genus.
Here's a look at ten things we've discovered about our closest known relatives – and, consequently, ourselves – this year.
Related: Lucy's Final Day: What the iconic fossil tells us about our ancient ancestor's last hours
Neanderthals had a keen sense of style.
to enable them to regulate their core body temperature.
Evidence suggesting Neanderthals wore clothing includes a stone tool showing signs of being used on animal hides, pointed bone tools that were likely used to make holes in furs, and a length of tangled string that could have come from a shoe or textile.
The type of clothing Neanderthals wore is still being discussed, but it was likely more elaborate than a loincloth. If Neanderthals were wearing parkas, trousers and wellington boots, they would probably have been leading the field in fashion terms, researchers said Live Science.
Neanderthals tended to their comrades with physical impairments.
Researchers discovered a 6-year-old Neanderthal youngster known as "Tina" in a cave in Spain. Tina's ear bone, dating to a period between 273,000 and 146,000 years ago, has a form linked to Down's syndrome, as well as other irregularities.
Although no genetic research has definitively proven that Tina had Down syndrome, researchers believe that she would still have needed care from her community to survive, as her ear bone also showed significant evidence of hearing loss and vertigo. The discovery implies that other Neanderthals were assisting her and her mother because of their sense of altruism.
3. Neanderthals produced an early "glue factory",
Researchers have outlined their finding of a hearth in a cave floor in Gibraltar. The hearth contained charcoal and plant resin and was probably heated to 300 degrees Fahrenheit (150 degrees Celsius) to produce a sticky substance, which would have been employed in crafting weapons, such as spears.
The discoveries reveal that Neanderthals were highly intelligent and demonstrated a capacity for cooperation, enabling them to craft intricate tools.
4. Modern humans and Neanderthals had distinct methods for disposing of the deceased.
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They were buried in the fetal position outside the caves.
People began to bury their dead at roughly the same time - roughly 90,000 to 120,000 years ago - possibly as a way of marking their territory or staking a claim to valuable resources in an area home to various human-like species.
Related: From 'Lucy' to the 'Hobbits': Discoveries of our Simian Siblings
5. They appear to be very similar to us.
to show a picture of one of our ancient extinct relatives.
Neanderthal skulls seem distinct from those of present-day humans; they possess large forehead ridges, prominent noses, and absent chins. Nonetheless, when muscles and skin are artificially reapplied to the skull, the similarity to humans becomes evident, and the likelihood of Neanderthals and humans interbreeding throughout history is not extraordinary.
6. The last Neanderthals were thoroughly separated from the rest of their group.
It seemed that he came from a line of kinfolk that had married within their own little group, even though other groups of Neanderthals lived close by.
A researcher at the Centre for Anthropobiology and Genomics of Toulouse in France and lead author of the research said, "Everything must be rewritten about the most significant extinction in human history."
(original quote is already in UK English)
This prompts the question of how and why this genetic material disappeared.
Women. Although these two groups interbred many times over many thousands of years, if a human mother were to be pregnant with a baby boy Neanderthal, her immune system might have rejected the male fetus, which would have been carrying unknown Neanderthal Y chromosome genes, leading to a miscarriage. Eventually, if fewer male Neanderthal hybrid babies were born, it's likely that Neanderthal Y chromosome genes would have disappeared in time.
It's not yet clear why the Neanderthal Y chromosome has vanished from our genetic heritage. It's possible that, since it's passed solely from father to son, it could have been gradually phased out over the passage of generations.
8. It's likely that Neanderthals were absorbed into modern human groups.
Two recent studies have revealed that, although Neanderthals as a group became extinct, their genetic legacy lives on in many modern humans.
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into larger human groups.
9. Neanderthal DNA influences our well-being.
it is what it is
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10. It's unlikely that humans directly led to the extinction of the Neanderthals.
Alongside interbreeding and gene exchange, humans it appears, outcompeted Neanderthals by drawing on the strength of extensive social networks in times of hardship, leaving Neanderthals more isolated as a result.
Although researchers are still unclear about the specifics, the current information suggests southern Iberia as a possible location for Neanderthals' final stronghold around 37,000 years ago. Following that period, Neanderthals as a distinct species appear to have disappeared, although they can be seen as continuing to exist in the genes they shared with us.
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