It's amazing to think this man had a name and a family was a small child at one time and yet even after death he is showing us the true humanity we are capable of
If the Neaderthals were similar to us, the length of pregnancy and helplessness of the newborns would have made essential the need for community caring.
I bet Shanidar-1 was a legend in his day, the type of man who lived through many dangerous adventures, hunts and wars alike and still lived to tell the tale to his descendants. The experienced elder who leads the tribe through difficulties or at least who's advice kept them alive through rainy days.
Indeed. He may not have been physically useful after his injuries, but he might have tremendous value in experience. He could tell people where to camp, where to hunt, teach them about plants and animals and weather. Even today, so many of our leaders are basically geriatrics who are long past their physical prime, but their wisdom is what we value.
That's one of the major advantages to being a social animal, passing information down from generation to generation. That would definitely make older members valuable even if they are no longer physically able. Another advantage of empathy among social animals.
yeah, and imagine not just having broken bones and stuff you understand resulted from your experiences, but then you have arthritis in other bones that weren't broken, and then your hearing gets bad and possibly your ears hurt but you don't know what any of it is because no one can go to a doctor, you have to basically guess what's wrong with you and live with it, possibly try to accommodate it and do something wrong and make it worse because no one knows yet how it all works. There may be one lead healer type person in the tribe but even they would be most making educated guesses based on personal experience. It must have been so frustrating, even today with medicine and doctors to walk most of us through health problems there are some things that become overwhelming, so we can imagine. Hopefully he was happy though, having friends and/or family to support him, maybe none of it mattered because he gained strength from his community and he never let it get him down. Honestly in some of the harshest times, support from your fellow people means more than anything else, even if they can't solve your problem, because doing it alone is the worst thing.
J R He was surrounded by people who loved him and cared for him. Life wasn’t easy, but he managed. On the other hand, people today die alone and are dead for months, even years before someone notices they’re dead. And usually, that someone are the tax men, comming to see why bills werent paid.
My favorite thing about these discoveries is that they disprove the idea that humans are cruel and individualistic by nature, which is often used to justify unhealthy competition in businesses and is also, quite frankly, super depressing.
The fact that humans care about their relatives doesn't exclude that we can be cruel and individualistic to others. Yes, we care about our tribe but exactly that can lead to hatred or wars against other tribes.
luckily, that idea is not only depressing, it is also false. even the most competitive business ventures need a capable team to prosper. an author, f.e., can be succeessful on her/his very own. but a handful of exceptions aside, you always need a team for success. humans are co-operative by nature. they had to become co-operative waaaay back in pre-human times.
Also saying dogs show true love is a joke Humans captured and cared for their pets that's y they've evolved looking up to humans but still @night when they're in groups their wild instincts kick in.
agreed! humans, homo sapiens and neanderthals alike, are empathetic and compassionate by nature, it’s not something that is learned but rather is an essential part of us due to thousands of years of evolution. we had to care for each other in order to survive. The fact that cruelty and selfishness is not only beneficial but encouraged under capitalism should be a huge red flag tbh. it goes against our very nature.
I am from northern Iraq, and I have never heard of this discovery before. poor education system we have and evolution deniers will destroy generations of people here
@@robprop4575 Very Religious based societies already had a creation story before evolution. The US is only coming around because the society is gradually secularizing away from christian fundamentalism. Iraq and much of the middle east have yet to go through this process. Give it time. Once the region calms down and the people begin to rebuild and prosper again, they will want to learn more about the earth that wasn't taught from a holy book. Just dont go destroying ancient history that doesnt fit your narrative in the mean time! So many statues, tablets, ruins of ancient peoples... I lament their destruction...
@@nyar2352 even the hike to the cave is breath taking. There is another prehistoric site in the region called Jarmo, believed to date back to 7090 BC. Really humbling!
This really shouldn't be that surprising - all Great Apes care for each other and many other animals do the same. There's no reason to imagine that Neanderthals didn't share the full gamut of human emotions including love, empathy and respect for each other. The Old Man of La Chappelle (Dave?) and Shanidar One presumably lived with their extended families, and particularly with the latter his injuries might have occurred during a hunt as a youth - either an interaction with a large animal or a fall from height, and in that case he'd have sacrificed his mobility for the group. When I see how similar we are to Chimps, Benobos, Gorillas and Orang Utan I can only imagine that Neanderthals were almost exactly like us in every regard.
I see things from the other side. Many modern humans would ditch someone that much of an anchor to the group's survival. Many would probably try to stumble into the wild so as not to burden their family. The fact that the tribe could support someone not directly contributing to its survival says something about their "surplus" of resources and ingenuity.
@@AverageAlien that was mainly because they left africa sooner i think, in europe there are less predators and the difficulty of surviving there comes more from the environment. more time to invent tools when youre not running away from huge predators and your biggest concern is having food for winter.
@@patrickmccurry1563 Many humans certainly would do that, and I understand exactly what you're saying and where you're coming from. However, many more would care for the disabled individual, as is borne out by the millions of selfless acts that we see every day. I suppose that the truth would be somewhere in the middle ground - it usually is. Take two entirely separate groups of modern humans, and in this hypothesis imagine that they are hunter/gatherers - one group might be led by a matriarch/patriarch who is all about the family unit, full of empathy and kindness for the 'weaker' members of the group, whereas the other group is led by a matriarch/patriarch who sees things from a different perspective, ready to cast off anyone who threatens to weaken the unit. Are both groups human, showing entirely human characteristics? Which group's actions would be seen as the correct way to proceed? We've also seen this in the Great Apes - I forget the exact name, but( it's easily found, I'll check after posting if necessary) I'm sure that you're aware of a chimpanzee war, (one of many I imagine, but Jane Goodall witnessed this) which was, by all accounts horrific - vindictive and calculated acts of brutality from our closest relatives - just like us. We're complex - at times warlike and brutal, but are capable of great kindness. Perhaps this Neanderthal was just lucky enough to belong to the right group. Maybe if he'd belonged to another group he'd have been left to die - or even helped along. Maybe he wasn't that much of a burden - perhaps he had another useful, but less physical skill - perhaps he was highly valued prior to his injuries - son of the group leader. Conjecture and supposition is all we've got.✌️
Neanderthal Grandson: HEY GRANDPA, HOW ARE YOU! Shanidar 1: My hip aches, I walk slow, I can't hear well, I have poor sight, I could go on but there's no use complaining, noone listens.
This is incredible. I remember when I first heard of evidence of Neanderthal burial rites, and how shocking that was, but as the evidence grows it seems shocking that we doubted.
The qualities that make us “human” were and are found in our closely related “cousins”. That doesn’t make us less special. It means that our idea of human gets a bit more broad.
Patrick McCurry Not human in the Linnaean sense. The sense that the anthropocentric idea of humans as separate from nature and inherently superior becomes a quaint relic.
@@tiacho2893 We've been separate from nature since the day we discovered how to reliably make a flame. That diverged us from all other life on Earth. Superior no, but definitely separate from nature.
hunter christensen That is the opposite of the point. Qualities previously assumed to be solely attributed to Homo sapiens are found in other hominids.
Neanderthal had bigger brains than us by about ten percent so they may well have been more intelligent than us dare I suggest. I've noticed this fact is arrogantly explained away by many anthropologists who probably aren't very clever
Maybe the tribes of Neanderthals looking after these old boys thought that they had earned a more comfortable life. They had done so much and endured so much for the tribe that they wanted to look after them and keep them around, even crippled and old, because of the knowledge and experience they had.
