At the tip of Spain by the Iberian Peninsula, lie the caves of Gibraltar. These caves show an interesting find that is unlike any site we have uncovered about Neanderthals. The caves of Gibraltar are known as the latest and longest occupational site of Neanderthals existence, it dates back to 28,000 years ago, pushing back the date of the most latest known Neanderthal site by several thousands of years. What makes the Gibraltar caves particularly special are the charred shells of marine animals, and wide ranges of terrestrial remains that were thought to only be contributed to the technology of modern humans whom were capable of wide range resource exploitation. It shows the complexities what we may have called “behavioral modernity”, which are suites of cognitive and behavioral traits that make a Homo species considered a “ modern human”. However this should make us aware that no extinct species can be considered what is to be modern by using modern humans as a baseline for comparison. “Neanderthals, as a distinct and extinct hominin species, cannot be directly compared to modern humans where that comparison uses the behaviour of modern human populations as a baseline (i.e. ‘modernity’). This is because the term ‘behavioural modernity’ creates a distinction between the ‘modern’ and ‘non-modern’. A good measure of modernity must, by its very nature, differentiate Neanderthals from modern humans in order to be successful” (Langley, 2015).
The use of the term behavioral modernity continuously perpetuates the underlying notion that modern humans outcompeted the Neanderthals due to neural advancements that support the “Out-of-Africa” hypothesis, that allowed Homo sapiens to expand from Africa and displace Neanderthals (Klein, 1995). Modern humans creation of rapid new, and diverse technologies that enabled them to increase their chances of survival because they were more adept to changes to new environment, and Neanderthals could not acclimate to the new environments, thus lead to their extinction. In this paper I hope to show examples of behavioral complexities seen in Neanderthals using primarily the findings at the caves of Gibraltar to determine if there is a representation of cognitive behaviors. To begin I will address the basics of the suite of traits from behavioral complexity. The hallmarks of modern human behaviors are abstract thinking, symbolic behavior, exploitation of wide ranges of game, and rapid growth and diversity in technology, spatial organizations, evidence of ceremony or ritual (Klein, 1995).
Background:
Neanderthals were our closest extinct relatives, they are a species of Homo, known formally as Homo neanderthalensis. The Neanderthals did not arise from Africa like Homo sapiens did, they are native to Europe. The mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis shows that modern humans and Neanderthals shared a common ancestor 500,000 years ago before diverging into their own separate subspecies. They roamed the earth from 400,000 years ago to as recent as 28,000 years ago, living in the Middle to Late Pleistocene during several epochs of interglacial and glacial periods []. They lived in the same time period with Homo sapiens and overlapped in several regions, however in the case of Levant, it is contested if modern humans coexisted with Neanderthals due to no evidence in the stratigraphy of Levant that has yet to contain both Neanderthal finds and Homo sapiens in the same context and layers (Shea, 2003).
Evidence such as skeletal remains and lithic technologies from Neanderthals have only been found in Europe and Asia, it is suggested they appeared in Europe and expanded into what is considered today’s Middle East, and Central Asia. The first type specimen of Neanderthals were found in Dusseldorf Germany in the Neander Valley in 1856, hence their name. The cave which housed the remains included a skull and 15 remains of bone. Some defining features of Neanderthals include: a prognathic mid-face, angular cheeks, huge nasal cavity, barrelled chests, short limbs to body stature, yet robust compared to Homo sapiens. The cranial capacity is exceeds archaic Homo sapiens at an average of 1650cc vs 1200cc respectively (Smithsonian Museum).
