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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www.stefanmilo.com
Historysmilo
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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!

[@johnbryant8603]

Stefan Milo “as it were what” ?

[@username65585]

Would you say that there was an overlap in terms of the bell curves of intelligence for the two species? Like the smartest Neanderthals were on par with the stupidest humans on something like that.

[@cherielynn3885]

They live on in us and you need your percentages and find the Neanderthal in us all - almost all. They had smarts and some had blue eyes and red hair and white skin. - read my blogs and if you don't know how to test the neanderthal get in touch!

[@colinp2238]

@@cherielynn3885 Ooooh arrrrr do you mean us tooooo?

[@yumiryin8197]

Cherie Lynn how do you know they are blond blue eyed?

[@MisterCynic18]

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

[@whynottalklikeapirat]

Personally I am partial to backward planning

[@ksimvanderhlaar]

oh god... i just realized I might not be human

[@mjolninja9358]

Had to be honest, I’m an ape

[@MrTeniguafez]

Forward planning =/= good forward planning

[@Dell-ol6hb]

Definitely not a trait most humans have in my experience Lmaoo

[@hoponpop3330]

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

[@scottywills124]

Both

[@siramike2654]

not a big deal, bears and others too did live in the same cold areas. you don't have to be smart to live in icy area. polar bears are such great example.

[@hyzercreek]

@Ken Hudson Right, because Inuit and Aleuts are Neanderthals living in ice age Europe 500,000 years ago. Good point.

[@ilias8972]

@@siramike2654 The difference is that animals like bears or other carnivorous hunters have bodies designed just for this reason, which is hunting. They are born to kill. On the other side, humans are totally relied on their mind to hunt. It's natures equivalent to the lack of physical abilities. So, if they didn't have at least decent inteligence they wouldn't have manage even to survive so long, let along that they exanded to different continents.

[@richardrobbin2731]

Each member of the group provided something/somehow. This is crucial to the survival of the species..very. archaic but it worked

[@deadmeme8973]

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

[@sethmoneygetter7140]

We do live society gamer

[@Кенжетайұлы]

I think humans wiped out neanderthals like the same thing happened with indigenous groups in all around the world . Many of them are extinct and others are in less population .

[@oldman2800]

Neanderthals may well have been polygamous which would have made them much more vulnerable in times of fighting, famine or disease as picking up the kids and bolting is something monogamous families can do immediately but polygamous communities would need time, planning and many committee decisions to make. Particularly if the big dog was involved in a succession war

[@eVill420]

​@@oldman2800a succession war, or war in general, would be very small scale 40000 years ago

[@ReddoFreddo]

"Our brain is designed to maintain relationships with 150 people." me, has a relationship with less than 10 people ._.

[@ianrichardson3968]

Wow..that many..!! I can't get on with meself half the time.....

[@ColdHawk]

You sir, are built to survive a pandemic. I wanted to get a t-shirt made that says “Introversion has survival value,” but then I realized nobody but me would see it so I just think of wearing that shirt out to a restaurant and chuckle to myself.

[@greggtilghman6349]

But how many people do you know and remember some information about?

[@rubiccube8953]

@@ianrichardson3968 Being a person that likes their own company more helps with the pandemic.

[@brisingr12]

Homo erectus detected !

[@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.

[@piratelife6343]

We have jewlerry from them from 130,000 years ago. Google eagle tallons, neanderthals.

[@joeleek9976]

I am curious why their technology didn't really advance for tens of thousands of years.

[@gordonlawrence4749]

@@joeleek9976 Human tech didn't advance either. We spent just how long in the stone age? It was only with the copper age (which didn't even happen in Europe) that the pace of change started to accelerate. That brings us to the second point. There is not much in the way of copper deposits round Europe. Tin yes, Iron ore yes, but not copper. It would have been a hell of a jump to iron and most bog iron would have been inaccessible or simply did not exist. EG some peat bogs in Ireland were farmland as little as 4000 years ago and you can actually detect the walls with nothing more complex than an 8 foot 1/4 inch steel rod to poke downwards with.

[@joeleek9976]

@@gordonlawrence4749 seems like there are finer dilineations to be made within stone age tech. For example the atlatl or bow don't require anything out of the stone age. I admit i am not as well studied in this area as i wish, but it seems like even stone age humans used ranged weapons and Neanderthals didn't. If I am mistaken in this regard, let me know.