Precisely why they were kept around. Knowledge was very important to the tribe and so was respect. Even elderly people can still offer help by communication
@@TheHothead101 thats the same thing as what op said, except they just gave some subconscious reasoning as to why they wouldnt want to lose them from their lives. theres superficial reasons too, like maybe the guy was funny or caring himself, but having knowledge and experience is definitely another factor as to why we evolved to care about our elders so much
mine too, but when he said "we are the only humans left" it kinda hit hard. Homo sapiens were just better and natural selection did its thing, but still...
Great video, both educational and beautiful! The people who took care of these men had no idea their kindness would be rediscovered and appreciated many thousands of years later.
One detail that I especially love: Shanidar I was buried with flowers. Neanderthals show that Kropotkin was right about mutual aid among the animals and people. Compassion is in our deepest nature as feeling beings.
love the note about the flowers. Some people believe that our ability to recognize beauty is what separates us from the beasts. Do you think magic mushrooms could have helped bridge that gap?
Conquest of bread might be slightly overrated l, but Mutual aid: a factor of evolution holds up incredibly well considering the limited information someone in his them had to go off
Haven't heard about it, but wouldn't surprise, crows are very intelligent, there relative brain size is similar to humans, they can solve complex problems which equals those of seven year olds, so them having a sense of compassion isn't out of the question
Try magpies, they recognise specific human faces and spread the word on arseholes. In Oz you can end up dodging those MFs for 60 years and they can cross bred with Ravens.
It’s videos like these that humble me, humans aren’t as special as we like to think, even today we’re learning so much about just how similar we are to other animals.
Well, its more of that we are similar to our cousins, the apes, and chimps. Which is to be expected since we all are part of the primate family. But to other animals, we are very different. It's just that we treat apes and chimps like other animals, but they are very much connected to us. We just forget that fact and believe we are special compared to the other primates when that isn't 100 percent true. We are unique in terms of our brain capabilities, but emotions and compassion is linked to other primates as well, along with a few other mammals.
@@alternateaccount2960 All social animals are like us in many ways. A social animal must have ways of expressing desires and needs to the group. That requires a similar set of behaviors whether one is human or squirrel.
The description of the Old Man sounds a lot like one of the main characters of the first book from Jean Auel's Earth's Children series! It's definitely a graphic book series, but excellently written, and the author spent many years working hand in hand with archeologists and anthropologists to make much of the book based on actual archeological finds of early hominids!
@@scottywills124 It's a reference to a meme. Usually it says "Every day we stray further from God's light" and is usually in response to some cursed image. They tried to twist it to make ot positive, though, for this.
Picture these old men and women sitting at the fire, teaching the next generation about the ways of life and wonders of nature. Appreciated by them. And frequently asked by the children to tell the scary stories of their hunting wounds, again and again.
Caring for our elders is super imperative across many cultures. I’m surmising that their groups respected them for their wisdom and work they put in at their prime since they have many battle scars it’s safe to assume that they did a lot to protect, feed, and further their group when they were young and healthy and are being repaid in their age with respect and care. I can imagine the wealth of wisdom they would have that would be crucial to pass on to the next generation. ❤️
Second favourite, I like the woman's voice, I pity her kids though, i cannot imagine yelling at her (as your mum) and hearing her reasonable tone back is very cathartic.
People sometimes hear that we evolved to care about others to help us survive and act like that devalues it but, as I see it, it shows how kindness is ancestral to humanity.
If I remember correctly, there is a pack of (wild) wolves in Germany where one pack member lives with three legs. I think Ive also read that scientists found bones of wolves (not sure if it were graywolves or an extinct species) which appeared to have broken and healed again. So even wolves seem to care for injured pack members to an extant. It seems that mankind systematically underestimates the inner lives of every other living animals, from sparrow to chimp. Really says a lot about humans.
When you put all the evidence together, this dude must have been REALLY frustrated grumpy and angry all the time. Like in constant pain. Always trying to hold back from showing his aggravation, trying to be as nice as he can while literally suffering, and people forgiving him anyway when he couldnt take it anymore and snapped at them, everyone sortof saying "its okay, we get it, besides youre one of us, and we love you anyway." ..aand now im crying😭😭😭
You just described ME and my waning life . One is weak and in constant pain but you try your best to hide it so that you don’t become a further burden on loved ones, I’m so angry at myself inside and I’ve just realised I’ve gotta let that anger go otherwise I’m just gonna get more in more bitter, Thanks , you’ve just given this ol’ man another reason to enjoy actually being alive . Take Care . R .
@@rayzorrayzor9000 try some kratom. Slightly more addictive then coffee and effects the MU opioid receptor which is the main anti pain opioid receptor so the high is very minimal less intoxicating then pharmaceutical opioids and far far less addictive which pharmaceuticals affects kappa, delta and Mu receptors... even less intoxicating then cannabis... that in combination with a tumeric extract(qunol is one of the best brands) will change your life. Turmeric extract alone will do you wonders for joint pain and overall inflammation levels which inflammation is the main cause of pain. Reds are great for pain while whites and green give more energy. Back in the day around the 60s they where using potent extracts to do surgery on patients without putting them under. Oregno, peppers, ect anything spicy essentially will affect the MU opioid receptors to varying degrees. Kraoma.com is a great tested American brand of kratom.
@Rick Simpson you grew up alot faster in the old days. The torah says rebecca was like 5 or so but she carried water to a dozen thirsty camels from a well. That would tire me out.
@@josiannegagne6667 I came here from heartbreaking / heartwarming caring for coalas videos, one about sewing project for beds and pouches for rescued, and another which shows hospital &people helping animals ... under wich there are awful heartless comments about immigrants, with laugh emojis. So I'm a bag of mixed, highly conflicting emotions about our humanity. And I cried too, watching this.
In a sense they are. Unless you're pureblood African you carry for sure Neanderthal ancestry... at around 2.5% of your genome. Straight hair is probably Neanderthal inheritance.
If Neanderthals we’re still alive today we would have made them our slaves. If we can’t even get along with humans of different skin color, there is no way we would get along with another species. We’d treat them worse than animals.
I'm just sat here crying thinking about how deeply he must've been loved to be cared for so dutifully to have made it to his 40s in a time where that was unlikely to happen. this man LOST HIS RIGHT ARM in a time where he could've easily bled out, or gotten an infection. I've seen documentaries of animals willing to die in order to protect their loved ones
this reminds me of an old phrase that I don't remember where I heard it from - the earliest sign of a social structure similar to our own on a basic level isn't stone tools or pottery or anything like that. It's a healed bone fracture.
As a kid, I remember learning about the "dumb cavemen" Neatherthals. It wasn't until years later that I learned more abd had to challenge what I thought I knew. They are fascinating
Just gonna day this is like the best educational source of nerdy stuff like this, love you pbs eons, keep up the good work, please make more because I have no more to watch lol!
🐨 How about a video on the evolutionary history of koalas? 🐨 They are really struggling here with the fires and I think deserve an episode! I’m actually on my way to the fire front tomorow to film with some wildlife carers who have burnt koalas coming in left right & centre
Douglas Gorde it would Most people don’t know there’s over 50 species of macropod in Australia and most people can only think of “kangaroos and wallabies”
Koalas are some of the dumbest mammals actually. They have a smooth brains and eat their own crap. Also their lifestyles basically means that they are pretty slow and useless.
