Skip to main content

Physical and Cultural Features of Neanderthals


Physical Features: Classical and Progressive Neanderthals 

  1. Increased Cranial capacity: The skull from Shanidar (Iraq) and Amud (Israel) have been estimated to upto 1700 to 1740 cc.
  2. Dolichocephalic skull - narrow and long 

  3. Skull wall and brow ridges thick
  4. Heavy jaw, chin receding backward
  5. Dentition is parabolic with no diastema 

  6. Sylurian fissure in brain signifies more developed brain with possibility of existence of language. However, pharynx is less developed.
  7. Some facial prognathism
  8. Strong femur with large head.
  9. Strong ribs, erect posture, foramen Magnum

Geographical Distribution of Neanderthals:



Cultural Characteristics of Neanderthals:
  1. Nousterian Culture: flake tools became more popular. The industry of these tools is found in Le Mouster, hence the name given to the culture, which is unique to Neanderthals. 

  2. Strong social organisation: otherwise La Chappelle Aux man, as also handicapped Shanidar man could not have survived in old age without social support.
  3. Rituals: first direct evidence of rituals as well as delicate burial. In Teshik-Teash (USSR), the burial of a young Neanderthal was surrounded by wild goat skulls with horns pointed towards the burial. At Shanidar too, the association of dead with arrangement of bear skulls as also the floral offerings indicate some form of primitive religious practice.
  4. Existence of Language: studies of brain, with the presence of sylurian fissure, point towards some form of language. Neanderthal hyoid bone also discovered in Kebara cave, Israel in 1989. 

  5. Hunting: big game hunting along with division of labour and better skills and coordination. Levallois technique: It is a technique of tool making in which the toolmaker takes an oblong, relatively flat flint stone and strikes flakes off the thinner side and then on the back. The same process goes on.

    It takes time, effort and skills to craft a levallois core. The degree of foresight and planning required to create a Levallois core is far greater and indicates an improvement in cognition and abstract thinking.
  6. Core art: carvings resembling criss-cross lines reported in Gorham's cave in Gibraltar 
  7. Social Structure: advancing and complex in 2016, lungs of stalagmites 0.17 million years old discovered 336 m inside Bruniquel cave in South France. Pesturina cave, Serbia, was inhabited by Neanderthals. 
                        Pesturina cave, Serbia





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Kula, Potlatch and Moka system

Differences between Kula, Potlatch and Moka system of Exchange Distribution, gift giving and exchanging constitute a big issue for archaic societies. In the Western world the natural monetary economy is based on the principle of achieving a material profit during every transaction. That does not mean, however, that it is applicable in all cultures that in an exchange trade both sides must obtain the same economic benefit.  In the 1950’s the economic historian Karl Polanyi developed a system for classifying the different modes of the distribution of commodities.  He identified three different types: reciprocity, redistribution and trade exchange .  Both redistribution and the existence of market are subject to the activities of the central power organisations and therefore these categories are typical of those societies with advanced power and economic hierarchies.  More interesting for us therefore will be the reciprocal relationships in archaic societies. Reciproci...
3 comments
Read more

Justice A N Ray (CJI)

  Justice A.N Ray Author : Mr. MK Verma  Hon’ble Mr.Justice Ajit Nath Ray was the 14 th  Chief Justice of India. He had served as the CJI of India from  26 th  Aprill 1973- 28 th  January 1977. Earlier he was appointed as the Judge of Supreme Court of India in August 1969. Early Life Justice Ray was born 29 th  January 1912 and had passed away on 25 th  December 2010 at Kolkata. He had studied in various prestigious colleges of the country and abroad like the Presidency college, Kolkata and the Oriel College, Oxford. Moreover he had been a part of various controversial judgements like the Bank Nationalisation Case of 1970 also known as the R.C Cooper Case. He had hit the news headlines on January 1973 when he was appointed as the CJI of India by the then PM of India Smt. Indira Gandhi which is often said to be the darkest hour in the history of India’s judiciary. Criticisms The ‘Two hours’ controversy:- It is said that Justice A.N Ray was not a Ju...
2 comments
Read more

Modern Indian History for UPSC IAS 2024

Class - 1 Sources for the history of Modern India: Introduction The records of the East India Company provide a  detailed account of trading  conditions during the period 1600-1857. When the British crown took over the administration, it also kept a large variety and volume of  official records . These records help historians to trace every important development stage-by-stage and follow the processes of  decision - making  and the  psychology of  the policy-makers . The records of the other European East India companies (the Portuguese, Dutch and French) are also useful for  constructing the history of the 17th and 18th centuries. Archival Materials 1. Central Government Archives The  National Archives of India , located in New Delhi, contains most of the archives of the Government of India. These provide authentic and reliable source materials on varied aspects of modern Indian history. The records with the National Archives come under vari...
2 comments
Read more