Eldritch
11-04-2010, 04:51 PM
Neanderthals really did act like Neanderthals, new research suggests, as our early relatives were found to be more aggressive, competitive and promiscuous than modern man.
http://kuvat.uusisuomi.fi/sites/default/files/imagecache/artikkeli/kuvat/neandertalilainen.jpg
Scientists examining fossils have discovered that Neanderthals were exposed to more testosterone during development which is likely to make them more unreconstructed in their behaviour.
That means they were more likely to start fights over mates and hierarchy in the group and more likely top have multiple partners.
The team from Liverpool, Oxford, Southampton and Calgary Universities, studied the fossilised finger bones of extinct apes, Neanderthals and hominins – extinct members of the human family – to learn more about their hormonal activity.
It is known that the longer the ring finger is compared to the index finger is a mark of how much testosterone exposure there was in the womb.
High levels of the hormones increase the length of the fourth finger in comparison to the second finger, resulting in a low index to ring finger ratio.
The team found that the fossil index fingers of Neanderthals were longer compared with the ring finger than most living humans, which suggests that they had been exposed to higher levels of testosterone.
The novel approach to understanding how our ancestors behaved was conducted by a team and is published in the latest issue of Proceedings of the Royal Society.
Emma Nelson, from the University of Liverpool's School of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology, said: "We have shown that promiscuous primate species have low index to ring finger ratios, while monogamous species have high ratios."
Dr Susanne Shultz, from the Institute of Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology at the University of Oxford added: "Social behaviours are notoriously difficult to identify in the fossil record.
"Developing novel approaches, such as finger ratios, can help inform the current debate surrounding the social systems of the earliest human ancestors."
Link. (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/evolution/8104939/Neanderthals-really-were-sex-obsessed-thugs.html)
http://kuvat.uusisuomi.fi/sites/default/files/imagecache/artikkeli/kuvat/neandertalilainen.jpg
Scientists examining fossils have discovered that Neanderthals were exposed to more testosterone during development which is likely to make them more unreconstructed in their behaviour.
That means they were more likely to start fights over mates and hierarchy in the group and more likely top have multiple partners.
The team from Liverpool, Oxford, Southampton and Calgary Universities, studied the fossilised finger bones of extinct apes, Neanderthals and hominins – extinct members of the human family – to learn more about their hormonal activity.
It is known that the longer the ring finger is compared to the index finger is a mark of how much testosterone exposure there was in the womb.
High levels of the hormones increase the length of the fourth finger in comparison to the second finger, resulting in a low index to ring finger ratio.
The team found that the fossil index fingers of Neanderthals were longer compared with the ring finger than most living humans, which suggests that they had been exposed to higher levels of testosterone.
The novel approach to understanding how our ancestors behaved was conducted by a team and is published in the latest issue of Proceedings of the Royal Society.
Emma Nelson, from the University of Liverpool's School of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology, said: "We have shown that promiscuous primate species have low index to ring finger ratios, while monogamous species have high ratios."
Dr Susanne Shultz, from the Institute of Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology at the University of Oxford added: "Social behaviours are notoriously difficult to identify in the fossil record.
"Developing novel approaches, such as finger ratios, can help inform the current debate surrounding the social systems of the earliest human ancestors."
Link. (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/evolution/8104939/Neanderthals-really-were-sex-obsessed-thugs.html)