Average Alien well actually they eat their mothers crap not their own, and while they have the smallest brain to body ratio of any mammal on earth that in itself is an interesting adaptation to their environment We use a huge amount of energy fueling a brains and in this day and age it seems many people still don’t use their brains, Who’s really the dumb animal 🤷🏽♂️😂
Gives goosebumps just by knowing about the things we have gone through in our evolutionary process. Kind of gives hope that no matter what we will survive.
If his group held him down after all his injuries that means loyalty started to override self preservation. He probably caught a lot of those injuries going ham for his squad And they realized they would be alive without him so they stood by his side. This is true type of human I am today. Thanks you sir for giving me your humanity X amount of years later. There will be no me without you.
@@pablolongobardi7240 Chances are there won't be any other species of anthropologist on this planet. Even if humanity were wiped out while leaving the earth somehow able to sustain life of our kind in the aftermath (again, not at all likely), time is running out on the cosmic and evolutionary time scales before the sun gets too hot and makes this planet a hot hell anyway.
Eric Wood well that theoretically is billions of years away still, so I like to hope that if we end up destroying ourselves the earth will be able to repair itself and create a new species that will one day find our remains
ostioarthritis is a very painfull condition , and i am registerd as disabled with it , but the authorities dont bloody care they let me suffer in pain .i can emagine how this person felt , but at least people cared for him .
That last fella described sounds a lot like me, physically. Helps me understand what he had to have gone through. Very cool video, guys - not sure how I missed it, but glad I found it, now, even a year late!
The capacity for compassion is not restricted to humans (or even Neandertals). Elephants, wolves, whales, dolphins, the big cats, and many other species also display compassion, and assistance for not only their own kind, but even for other species as well.
Nobody does egocentrism like us 🤦♂️ compassion and care exist widely in the animal kingdom. Empathy probably arrived a long ways back in our family tree
Your detailed description of Shanidar 1 bears a remarkable resemblance to Jean M. Auel's description of 'Creb', her shaman character in 'Clan of the Cave Bear'. Fascinating stuff!
@Mac mcskullface maybe not direct causal genes, but compassion and altruism is just in genes interest. It helps to survive and guarantees the higher chance of passing on. So basically altruism and compassion is probably an "invention" (direct or not) of egoistic genes. (I recommend reading "The Selfish Gene", it covers this topic in great detail.)
The same sort of interpersonal care can be implied from observing one of the hominins excavated at Dmanisi, Georgia. One of the skulls (can't remember the name for the life of me right now) had no teeth associated with it. This, in and of itself, is no great surprise, as, depending on preservation, teeth can go flying in all sorts of directions post mortem, and can become lost during excavation, as well. The remarkable thing, is that this individual had lost all its teeth well before it died, as evidenced by the completely smoothed, and therefore healed, upper and lower jaw. Loss of teeth, as mentioned in this video, could have required that very specific sorts of food be prepared for the individual that currently found themselves without their dentures, and the fact that the individual survived many years after the loss of all their teeth would seem to imply that conspecific care was at work. That is, other members of the impaired individual's group helped to take care of them by preparing specific, soft foods for them. This sort of stuff is why I love studying archaeology and anthropology!
I believe that such handedness has been shown to have existed in hominins since nearly the first such species. I believe most linguistically adept species show a dominant hand. I think it's generally the hand that connects to the hemisphere with the "linguistic module". For most humans, that's the left hemisphere and right hand. In parrots, I believe it's usually the right hemisphere and left claw.
Indeed they did. Here is an article on the study confirming right-hand dominance: www.nbcnews.com/id/48781052/ns/technology_and_science-science/t/most-neanderthals-were-right-handed-us-researchers-find/#.XiD_neuIaF1 And here is the scientific paper: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3425541/
@@patrickmccurry1563 not exactly. Yes, most humans' dominant side is the right (so their "motor-dominant" hemisphere is the left), but the "lingustic module", as you call it, is on the left side of ALL humans, including left handed (it's call "Broca's area"). Not to mention when there is a crossed dominance (one side arm and opposite side leg, i.e.), or ambidexterity. As a physiotherapist I can give you an example. When there is an ictus (or brain stroke), or whatever brain injury, it's very common to get an hemiplegia (one side, right or left, paralized). A right side hemiplegia is caused by a left hemisphere injury, as you know. Well, in these cases it's very common to find a big trouble or even total inability in speaking, when this Broca's area is affected, called "Broca's aphasia". This never happens when the affected hemisphere is the right (so left paralysis), even with left handed people. Yes, there might be other speaking or communication troubles, but dued to motor issues of the muscles required for speaking (dysathria) or other cognitive functions issues, but it ain't the same.
The cave was more likely a graveyard or a convenient motel when following herds, than permanent habitation. The concept of "cave-man" is faulty. There are not enough caves to support a single hominid species across a broad geographic distribution for such a duration. One bad year and the species would disappear. They were most likely 'tent-men', and women, but tents don't persist in the archaeological record.
There were never very many of them . Harsh habitat, lack of winter proof lodging ....and eating each other ... Across 350,000 yrs before we turned up and invaded their lands
@@LizardBrainMinerals I thought it was common knowledge that Auel based Creb on Shanidar 1, even though she had conceived the idea of Creb before doing research. I guess I was wrong.
I just love these video, they are so beautiful and well made! Can I ask you guys at PBS Eons about the evolution of spiders and their webs? Anyway, love your content, keep it up
I love watching these videos all the time and even use them to fall asleep! I think it'd also be a good idea to make playlists of the different hosts, so that I can easily pick which voice I want to listen to in a given evening. I imagine I'm not the only one who wants this?
Great video!! It makes me wonder what were the medical capabilities of early hominids? They probably would've known of medical plants, but could they have figured out basic first aid, like setting a bone? Anyway, keep up the good work!!😁
Captain Vanhorn that’s not even the comparison I’m making. They are two individuals who tell a lot of how their species lived through the many injuries present in their fossilized skeletons. I don’t care about them being “cool”
Captain Vanhorn that’s not even the comparison I’m making. They are two individuals who tell a lot of how their species lived through the many injuries present in their fossilized skeletons. I don’t care about them being “cool”
Trey the Explainer has a great video on this, with several other examples from throughout human prehistory, where disabled or injured group members must've been cared for for extended periods of time.
It's possible that the elderly among hunter-gatherers were babysitters while the adults were out hunting and foraging. Even if "Mr Shanidar" couldn't get around very well, the grandpas and grandmas could still entertain kids and rock babies to sleep, just like they do now. Some traditions haven changed much.
I think a video on the evolution of chameleons would be really interesting, especially because of how many different breeds (if thats what you want to call them) there are.
I absolutely love your show. I cant wait for my boy to be old enough to enjoy this as after school tv rather than cartoons. You guys and girls do a good job.
Still would like to know more about STEVE, is he actually an immortal ancestor? sharing his love of education and knowledge after watching the world change so much
It isn't complete yet, sadly for many, but we have come a long way. Just taking a light pain killer when you need it is a blessing already you should appreciate, let alone for the more serious stuff
That neanderthal shows up as Creb in the famous book Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel, is the first book in a series about a fictional story in the time where Homosapiens and Neanderthals lived together, pretty good read. I'm sure some of the viewers would be interested
According to the author's site: "Ms. Auel had the idea of Creb in mind very early in her creative process; he was to be an older man, with a crippled arm, who is instrumental in helping Ayla during her early years. Having imagined him, Ms. Auel felt rewarded and excited when she subsequently read about the excavation of the Shanidar cave in Iraq that revealed the skeleton of an elderly male-called Shanidar I-whose arm had been amputated, who was blind in one eye and crippled in one leg. She imagined a complex society, a society that would know how to care for an amputee, and one that would accept and give respect to him." www.jeanauel.com/characters.php
@@nkordich I didn't know she has a website. I've read the Earth's Children series. It is neat that Creb and Shanidar 1. I liked the series but Jondalar is my least favourite character.