[@martinhughes2549]

@@joeleek9976 One theory is population density. Neanderthals had low population density, over their whole range maybe 10,000 to 100,000 individuals lived at anytime, that's most most of western Eurasia btw. That's incredibly low, however it means they could survive well by exploiting seasonal game, and anything easily available. Homo Sapiens emerged 300,000 years ago in Africa, yet again very little innovation till 40,000 years ago for possibly the Same reason. Higher population means either higher mortality or the need to exploit otherwise unavailable resources through new technology. Another reason could be any innovation dies with innovator if your population is low, diffusion of innovation is slow. With bigger populations it's faster. As Neanderthals did interbreed with modern humans clearly they could not have been extremely divergent intellectually, however intelligence is a very hard concept to understand, it's not just mathematical logical ability, its interpersonal and linguistic skills, physical ability( physical skills ie throwing a spear etc). Neanderthals might have brilliant at physical skills, but poorer at empathy /interpersonal ability. We just dont know...yet. I think further DNA studies will eventually tell us some of these questions.

[@CostaCola]

"As my wife can tell you..." "Speech, memory, self control, memory..." xD

[@coopernoble6139]

Perception, memory, self control, and memory

[@coopernoble6139]

Lol

[@randomsandwichian]

Did he mention that it also includes, memory, memory, and memory?

[@arkadeepkundu4729]

"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"

[@chrispontello9949]

I picked out a Neanderthal on TV. Her name is Marjorie Taylor-Greene. As evidence I direct your attention to her low-sloping forehead and thickened occipital ridge.

[@Oorlich95]

@@chrispontello9949 Don't insult Neanderthals by comparing their intelligence to that troglodyte. An ornery chimp would be more useful than her.

[@colbyr7811]

I remember sitting in school looking at some kids that looked like that 😂 i was making up stories in my head like "what if his family just lives longer lifespans, so he's "less evolved" 😂

[@jasonmorahan7450]

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.

[@OddNumber1524]

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. :)

[@StefanMilo]

Thanks man! Even 10k is crazy though

[@InteleVision-Vic]

He's Right! Great Show.

[@Rosskoflex]

@@StefanMilo pessimism vs optimism lol

[@IvorMektin1701]

98k now!

[@3PercentNeanderhal]

I'm just happy to have found the channel.

[@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!

[@StefanMilo]

Yeah i'll definitely make that in the future

[@Scoffslaphead72]

Unforunately we dont have many denisovan fossils. Hope we find more in future!

[@dukadarodear2176]

To have one of them to dinner would have been unBearable. "Excuse me Mr. Homo, could you pass me that whole turkey?"

[@mirandagoldstine8548]

My mom has Denisovan DNA in her. Problem is...none of her ancestors came from Asia. They came from Germany and Switzerland as far as we know. Are there other people whose ancestors can be traced back to European nations who have Denisovan ancestry in their DNA? Because I would love to know how rare this is.

[@deandeann1541]

@@mirandagoldstine8548 Have you considered it could be an error in the testing?

[@caimacd]

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

[@alexanderlindstrom01]

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

[@sarahhess464]

Dogs bury bones.

[@rollinwithunclepete824]

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.

[@BubbafromSapperton]

At daylight after he got a good look 👻

[@luciferangelica]

@Big AL 311 it was nice of him to save her the shock

[@funcuzchris4466]

Yeah, that's probably nothing like how it really went down. A neanderthal could have ripped your arms out of their sockets without even breaking a sweat. The odds that some chick was looking at a neanderthal and thinking to herself, "I gots to git me sum 'o dat!" are pretty remote. More likely that they just raped us.

[@luciferangelica]

@@funcuzchris4466 or our ancestors practiced exogamy with local trading partners, not having a concept of species

[@deandeann1541]

@@funcuzchris4466 Some women are into cavemen.

[@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!

[@amirghorvei1126]

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!!

[@Rhiannonganon]

That mid size jacked up beast being my ex husband, I'm serious, he could put a gorilla to shame haha!

[@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.

[@sallyreno6296]

Spam Yes.

[@Gabi-nn6xu]

It doesn't seem to be a consistent act performed today so// but it is, in many places people still visits their loved one's graves and bring them stuff, flowers, put something they liked in their graves, even the sole existence of individual grave stones with individual meanings is in a way a "grave goods". I mean, look at dia de los muertos, just look outside and you see still a pretty common thing. I believe they take grave goods as a sign of intelligence because shows more clearly a genuine intention of burying someone, and also shows that they understood that each person is unique and have their traits and things about them you know. There are multiple reasons to why someone could die in a hole and you can't say for sure they were buried and loved just because you found the in a hole. Sometimes they just took shrooms went totally crazy and fell, it happens, we're talking about pretty shallow graves in comparison with what we have today

[@Spamhard]

@@Gabi-nn6xu It's actually pretty easy to tell, generally, if someone was intentionally buried or just died 'in a hole'. Also bringing flowers to a grave aren't the same as specificlaly burying goods with a person. In a hundred thosuand years if they found one of our modern day bodies buried, they wouldn't know we bought them flowers, for instance, but the fact they didn't find a buried good with the body doesn't mean it wasn't intelligently cared for. We don't know if neanderthals brought trinkets to graves either. Like I say in my original post, the act of burying alone is emotional intelligence on display.

