fishing in the savanna

Neanderthal Lacked Anatomical Competitive Edge:
Skeletal Remains Tell the Story

Journal of Human Evolution 56
Throwing in the Middle and Upper Paleolithic:
inferences from an analysis of humeral retroversion,
Jill Rhodes & Steven Churchill 2009

A new study of the skeletal fossils of Neanderthal and Early modern man
suggest the lack of a "throwing arm" may have made the difference in human
evolution. Researchers Jill A. Rhodes and Steven Churchill, evolutionary
anthropologists published their findings in the January 2009 edition of the
Journal of Human Evolution. The paper entitled, "Throwing in the Middle and
Upper Paleolithic: inferences from an analysis of humeral retroversion,"
provides some clues to the extinction of Neanderthal.
Projectile weaponry was an important component of early man's survival
toolkit. Traces of projectile weaponry have been found in Africa dating back
some 80,000 years. The mass migration by early man out of Africa into Europe
some 40,000 to 50,000 years ago, show early European man developed and used
bow and arrows and other projectile devices. The Rhodes/Churchill small
sampling of Neanderthal's skeletal remains indicate he was outmatched by
early modern man's development of a "throwing arm". This anatomical feature
is measured by the degree of humeral retroversion in the dominant arm and in
bilateral asymmetry.
Neanderthal's short squat body, massive limbs and lack of backward
displacement at the shoulder joint may have hampered their ability to
incorporate projectile weaponry. According to Jill Rhoades, an evolutionary
anthropologist examinations of early modern European fossils show the
backward displacement at the shoulder joint, but none of the small sampling
of Neanderthal's skeletal remains carry this anatomical characteristic.
Modern athletes like baseball pitchers have this characteristic in one
shoulder joint and it is referred to generally as their "throwing arm". When
engaging in over head throwing activity, such as throwing a baseball or a
spear, this increases the movement of the muscles and gives greater velocity
and speed to the throw, according to Steven Churchill an anthropologist at
Duke University. This missing technology, along with climate change and
competing arrow-shooting humans significantly challenged Neanderthal and may
have led to an eventual extinction.
According to the Rhodes/Churchill study, habitual behavior patterns,
including those related to the production and use of technology, can be
imprinted on the skeleton through both genetic and epigenetic pathways.
Samples of bilateral humeri sufficient for measurement of Neanderthals are
rare. The study consisted of two males and one female. The study concludes,
that while the sample was small, consistently it was found that Neanderthal
lacked the characteristic "throwing arm" found in early modern man.
According to archeologist Eric Boeda of Paris X, Nanterre, Neanderthal was
not without his resources. Boeda's team identified bitumen, a tar-like
substance on sharpened stones in Syria inhabited by Neanderthal nearly
70,000 years ago. The bitumen was used as an adhesive to attach sharpened
stones to wooden handle in a procedure called hafting. This finding by the
Boeda research team using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and carbon
isotopes at 40km from the source places the hafting practice back 30,000
years from the date previously set in other research.
Anthropologists agree, Neanderthal could throw spears short distances, but
never graduated to the use of bow and arrows or spear-throwing technologies.
Some 40,000 years ago, modern humans trekked out of Africa to Europe taking
their bows and arrows with them for fishing, hunting and warfare. The bow
and arrow enabled modern man to engage his environment and adapt to various
environments. While it is cannot be stated with absolute certainty,
Neanderthal's inability or lack of interest in developing projectile
weaponry may have been an important factor in his eventual demise.
Scientists are uncertain as to whether modern human used bow and arrows or
projectile devices against Neanderthal, but it is a distinct possibility.

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