Have you guys every thought about making an "Eons app" that presents some of the Eons material in an accessible app form? Maybe it could be in the format of the geologic time scale and one could zoom-in and learn about the material you've presented in the episodes that correspond to that time period. Although I'm not sure how'd you fit-in larger concepts (continental drift for instance) that transcend multiple eons. Also, did you or are you still planing on making the episode on placentas that was mentioned in the 'When Giant Amphibians Reigned' episode (at least I think it was that one). I really enjoyed the episode on sponges, which may be as close as we'll get to seeing an episode on coral. It'd be cool to see an episode on what we know about microscopic ancient life and evolution - such as bacterium, pond life, phytoplankton, etc. Thanks for the great videos! If I ever have to home school my kids they'll be watching a lot of Eons.
This warm my heart so much that I nearly forget about my every day's unpaid overtime then I realize I am still in office and waiting for a file to arrive. Edit :- that was 8 PM. My office hour actually was till 6 PM.
*squeals* THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!! I did several presentations on Shanidar Shkaft and the co-occurrence of homo sapiens neanderthalensis and homo sapiens sapiens in SW Asia for undergrads! It is really important to make people aware that their cartoonish ideas of prehistoric humans do not reflect actual reality. It is due to misinformation that people believe in ridiculous 'ancient aliens' ideas, closing their eyes to the amazing wonder that is the past. If you ever decide to do one of these again, may I suggest delving into the cohabitation of caves like Shanidar between different types of hominids? The stratigraphy really has a lot to offer in that regard. Similarly, the FOXP2 gene might be an interesting point of departure. Dr. Pääbo's work is groundbreaking and really useful for that. Again, thanks for this episode!Extremely happy now.
How do we know he absolutely lost his right arm before he died? We've found incomplete sets of most of the fossils we've collected, and those aren't said to be missing limbs and teeth.
There are various ways of telling if an injury has healed in the fossil/archeological record vs happened during or after death. The shape of the broken bone, signs of wear --like arthritis, signs of a broken bone having been set and healed, etc. If you ever saw the TV show "Bones", it's essentially that. Injuries leave marks on our bones that can be read, and that's pretty cool!
Compassion and empathy may be a key part of what makes us human but if we've learned anything from the last couple of years it's that a lot of humans do not possesses them.
Man, thabk for our ancestors for doing all the work for us humans living in the present. They had to learn to hunt , to survive. They had to fall down and get up. They had to suffer so much. They probably didn’t sleep at night cuz they thought they might have been hunted. It was a tough life. I wish there was a show about this or a documentary.
It's amazing to think this man had a name and a family was a small child at one time and yet even after death he is showing us the true humanity we are capable of
the neanderthal paintings by tom björklund are fascinating, they are worth a look ^
@@dschonsie same there exceptionally beautiful
And don't display very often
@@drmarikabouchon7361
I think we display it often enough. Most of us just tend to be focused on other things.
Lovely way to put it!
If the Neaderthals were similar to us, the length of pregnancy and helplessness of the newborns would have made essential the need for community caring.
I bet Shanidar-1 was a legend in his day, the type of man who lived through many dangerous adventures, hunts and wars alike and still lived to tell the tale to his descendants. The experienced elder who leads the tribe through difficulties or at least who's advice kept them alive through rainy days.
Indeed. He may not have been physically useful after his injuries, but he might have tremendous value in experience. He could tell people where to camp, where to hunt, teach them about plants and animals and weather. Even today, so many of our leaders are basically geriatrics who are long past their physical prime, but their wisdom is what we value.
Probably had children with him
Beautiful comment. Made my day better.
That's one of the major advantages to being a social animal, passing information down from generation to generation. That would definitely make older members valuable even if they are no longer physically able. Another advantage of empathy among social animals.
What i thought too.. respected elder
Made me feel sorry for a guy who's been dead for thousands of years.
Yep
It's all good. He was probably an eccentric artist, like my uncle.
yeah, and imagine not just having broken bones and stuff you understand resulted from your experiences, but then you have arthritis in other bones that weren't broken, and then your hearing gets bad and possibly your ears hurt but you don't know what any of it is because no one can go to a doctor, you have to basically guess what's wrong with you and live with it, possibly try to accommodate it and do something wrong and make it worse because no one knows yet how it all works. There may be one lead healer type person in the tribe but even they would be most making educated guesses based on personal experience. It must have been so frustrating, even today with medicine and doctors to walk most of us through health problems there are some things that become overwhelming, so we can imagine. Hopefully he was happy though, having friends and/or family to support him, maybe none of it mattered because he gained strength from his community and he never let it get him down. Honestly in some of the harshest times, support from your fellow people means more than anything else, even if they can't solve your problem, because doing it alone is the worst thing.
J R He was surrounded by people who loved him and cared for him. Life wasn’t easy, but he managed. On the other hand, people today die alone and are dead for months, even years before someone notices they’re dead. And usually, that someone are the tax men, comming to see why bills werent paid.
Not me I'm not going to get sad over someone who has been gone for thousands of years
My favorite thing about these discoveries is that they disprove the idea that humans are cruel and individualistic by nature, which is often used to justify unhealthy competition in businesses and is also, quite frankly, super depressing.
The fact that humans care about their relatives doesn't exclude that we can be cruel and individualistic to others.
Yes, we care about our tribe but exactly that can lead to hatred or wars against other tribes.
luckily, that idea is not only depressing, it is also false. even the most competitive business ventures need a capable team to prosper.
an author, f.e., can be succeessful on her/his very own. but a handful of exceptions aside, you always need a team for success. humans are co-operative by nature. they had to become co-operative waaaay back in pre-human times.
Depressing to people who can’t compete effectively.
Also saying dogs show true love is a joke
Humans captured and cared for their pets that's y they've evolved looking up to humans but still @night when they're in groups their wild instincts kick in.
agreed! humans, homo sapiens and neanderthals alike, are empathetic and compassionate by nature, it’s not something that is learned but rather is an essential part of us due to thousands of years of evolution. we had to care for each other in order to survive. The fact that cruelty and selfishness is not only beneficial but encouraged under capitalism should be a huge red flag tbh. it goes against our very nature.
I am from northern Iraq, and I have never heard of this discovery before. poor education system we have and evolution deniers will destroy generations of people here
But. On the bright side, youtubes chock full of videos and channels like this so👌
You still get to have your pick of awesome stories and ideas
@@robprop4575 Very Religious based societies already had a creation story before evolution. The US is only coming around because the society is gradually secularizing away from christian fundamentalism. Iraq and much of the middle east have yet to go through this process. Give it time. Once the region calms down and the people begin to rebuild and prosper again, they will want to learn more about the earth that wasn't taught from a holy book. Just dont go destroying ancient history that doesnt fit your narrative in the mean time! So many statues, tablets, ruins of ancient peoples... I lament their destruction...
Sad to hear that. Repressive ultra-religious regimes keep the people in the dark to manipulate them.
@@K00Ldude98 Once it calms down? So like... never?
Not far off from the situation in the USA :P
The cave you refer to, Shanadar, is actually in my province and I’ve been there couple of times :) it’s massive inside¡
Rebaz Khurshed I cannot begin to express how much I envy you! It must be wonderful to be so close to such wonders
@@nyar2352 even the hike to the cave is breath taking. There is another prehistoric site in the region called Jarmo, believed to date back to 7090 BC. Really humbling!
