Opinions on Nick Longrich's article / Eam Taekyoung
I agree with Nick Longrich's argument above that differences in social structure may be the main reason why Neanderthals lost their competition with Homo sapiens. However, it is difficult to sympathize with the view that there is no significant difference between Neanderthals and modern humans (Homo sapiens) in physical terms.
1. Why did gorillas and chimpanzees survive and Neanderthals become extinct?
Neanderthals appear to have been in direct competition with modern humans. In particular, in the case of Neanderthals, there was a lot of geographic and cultural overlap with modern humans, which may have led to competition for resources and even violent conflict. It is highly likely that this competition contributed to the extinction of Neanderthals to some extent. However, gorillas and chimpanzees have a different ecological niche than modern humans, and have focused on adapting to their natural environment rather than directly competing with humans.
2. What is the key reason why modern humans (Homo sapiens) won the struggle against Neanderthals?
I think it is worth noting the following regarding the differences between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens.
First, compared to modern humans, Neanderthals had characteristics such as shorter limbs, larger front teeth and roots, thicker metacarpals, and thicker necks. This is interpreted to mean that Neanderthals were physically more powerful than Homo sapiens. However, his running ability appears to have lagged behind. It appears that these physical differences affected the scope of activity and contributed to differences in the size of society.
Second, Neanderthals had a crooked and rough skeletal structure with a skull shape that was an intermediate evolutionary stage between Homo sapiens and gorillas. The shape of the Neanderthal skull appears to be between that of gorillas and Homo sapiens in the evolution of higher animals. It is less spherical than the skull of Homo sapiens. This means that the degree of transition to full erection is lower than that of Homo sapiens. The low degree of transition to full erection means that the energy consumed to support the moment caused by the head is relatively greater than that of Homo sapiens. This means that regardless of the type of activity, the basic energy consumption of Neanderthals was significantly greater than that of modern humans.
y = ax + b
b of Neanderthal > b of Homo sapiens
3. Summary
Just as it is difficult for products with low energy efficiency ratings to survive in the long term in modern society, the difference in the degree of uprightness of Neanderthals compared to modern humans caused a difference in energy consumption efficiency, and this difference caused a difference in the survivability of independent beings. Meanwhile, Neanderthals were in direct competition with humans in terms of geographic, cultural, and ecological status. In addition, physical characteristics related to running fitness caused differences in the size of society, and differences in size caused differences in social competitiveness.
