How Smart Were Neanderthals?

How smart were Neanderthals? Could you spot one walking down the road? Subscribe for more videos on the stone age.

Sources:
Meyer, Matthias, et al. “Nuclear DNA Sequences from the Middle Pleistocene Sima De Los Huesos Hominins.” Nature, vol. 531, no. 7595, 2016, pp. 504–507., doi:10.1038/nature17405.

Papagianni, Dimitra. The Neanderthals Rediscovered. Thames & Hudson, 2015.

Peresani, M., et al. “Late Neandertals and the Intentional Removal of Feathers as Evidenced from Bird Bone Taphonomy at Fumane Cave 44 Ky B.P., Italy.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 108, no. 10, 2011, pp. 3888–3893., doi:10.1073/pnas.1016212108.

Pettitt, Paul. The Palaeolithic Origins of Human Burial. Routledge, 2011.

Rendu, W., et al. “Evidence Supporting an Intentional Neandertal Burial at La Chapelle-Aux-Saints.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 111, no. 1, 2013, pp. 81–86., doi:10.1073/pnas.1316780110.

Roberts, Alice. Evolution: The Human Story. Dk Pub, 2018.

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[StefanMilo]

Just want to clarify my opinion. I don't believe the Neanderthals were the intellectual equals of homo sapiens, far from it. Though, I do believe that they would be smart enough to "blend in" as it were.

You could look at the same evidence and come to the opposite conclusion that they couldn't blend in. I suppose it depends on how you imagine the interbreeding between us occurring.

Thanks for watching as always!

[MisterCynic]

"Forward planning is a very human trait"
Suddenly I question the humanity of a great bulk of people I know

[deadmeme]

Neanderthals after 70k years BC:
"we live in a society."

[hoponpop]

They survived 100, 000 years under brutal conditions.
They were either very clever or incredible hunters.

[Brzeuczydlak]

With the 65 000 year old cave paintings found in 3 caves in Spain we can now be pretty sure that they showed symbolic behavior. These are the oldest cave paintings found yet, and there weren't any homo sapiens in Iberia at the time. That's some strong evidence for neanderthal smarts.

[CostaCola]

"As my wife can tell you..."

"Speech, memory, self control, memory..."

xD

[arkadeepkundu]

"I'm sure you couldn't spot a Neanderthal walking on the streets today"
Meanwhile, someone pointing at him on the street: "looks like a Neanderthal to me"

[jasonmorahan]

Well I did read a paper iirc from the University of Wyoming (?) where the researcher suggested many technological finds in areas shared by homo sapiens and neandertal were classified aurignacian by presumption, without any specific evidence. In fact what he said was that if a technological find near some neandertal remains also had even remotely nearby homo sapiens remains they were immediately classified aurignacian entirely because they were simply too advanced to be neandertal and that was that. He said in evidentiary procedure they could just as likely, in some cases more likely be late mousterian, he asserted there was no discernible difference between late mousterian and aurignacian technologies of the same periods, even suggested the possibility of interspecies trade or at least influence by interaction in either direction and supported the contention quite well as I recall, it was a lengthy paper with a lot of references. Given neandertal physiological display of survivalistic adaptations more severe than our own I would suggest at the very least independent problem solving in complex environments was hardly a shortcoming in their case and that says a lot about IQ upon a one to one basis.

There is also recent medical studies based in Germany challenging strict models of regional brain function, for example recovering brain surgery patients with excised regions associated with specific functions have demonstrated the brain's ability to reform this same functionality in a completely different area of the brain, short version leading to various research concluding brain function is largely amorphous and not regionally bound by constraint but merely convenience, so whilst general trends do exist generally; in the case of brain injury or deformation a perfectly complete human brain function is quite able to generate or regenerate itself into a fairly unique format, such as in the case of one German girl, a patient of one of the neurosurgical researchers whom was born with only one hemisphere of her brain formed and yet, aside from early issues with seizures eventually controlled by medication is living a completely normal life as an intelligent university student with a good sense of humour, as she is described. So this research kind of blows out of the water presumptions that neandertal must be differently capable and lesser in ways for the shape of their brain cavity, because of rather outdated ideas of regional brain functionality.

[tobuslieven]

Awesome videos. Would love to hear more about the Denisovans too. The Denisovan tooth they found was so big they initially mistook it for the tooth of a cave bear!

[OddNumber]

It's criminal that you have only 10k subs. I love your content and the care, thought and research goes into it. keep it up. :)

[alexanderlindstrom]

I really like your channel, you make very good and informative videos in an interesting format. Keep up the good work!

[rollinwithunclepete]

You know it was one of those Neaderthals/Sapiens mixers. It was dark and we were drunk. We checked into the Cozy Cave motel down the road... and we got busy.

[caimacd]

"As my wife can tell you, size is not everything." He's really focused on his moustache in this video huh?

[amirghorvei]

Stefan, you're great. This video was a great break in between studying for my latin, greek, and german exams! As far as a neanderthal walking down the street, I totally believe that they would look different enough to be noticeable. A mid-size jacked up beast with a face that only a mother could love? Deffo different. But still human enough to the point where they might not cause too much of an uproar.
On a side note, I was curious if you'd ever be interested in covering the evolution of language? I'm super into Proto-indo-european, and I feel like you're one of the only people that could do a video on it justice!!

[valeriavagapova]

Smashed that like button after the third "memory". Nothing like a fine mix of science and humour

[susanlilley-rizos]

Thank you so much for the interesting information presented in such a fun way. Your videos are definitely not boring.

[zincChameleon]

Not just primates, either. The Russian Blue cat takes longer to mature, and because of that has a larger brain in terms of the cerebral cortex. Having had a Russian blue, and having had a chance to compare it to other cats, I found the Russian Blue to be a quicker learner, understood simple commands, and even was able to grasp simple concepts. Finally, thank broad-hipped women for our human smarts!

[lastsilhouette]

I'd like to sit down and have a chat with a Neanderthal. Seeing into the mind of someone so close yet also distant would be fascinating.

[Spamhard]

I'm genuinely confused why "grave goods" is a judge of intelligence. I'd have thought the act of burying their dead is act enough. Grave goods is an odd one because I've not once had any elderly friends and relative be buried with any goods. It doesn't seem to be a consistent act performed today so I'm not sure why it's used as a measure for so long ago.

[jerrycratsenberg]

I always enjoy your point of view and your humorous humility. Thank you for sharing!