Bezhi! 👍
Thanks!
Arya Pourtabatabaie hey glad to see a fellow Kurdish here :)
This really shouldn't be that surprising - all Great Apes care for each other and many other animals do the same.
There's no reason to imagine that Neanderthals didn't share the full gamut of human emotions including love, empathy and respect for each other.
The Old Man of La Chappelle (Dave?) and Shanidar One presumably lived with their extended families, and particularly with the latter his injuries might have occurred during a hunt as a youth - either an interaction with a large animal or a fall from height, and in that case he'd have sacrificed his mobility for the group.
When I see how similar we are to Chimps, Benobos, Gorillas and Orang Utan I can only imagine that Neanderthals were almost exactly like us in every regard.
I see things from the other side. Many modern humans would ditch someone that much of an anchor to the group's survival. Many would probably try to stumble into the wild so as not to burden their family.
The fact that the tribe could support someone not directly contributing to its survival says something about their "surplus" of resources and ingenuity.
Maybe even smarter than us. They had more advanced tools, rituals, and could even spark fire before humans.
Ian Macfarlane people don’t always think with reason unfortunately
@@AverageAlien that was mainly because they left africa sooner i think, in europe there are less predators and the difficulty of surviving there comes more from the environment. more time to invent tools when youre not running away from huge predators and your biggest concern is having food for winter.
@@patrickmccurry1563 Many humans certainly would do that, and I understand exactly what you're saying and where you're coming from.
However, many more would care for the disabled individual, as is borne out by the millions of selfless acts that we see every day.
I suppose that the truth would be somewhere in the middle ground - it usually is.
Take two entirely separate groups of modern humans, and in this hypothesis imagine that they are hunter/gatherers - one group might be led by a matriarch/patriarch who is all about the family unit, full of empathy and kindness for the 'weaker' members of the group, whereas the other group is led by a matriarch/patriarch who sees things from a different perspective, ready to cast off anyone who threatens to weaken the unit.
Are both groups human, showing entirely human characteristics?
Which group's actions would be seen as the correct way to proceed?
We've also seen this in the Great Apes - I forget the exact name, but( it's easily found, I'll check after posting if necessary) I'm sure that you're aware of a chimpanzee war, (one of many I imagine, but Jane Goodall witnessed this) which was, by all accounts horrific - vindictive and calculated acts of brutality from our closest relatives - just like us.
We're complex - at times warlike and brutal, but are capable of great kindness.
Perhaps this Neanderthal was just lucky enough to belong to the right group. Maybe if he'd belonged to another group he'd have been left to die - or even helped along.
Maybe he wasn't that much of a burden - perhaps he had another useful, but less physical skill - perhaps he was highly valued prior to his injuries - son of the group leader.
Conjecture and supposition is all we've got.✌️
Neanderthal Grandson: HEY GRANDPA, HOW ARE YOU!
Shanidar 1: My hip aches, I walk slow, I can't hear well, I have poor sight, I could go on but there's no use complaining, noone listens.
“I lost my arm in the great Sapien war of 50,000 BC.”
Neanderthal Grandpa would probably be no more than 30
@@ek7675 well I'm 33, my back aches and my eye sight is going so yeah haha
@@brad1669 pretty good evidence then
Wether they listened or not: he was alive: pretty well cared for.
It's amazing and beautiful 🍃
This is incredible. I remember when I first heard of evidence of Neanderthal burial rites, and how shocking that was, but as the evidence grows it seems shocking that we doubted.
The qualities that make us “human” were and are found in our closely related “cousins”. That doesn’t make us less special. It means that our idea of human gets a bit more broad.
In most groups, human is usually defined as a genus not a species anyway.
Patrick McCurry Not human in the Linnaean sense. The sense that the anthropocentric idea of humans as separate from nature and inherently superior becomes a quaint relic.
@@tiacho2893 We've been separate from nature since the day we discovered how to reliably make a flame. That diverged us from all other life on Earth. Superior no, but definitely separate from nature.
hunter christensen That is the opposite of the point. Qualities previously assumed to be solely attributed to Homo sapiens are found in other hominids.
Neanderthal had bigger brains than us by about ten percent so they may well have been more intelligent than us dare I suggest.
I've noticed this fact is arrogantly explained away by many anthropologists who probably aren't very clever
Maybe the tribes of Neanderthals looking after these old boys thought that they had earned a more comfortable life. They had done so much and endured so much for the tribe that they wanted to look after them and keep them around, even crippled and old, because of the knowledge and experience they had.
Precisely why they were kept around. Knowledge was very important to the tribe and so was respect. Even elderly people can still offer help by communication
Like us today, they loved them.
Maybe it wasn't so utilitarian. Maybe they just didn't want to lose these people from their lives.
@@TheHothead101 thats the same thing as what op said, except they just gave some subconscious reasoning as to why they wouldnt want to lose them from their lives. theres superficial reasons too, like maybe the guy was funny or caring himself, but having knowledge and experience is definitely another factor as to why we evolved to care about our elders so much
These Neandrathal and other human videos are some of my favourites.
Mine too, easily!!
But the thing I’d they were not humans. They’re another species.
Paula Figueroa nope, they’re humans
@@paulafigueroa1573 They are human , different breed not different species . Like how a Husky and a Pit bull are both dogs but different breed.
mine too, but when he said "we are the only humans left" it kinda hit hard. Homo sapiens were just better and natural selection did its thing, but still...
Great video, both educational and beautiful! The people who took care of these men had no idea their kindness would be rediscovered and appreciated many thousands of years later.
One detail that I especially love: Shanidar I was buried with flowers. Neanderthals show that Kropotkin was right about mutual aid among the animals and people. Compassion is in our deepest nature as feeling beings.
love the note about the flowers. Some people believe that our ability to recognize beauty is what separates us from the beasts. Do you think magic mushrooms could have helped bridge that gap?
Conquest of bread might be slightly overrated l, but Mutual aid: a factor of evolution holds up incredibly well considering the limited information someone in his them had to go off
@@therockinboxerI don’t think that only humans can appreciate beauty.
They were probably more gentle than we are. That's why we killed them off.
Wasn't there a crow with a broken beak that was cared for by their mate for many years?
Haven't heard about it, but wouldn't surprise, crows are very intelligent, there relative brain size is similar to humans, they can solve complex problems which equals those of seven year olds, so them having a sense of compassion isn't out of the question
You mean a broken leg Trex who was cared by other members of it's flock
Don’t know if this was a joke, but birds do.. do stuff like that!
Try magpies, they recognise specific human faces and spread the word on arseholes. In Oz you can end up dodging those MFs for 60 years and they can cross bred with Ravens.
@@jaisanatanrashtra7035 birds are dinosaurs ... i seem to remember
This makes me completely rethink the historic accuracy of The Croods. Very interesting
Oh speaking of Croods didn't you know their making a part 2???
The Croods is about 0% accurate.
Ronjay Rose They aren’t. They cancelled production
Quest for Fire is mostly the closest movie of depictions of accurate Neanderthals or Homo Helderbergensis.
Ronjay Rose I did not! How exciting
It’s videos like these that humble me, humans aren’t as special as we like to think, even today we’re learning so much about just how similar we are to other animals.
