this isn't quite true.  chimps, gorillas, some whales & dolphins, and elephants have been shown to be quite intelligent, capable of learning, communicating, even using tools.  So while I'm not saying they will win in a chess match, they do come at least remotely close to our intelligence.\n\nThird, you really answer your own question, as you say intelligence can and does help us and other species.  If this adaptation is actually useful, then why wouldn't we continue to evolve in that direction?  \n\nMy final point is this:  once we became smart enough to outsmart the natural world, we then had to outsmart each other!  Our anscestors had to be smart enough to not just kill mammoths and cook meat, they had to be smart enough to defend against raids from other tribes, or smart enough to be useful in a tribe full of smart people, in order to stand out to potential mates.  that is a powerful selective pressure on any species, but especially our anscetors.
355053
What might have caused the branching that founded the new forms of robust australopithecines (Paranthropus) and Homo? What caused the extinction, around the same time (between 2-3 million years ago) of genus Australopithecus? Finally, what might have caused the extinction of Paranthropus about 1 million years ago?\n\nNo certainty in answering these questions. But the environmental conditions at the time might hold some clues. Increased environmental variability, starting about 6 million years ago and continuing through time and resulting in a series of newly emerging and diverse habitats, may have initially promoted different adaptations among hominid populations, as seen in the branching that gave rise to the robust hominids and to Homo.\n\nAnd if the degree of the environmental fluctuations continued to increase, this may have put such pressure on the hominid adaptive responses that those groups less able to cope eventually became extinct. Unable to survive well enough to perpetuate themselves in the face of decreasing resources (e.g., Paranthropus, who were specialized vegetarians) these now-extinct hominids were possibly out-competed for space and resources by the better adapted hominids, a phenomenon known as competitive exclusion.\n\nIn this case, only the adaptive response that included an increase in brain size, with its concomitant increase in ability to understand and manipulate the environment, proved successful in the long run.
246073
We would still be living like apes. I say this because in affect you could put making of basic flint tools down as a form of mechanical or engineering skills. The production of tools led on to everything we have today as they were needed to make hunting easier, to build shelter and to farm even on a small scale. As soon as these things had become something that could be done easily (or easier) the human brain had more time to think and expand in the way that it has. This is something that is still evident today, as we see kids these days doing things that we cannot even imagine doing at there age. This is because we had chores to do whereas these kids have grown up with dishwashers, on line shopping and many more such things that will free up time for them to expand in many other directions. I don't know about you but I think it's truly amazing that my nine year old brother can create his own web site called I hate Reece (my youngest brother). At nine years old I could only just about get my Commodore 64 to work.