Cave man was a phenomenon mostly believed that lived thousands years ago. They were short hunchback men with long hairs. They could only use few arrggh, grrrh voices to communicate in each other with their mouth which was full of dirty and sick teeth. They were powerful and good hunters and also rude humans. This definition had been popular and used in many literature examples.
Who were these Cave men? Had they really lived and travelled around the Europe? The first evidences of them were considered as fossils of bear in 1829. 27 years later, Johann Karl Fuhlrott found fossils in the Neandertal Valley of the river Düssel in the Germany and recognized them as Neanderthal man. It was 1856, only 3 years before Charles Darwin's legendary book Origin of Species.
Lots of fossils and cultural remains had been found year by year. And now we know them, Homo-Neanderthalsis, Cave Man.
Information gathered from excavations and fossils show that Neanderthals lived in Europe during the Ice Age. They often took shelter from the ice, snow, and otherwise unpleasant weather in Eurasia's plentiful limestone caves.
Neanderthals' appearance was similar to ours, though they were shorter and stockier with angled cheekbones, prominent brow ridges, and wide noses. Also they were more powerful according to modern human (Sapiens).
Though sometimes thought of as dumb brutes, scientists have discovered that they used tools, buried their dead and controlled fire, among other intelligent behaviours.
The most striking information about Neanderthals was gathered in 1983. Scientist found a hyoid bone which let us to speak, in the Neanderthal skeleton. As a consequence an idea that Neanderthals lacked complex language was demolished.
Further investigations put the light through to their behaviours and day life. Now we know that they used several kinds of tools like spears, axes, flakes and dugout boats. They performed many sophisticated tasks which are normally associated only with sapiens. For example, they controlled fire, constructed complex shelters, and skinned animals. In addition to these they had complex sociality. They had burial ceremonies that show they could also believe life after death.
Neanderthals are still one of the main subjects of anthropologists. They leaved us two controversial questions.
1 – They extinct because of whether struggle for land with Sapiens or climate change.
2 – Had they and Sapiens interbreeds or not?
These two questions are still waiting for answer.
The last scientific information shows European Sapiens (modern humans) have %1 – 4 Neanderthal genome. While this amount of genome was a proof of interbreeding according to some scientists, a group of scientists argue that this amount is too less if there was any interbreeding occurred.