[@lastsilhouette85]

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.

[@akimjocelyn4387]

I think the lack of progress in the development or innovation of Neanderthal tools have to do with a smaller social group, and the fact that they were most likely more isolated from one another

[@johntomasini3916]

That is an interesting point. My main interest is Australian Aboriginal's, 75,000 years of continuous civilization and occupation, and yet little change in tools and weaponry. Did they need to change to survive, I think not, although the food sources would be different from one place to another, common practices were good enough for them to survive. 40,000-75,000 ago the Mega Fauna were hunted with available weaponry, unfortunately other humans with guns ended their superiority of their environment.

[@valeriavagapova]

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

[@shannonbeat]

Okay. I need to meet your wife. We need to start a support group for those who have husbands on YT that tell corny jokes. As always, great job. And you are making me wait a week for part 3?! I can’t!

[@StefanMilo]

Lol that sounds like a great idea! Yeah I have to make you wait because I'm too lazy to make videos longer than 10 mins.

[@Zany4God]

You asked, "Why did they (the Neanderthals) die out? I might toss out another question for consideration. "Why did the Tasmanians die out? I fear it was for the same reason. Humans can be pretty rough on their neighbors, especially those who are "different."

[@j5892000]

And on our own kind. We are very very capable of killing for fun and for survival

[@joeleek9976]

Evidence also shows that their bodies required more calories and their ability to move cross country wasn't as efficient as humans.

[@glenndhorallmyxlvntx9294]

Disease carried by other groups could very well have been the reason

[@mlad9944]

In both cases, they were bred out. There are still some Tasmanians claiming (rightly) to being part indigenous. Most Caucasians and Asians have some Neanderthal in their genome.

[@glenndhorallmyxlvntx9294]

@RonnyDonny13 I was speculating that what happened to the Neanderthals was similar to what happened to Native Americans when Europeans started moving in. It was actually disease that wiped off most of the populations... you very well could be correct however. Breeding out also a major possibility.

[@michaelfurgessons2896]

A question: Behavior wise i too think we would not recognize them(there are some pretty ...colorful characters... homo sapiens around and we still not notice them without talking to them) As it relates to the physical traits ,when we compare our height to theirs and say they were shorter the estimate for human height is 1.5-1.8.I am a tall guy 1.90 but i don't think i would reach tall a height back in the day with starvation malnutrition and heavy physical labour as a child. So the question is the average of human height for skeletons of the era is still taller than Neanderthals?

[@fouledanchorfarm1192]

Concerning your point on Neadrathal advancing beyond stone. I believe they were much like the Native Americans. There really wasn't a reason to advance. They had all the food they needed. They had dry caves to live in. They had animal skins and fire to keep them warm. They had a community to help with all those things. What more did they need? It could be argued that when homo sapiens appeared with better weapons, processes and language it was like Eve's apple. They were overwhelmed by technology that would kill them if they didn't adapt. In my personal opinion the two groups fought over resources and the Neadrathal genes we have today are the result of the ones ready to adapt either by choice or force because of the taking of women and children to replenish the ranks of homo sapiens lost due to disease, accident or other type loss. Basically, male Neadrathal were killed off, the females and children taken in raids were bred out of existence. It may be that in the one grave that described a flint tool by the chest may have been killed by that tool and he was buried with it still in him. That might be evidence to back up my assertion but we will never know. Another point I'd like to make, is that language must be very old indeed. The complexity required to tell another how to strike a piece of flint to make a tool, much less how to use that tool to make another tool, much less how to select flint, obsidian or chert to chip in the first place, it just boggles my mind. It takes apes almost a decade to learn to crack a nut with a rock just by watching the others do it. From that to teaching/telling others about chipping flint tools... Anyway, very interesting video. 🙂

[@defenderoftheadverb]

I thought they lived in small extended family groups rather than tribal groups. That by itself would explain their relatively backward technology.

[@cliffordkelly5327]

Howdy Stefan, I’m catching up slowly w/yur videos & as always appreciate the fact that scientists are making great strides thru technology & finally answering important questions about our neolithic “Cuzzins” & Yu have taken it upon yurself to communicate those findings ( my GF gets to hear yur ramblings whether she wants to or not ) but she enjoys yur extreme sense of humor displayed in this video ( the yodeler! ) so in short , we both enjoy yur sharing what’s new !

