So, I guess some of you might've already heard this bit of news but apparently some scientists have reconstructed Neanderthal vocal tracts that have helped them simulate what Neanderthals might've sounded like back when they were still roaming the Earth. You can read the article here:
The news is pretty interesting but the comments posted below that article really take the cake. Here are some gems (emphasis mine):
By Jim Eagle Feather:
"Tue Apr 15 15:37:45 BST 2008
Personally I bet the Neanderthals were [b]an over all better human than we of today[/b]. I see scientists are no longer trying to practice their racism of making Neanderthals hairy dark people. Now they just want to portray them as a form of stupid whitish person who could only speak a form of Klingon. Likely the Neanderthals were highly vocal, [b]great poets[/b] and [b]intelligent to the point that they saw art as pointless and an affront to nature and the gods.[/b]"
By Michael C.:
"Wed Apr 16 21:43:54 BST 2008
Neanderthals survived physically taxing conditions within an unpredictable ecosystem that even a modern pro wrestler pumping anabolic steroids could not weather for more than a day. Neanderthals were superbly designed and supremely equipped--genetically and evolutionarily--for survival in their native environment. [b]They did not have beds with clean linen and comforters, microwaveable TV dinners, department stores, or high-tech weapons.[/b] Within their frequently extreme environmental conditions--which would kill contemporary Homo sapiens in a matter of hours--Neanderthals constructed cave homes to shelter themselves from the elements; hunted large, terrifying, and all-too-often dangerous big game prey for food and clothing [b](let's see how long you could survive in sub-zero temperatures in your tee-shirt and jeans and what innovative ideas you would mastermind in order to snag yourself a coveted bearskin outfit...[/b] Including stalking and killing a one ton animal with sharp teeth and claws and then skinning the carcass using barbaric [by contemporary standards] [yet extremely efficient for the period]--tools); and an evolved social hierarchy with division of labor and roles to ensure survival of the species. The Neanderthals did not die out for lack of physical constitution; they were, in fact, efficient naturalists nestled quite well into their territories until Cro Magnon appeared on the scene. When Neanderthal's territories were overrun by the larger higher-brained Cro Magnons, it became a matter of sheer statistics: there simply were not enough Neanderthals within a given geographic space to "hook up" and procreate. But this does not mean that they were not survivors. To believe so would be like stating that--if planet Earth were taken over by extraterrestrials with superior EVERYTHING--that contemporary humans are not survivors. Hogwash. Millennia from now, Homo sapiens will no longer inhabit this floating blue ball and will be replaced by a superior species. [b]So enjoy your warm home, your petrol-guzzling automobile, and your restaurant-prepared meals while you can. I guarantee that you're having an easier life than the Neanderthals,[/b] who would frequently break limbs (and they had extremely strong bones) in the hunt for food for their families, and have to keep hunting with those broken limbs, enucleated eyeballs, acute appendicitis, childbirth difficulties... The list goes on. Remember that Neanderthals are our distant cousins... Just a different branch on the human family tree. Environmental stressors, and Cro Magnon humans, pushed them to limits over generations that led to their extinction. But they certainly were not Dodo birds."
[cont'd]
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This text is a bit harsh. I find it very fascinating that some people feel the need to glorify something else, such as animals or in this case Neanderthals, at the expense of our own race. Admittedly, we're not the best, but does that really justify deep self-hatred? Sometimes I can't help but think that the existence of people like the ones quoted above does more than just justify the old saying "Homo homini lupus" (Man is a wolf to man). Hatred always creates more hatred, don't you think?
What the fuck is your problem?
Learn wakaba mark or gtfo.
Neanderthals are pretty interesting, but I don't know if that famous reconstruction shown in the article is accurate. I don't think they have any way of knowing the typical Neanderthal eye and hair colour; I always thought those distinctive north-European tones were specific to Homo-Sapiens, although that pale skin tone would have an evolutionary advantage for the northern latitudes the Neanderthals seemed to thrive in.
If humans really did interbreed with Neanderthals in Europe to the extent some people like to think, it'd be interesting to think that those distinctive European colours were a result of that interbreeding.
As for why the anti-human hate? I think that's part of a long romantic trend to depict primordial and "savage" peoples as gloriously as possible. I don't much care for it, myself.
>>3
Wow, you're being really constructive here. I hope you're proud now.
>that pale skin tone would have an evolutionary advantage for the northern latitudes the Neanderthals seemed to thrive in.
That's probably one more reason why they're dead.
Seriously, I can see the interbreeding. Humans have sex with everything. Also, I have seen plenty of people that have to be at least half Neanderthal.
Both Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons had larger brains than contemporary humans. Make of that what you will.
What's with so many people using brackets to markup text on this site? Seriously, I see this in a lot of posts. From what I understand, by clicking on More options..., you get a ton of goodies to help you out.
i think cave man is a pretty coo... aw fuck it
Welcome to the exciting schizophrenic world of self-hatred known as primitivism
Enjoy your stay
Cro-Magnon = early homo sapiens. Although we're apparently the same species, there were a number of anatomical features among them that seem to be rare today, including a slightly larger brain.
Funny fact: the known differences between Cro-Magnon and modern humans are the same as the differences between certain species of wild animals and their domesticated equivalents: larger eyes, neoteny, and so on. It's also possible we're less aggressive than Cro-Magnon, although it wouldn't be possible to test, obviously.
So Cro-Magnon was Woll Smoth?
Also, apart from brain size, important features of evolution have to do with brain structure, like the neocortex.
And once an evolutionary pressure is in place, it can take as little as a few thousand years before the population adapts. That includes such obvious locally distinct physical features as lactose tolerance and skin pigment adjustments. I've read on ESR's blog about people who hypothesize that intelligence itself is a local feature, found more often in Europe and Asia than Africa, though I consider that an extraordinary claim that hasn't met my requirement for extraordinary proof just yet.
I've also heard, though only from a TV engineer in the UK, that the human brain's structures for dealing with artificial visual input, such as straight lines or symbols, is only 5000 years old or so. That would mean that dyslexia is like lactose intolerance.
Michael C needs to take a chill pill.
Civilisation is like a process of self-domestication, so that makes sense.
I'm guessing most cro-magnons weren't lactose-tolerant and probably had trouble digesting some of the same grains and plants we take for granted.
Cro-magnons disappeared around the time blonde people appeared.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blonde#Origins
"the date of the genetic mutation that resulted in blond hair in Europe has been isolated to about 11,000 years ago during the last Ice Age"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cro-magnon#Cro-Magnon_life
"Cro-Magnons lived from about 45,000 to 10,000 years ago in the Upper Paleolithic period of the Pleistocene epoch."
YOU MURDERING BLONDE BASTARDS.