Kindred: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death And Art, Sykes - B

         "These pages will paint a twenty-first century portrait of the Neanderthals: not dullard losers on a withered branch of the family tree, but enormously adaptable and even successful ancient relatives." They lived for 350,000 years before their fossil history disappeared 35,000 years ago. They ranged from Wales to Siberia, and as far south as Iraq. The finding of fossils in the Neander Valley 160 years ago began the study of our most immediate ancestors. As the world of archeology expanded to 20th century carbon dating and 21st century DNA analysis, our knowledge of them has increased almost infinitely. "Genetics can illuminate many shadows archaeology cannot." The source of our understanding is bits and pieces of 200-300 individual Neanderthals. DNA testing has confirmed that all Europeans have about 2% Neanderthal genes, but they were perceptibly different. Their brains were about the same size, but their heads were differently shaped, their noses were larger and they inhaled more air into bigger lungs, their bones were heavier and they were more muscular. Their legs were further apart and  shorter, but their hands were bigger and stronger. They were different from each other, those from Scandinavia having different features than those from the Middle East. "They rode the earth's climate rollercoaster for hundreds of thousands of years, coping with extremes in weather..." They roamed through every type of landscape. Based on their size, it is estimated that they required twice as many calories as today's homo sapiens. The majority of those calories came from meat. They hunted prey from rabbits up to mammoths, always seeking the fattest animals. Fish and birds were also consumed. The evidence also points to their being "herbaceous connoisseurs." They skillfully managed and processed their food supply for a third of a millennium. One issue that has eluded scientists has been their use of fire. They clearly used it to cook, but just how often and where has not been resolved. Equally uncertain to us is the degree of their mobility, because we know they likely moved in small bands, but we do not know how far.  Also, whether or not they ceremoniously buried their dead is unresolved. As their throats and ears were complex, and because they engaged in collaborative ideas, it appears likely that they were capable of some sort of speech. They wore clothing and probably some decorations. How, when and for how long they interbred with homo sapiens remains unresolved, as does how and why they died out as a species. There is so much that we don't know, but we do know that they were not "a failed early release hominin on the road to nowhere.." "Compared to the millions of years before, Neanderthal existence was a major upgrade to hominin life." This topic has always fascinated me. Four decades ago, the discussions and assessments were based upon a rudimentary study of fossils. Today, the ability to study those fossils down to the the cellular level has revolutionized our knowledge