[@thomascowie3908]

Are Neanderthals considered a separate species to Homo Sapiens? I thought that one way to differentiate between species is that they could not produce fertile offspring, but Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens clearly did and this confuses me. Love the videos mate, keep them coming :)

[@MDZPNMD]

This is an interesting question. I have heard the same thing and did not know any answer to the question you pose. After some research I found out that this criteria is only 1 of many criteria and it isn't correct in certain cases. Also neanderthals and humas rarely crossbred with neanderthals leading to the conclusion that it was exceptionally rare or most of the offspring were infertile. The dominant theory seems to be that hybrid females are the source of neanderthal genomes in human population today, while hybrid males were infertile some females at least weren't according to Svante Pääbo of the MPI for Evolutionary Anthropology.

[@thomascowie3908]

@@MDZPNMD Thank-you for your reply - this sounds like something that would make sense. I know that the idea of separate species as we like to categorise them is flawed as genetics is in not fixed and evolution occurs through incremental changes.

[@ashmckinlay1402]

@@thomascowie3908 that is a very smart question that I have wondered about too and I guess Thomas has already answered it very adequately. And yeah, our biological classification system is functional but not perfect, for example Mammals is today classified as a 'class' but at some point in the history of animals, the aninals that evolved to give milk must have been just a collection of species under a genus. If you catch my drift.

[@factsbeforefeellings6115]

the standard definition for a species is a group of animals which cannot breed with animals out side there group and produce fertile offspring. Like a horse and a donkey will produce a mule. Mules are 99.999 percent unable to reproduce. That being said in the case of Brown bears and polar bears. They can reproduce and the offspring can also produce viable young. So they are classified by both there physical differences and completely different means of survival. The third reason can be a classification of 2 very similar animals completely alike in almost every way. Yet live thousands of miles apart and the 2 populations never get the chance to come in contact with each other. Neanderthals and humans do not match any of these examples. In my opinion had there been DNA testing when neanderthals where discovered. They would be classified as Homo Sapiens. Do to the fact that they lived among us and interbred with us. There technology was on par with humans at the time. They had just developed a different type of survival strategy. I would be willing to bet a million dollars. That if a group of neanderthals were found living in some remote area today. As long as they were capable of speech and were not covered with hair like an ape. Weather scientist wanted to or not. They would be classified as Homo Sapiens. Science is controlled by public or political opinion to an extent. In the early days of scientific classification. Some scientist argued that different races were different subspecies. Based on physical appearance and geographic separation. Those scientist were actually correct. There are no pure Homo Sapiens on earth. Europeans and Asians are mixed with neanderthals. Native Australians and Asians are mixed with Denisovans. Sub Saharan Africans are mixed with 2 as of yet unidentified human relatives. Which happened after some modern humans left Africa. So all modern humans are hybrids.

[@pseudopetrus]

I agree, the definition of a species is offspring that can themselves reproduce, clearly early modern man and Neanderthals were the same species, or perhaps we could say subspecies. I like to think of evolution as a flow rather than marked steps in development, though that makes distinct scientific terms challenging.

[@susanlilley-rizos9906]

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

[@doctorpicardnononono7469]

7:00 maybe the had no need to change because a lot of their problems were solved by being muscular.

[@georgehunter2813]

Right. Their large cranial volume was muscle bound literally and figuratively. The Neanderthals were stuck in a pragmatic routine with no dreams of improving what already worked. Make and use... make and use the same stone point design. Neanderthals being stationary muscular ambush hunters couldn't begin to imagine wounding an animal with a bow and arrow or throwing spear and then pursing that animal to exhaustion as our Sapiens ancestors did. Neanderthal physique wasn't built for or capable of running pursuit. Short muscular bowed legs, you know, better suited for basing a thrusting spear. And besides their rear heavy large heads bounced and bobbled if they ran.

[@christopherellis2663]

@@georgehunter2813 ¿Ambush hunters? You are behind the research

[@georgehunter2813]

You are behind the Neanderthal.

[@mitchellskene8176]

@@christopherellis2663 Yes it's now commonly believed that Neanderthals were ambush hunters, and not game chasers like we are

[@paulingvar]

There is no sign that they had bow and arrow. I guess they were out-competed by humans and their population gradually dwindled , to some part because of too simple hunting technique

[@kirbyarmstrong9174]

On Neanderthal symbols I watched another video recently that demonstrated that most of the cave paintings in Europe are Neanderthals.

[@kirbyarmstrong9174]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/nnvRdoR5gqZoick

[@mariob7791]

Perhaps neands were somehow incorporated in sapien's family life and due much smaller number they "disappeared", i.e., they were all absorbed, leaving their legacy genetics to us (just a guess, heard nobody talking about it).

[@jerrycratsenberg989]

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

[@pseudopetrus]

Great video, I do think Neanderthals were smart, perhaps in a different way than us but, they were successful at hunting big game with a pointy stick, that has got to be worth something!

