Crossword clues for neandertal
Wikipedia
The Neandertal (; ) (sometimes called "the Neander Valley" in English) is a small valley of the river Düssel in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located about east of Düsseldorf, the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia. The valley lies within the limits of the towns of Erkrath and Mettmann. In August, 1856, the area became famous for the discovery of Neanderthal 1, the first specimen of Homo neanderthalensis to be found.
The Neandertal was originally a limestone canyon widely known for its rugged scenery, waterfalls and caves. However, industrial mining during the 19th and 20th centuries removed almost all of the limestone and dramatically changed the shape of the valley. It was during such a mining operation that the bones of the original Neanderthal man were found in a cave. Neither the cave nor the cliff in which the bones were located still exists.
During the 19th century the valley was called Neandershöhle (Neander's Hollow), and, after 1850, Neanderthal. It was named after Joachim Neander, a 17th-century German pastor. Neander is the Greek translation of his family name Neumann; both names mean "new man." Neumann lived in nearby Düsseldorf and loved the valley for giving him the inspiration for his compositions. Former names of the gorge were Das Gesteins (The Boulders) and Das Hundsklipp (Cliff of dogs, perhaps in the sense of "Cliff of Beasts").
In 1901 an orthographic reform in Germany changed the spelling of Thal (valley) to Tal. Scientific names, such as Homo neanderthalensis and Homo sapiens neanderthalensis for Neanderthal remained unchanged, because the laws of taxonomy retain the original spelling at the time of naming. Neanderthal station nearby still carries the name Neanderthal, because the nearby Neanderthal Museum retains the original spelling.
Excavations in the Neandertal Valley Since the initial discovery of the specimen of the valley there have been additional excavations. Multiple artifacts and human skeletal fragments have been found in the valley. Excavations have found two cranial fragments that seem to fit onto the original Neandertal 1 calotte. A calotte is a skullcap worn by students at Catholic universities in Belgium. Excavations performed in 1997 and 2000 found new human skeletal pieces. There are questions as to whether these remains are those of Neandertals. Two cranial pieces were unearthed: one, a left zygomatic and partial body and second, a right piece of temporal bone. These pieces appeared to fit the Neandertal 1 calotte perfectly, although these pieces are not specifically from Neandertals. These discoveries may or may not be attributable to the Neandertals but exhibit similar characteristics.
Usage examples of "neandertal".
Modern anthropologists and geneticists are currently engaged in a debate about whether Neandertals are our ancestors, based on evidence of mitochondrial DNA extracted from ancient bones.
Neandertals and Cro-Magnons had different numbers of chromosomes, a complication that commonly arises when species that are close but not quite identical conjoin.
In a red-green auroral glow, the Neandertals moved about, packing up their teepee and other gear, loading it all onto big sledlike vehicles, signing to each other busily.
But this time their conquest was not by conversion, for the Archaics and Neandertals lacked the associative water minds, the camaraderie of the arts, the unity of group self-awareness.
It is also known that Neandertals and modern humans coexisted in some fashion for tens of thousands of years in the Middle East.
But the techniques of genetic analysis continued to be refined, and in 1997 scientists from the University of Munich managed to extract and analyze some DNA from the arm bone of the original Neandertal man, and this time the evidence stood up.
The other version of Vaala, the one that spoke first in my dream, then through the Neandertal child, said that I had to get to a black mountain.
Three years ago, two of my postdocs did a research project on mitochondrial DNA sequences from Neandertal bone tissue.
Why did it prove to be beyond the capacity of Archaic or Neandertal man?
In the course of a few thousand years -- an eyeblink in terms of prehistory -- the superior technology and organization of modern mankind drove Neandertal man to extinction.
Neither Homo erectus nor his offshoot Neandertal man could compete.
And back further, shrinking and shriveling, eyes growing wider, minds simpler—" The last common ancestor of humans and another hominid species, the Neandertals, was a quarter of a million years deep.