Well, its more of that we are similar to our cousins, the apes, and chimps. Which is to be expected since we all are part of the primate family. But to other animals, we are very different. It's just that we treat apes and chimps like other animals, but they are very much connected to us. We just forget that fact and believe we are special compared to the other primates when that isn't 100 percent true. We are unique in terms of our brain capabilities, but emotions and compassion is linked to other primates as well, along with a few other mammals.
Neanderthals are humans lol
@@alternateaccount2960 All social animals are like us in many ways. A social animal must have ways of expressing desires and needs to the group. That requires a similar set of behaviors whether one is human or squirrel.
Not being complete human yourself, how could you know that humans ARE INDEED "special" class of creatures on the planet? lol
nirbija Only Africans who are not mixed with Eurasians Have 100% Human DNa everyone else has 1-15% Neanderthal DNA
I'm so happy you've brought up that topic, there's way too many people who still think of neanderthals as very primitive !
The description of the Old Man sounds a lot like one of the main characters of the first book from Jean Auel's Earth's Children series! It's definitely a graphic book series, but excellently written, and the author spent many years working hand in hand with archeologists and anthropologists to make much of the book based on actual archeological finds of early hominids!
Mog-ur Creb was based off of Shanidar 1, IIRC.
My bio anthro class over the summer talked about this and these exact specimens in great detail!
Oh yea? Thats great! Anything other than what this video said?
Cool. This is so interesting.
Chelsey Abbott
So he watched this video then
@@StephenRahrig I'm sure she did actually and was thrilled
oP I y I’ll L lhg
Im glad these videos are getting longer. I like the 9+ videos more than the shorter 6min ones from earlier
Everyday we stray closer to the understanding of our origins.
Stray?
@@scottywills124 It's a reference to a meme. Usually it says "Every day we stray further from God's light" and is usually in response to some cursed image. They tried to twist it to make ot positive, though, for this.
"The more we know, the less we understand."
@@BlokHeadAnim huh ya thats a strange twist in the meaning. thanks for the explanation.
Neanderthal DNA is only in Eurasians so it's not my origin
Whenever someone says we were perfectly designed. I say two words...human teeth.
And lack of replacements there of
Back problems
Appendix
balthiers girl yep!
I would say skin. We need clothes to basically survive. When naked it's only takes 10-20 degree Celsius to kill us.
Picture these old men and women sitting at the fire, teaching the next generation about the ways of life and wonders of nature. Appreciated by them. And frequently asked by the children to tell the scary stories of their hunting wounds, again and again.
Caring for our elders is super imperative across many cultures. I’m surmising that their groups respected them for their wisdom and work they put in at their prime since they have many battle scars it’s safe to assume that they did a lot to protect, feed, and further their group when they were young and healthy and are being repaid in their age with respect and care. I can imagine the wealth of wisdom they would have that would be crucial to pass on to the next generation. ❤️
it seems that they had better health care than my hometown.
Ow ow ow ow ow why you do this to me.
Where you from? lol
Where are you from?
And their community cared for each other
Yay, my favourite narrator/presenter is back.
Yes... and he can say French words correctly! (What's he doing on PBS...) Possibly one of those crypto-Canadians?
@@DougOfTheAntarctic Does he pronounce niche correctly?
Second favourite, I like the woman's voice, I pity her kids though, i cannot imagine yelling at her (as your mum) and hearing her reasonable tone back is very cathartic.
People sometimes hear that we evolved to care about others to help us survive and act like that devalues it but, as I see it, it shows how kindness is ancestral to humanity.
If I remember correctly, there is a pack of (wild) wolves in Germany where one pack member lives with three legs.
I think Ive also read that scientists found bones of wolves (not sure if it were graywolves or an extinct species) which appeared to have broken and healed again. So even wolves seem to care for injured pack members to an extant.
It seems that mankind systematically underestimates the inner lives of every other living animals, from sparrow to chimp. Really says a lot about humans.
When you put all the evidence together, this dude must have been REALLY frustrated grumpy and angry all the time. Like in constant pain. Always trying to hold back from showing his aggravation, trying to be as nice as he can while literally suffering, and people forgiving him anyway when he couldnt take it anymore and snapped at them, everyone sortof saying "its okay, we get it, besides youre one of us, and we love you anyway."
..aand now im crying😭😭😭
Probably got tired of, "Okay, cave-boomer".
You just described ME and my waning life . One is weak and in constant pain but you try your best to hide it so that you don’t become a further burden on loved ones, I’m so angry at myself inside and I’ve just realised I’ve gotta let that anger go otherwise I’m just gonna get more in more bitter, Thanks , you’ve just given this ol’ man another reason to enjoy actually being alive . Take Care . R .
@@rayzorrayzor9000 try some kratom. Slightly more addictive then coffee and effects the MU opioid receptor which is the main anti pain opioid receptor so the high is very minimal less intoxicating then pharmaceutical opioids and far far less addictive which pharmaceuticals affects kappa, delta and Mu receptors... even less intoxicating then cannabis... that in combination with a tumeric extract(qunol is one of the best brands) will change your life. Turmeric extract alone will do you wonders for joint pain and overall inflammation levels which inflammation is the main cause of pain. Reds are great for pain while whites and green give more energy. Back in the day around the 60s they where using potent extracts to do surgery on patients without putting them under. Oregno, peppers, ect anything spicy essentially will affect the MU opioid receptors to varying degrees. Kraoma.com is a great tested American brand of kratom.
@Rick Simpson you grew up alot faster in the old days. The torah says rebecca was like 5 or so but she carried water to a dozen thirsty camels from a well. That would tire me out.
@@myceilauniverse9096 were thos ingredients native to the Neanderthal region?
It might be because Im high, but this video made me cry.
perfectlemonade I’m not and I did.
Completely sober and I teared up.
I cried too! And here I was thinking that something must be wrong with me for crying over a video on Neanderthals 😅 Glad I'm not the only one.
@@josiannegagne6667
I came here from heartbreaking / heartwarming caring for coalas videos, one about sewing project for beds and pouches for rescued, and another which shows hospital &people helping animals ...
under wich there are awful heartless comments about immigrants, with laugh emojis.
So I'm a bag of mixed, highly conflicting emotions about our humanity.
And I cried too, watching this.
Watch "Quest for fire"
Can you imagine if Neanderthals were still alive
In a sense they are. Unless you're pureblood African you carry for sure Neanderthal ancestry... at around 2.5% of your genome. Straight hair is probably Neanderthal inheritance.
@@AravindKarthigeyan You seem fun.
@@AravindKarthigeyan
Yes but they mated with homo sapiens alot. That's why we carry some of their genes
Considering how we treat other HUMANS, the chance of them surviving US was very unlikely.
If Neanderthals we’re still alive today we would have made them our slaves. If we can’t even get along with humans of different skin color, there is no way we would get along with another species. We’d treat them worse than animals.
I'm just sat here crying thinking about how deeply he must've been loved to be cared for so dutifully to have made it to his 40s in a time where that was unlikely to happen. this man LOST HIS RIGHT ARM in a time where he could've easily bled out, or gotten an infection. I've seen documentaries of animals willing to die in order to protect their loved ones
this reminds me of an old phrase that I don't remember where I heard it from - the earliest sign of a social structure similar to our own on a basic level isn't stone tools or pottery or anything like that. It's a healed bone fracture.
5:39 My grandfather used to say, "I'm blind in one ear and can't see out of the other."
You're grandfather must've been a wise man 😉
He probably was deaf in his eyes too by the sound of it
That sounds Yogi Berra-esque.
@@MinorZero He would say that one occasionally too.
