Are you smarter than a Neanderthal?

Galvasean

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/10/neanderthals/quiz-interactive



In honor of the new programme; Neanderthal Code which airs tomorrow
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/episode/neanderthal-code-3228/Overview?source=banner_ngm_01

marco_polo

If they got less than 4/8 then I totally am :pac:

marco_polo

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn14784-neanderthals-feasted-on-seals-and-dolphins.html?DCMP=ILC-hmts&nsref=news2_head_dn14784

Maybe there is hope for me yet. It appears that the crafty buggers were able to hunt Dolphins and seals.

AtomicHorror

7/8 for me. I guessed a couple from first principles though.

Galvasean

marco_polo wrote: »

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn14784-neanderthals-feasted-on-seals-and-dolphins.html?DCMP=ILC-hmts&nsref=news2_head_dn14784

Maybe there is hope for me yet. It appears that the crafty buggers were able to hunt Dolphins and seals.

Had to laugh at this bit:

Even more mysterious is how Neanderthals managed to capture seals and dolphins, says Erik Trinkaus, a human palaeontologist at Washington University in St Louis, who was not involved in the study. "Seals have a very good escape mechanism. It's called swimming," he says.

As opposed to???

Galvasean

Anybody see the programme tonight?
I missed it due to work.

AtomicHorror

Galvasean wrote: »

Anybody see the programme tonight?
I missed it due to work.

I'm guessing YouTube will have it in parts shortly. I don't have the channel myself so I couldn't watch.

M.T. Cranium

I think I may be a Neanderthal. The part about living among humans but not leaving a DNA trace seems familiar somehow.

marco_polo

Galvasean wrote: »

Anybody see the programme tonight?
I missed it due to work.

Not to worry it wasn't on the UK channel, just in the US .

Just browsing through the two different listings now, the difference in the lineup is substantial. Seems that we just get endless reruns of Air Crash Investigation and Seconds from Disaster (Only complaining because I've seen them all ). Overall though it is very poor in comparision.

Galvasean

That's unfortunate. National Geographic usually give us palaeo programmes around the same time. The Dinosaur Feather Mystery, the documentary about Falcarias and Dino Death Trap (among others) all showed up here the same time as the US.

marco_polo

Galvasean wrote: »

That's unfortunate. National Geographic usually give us palaeo programmes around the same time. The Dinosaur Feather Mystery, the documentary about Falcarias and Dino Death Trap (among others) all showed up here the same time as the US.

Perhaps I am harsh, I has always presumed they were the same. Its just when I was looking at the listings for the US channel I happened on one or two other programs on that I would have liked see that don't seem to be on here .

lostexpectation

how many branches of humans beings have there been?

Galvasean

lostexpectation wrote: »

how amny branches of humans beings have their been?

Good question. The two obvious ones our ourselves (Homo sapiens sapines) and the Neanderthals (Homo sapiens neanderthalensis).

Further back there was Homo erectus and Homo Homo heidelbergensis, the respective ancestors of us and the Neanderthals. There was also Homo rhodesiensis around at this time.

Even further back (about 1million years ago) there was Homo antecessor which is believed to be one of the earliest humans.

Then there was Homo Homo floresiensis, the island dwelling 'hobbits', but recent research indicates that they were most likely simply malnourished Homo sapiens.

I'm sure there a re a few I've missed (it's not really my subject of expertise), not to mention a few undiscovered ones.

marco_polo

Heads up well in advance, there will be a chance to see this again on the History Channel. Part One is on Sunday the 19th of October at 9 pm with part two following a week later on the 26th of October.

(Right at the bottom of the listing page after 4am for some reason not between the listings for 8 and 10 )
http://www.thehistorychannel.co.uk/site/tv_guide/listings/13th_-_19th_October_2008_Sun.php

marco_polo

* Bump

Preliminary results from the sequencing of the first half of the neanderthal genome are in.

Though not discounting anything totally, initial results are not encouraging for those who support theories of interbreeding between modern humans or neanderthals.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16224-neanderthal-genome-already-giving-up-its-secrets.html

lostexpectation

Galvasean wrote: »

Good question. The two obvious ones our ourselves (Homo sapiens sapines) and the Neanderthals (Homo sapiens neanderthalensis).

Further back there was Homo erectus and Homo Homo heidelbergensis, the respective ancestors of us and the Neanderthals. There was also Homo rhodesiensis around at this time.

so three different types of humans at one time...?

Galvasean

It would appear to be so.

lostexpectation

fight!