An ecogeographical rule known as Allen’s rule that states species with shorter limb to body ratio are more adapted to cold climates due to the body volume-to-surface area; in terms of what is more advantageous to aid or impede on heat dissipation. It is generally agreed upon the Neanderthals were adapted for cold climate due to morphological adaptations that coincide with Allen’s rule, the locations of known sites, and migration patterns of Neanderthals due to climatic changes and migrations example seen in Levant. []
The behaviors of Neanderthals are often miscued in the public sphere. Unfortunately they are consistently believed to have failed in surviving due to the misnomer of being brute cave men, less intelligent than the Homo sapiens in terms of technology production and symbolic behaviors, this is believed to have lead to the Neanderthal extinction due to out competition or resources and climatic changes that Homo sapiens were better adept to. However, archeological finds show they were successful big game hunters, created garments from animal hides, created tools most known as the Mousterian tools, but also created in the Chatelperron, Aurignacian, and Gravettian. They had displays of culture in forms of relics, paint, pendants and shell beads. Neanderthals intentionally buried their dead with grave goods and flowers. A notion that was believed to only belong to the symbolic behavior of modern humans. It is also argued they had a form of language due to the presence of a hyoid bone, important for muscle attachment of vocal cords. []
Neanderthal subsistence behaviors:
The Rock of Gibraltar is home to 20 caves; 10 of them have been associated with the occupation of Neanderthals. Finlayson has been excavating the site since 1989, and states the cave is very generous in artifacts. During each excavation, the cave gives more information about the Neanderthal lifestyle.Neanderthals hunted or scavenged birds and sea mammals such as dolphins, and collected marine mollusks. Complex behaviors require cognitive strategy or plan before the first step is taken. It can be seen as an understanding of locality, and the understandings of seasonality, such as during low tides gathering mollusc that were stranded. It demands the thought of multi-component tasks before the first step, or requiring a deep notion of understanding the variables in the operation, and plausible outcomes. There is yet to be any evidence that Neanderthals were seafarers, but the findings of the Vanguard and Gorham caves of Gibraltar provides good evidence of marine resource exploitation for food from the charred bits of shells found in hearths inside the caves. Stringer argues that the molluscs were intentionally tossed into a fire to make the molluscs easily removable from their shells. This find was not a rare behavior, its long history establishes that Neanderthals often visited estuaries and coastal regions for resource exploitation throughout the years of occupation at Gibraltar. “…[this] showed that Neanderthals and Upper Paleolithic humans did not show significant differences in hunting and butchering behavior in the material studied. Similarly, we have observed that the human occupation levels at Gorham's Cave, first occupied by Neanderthals and then by Upper Paleolithic humans, do not show obvious differences in faunal composition . Marine mammals are present in occupation levels associated with Neanderthals at both Vanguard and Gorham's Caves and occur in Upper Paleolithic human occupation levels in Gorham's ” (Stringer, 2008). The paleontological studies of Neanderthal at these occupation sites reinforce their capability of hunting at wide range of species and display no obvious differences from Upper Paleolithic human hunting behavior (Stringer, 2008).
Recent research has found Neanderthals have gathered feathers from raptors and corvids. From the skeletal remains of the birds found in the caves show anthropic marks on the wings rather than the sternum. This tells a story that the birds were not scavenged for meat, but rather the biggest feathers found on the wings were plucked for possible ornamentation. The researchers looked at whether the feathers could have been used for bedding but precluded that the feathers would disintegrate rapidly from bacteria in the soil. From the feathers that were found, the dark raptor feathers were more preferable based on their findings.The processes of the selection of feathers, placement and assembling an ensemble of feathers using ranges of extractive and maintaining the integrity of the feather to a predetermined plan shows high cognitive function. This adds to another dimension along with the use of pigments, and marine shells that exhibits a sophisticated cognitive processes much similar to modern humans. The use of feathers is an exclusively modern human trait. The evidence shows repetition of this behavior across a substantial time period of thousands of years in Gibraltar preceding the arrival of Homo sapiens, thus it is believed it was not acquired by practice from the Homo sapiens. “Thus Neanderthals, though different in a number of ways from Modern Humans had comparable cognitive capacities that included symbolic expression” (Finlayson, 2012).
In the archaeological record, the general acceptance of symbolism are objects of figurative art, pigmentation, notational pieces, bodily ornamentation, and burials (McBrearty & Brooks, 2000). The artifacts and features typify these high cognitive thought processes includes the use of multiple components of tools and modifications of those raw materials. This includes having the knowledge of the raw materials properties and design features, step required to create the item. “They should also include practices such as the burial of the dead, use of personal ornamentation, the use of decorative pigments on surfaces (as seen from striations on pieces of pigment) and body modification ” (Langley, 2015). These are important practices because they may reflect complex and abstract thoughts on life and death, kinships, material significance (McBrearty & Brooks, 2000). The production of art is recognized as a major step in cognitive function and is considered a modern human trait. An example of abstract pattern engraved by Neanderthals from Gorham’s cave in Gibraltar. It has deeply engraved cross-hatching pattern carved into the bedrock. The lines were carefully created using a sharp pointed lithic tool, repeatedly passing into the grooves, demonstrating neanderthals had the cognitive capacity for abstract thought; a previously thought trait to solely belong to modern humans. The research calculates that it took between 188 to 317 steady and careful strokes to etch this symbol into the limestone wall, and possibly more as the limestone was only minimally weathered during the engraving. The etch dates to 39,000 years ago. This evidence that predates modern humans move in the Iberian Peninsula aids in contestation with a previously made agrumentment against Neanderthals, that they could not create cave art (Joaquín Rodríguez, 2014).