We're all fascinated by this assessment of Neanderthal intelligence and capabilities, in comparison with those of homo sapiens sapiens children of the same age. The conclusion was that the brain size and disposition at an early age was much the same for modern humans and for our nearest ancestors at birth - but by the age of one year that starts to change.
There are all sorts of questions this raises - does this imply a level of consciousness in modern humans that is acquired in that vital first year - in which case what was the equivalent for Neanderthals? What does it say for the idea of human rights at the age of six months, as opposed to say six months of gestation or a year after birth? Did Neanderthals have souls? And if so, could they be Catholic priests? (Obviously this question only applies to the male Neanderthals). If some frozen Neanderthal DNA were found, extracted and implanted in a Jurassic-Park style experiment, could the resultant revivant Neanderthals be treated as brothers and sisters? Or rivals? Or slaves?
And most interestingly of all - why did the BBC Radio news article I heard on this subject major on the similarities, and ignore the differences?
1) Size (relative to body mass) is not decisive in the end; very recent studies have shown that human brain size is roughly what one would expect from a typical primate of average human size/mass.
ReplyDelete2) Far more important are connections, and type of connections. The reason why chimpanzees have NO grammatical language at all (let alone Koko and other gorillas) is because chimps lack certain build-up in the cerebellum and pons, and above all lack the loop connections between cerebellum and temporal lobes, as well as POT area. Lack of loops means lack of processing sequential-ability, lack of grammatical language.
3) Lack of sequential tasking ability also shows in the Neanderthal lack of technological innovation; over the thousands of years Neanderthals existed, there is no sign of them improving on their basic stone tool kits; they got so far, then stayed stuck.
The other glaring disparity to sapiens sapiens is that Neanderthals showed no signs of ever trading. Humans teade like crazy.
4) Possibly the article focuses on similarities rather than differences because of overall slow campaign aimed at:
a) eliminating racism
b) emphasizing nature conservation, especially of other primates.