Is Our Species More Intelligent Than Neanderthals?
The word “Neanderthal” is often used as an insult or in a pejorative sense, indicating that the person it refers to is crude, brute, impulsive and unintelligent. And most people consider that the Neanderthal, one of the different human species that have populated the earth and that became extinct during prehistory, had a very limited cognitive capacity, a species of savage that could not compete with the Homo sapiensspecies to which we belong.
But is this really so? Is Homo sapiens more intelligent than Neanderthals? In this article we are going to make a brief reflection on this topic.
Neanderthals are an extinct species of the genus Homo (i.e. one of the species of humans) that They lived mainly in Europe and Asia approximately 230,000 to 28,000 years ago It is the last species of the homo genus to become extinct, leaving the Homo sapiens as the only survivor of this part of the tree of biological evolution. This species shared with the Homo sapiens the Indo-European territories for thousands of years, until for reasons that are still unknown today they ended up disappearing.
The Neanderthal was physically very adapted to life in cold and mountainous environments such as those of Ice Age Europe. It was shorter and much stronger and more muscular than sapiens, and had a shorter pharynx and wider nose. It also had a larger skull, in which the double ciliary arch (a kind of bony covering that covers the eyebrows) and the prognathism stand out, as well as greater cranial capacity
Popular culture has often placed this species below modern homo sapiens, associating it with an image of savagery and considering its members inferior or less adapted due to the fact that they ended up becoming extinct. But this does not imply that they were, or that they lacked intelligence.
Evidence of Neanderthal intelligence
The truth is Neanderthals were not unintelligent brutes This human species, which in fact came close to being called homo stupidus (Ernst Haeckel even proposed this name for this species after its discovery), it actually had a fairly high level of cognitive ability. And there is a large amount of evidence that warrants the consideration of these beings as very intelligent creatures.
They have been observed in different sites where there is evidence that Neanderthals They buried their dead, which implies the ability to perceive themselves as differentiated entities, and the presence of abstract thought. They also mastered fire and made complex tools, although different from those that our ancestors would end up using, and remains of dyes have been found that could have been used to dye clothes.
Although until recently it was believed that they had left no artistic representations, the age of some cave paintings (before the arrival of the Homo sapiens) seem to indicate that they also made artistic products of this type, which would indicate the capacity for abstraction and symbolization
They had a social structure, and there is evidence that they cared for the elderly and sick. Their anatomical structure and brain capacity mean that they were considered to have the ability to use oral language. Likewise, it has been observed in different archaeological sites that Neanderthals They used different strategies to hunt, often using the characteristics of the terrain to do so This implies the ability to plan, abstract and judge, since it requires knowledge of the environment and the advantages and disadvantages of certain geographical features, such as wells and ravines.
More or less intelligent than Homo sapiens?
The fact that Neanderthals possessed intelligence is not sufficient proof that our cognitive capacity could not be greater. However, the opposite does not have demonstrable empirical evidence either. The behavior of one species or another was similar, and only the disappearance of the Neanderthals is used as proof of their lesser mental ability.
In fact, the cranial capacity of these humans (remember that, like us, they are part of the homo genus) is on average higher than that of Homo sapiens, also being the largest brain While this does not necessarily indicate superior intelligence (since a larger brain does not necessarily mean it is more efficient), it does indicate that brain capacity could allow for the development of cognitive abilities. Their nervous system, however, could function differently than ours, leading to different ways of thinking and seeing the world.
Many people believe that if the Neanderthals became extinct and we are still here, it was, at least in part, because the cognitive ability of the Homo sapiens It allowed him to face problems and disadvantages that the Neanderthal, in principle more primitive, could not face. But the truth is that the fact that it has survived until now does not have to have been a result of greater intelligence. There are multiple reasons that led to the disappearance of the Neanderthal, some of them empirically contrasted.
One of the possible reasons is found in a phenomenon that has been repeated countless times throughout history, among members of the same species that have lived in different ecosystems: transmission of diseases for which members of the other party are not prepared An example of this is found in the conquest of America by the Europeans; These unintentionally brought to the American continent diseases for which the natives had no type of resistance or immunity, causing a large number of deaths (transmitting quickly in large cities and settlements and decimating the native population). Something similar could have happened among the Neanderthals before the arrival of the Homo sapiens.
Another reason and probably one of the main ones is inbreeding, something corroborated by science. The Neanderthals, in the then cold Europe, They tended to establish small social groups in which related people lived together to some degree, reproducing with them in such a way that there was a high level of endogamy. In the long run, this practice gradually weakened the species as harmful mutations and genetic alterations were added and new genetic material was not incorporated, to the point that over time the birth of new healthy and fertile Neanderthals became difficult.
The Cro-Magnon man, on the contrary, traveled great distances and had to move often to hunt, a mobility that made it easier to avoid such a high level of endogamy by finding other settlements and linking up with peers with whom there was no consanguinity.
It must also be taken into account that Neanderthals They were adapted to Europe and tended to look for caves to take refuge from the cold caves often sought after and inhabited by predators that they had to face.
Finally, although most of us imagine the extinction of the Neanderthals as a process in which everyone ended up dying, there is a theory that in reality their extinction could have to do with hybridization He Homo sapiens It became very numerous compared to the number of Neanderthals, and the species could be lost as its genes were diluted in crosses between Neanderthals and Sapiens. This agrees with the fact that it has been found that the current human being has genes belonging to Neanderthals.
Neanderthal genes in modern humans
Another aspect that may be relevant to comment on is the fact that in the genes of today’s homo sapiens sapiens, vestiges and remnants of DNA from the Homo neanderthalensis This implies that Neanderthals and Homo sapiens they managed to produce fertile offspring, and that we actually share part of our heritage with this other species. In fact, some recent researchers consider that the current human being has around two percent of Neanderthal genetic material, the percentage being much higher than what the first studies seemed to indicate.
Some of the genes that have been proven to be similar to those of this species have to do with skin and hair color (possibly lighter in Neanderthals), tolerance to solar radiation (higher in Neanderthals, who lived in Europe before the homo sapiens emigrated from Africa), mood and circadian rhythms. Many of them are also related to the immune system, thanks to which we can defend ourselves against infections and diseases. Although on the other hand, links of some of these genes have also been found with schizophrenia and other psychiatric disorders, autoimmune problems, cholesterol and fat accumulation.
