The Homo Sapiens and Neanderthals - Essay Sample

Introduction

The existence of Neanderthals is estimated as 70000 years ago by Michael Geneste. There were various similar and different characteristics amongst the Homo Sapiens and Neanderthals. These characteristics can effectively be compared to the present being who may act as the base for evaluation of the species. The Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens can be characterized by their big brain size, their shared abilities but had differences in skull dimensions, speech articulation, and symbolism.

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The Homo Sapiens and Neanderthals have similar characteristics - a big brain. Appearing more than 2000 and 3000 years ago respectively, these species had a brain size close to that of the Homo Sapiens Sapiens. Similar to the present being, they were creative in making images to present their culture to other people. Creativity associated with the brain can be traced down to various paintings in France which can prove the ability of the Homo Sapiens to pass information to others, and the future generations. However, this is yet unknown for Neanderthals.

Similarly, these two species shared various abilities, a concept proven by different archaeological evidence. Evidence states that they were spread out all over Europe with a population of about half a million. These species had special abilities such as making technical tools for activities like scraping skins, cutting tendons, as well as killing animals for their food. These species would also make weapons through sticks. The thoughts of these species are classified similar to the present beings'. For instance, they buried the dead in the belief of an after-life.

In comparing the skull dimensions, there are only little variations in the lower skull between Neanderthals and rational human beings which is flat and rounded respectively. The concept of a flat base and a raised voice box can be associated with a living ape and newborns as proven by Jeffrey Laitman. That makes newborns have the ability to breathe and swallow simultaneously. However, these species did not have the capability of fully articulate speech as the present being because of their vocal tract configuration, which was on the left, compared to that on the right for Homo Sapiens Sapiens.

The ability to fully articulate speech makes the difference between the old species and present human beings. With modern microscopic and molecular technology, human speech can be traced to the chromosome. With the ice age in Europe occurring about 40000 years ago, it can be assumed that the language skills of modern humans provided an edge over that of Neanderthals. Communication was necessary for the planning of hunts to the migrating herds since language can be categorized in genetics. There is a discovery of rock marks that are believed to be the calendar of the species for about 35000 years ago. However, the last archaeological site discovered in France proved a co-existence amongst Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens that the former was eliminated by the latter, leaving out Homo Sapiens as the world's rulers.

There is a symbolic difference of ability between Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons as noted by Tattersall Ian. There is no symbolic existence proof by Neanderthals compared to Cro-Magnons. The characteristic of Cro-Magnons can be associated with the present being in that they did painting, sculpture, music, engraving, as well as notations. For the Homo Sapiens, the species had proper communication techniques as they would share thoughts of struggling for existence and also be inquisitive which was not the case for Neanderthals.

I think life prevails in the end. I find many assumptions in various aspects such as the calendar that was painted on a rock as it could have articulated a different idea. There are multiple gaps also left out in research even with further knowledge on the existence of previous species beyond Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens. However, with more research, better discoveries can be made regarding the ancient human being.

There have been various similarities in brain size and abilities, and as well as differences in skull dimensions, speech, and symbolism amongst the Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens. These characteristics can be well used to classify the species. With modern technology, they can also be related to the existence of the present being, which is essential in evaluating their existence.