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Neanderthals: physically, how different were they really?

compound eye — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 05:48:50 -0800

Neanderthals: physically, how different were they really? information about Neanderthals says things like:

Neanderthals looked very like modern humans, but were generally shorter and much more heavily built. Their skulls show that they had no chin, and their foreheads sloped back. The braincase was much lower but longer, and they had slightly larger brains than modern humans. They were much stronger, having particularly strong arms and hands.

But around the world today, there is an incredible range of body types among modern humans. Visiting Vietnam, I felt like a giant. In Micronesia I felt like a beanpole, in Polynesia, I felt like a boy.

I would imagine the variation within local populations, is as great as between the averages between different areas. I know that I certainly have a prominent brow ridge and a sloping forehead.

So Neanderthals were more solidly built, with larger brains than our contemporaneous ancestors. But if a Neanderthal were alive today, with a hair cut and clean clothes, would their gross anatomical features mark them out as a separate species at a casual glance?

Would they even look unusual? or would they fit into the spectrum of modern human bodies that you get used to seeing in a major cosmopolitan city?

I saw mommy kissing an alcoholic neanderthal...

kaseijin — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 13:25:42 -0800

I am deeply concerned for my mother, and hate her boyfriend.
My mother, an historically level-headed and intelligent woman has taken up with a man that really is far beneath her.

First, some back story. The poor woman really did go through a lot in the last few years: a particularly dramatic and acrimonious divorce from her second husband (not my father), a bout of West Nile (the bad kind... not that there is a good kind, per se, but she had all of the encephalitis and macular damage and is still somewhat foggy-memoried), and the death of her father (to whom she was very close).

I was happy to hear that she had started dating again, since she had frankly wallowed for a while in a sort of exaggerated victimhood in the wake of her West Nile experience. She has always been the type of person to pick herself up after anything that comes her way, dust herself off, and continue on her path.

For the last 15 years, she has been active in AlAnon, and served as a sponsor to many members. She works for Hospice assisting the terminally ill, and she has a generous spirit and always gives very sage advice to her friends and family.

Turns out the guy she's dating, though, is just a creep. He's 20 years younger than her, has been unemployed for over a year and shows absolutely no sign whatsoever of getting any sort of job in the foreseeable future, moved in with her 5 months ago (after losing his own apartment), drinks himself into a stupor every day at the sort of bar that caters to professional alcoholics, is a staunch new-Earth creationist (adding this point only as the rest of the family, Mom included, place a high value on science and are also alarmingly secular to the point of functionally being atheist...so it's a strange sort of pairing), has all the social grace of a cave troll (example... I purchased my mother a very nice chef's knife for Christmas, and this clod proudly proclaims, "That knife's so pretty, if it had a pussy I'd fuck it!"). He does absolutely disgusting things like refer to her not by her name, but as "lover" -- even when talking to her family *about* her (..."when lover and I were out at..."). For the sake of this discussion, we'll call this lovely and endearing specimen "Joey".

Since Mom has been dating Joey, she has stopped sponsoring AlAnon, and she now closes the bar every night with Joey. Her work performance has slipped off, and she has been functionally demoted. Her once-pristine and well-tended house is now a complete, smelly disaster area wherein Joey's persian cat and dachshund freely defecate. She and Joey are looking for a new house together (she's buying, he's just living there like a lump). She has become withdrawn, as none of her family or friends can really tolerate Joey.

Now, aside from all of the irritation of having what is essentially a freeloading, alcoholic mooch living with your parent, I have (until now) mostly adopted an attitude of "It's not my relationship. I am not dating Joey. Leave it alone, and if he makes her happy in whatever strange way he does, then it's her business."

The problem with that, though, is in how immaturely she has handled that attitude. When I didn't want to talk to her about Joey (can't say anything nice? Don't say anything at all), she got offended and turned on the waterworks and the passive aggression. When I broke down and talked to her about Joey, I became the enemy. We made up, and I tried to give Joey another chance which ended in an unmitigated disaster. I have since reiterated to her on more than one occasion that, while I love her dearly and she is always welcome in my house, I do not really want to spend time with Joey. She has said that Joey is the last man she ever wants to date.

The thing is, I'm actually getting worried about her. She has never been like this! The drinking is bad enough, but if you had told me even two years ago that she would ever take up with an jobless alcoholic, I would have laughed in your face. Not a single one of her friends or family like this man and instead of listening to frank and honest discussion, she instead gets more withdrawn.

She hardly even speaks to me anymore, and I am becoming more and more aware that she has essentially picked this neanderthal over her entire former existence, children included.

I thought I was doing well here, but honestly... How the hell do I approach this? I am having the damnedest time attempting to balance my desire to stay out of another person's personal affairs with my honest concern for my mother's alarming recent behavior.

Please hope!

Trying to find a striking picture of anthropologist and neanderthal.

kalimac — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 11:21:36 -0800

Looking for a striking photo of a modern human facing a reconstructed Neanderthal face. Calling all physical anthropologists!

I'm trying to find a picture for a friend of mine; I first saw it in a professor's office some years ago. It's of an anthropologist who had studied Neanderthals closely, and (at least at the time) supported the hypothesis that they hadn't entirely died out, at least phenotypically. The photo was of him facing a reconstructed Neanderthal's head, both of them in profile, and looking strikingly similar. The man was probably in his early fifties, Caucasian, bald or balding and rather sturdily-built -- definitely a robust skull :) I would have seen this picture in 2000 at the earliest, and I think it wasn't terribly old then.

Can anyone track down this picture and/or the anthropologists name? My google-fu is failing me.

Thanks!

What should I read if I love Clan of the Cave Bear?

melodykramer — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 11:06:14 -0800

I love The Clan of the Cave Bear series by Jean Auel, and am looking to read other series in the same vein (i.e. historical, fact-filled, plot driven awesomeness) What would you recommend?

How did primitive man cope with things like body oil, pimples, and cold weather?

gttommy — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 08:41:43 -0800

How did primitive man cope with things like body oil, pimples, and cold weather? Most people take showers regularly and wear warm clothes when its cold but if we don't we get ill. How did primitive man cope?

Before they were able to make warm clothing, did excess body oil keep them warm? Did they just get used to the cold like feral children? Did they sweat a lot, unclogging their facial pores, or did they suffer teenage acne problems too?

Explanations of areas I haven't covered is welcome.

Articles about Neandertals?

Greg Nog — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 09:57:29 -0800

I've always been interested in early hominids, specifically Neandertals. I'm currently working in a research institution with access to PubMed and a huge array of scientific journals -- a perfect opportunity to get my caveman-learnin' on! Can anyone recommend some good scientific articles about Neandertals? Is there a paleoanthropologist in the house?

Looking for a Neanderthal Comic

salmacis — Mon, 17 May 2004 03:45:40 -0800

Several years ago, I had a photocopy of a cartoon entitled "Why the Neanderthals Became Extinct". There were two Neanderthals, one saying "I don't know, it just seemed easier when we went hunting" and the other one replying "Yes, but Og assures us this will keep us ahead of those Cro-Magnons in the valley". The rest of the cartoon was an insanely complicated hunting plan, with boxes and arrows and stages like "Hunt Readyness Review". I've been looking for a copy of this cartoon for years now. I don't suppose anybody knows what the hell I'm talking about?