[@ThisisBarris]

I sure love that sensual yet masculine mustache.

[@Petrov3434]

In Krapina (Croatia) Neanderthals -- it was (belatedly) discovered -- used huge claws of very large hawks - carved so they can be used as ornaments (e.g., for a necklace). There are beautiful photographs and other documentation on this in situ decisive discovery on the leading location for Neanderthals

[@surfk9836]

Mustaches are sensuous, people are sensual. Got that wisdom from Animal House.

[@robertowen1956]

Have you been to Walmart on a Saturday?

[@SailorBarsoom]

I watched your "Origins" video and now this one. I look forward to the next, and in the meantime I'm going to watch your video on Neanderthal sailors. I wonder what Sailor Neanderthal's transformation would look like?

[@Koivisto147]

this guy looks so friggin smug and happy all the time

[@alexbowman7582]

There’s numerous historic Bigfoot type tales all over Eurasia of hairy almost human apemen living near humans. It’s possible that Neanderthals, Erectus and Denisovians lived in small groups as late as the Middle Ages.

[@RizztrainingOrder]

The self deprecating humor cracked me up and made me laugh out loud. Crazy

[@sanjustito]

I appreciate your continuous smile. Interesting videos. Thanks Stefan

[@misanthropicservitorofmars2116]

I disagree. I think Neanderthals were noticeably different. Their bones are far too noticeable. To think they looked a lot like humans seems disingenuous. Plus their eyes were much bigger. Potentially giving them much better night vision than us humans. Sure they have some behavioral similarities. And I certainly have their DNA in me. But it was likely far more complex than we could know. And those complexities could easily be noticed as differences.

[@StefanMilo]

Yeah I'd agree we'd notice their physical differences that's why I put that caveat at the start. If we hypothetically had a neanderthal baby though, I think it could grow up and live in our society. Perhaps not the next Shakespeare or Einstein but could live in our society.

[@misanthropicservitorofmars2116]

Stefan Milo it spanned a long time. I’m sure there were various stages of interaction between our “species”. You ever see the absolutely out there “predatory Neanderthal” video? That takes potential predation to the absolute extreme. It’s definitely speculative zoology not so much actual science. But I think it shows how vast and complex our interactions and history was.

[@danielacosta7717]

Herbal Shaman how do you account for lighter skin in Asians from northern latitudes as opposed to more southern Asians like wise with more Northern Amerindians versus more tropical populations?

[@danmannz]

Neanderthals are just inbreed looking rugby players. I see them around the place.

[@morrisblanco4245]

@@danielacosta7717 UV rays from the sun change your skin pigmentation. If you live in the tropics your skin will tan, conversely if you live in the northern latitudes your skin will go pale in order to absorb vitamin D etc. I-m tanned but if I spend some time in Europe during winter I get very pale...almost European white.

[@robotempire]

Great video and interesting channel. Subbed

[@mixererunio1757]

Great mustache you have there sir!

[@sergeant_chris6209]

Very nice vids! The little details are also funny. Keep it up

[@StefanMilo]

Thanks!

[@hellboy7424]

Like us. They were as smart as we are. The proof is that hybridization was possible and we have around 3% of Neandenthral genes. We have to stop thinking of them as "apes," and more like "Native Americans". They were painted with ocher and used feathers to decorate themselves. Many of the paintings found in Europe (as in Spain, my country) and, at first granted to sapiens, are now known to be his.

[@piperar2014]

That Far Side cartoon where Homo sapiens taunt neanderthals. Can't build a fire, can't make a spear...

[@Where_is_Waldo]

First off, I like your videos - very informative. Just a few comments, chimps usually don't live in groups of more than around 50 but in the documentary "rise of the warrior apes" about a particularly aggressive group of chimps, that group is stated to have around 150 members. Second, Neanderthals caring for their elderly demonstrates the possibility that they felt compassion for each other and I agree they probably did but it also seems possible they just understood that the elders carried wisdom that the young had not yet necessarily learned so keeping them alive as teachers would have been useful. Last, this is just something that irks me, it's very common but I'm gonna bitch about it anyway. Neanderthals were human (homo neanderthalinsis). I understand you were comparing them to homo sapiens and it gets annoying saying homo sapiens all the time instead of just saying human but there have been several species of human and neanderthals were one of them. I'm sure people who have any understanding of human evolution don't need me explaining this but I guess I'm just a stickler about terminology. Anyway if you took the time to read my comment (late as I was to the party) then thank you.

[@rickmorgan3930]

I'm proud of my Neanderthal forbears (all 2% of it) and I agree that we would be unable to identify Neanderthals out of hand. I know plenty of modern humans that appear very weird on their own.... take me for instance :)

[@Justin-op8gg]

Long feathers can be used to well stabilize the flight of a wood shaft.