@@ronjayrose9706 He had gems like that.
Trey the Explainer has an excellent video about this topic called “Disabilities in Prehistory” would definitely recommend watching
yeah, I saw that, it's great
I'm going to watch this now. Thank you for recommending!
Everytime you host, I get all teary eyed and moved to my core.
As a kid, I remember learning about the "dumb cavemen" Neatherthals. It wasn't until years later that I learned more abd had to challenge what I thought I knew. They are fascinating
Just gonna day this is like the best educational source of nerdy stuff like this, love you pbs eons, keep up the good work, please make more because I have no more to watch lol!
🐨 How about a video on the evolutionary history of koalas? 🐨 They are really struggling here with the fires and I think deserve an episode! I’m actually on my way to the fire front tomorow to film with some wildlife carers who have burnt koalas coming in left right & centre
I think an episode about kangaroos would be cool too!
Douglas Gorde it would
Most people don’t know there’s over 50 species of macropod in Australia and most people can only think of “kangaroos and wallabies”
Yes
Koalas are some of the dumbest mammals actually. They have a smooth brains and eat their own crap. Also their lifestyles basically means that they are pretty slow and useless.
Average Alien well actually they eat their mothers crap not their own, and while they have the smallest brain to body ratio of any mammal on earth that in itself is an interesting adaptation to their environment
We use a huge amount of energy fueling a brains and in this day and age it seems many people still don’t use their brains,
Who’s really the dumb animal 🤷🏽♂️😂
Gives goosebumps just by knowing about the things we have gone through in our evolutionary process. Kind of gives hope that no matter what we will survive.
You are for real my favourite host
Hey, thanks! (BdeP)
It warms my heart to think that even back in the really old days we helped each other
#no man left behind
The Pleistocene Neanderthal 2:03 had a pretty dope hairstyle actually. One of the best manbuns I've seen.
Also, is he wearing aviators?!
If his group held him down after all his injuries that means loyalty started to override self preservation. He probably caught a lot of those injuries going ham for his squad And they realized they would be alive without him so they stood by his side. This is true type of human I am today. Thanks you sir for giving me your humanity X amount of years later. There will be no me without you.
I wonder what future anthropologists will think of our species when they find the many groups burials of the civilians died in the recent wars
That's assuming we don't bring about our own extinction.
@@ericwood3709 these future anthropologists need not be human as we understand it
Surgeries and edited DNA
@@pablolongobardi7240 Chances are there won't be any other species of anthropologist on this planet. Even if humanity were wiped out while leaving the earth somehow able to sustain life of our kind in the aftermath (again, not at all likely), time is running out on the cosmic and evolutionary time scales before the sun gets too hot and makes this planet a hot hell anyway.
Eric Wood well that theoretically is billions of years away still, so I like to hope that if we end up destroying ourselves the earth will be able to repair itself and create a new species that will one day find our remains
ostioarthritis is a very painfull condition , and i am registerd as disabled with it , but the authorities dont bloody care they let me suffer in pain .i can emagine how this person felt , but at least people cared for him .
That last fella described sounds a lot like me, physically. Helps me understand what he had to have gone through.
Very cool video, guys - not sure how I missed it, but glad I found it, now, even a year late!
The capacity for compassion is not restricted to humans (or even Neandertals). Elephants, wolves, whales, dolphins, the big cats, and many other species also display compassion, and assistance for not only their own kind, but even for other species as well.
Nobody does egocentrism like us 🤦♂️ compassion and care exist widely in the animal kingdom. Empathy probably arrived a long ways back in our family tree
Ironic to say that on a video that shows that we are not, in fact, egocentric.
Napishtim the idea is that only we could show empathy and compassion. Humanity struggles deeply w bias and centrism. But, yes, ironic
It seems to me that we inherited empathy from the animals.
And are now busy breeding and "optimizing" it out.
Jennifer Grove ♥️
Your detailed description of Shanidar 1 bears a remarkable resemblance to Jean M. Auel's description of 'Creb', her shaman character in 'Clan of the Cave Bear'. Fascinating stuff!
He was based on Shanidar 1.
I definitely thought this was a important video to hear about
Really really cool video, learnt a lot watching it so thank you for your stellar work on PBS Eons.
Gosh. This story makes me emotional and humble.
This one got me right in the feels.
Mutual aid: a factor in natural selection
What's interesting about that is, if true, compasion helps pass on genes.
@Mac mcskullface You're probably right.
@@joaonada42 Exactly the guy I was thinking of
@Mac mcskullface maybe not direct causal genes, but compassion and altruism is just in genes interest. It helps to survive and guarantees the higher chance of passing on.
So basically altruism and compassion is probably an "invention" (direct or not) of egoistic genes.
(I recommend reading "The Selfish Gene", it covers this topic in great detail.)
It's not necessarily compassion specifically, but the intelligence required to be capable of compassion.
I read once, that Neanderthals tend to have similar bone fractures to modern bull-riders. _Lots_ of broken bones.
The same sort of interpersonal care can be implied from observing one of the hominins excavated at Dmanisi, Georgia. One of the skulls (can't remember the name for the life of me right now) had no teeth associated with it. This, in and of itself, is no great surprise, as, depending on preservation, teeth can go flying in all sorts of directions post mortem, and can become lost during excavation, as well. The remarkable thing, is that this individual had lost all its teeth well before it died, as evidenced by the completely smoothed, and therefore healed, upper and lower jaw.
Loss of teeth, as mentioned in this video, could have required that very specific sorts of food be prepared for the individual that currently found themselves without their dentures, and the fact that the individual survived many years after the loss of all their teeth would seem to imply that conspecific care was at work. That is, other members of the impaired individual's group helped to take care of them by preparing specific, soft foods for them.
This sort of stuff is why I love studying archaeology and anthropology!
Amazing channel!I really like your works!Hope more people begin to watch your videos!
I can't help but wonder with they have the same dominant right-handedness ratio as we do. Either way his injury kinda ... forced his hand.
You forgot to put on your sunglasses.
Maybe it has something to do with our brains?
I believe that such handedness has been shown to have existed in hominins since nearly the first such species. I believe most linguistically adept species show a dominant hand. I think it's generally the hand that connects to the hemisphere with the "linguistic module". For most humans, that's the left hemisphere and right hand. In parrots, I believe it's usually the right hemisphere and left claw.
Indeed they did. Here is an article on the study confirming right-hand dominance:
www.nbcnews.com/id/48781052/ns/technology_and_science-science/t/most-neanderthals-were-right-handed-us-researchers-find/#.XiD_neuIaF1
And here is the scientific paper:
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3425541/
@@patrickmccurry1563 not exactly. Yes, most humans' dominant side is the right (so their "motor-dominant" hemisphere is the left), but the "lingustic module", as you call it, is on the left side of ALL humans, including left handed (it's call "Broca's area"). Not to mention when there is a crossed dominance (one side arm and opposite side leg, i.e.), or ambidexterity.
As a physiotherapist I can give you an example. When there is an ictus (or brain stroke), or whatever brain injury, it's very common to get an hemiplegia (one side, right or left, paralized). A right side hemiplegia is caused by a left hemisphere injury, as you know. Well, in these cases it's very common to find a big trouble or even total inability in speaking, when this Broca's area is affected, called "Broca's aphasia". This never happens when the affected hemisphere is the right (so left paralysis), even with left handed people. Yes, there might be other speaking or communication troubles, but dued to motor issues of the muscles required for speaking (dysathria) or other cognitive functions issues, but it ain't the same.
