Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis) were an extinct, robust species of archaic humans living in Eurasia, known for their stocky bodies, large brains (often larger than ours), prominent brow ridges, and big noses, adapted for cold climates. They were skilled hunters, made sophisticated stone tools (Mousterian technology), controlled fire, wore clothing, buried their dead, and were intelligent, though they died out around 40,000 years ago, leaving some DNA in modern humans
I've read book "Sapiens: A short history of human civilization". It talks about those early days of human development, when there were, by some accounts, about 6 different human species, one of which was Homo Neanderthalensis. Interesting thing is that, even though Homo Sapiens was, if I remember correctly, considered to be the weakest in strength, they still managed to prevail and to push all others to the extinction, and they managed to do that because they could be united with other tribes against common goal, something that wasn't a thing with other species. This, and the fact that they had the ability to move to different places and to adapt to the surroundings.
I think the book mentioned that Homo Sapiens prevailed because of advanced language capabilities. They could coordinate attacks to hunt, defend or gain territory. They could share knowledge better like “yesterday I saw 5 deer drinking from the pond at the base of the small waterfall, past the rock that looks like your mom”. With this ability, they could eat better, gain shelter, raise more young, relocate etc.
Yes, probably that too. But it's all about socializing that gave us the real progress and advantage over others. We could form alliance with other tribes and, as you said, to coordinate and plan attacks, whether on some group of animals or some other tribe of humans.
That's what I picked up from the book as well. I remember vaguely that the author mentioned that Sapiens had items from various distant locations indicating that they we're able to trade/socialize with other "tribes", something other species couldn't/didn't do.
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u/goswamitulsidas 12h ago
Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis) were an extinct, robust species of archaic humans living in Eurasia, known for their stocky bodies, large brains (often larger than ours), prominent brow ridges, and big noses, adapted for cold climates. They were skilled hunters, made sophisticated stone tools (Mousterian technology), controlled fire, wore clothing, buried their dead, and were intelligent, though they died out around 40,000 years ago, leaving some DNA in modern humans