[@violet-trash]

Here's me maintaining relationships with roughly 0 individuals. At any rate, we can assume that neanderthals are smarter than I am.

[@JE-ee7cd]

Neanderthals are clearly not extinct... I'm alive and well, and I'm a Neanderthal (at least partially). 😆

[@whoreofdragonstone1031]

JE u are of partial descent, a big difference, that would be like me saying I’m part European because I have a European ancestor

[@JE-ee7cd]

@@whoreofdragonstone1031 Technically speaking, I would say I'm of mixed descent... 😊

[@Keranu]

You didn't have to tell us, we could all tell by your sloped forehead.

[@richardmiller2049]

Yep. We left Africa and #ucked our way across the world

[@rgbigdog]

Have you ever been in a GEICO commercial?

[@robertschlesinger1342]

Very interesting and worthwhile video. Many thanks for the links to the papers. It would also be helpful if you posted links to the cited papers.

[@christopherellis2663]

A lot smarter than the average clever fools that one meets nowadays

[@CuriousCritter17]

Christopher Ellis you being a prime example

[@mhx6437]

@@CuriousCritter17 How?

[@swirvinbirds1971]

I wouldn't say that... Every so many years IQ tests are made harder because the old ones had become too easy... I would say more knowledgeable on how to survive and that's about it.

[@Defrap22]

@@CuriousCritter17 he's talking about you

[@thedepthofmymind]

That beard is lit!!

[@markj1069]

Years ago Scientific American had an artist's rendition of a Neanderthal on their cover. He looked like my high school gym teacher.

[@Great_Olaf5]

Around five ish minutes in, there's also the fact that lack of evidence is not evidence of lack, they may have placed a high value on things that degrade quickly, there are human cultures that do this, the impermanence is why gives things their symbolic value, and this tends to have an especially during expression in these peoples' funerary traditions.

[@unwrappedgoose]

You're such a good bean dude, thank you for all the good videos!

[@_robustus_]

When I was at Uni 30 years ago, there was the theory that in addition to breeding with us, neanderthals were at a disadvantage given their caloric needs were about twice that of ours. It was a simple matter of it being easier for us to feed our kids. Has anyone seen a refutation of this?

[@dukadarodear2176]

Yep. Sourcing food to maintain 4000 calories per day may have become increasingly difficult in competition with humans who could survive on half that. The rise of Humans coincided with the demise of Neanderthals in terms of time and place. Climate change may have reduced food availability. Neanderthals lived in widely dispersed communities so inbreeding may also have been a factor in their demise. Perhaps local Neanderthal women went for the new Homo Sapiens guys on the block as sometimes happens when a navy ship ties up.

[@elihinze3161]

Stellar content as always!

[@felixguillen8126]

Neanderthal could yodel? If they find beer and bratwurst in a pit fire then the first Oktoberfest wasn't in Munich but in Düsseldorf (Neander Valley).

[@michaellewis7959]

Great Video! Glad I found your channel!

[@Lyle-xc9pg]

At first i though Stefan Molenuex was trying something new

[@palebluedot7435]

He never tries anything new

[@bijtmntongaf]

stefan v stefan

[@vannah12222]

Is that the guy who tried to excuse Elliot Roger by blaming a bunch of stuff on the boy's parents and society as a whole?

[@e.priest8937]

@@vannah12222 hes the guy who sta

[@vannah12222]

@@e.priest8937 ¿Que? He did what, now? Everything good, man?

[@k0vert]

Just subbed, love your content, dude. Keep it coming

[@randyw4016]

Love the little side jokes you add into your videos keep em coming!

[@cernunnos_lives]

I absolutely love your channel. More please

[@pteronarcyscalifornica694]

Larger brain is always interpreted as higher intelligence, except when it comes to Neanderthals.

[@OmegaWolf747]

Exactly. Then it becomes something like, well, it was their occipital lobes that were so large, so it must have been to give them better night vision. No matter what evidence we find of Neanderthal intelligence, we'll dismiss it due to our anthropocentrism.

[@scienceexplains302]

No, the number of neurons and dendrites is correlated to intelligence. A larger brain has the potential for more, but not all are configured for that. Smaller people have smaller brains than larger people, but are not less intelligent.

[@pteronarcyscalifornica694]

Please describe how the number of neurons and dendrites and their configuration are determined from fossil skulls. J. P. Rushton, 1995, Race, evolution, and behavior: a life history perspective, and J. P. Rushton and E. W. Rushton, 2003, Brain size, IQ, and racial-group differences: Evidence from musculoskeletal traits show the average East Asian brain to be 7.7% larger than the average Sub-Saharan brain, and the average East Asian IQ, as a result, is 25% higher. The brain of an average Neanderthal was 11% larger than that of the modern Sapiens. I say again: Larger brain is always interpreted as higher intelligence, except when it comes to Neanderthals.

