TheTimesreports today that scientists arereconstructing the Neanderthal genome , which has led to fortune ofdebateabout whether we should clone one , were that potential . order aside what companionship would actually do with a clone Neanderthal ( put him in some unholy Pleistocene Park ? cast him in aGeico commercial ? ) , the guy would ask some major image rehab , because over the years his specie has been scientifically slandered . Here , courtesy ofChannel 4 , are 10 Neanderthalian myth that need debunking :
We are descended from NeanderthalsMost experts now agree that Neanderthals were an evolutionary dead end ; a specie that became out about 30,000 twelvemonth ago . In late years , this feeling has been digest by groundbreaking research on Neanderthal DNA . diminutive quantity of DNA have been recovered from Neanderthalian ivory and then analysed on computers . The event support the scene that they are different species to Modern Humans .
Neanderthal man were club - swing thugsThere is no evidence that Neanderthals made or used heavy wooden clubs . However , there is dear evidence that they made spear , and a all-inclusive variety of Harlan Fisk Stone tools . Many of these tools were incredibly penetrative . Some had a bleak edge acuate than a sawbones ’s scalpel .
They were savage , uncaring brutesIn late years , scientists have discovered evidence that Neanderthals cared for senior and ill members of their group . For exercise , one older Neanderthal happen in Iraq had suffer multiple fractures on the right side of his soundbox and may have been blinded in one center . Many of his injuries had healed , show that somebody must have cared for him for the relaxation of his life .
Modern Man wipe out off the NeanderthalsAfter surviving for 250,000 years in Europe , Neanderthals became extinct just 10,000 twelvemonth after modern Man get in , entail us in their destiny . However , there is no evidence for difference . Indeed , in some regions of Europe , the two populations co - exist for thousand of twelvemonth , perhaps peacefully . Slightly lower birthing rates and high mortality rates , combined with an increasingly unstable clime are now thought to have killed off the Neanderthals .
Neanderthals bred with Modern ManSome scientists lay claim that a child skeleton , found in Portugal in 1998 , has a assortment of Neanderthal and Modern human features . For them , it ’s validation of crossbreeding . Other scientists dispute the claim and DNA tests on 3 other Neanderthal dodo have found no evidence for crossbreed . Research on the child continues . The debate is far from over .
Neanderthals were scavengers , not huntersNeanderthals may not have used projectile weapons , which to some hoi polloi suggests that they lacked the power to kill big quarry . However , the large proportion of injury found on Neanderthal ivory - likened to those of modern day rodeo rider - suggests that they did occupy in the close - quarter killing of large animals . Large accumulations of bones at the bottom of some cliffs suggest that they also chased ruck of mammoth , deer and Greenland caribou over the edge , reducing risk of injury to themselves .
