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A new study of a Neanderthal child's skeleton has suggested that Neanderthal brains developed more slowly than previous studies had indicated:
A new study shows that Neanderthal brains developed more slowly than ours. An analysis of a Neanderthal child's skeleton suggests that its brain was still developing at a time when the brains of modern human children are fully formed. This is further evidence that this now extinct human was not more brutish and primitive than our species. The research has been published in the journal Science.
Until now it had been thought that we were the only species whose brains develop slowly. Unlike other apes and more primitive humans modern humans have an extended period of childhood lasting several years. This is because it takes time and energy to develop our large brain. Previous studies of Neanderthal remains indicated that they developed more quickly than modern humans - suggesting that their brains might be less sophisticated.
But a team led by Prof Antonio Rosas of the Museum of Natural Sciences in Madrid found that if anything, Neanderthal brains may develop more slowly than ours. "It was a surprise," he told BBC News. "When we started the study we were expecting something similar to the previous studies," he told BBC News.
Also at Science Magazine, NYT, and Discover Magazine.
The growth pattern of Neandertals, reconstructed from a juvenile skeleton from El Sidrón (Spain) (open, DOI: 10.1126/science.aan6463) (DX)
(Score: 2) by driven on Saturday September 23 2017, @10:19PM (2 children)
Or maybe we just developed a better immune system? Given human similarity with Neanderthals, we could have infected them with diseases they couldn't handle.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 24 2017, @02:05AM (1 child)
We could have murdered them for being smarter than us, and once all the neanderthals were gone, begun doing the same thing to smarter homo sapiens until there was mostly idiots, and a few smart individuals who hid among the idiots until their time to rise to power happened, leading to tribalism and then feudalism, before finally reaching a point where the idiots needs the false veneer of freedom of choice to live happily. Leading to today where the freedom of choice is actually considered a bad thing and the backpedalling into authoritarianism is taking place so that the mindless masses can once again feel comfortable with their uncomfortable lot in life.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 24 2017, @10:06AM
We obviously didn't murder enough of them, as Detroit and Somalia clearly demonstrate.