[@scienceexplains302]

@@pteronarcyscalifornica694 I have no idea. I never claimed anyone could do that. I was speaking only to the claim that larger brain = greater intelligence.

[@Lionslycer]

Pteronarcys californica lol let me guess, you’re one of those guys who wants to believe Neanderthals never went extinct, they just became Europeans and you’re of European descent so you are part of the Neanderthal large brain master race or some crap.

[@shruggzdastr8-facedclown]

As for the evolution (or apparent lack thereof) of their stone tool technology, there is some evidence that contact with Homo sapiens may have influenced some innovation in their tool design which didn't change much for the bulk of their history as a species prior to interspecies interaction with Homo sapiens.

[@johnbryant8603]

Thank you. Did they die out, or did they become absorbed with sapien ?

[@palebluedot7435]

Mostly died some absorbed

[@joelcanfield9987]

You make the history lesson fun and interesting...thanks !

[@kingrednax6000]

its silly to think neanderthals died out. why, i spoke to my neighbour yesterday, the strange high pitch vocalisations that come from his apartment at night are just fascinating, and whenever i play some music, the loud banging and yelling from his apartment is just further proof of their vast cognitive range!

[@carlosandleon]

lol

[@siramike2654]

they are considered die out because you can't find pure blooded neanderthal male/female.

[@SandhillCrane42]

This guy is by far the most intelligent neanderthal I've seen on KZbin. The Albert Einstein of Neanderthals: striking laterally = rock go SMASH!

[@katiecat9353]

If Homo sapiens died out early enough they'd seem stupid too. Cave paintings weren't something we always did, and tool use was more primitive the further back you go. There's no reason to think Homo sapiens were more intelligent just because they happened to develop a few thousand years faster in the hundreds of thousands of years of their existence and happened to survive into the neolithic period. If history went differently, Homo sapiens could seem less intelligent than neanderthals. We have historically seen a wide variety of technological development even within Homo sapiens, but few people would use this as evidence of differing levels of intelligence when there are so many factors involved and significant breakthroughs are rare in the first place. In fact, the people who would make the argument that's it's a sign of differing intelligence are rightfully ostracised from society as racist. It's difficult to determine exactly how intelligent neanderthals were without any living specimens. Technology and symbolism only puts a minimum value on their possible intelligence, it doesn't indicate any upper limit.

[@jibreelgonzalous319]

Admittedly, this is a somewhat unrelated theory/observation but could it be that the reason for a larger cranial cavity in Neanderthal’s is due to more cerebral fluid. We know that they had adaptations to up-close hunting (like thicker bones that wouldn’t break as easily) and we know that cerebral fluid plays a role in preventing brain injuries and concussions, so maybe they evolved a thicker layer of fluid and thus a bigger head. A thicker layer of fluid in between the skull and the brain could’ve helped prevent the same sorts of injuries that we see from contact heavy sports - but for hunting as opposed to sports. Concussions can lead to things like CTE which can be fatal (or are at least detrimental) so there would be an evolutionary pressure. I’m sure there is probably evidence against this though so don’t take it too seriously...

[@jordo932]

Larger body mass requires a larger brain. This is the most likely reason from what I understand.

[@chocolatte6157]

I went to high school with a few Neanderthals. They are definitely in our society.

[@Jebu911]

Thats a weird thing to say because on the context of this video are they smarter than you or what do you mean?

[@erichusayn]

Great video! Discovered your channel a few days ago. Very interesting content...

[@Marco-nx5tj]

I have a feeling they didn't go extinct I feel like they probably eventually just kept having children with the other until we must of become some form of a hybrid between the two 🤔

[@Iceican]

thats partially true the average european has 2-3% neaderthal dna but beyond that not really.

[@erictaylor5462]

7:00 Personally, I think it's because they were less social than we are. They might have maintained tight relation with their core family group, but if they only very rarely interacted peacefully with outsiders then any invasion an individual comes up with, it would never be communicated outside his own group, and would thus be lost when that individual died. It's also possible, they simply weren't very inventive. First you need to look at some bit of technology and imagine how it might be improved. Then you have to find a way to make that improvement happen, then you need to communicate that change outside your group. Obsidian from the PNW has been discovered in Florida, meaning a trade network covered all of what is today the United States. Is there any evidence the Neanderthals traded so widely?

[@bradleyanderson4315]

And some of us have 4% neanderthal DNA.

[@chrispontello9949]

Stefan, I enjoy your vids.

