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Neandertal were modern humans ' confining relatives , and the two type of humanity experience inmany of the samehabitatsand crossbreed multiple time before our cousinsdied out around 40,000 years ago , which is why some Neanderthal DNA still lives in most Eurasians today .
Yet despite this tightfistedness , Neanderthals ' ( Homo neanderthalensis ) andHomo sapiens ' blood line diverged sometimebetween 400,000 and 800,000 years ago , and the two specie differ in many ways .
Neanderthals and Homo sapiens are both humans, but they differ in many ways.
Here are some of the central ways our closest human relatives were different from us .
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Facial features
If you were traveling on the metro in New York and met a Neanderthal , you ’d in all likelihood tell apart them immediately , Shara Bailey , a prof of biological anthropology at New York University , told Live Science . That ’s because of their distinctive facial features .
At first glance , you ’d likely notice they have a sloping forehead with very big , arched hilltop ridges , she said . Their nose would be wider and more large than those of modern man , and their skull would be a little bit more elongated , she added .
When seen from the side , Neanderthals also had noticeablysmaller chins , and their front teeth were bigger compared with our teeth , Chris Stringer , a inquiry leader in human evolution at the Natural History Museum in London , severalize Live Science .
Neanderthals had divergent facial features toHomo sapiens, including broader noses and arched brow ridges. The picture above is a facial reconstruction of a Neanderthal woman, Shanidar Z, who lived 75,000 years ago, alongside her skull.
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Neanderthals had divergent facial features toHomo sapiens, including broader noses and arched brow ridges. The picture above is a facial reconstruction of a Neanderthal woman, Shanidar Z, who lived 75,000 years ago, alongside her skull.
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Although Neanderthals hadsimilar sizing brainstoH. sapiens , their skull shape disagree from ours .
" Our skulls be given to be high and rounded , globular in terms of the shape of the braincase , whereas Neanderthal skulls , like those of most other early human being , are farseeing and lowly , " Stringer allege .
swinish skull oftenhave a projectionon theoccipital boneat the base of the skull . If you tie your hair into a roll at the back , this is roughly where this bone is located in our extinct cousins . In the middle of the Neanderthal skull ’s occipital osseous tissue is a footling natural depression called thesuprainiac fossa , which is a distinctive characteristic of this population , although scientists do n’t have it away what purpose it served Stringer enounce .
Neanderthalian capitulum bones are alsoshaped differently from ours , he said .
Body shape
Neanderthals could walkupright on two feet , and their skeletons were quite similar to ours , Stringer said .
On average , they were around4 invertebrate foot 11 inch ( 150 centimeters ) to 5 foot 7 inch ( 170 curium ) grandiloquent . This is around 4.7 to 5.5 inches ( 12 to 14 cm)shorter than post - World - War II Europeans , but very or more or less tall than Europeans 20,000 or even 100 years ago .
Neanderthals were very brawny , broad - shouldered and barrel - chested , with spacious hips that flared out , Stringer say . enquiry advise they had a20 % larger lung mental ability than modern humans .
Neanderthal limbs were also proportioned differently from innovative humans — the low section of their arms and legs were relatively unretentive compared with the upper segments , Stringer said . This gave them a compact visual aspect . Similar features are also seen in modern mankind who survive incolder mood , with a shortsighted , blanket body being an adaptation to reduce surface expanse and preserve rut .
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Behavior
Like all early humans , life would have been pretty hard for Neanderthals , which help mould their appearance .
" They ’re live off the soil , they ’re cause to move around a lot and habituate a lot of muscle power , " Stringer say . Their skeletons , which were built for strength and enduringness , help them to resist their physically demand lifestyle , he said .
H. sapiensalso faced these challenge , but have light skeletons , probably in part because they made tools and had cultural adjustment , such as retentive - aloofness trade , which made their strong-arm lives a niggling soft .
" Obviously , the more complex your technology is , the more it can take the system of weights off the skeletal frame in your everyday activities , " Stringer say .
In terms of their doings , Neanderthals were in all likelihood very standardized to us overall , he added . For instance , theyseemed to bury their deadandcare for sick somebody . They alsolived in cave , formed small residential area , made fires , and may have had language .
" They may have kick the bucket comparatively too soon compared with us , so peradventure grandmothers and great grandparent were a rarity compared withHomo sapiens , " Stringer say .
Diet
Neanderthals are believed to have rust bothmeat and plant - based nutrient , such as arduous ejaculate and nuts . However , those hold out in frigid climates probably relied on a meatier diet than those in warm regions .
Neanderthals are bonk to have hunt full-grown and intermediate - size secret plan , but they did n’t expend long - orbit projectile arm , Bailey said . Instead , they most likely used a technique calledambush hunting — essentially hide in a bush before jumping out and stabbing an creature with a thrusting spear .
Neanderthal man belike also woresome habiliment , such as brute tegument over the shoulder or around the waistline , depending on where they dwell , Bailey say . H. sapiensreachedhigher latitudesthan Neanderthals , so in those places , anatomically forward-looking humans would ’ve require more specialised clothing , she said .
Nevertheless , while scientists incline to say that innovative humans did one thing and Neanderthals did another , it ’s authoritative to remember thatH. sapiensdidn’t always do these things , Bailey said .
" The earliestHomo sapienswere actually behaving a lot like Neanderthals so the differences between the two really come later , " she said . For example , when the earliestH. sapiensleft Africa , around 200,000 geezerhood ago , they were probably using the same character of stone tools that Neanderthals were , she say . It was n’t until approximately 50,000 age ago that there was an"explosion " of cultureinH. sapiens .
Likewise , to say that all Neanderthals did or had the electrical capacity to do certain thing is , in Bailey ’s view , a mistake . This is especially genuine considering how long Neanderthals lived and the Brobdingnagian geographical area that they dwell , she say .
Ever wonder whysome people build muscle more easily than othersorwhy lentigo get out in the Dominicus ? post us your questions about how the human body run tocommunity@livescience.comwith the subject line " Health Desk Q , " and you may see your question answered on the website !
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