Post by MoMo on Feb 27, 2014 13:56:34 GMT -6
Danny Vendramini has written a book called “Them and Us”, in which he advances the hypothesis that Neanderthals were:
•Very different looking from most modern representations – much uglier, hairier, and far less human-like.
•That they were brutal, intelligent, tool-using predators, who preyed upon modern man in the areas where they came in contact, specifically, the Levant.
•That being the prey of Neanderthals was the most important factor in human evolution, and that it was responsible for the flowering of art and sculpture, the technological innovations in the tool making industry, perhaps even the flowering of language – all of which happened around 40,000 to 50,000 years ago.
•And not only that, it was responsible for the evolution of the human body type, including features that distinguish us from other apes, such as decreased hairiness, the development of a prominent and protruding nose, different body posture and gait, etc.
•Finally, he lists a whole range of human behavioral traits, such as preference for symmetrical faces, fear of the dark, abominable snowman myths across various cultures, etc. as some sort of racial memory of Neanderthals, whom we fear and despise, because they preyed upon us.
The author seems to have no formal qualifications in biology or paleo-anthropology, and is self-taught. That is in itself not necessarily to be counted against the possible validity of the theory.
Themandus' Press Release 1 reads:
Neanderthals hunted, raped and ate humans
Neanderthals were not the gentle, almost-human creatures portrayed in the media over the last 150 years. New Australian research reveals they were aggressive, powerful and terrifying carnivores—ruthless and efficient apex predators, who hunted, raped and ate early humans for over 50,000 years. The Neanderthal’s daily diet of nearly 2 kg of meat—the equivalent of 16 Quarter Pounders—included human flesh.
Based on the research, Australian independent scholar Danny Vendramini has developed “Neanderthal predation theory”, which argues that the evolution of modern humans— including our unique physiology, sexuality and human nature—is the result of a reaction to this systematic long-term sexual predation and cannibalism by Eurasian Neanderthals...
themandus.org/news_release_1.PDF
Now whether or not ALL of the theory is true, I am quite willing to concede several of Danny Vandramini's points, in particular when he says that there must have been some obvious visual differences between Neanderthals and the ancestors of Modern Man which kept them from regular, usual sexual interaction. I have reasons of my own tio believe that they were normally hairy all over and thus resembled his reconstructions. And I will go so far as to say that there is something spectacularly different with the structure of Neanderthaler's eye sockets and that the shape could indicate an adaptation to stronger night vision. That much might be speculative, but the other points about Neanderthal's heightened sense of smell and superhuman strength are not mere speculation: their fossils show the indications of those points quite definitely.
So as far as the first major point goes, that of the physical appearance of Neanderthals, I see no major objections as to why that should not be acceptable from a scientific point of view. As far as reconstructions go, we are talking what I refer to as "Upholstery", and that part does not preserve on fossils. I have some interesting comparisons to show on this subject for a future blog. Fot the time being I am going to put up Danny's theory and let that stand on its own. I do not need to discuss ALL of the points beyond that because ALL that I am interested in at this point is the matter of the reconstructions themselves.
Neanderthal reconstruction courtesy of themandus.org
Photographs from the site themandus used for review purposes only and should not be construed as indicating that site endorses this one, or even necessarily the reverse.
SOURCE:http://frontiersofzoology.blogspot.com/2011/05/different-face-for-neanderthals.html