[@johnconcannon3844]

I think they might have been smarter. Reason, to survive and raise a family in northern Europe with its variations in the seasons plus Ice ages, Neanderthals would require the ability to forward plan, which would require a high spatial iq. It would be impossible to survive the harsh winter environments otherwise.

[@xINVISIGOTHx]

6:38 you don't NEED language of any type to learn how to make simple tools (or a lot of other stuff). You can just learn by watching

[@1Skeptik1]

Critical thinking? Perhaps we should ask, ""How smart are we"?

[@gordonlawrence4749]

There is an Eric Idle song about that: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mKbUpZemqr-rrM0

[@palebluedot7435]

Its seems we are very good planners but poor thinkers and processors

[@tomg3903]

Really like your videos, good science and a touch of comedy. Your voice is easy to listen to.

[@faith2au]

Neaderthals didnt go extinct, i have 319 of the 399 recognised markers so i am more neaderthal then most ppl, so i consider myself a hybrid

[@loganater45]

What can you bench bruh? 😬

[@Cooliemasteroz]

faith2au Where did you go to find this out ?

[@faith2au]

@@Cooliemasteroz 23andme

[@joeysadler3166]

Stefan your the best .I just like your vibe and you shoot for the truth no bias

[@numberpirate]

Better question, were there hipster neanderthals? Also I think neanderthals would be smarter than trump supporters.

[@TheTheotherfoot]

But then, so is yeast.

[@UKfeath]

in the 60s, while in line at a convenience store, there was a guy in front of me who I couldn't stop starring at. (very wrong and I wouldn't do that today). He had thick, heavy eye ridges, cheeks bones you could cut steaks with, broad nose-- a little tall, maybe 5'`10''. But other than that, I though, holy cow, he's a neaderthal. I was very shy and couldn't say what I wanted to: you are beautiful. I would say it now. I think he really needed to hear that, specially back in the 60s.

[@angryalbertan9353]

Maybe they placed just a piece of animal as some sort of spirit guide in the afterlife. I wish we could ask them.

[@johnvictorengland7703]

I did a DNA test and it told me that I'm in the 99th percentile for neanderthal DNA. Pretty cool.

[@AndreSonsOfSamael]

1:24, I believe that's Franzl Lang, in school we used to play his music in the German class, hilariously awesome

[@ravensthatflywiththenightm7319]

Could you make a playlist of all your Neanderthal videos? I would be so grateful.

[@LouisHansell]

I think you would be able to identify a Neanderthal walking in the park. Their eye sockets were much larger than ours, and higher in their heads. Your own forehead is larger than that of a Neanderthal would be (just like the rest of us). And their eyes were probably larger. You can see from their skulls that their nose aperture was much larger than ours. Their nose might holes might have been forward-facing rather than downward facing. Since they were hunters, that probably was an asset in the same way that it is an asset for a lion. And they were hunters, not hunter-gatherers, because there was essentially nothing to gather, not a lot of edible plants. They had plenty of very large animals to hunt, and that was the staple of their diet. Their skeletons were bigger, and since they were meat-eaters, they were probably significantly more muscled than us. These elements would make a Neanderthal easily recognizable.

[@AllardDubbeldam]

If the wounded Neanderthal would live today, he might not be able to afford all the care and treatment he got.

[@otherpatrickgill]

intelligence comparison between us and neanderthals: us: "you never invented the wheel" them: "...we didn't crush thousands of our own kind beneath it either" us: "there is no evidence of you ever having developed religion, politics, philosophy..." them: "... there is no evidence of us going to war either" us: "you lived at the mercy of the elements, just like animals" them: "we lived in harmony with nature, we have no words for "pollution" or "climate change" us: "we harnessed the power of lightning and built artificial suns so there would be light all through the night" them: "we got all our work done by sunset" us: "we flew! we landed on the moon!" them: "we never saw the need to waste time on things like that!" us: "we split atoms and made atomic bombs!" them: "you used atomic bombs on yourselves"

[@richardgilchrist4231]

lmao - so not "smarter" but defs wiser?

[@pseudopetrus]

I didn't know that Neanderthals wore sunglasses! Great video Stephan!

[@Keranu]

I found a webpage once that described how Neanderthal's axes are more useful than those of Homo Sapien (Sapiens). Not sure why exactly, but even though they looked clunkier and more primitive, they gave you a better grip I suppose and maybe finer cutting.

[@jacobocorujo6693]

Recently we have found some basic art that has been found in places where neanderthals were but homo sapiens hadnt yet arrived

[@shmeagol]

Thanks for the info, Tom Hardy’s brother 👍

[@davehallett3128]

Stefan are you related to david crosby the singer songwriter. Love your videos and your sense of humour