December 6, 2006--Neader-Women

Neanderthals continue to fascinate us. This apparently early version of Homo Sapiens, some feel, are Western European and thus our ancestors—that is if we ignore Native Americans. They came out of Africa some 400,000 years ago and flourished in the West until they became extinct 370,000 years later, supplanted by . . . us.

For some centuries after evidence of their existence became known, with their jutting jaws and presumably hairy, heavily-muscled bodies they were represented as ferocious. But more recently, in our need to feel more secure in the world and continuously entertained even by pre-history, we have transformed them into warm and cuddly pre-human, Disney-like creatures. There is now even a Neanderthal man dressed in suit and tie featured in Geico commercials!

One aspect of our fascination has to do, of course, with sex: did more-recently arriving Homo Sapiens, when they found Neanderthals already occupying much of what later became Europe, “sleep” with them, in spite of their jaws and all that hair?

If they couldn’t restrain themselves, though the Neanderthals became extinct, some of their genes would have been mixed with some of ours. To uncover the truth to this steamy story, physical anthropologists have been attempting to map the Neanderthal genome from bones that have been unearthed throughout Europe. Thus far it appears that the Neanderthal genome is nearly identical to modern man’s, though the sex issue is still unresolved. For what it’s worth, my two dollars says they did it.

But there are other issues to explore. For example, the role of Neander Women. There have been some studies recently about the roles that they played in Neanderthal society—were they, for example, stay-at-home moms? According to a report in the NY Times, it appears that not only did they not stay home in the cave nurturing their offspring but they also did not, like most other early women, gather small game and plant food. Rather, it appears that they may have accompanied their men folk on big game hunts. (Article linked below.)

The feminist in me says, “You go girl!” But before getting myself too excited about the possibility that Neanderthal women were proto-feminists, scientists appear to be concluding that because they did not stay home, raise kids, and gather nuts and berries, like “traditional women were wont to do, they actually contributed to the extinction of Neanderthals and the triumph of Homo Sapiens.

This absence of the division of labor between sexes, it is claimed, meant that the Neanderthals’ over-dependence on capturing big game made them vulnerable during those times when game was not available. At those dry times, if the women had developed gathering skills, they might have had a better chance to survive. So this extinction too is women’s fault.

But let’s imagine how Europe might look today if this had not happened—perhaps we would have Homo Sapiens living compatibly with modern-day Neanderthals (like the one in the Geico commercial). That not only would be interesting; but maybe, when all the Turks and North Africans folks arrived to take on the dirty work, current Europeans would already have had the experience of living with “the other” and there would, as a result, be less strife and racism, as there is now, between the current diverse populations.

One can only dream.