The cave was more likely a graveyard or a convenient motel when following herds, than permanent habitation. The concept of "cave-man" is faulty. There are not enough caves to support a single hominid species across a broad geographic distribution for such a duration. One bad year and the species would disappear. They were most likely 'tent-men', and women, but tents don't persist in the archaeological record.
There were never very many of them . Harsh habitat, lack of winter proof lodging ....and eating each other ... Across 350,000 yrs before we turned up and invaded their lands
Whenever I hear someone talk about Shanidar 1, I get happy that someone is talking about Creb.
Utterly agree
I was hinting to see if someone else had seen the similarities. I love this. And it help me visualize the novels much better.
@@LizardBrainMinerals I thought it was common knowledge that Auel based Creb on Shanidar 1, even though she had conceived the idea of Creb before doing research. I guess I was wrong.
I just love these video, they are so beautiful and well made! Can I ask you guys at PBS Eons about the evolution of spiders and their webs?
Anyway, love your content, keep it up
I love watching these videos all the time and even use them to fall asleep! I think it'd also be a good idea to make playlists of the different hosts, so that I can easily pick which voice I want to listen to in a given evening. I imagine I'm not the only one who wants this?
Please do a video on extinct African mega fauna like the Natodomeri lion, Palaeoloxodon Recki, Pelorovis Antiquus, Sivatherium Giganteum
Great video!! It makes me wonder what were the medical capabilities of early hominids? They probably would've known of medical plants, but could they have figured out basic first aid, like setting a bone? Anyway, keep up the good work!!😁
This guy was the human version of Big Al
Was looking for a comment like this. Man, inaccurate the Walking With series were but they were my childhood.
But Big Al is much better
Captain Vanhorn that’s not even the comparison I’m making. They are two individuals who tell a lot of how their species lived through the many injuries present in their fossilized skeletons. I don’t care about them being “cool”
Captain Vanhorn that’s not even the comparison I’m making. They are two individuals who tell a lot of how their species lived through the many injuries present in their fossilized skeletons. I don’t care about them being “cool”
I remember the Big Al VHS i got in my chrismas stocking when I was a kid. I think it's the first documentary I ever saw
Trey the Explainer has a great video on this, with several other examples from throughout human prehistory, where disabled or injured group members must've been cared for for extended periods of time.
ngl i'm so glad u guys uploaded bc i had my operation yesterday and it's 4am and i can't sleep and this is the gud kush for me :)))
Being a hominid can be rough. It’s amazing anyone wants to do it.
Yet it's still less rough than being any of the other things (unless sheltered by hominids).
Nobody ever asked me if I'd rather be a sloth instead.
Idk maybe next play through ill be a kitty
It's always heart warming to learn something like this that debunks myths of people (or animals) being heartless. Great video.
It's possible that the elderly among hunter-gatherers were babysitters while the adults were out hunting and foraging. Even if "Mr Shanidar" couldn't get around very well, the grandpas and grandmas could still entertain kids and rock babies to sleep, just like they do now. Some traditions haven changed much.
Amazingly educational! Well done TEAM!
This helped me write an essay about
compassion, thank you
I think a video on the evolution of chameleons would be really interesting, especially because of how many different breeds (if thats what you want to call them) there are.
This puts a smile to my face knowing that all humans are capable of true love and kindness even throughout the darkest corners of time
By Shanadar 1 you mean Creb, most powerful Mugur of the Clan!
colpul2 oh ha I love that book
The old Mogur. He is Clan
I'm reading a whole bunch of books right now, I'm on book 3 Mammoth Hunters
Beat me to it
The holiest of the holy men?
I absolutely love your show. I cant wait for my boy to be old enough to enjoy this as after school tv rather than cartoons. You guys and girls do a good job.
Hearing this story makes me realize that some people cared for him and others so much that some started the process of learning medicine and doctors
This was beyond beautiful
No mention of the buried with flowers part?
Still would like to know more about STEVE, is he actually an immortal ancestor? sharing his love of education and knowledge after watching the world change so much
Excellent video to start the day .
Cheers , job well done.
Thank's a lot!
Great video! 👍
This really is a lesson in how modern medicine and society allows us to live free of death injury.
It isn't complete yet, sadly for many, but we have come a long way. Just taking a light pain killer when you need it is a blessing already you should appreciate, let alone for the more serious stuff
Sure, Soren, IF you have the thousands and thousands of dollars to buy such care . . . no problem !
Im a 30% disabled veteran, so tell me HOW im living injury free.
@@cavdude6id Are you dead? I'd assume not so you prove his point. To live free of deadly injury.
That neanderthal shows up as Creb in the famous book Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel, is the first book in a series about a fictional story in the time where Homosapiens and Neanderthals lived together, pretty good read. I'm sure some of the viewers would be interested
Shanidar 1 resembles Creb from "The Clan of the Cave Bear". (eta corrected spelling)
According to the author's site: "Ms. Auel had the idea of Creb in mind very early in her creative process; he was to be an older man, with a crippled arm, who is instrumental in helping Ayla during her early years. Having imagined him, Ms. Auel felt rewarded and excited when she subsequently read about the excavation of the Shanidar cave in Iraq that revealed the skeleton of an elderly male-called Shanidar I-whose arm had been amputated, who was blind in one eye and crippled in one leg. She imagined a complex society, a society that would know how to care for an amputee, and one that would accept and give respect to him."
www.jeanauel.com/characters.php
@@nkordich I didn't know she has a website. I've read the Earth's Children series. It is neat that Creb and Shanidar 1. I liked the series but Jondalar is my least favourite character.
I was scrolling through the comments to see if anyone else made this connection :)
I said the exact same thing
@@nkordich so it's true facinating
What a great episode- you guys are great
Have you guys every thought about making an "Eons app" that presents some of the Eons material in an accessible app form? Maybe it could be in the format of the geologic time scale and one could zoom-in and learn about the material you've presented in the episodes that correspond to that time period. Although I'm not sure how'd you fit-in larger concepts (continental drift for instance) that transcend multiple eons. Also, did you or are you still planing on making the episode on placentas that was mentioned in the 'When Giant Amphibians Reigned' episode (at least I think it was that one). I really enjoyed the episode on sponges, which may be as close as we'll get to seeing an episode on coral. It'd be cool to see an episode on what we know about microscopic ancient life and evolution - such as bacterium, pond life, phytoplankton, etc. Thanks for the great videos! If I ever have to home school my kids they'll be watching a lot of Eons.
I might go live in a cave and hunt for food so when I’m eventually found or my bones are found they will think cavemen still existed
SilkyMilky they can tell how old you were by the age of your bones. They would know “oh this is just a stupid homeless guy who died here”
This warm my heart so much that I nearly forget about my every day's unpaid overtime then I realize I am still in office and waiting for a file to arrive.
Edit :- that was 8 PM. My office hour actually was till 6 PM.
Wooo I was just thinking about a new video
*squeals* THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!
I did several presentations on Shanidar Shkaft and the co-occurrence of homo sapiens neanderthalensis and homo sapiens sapiens in SW Asia for undergrads! It is really important to make people aware that their cartoonish ideas of prehistoric humans do not reflect actual reality. It is due to misinformation that people believe in ridiculous 'ancient aliens' ideas, closing their eyes to the amazing wonder that is the past.
If you ever decide to do one of these again, may I suggest delving into the cohabitation of caves like Shanidar between different types of hominids? The stratigraphy really has a lot to offer in that regard. Similarly, the FOXP2 gene might be an interesting point of departure. Dr. Pääbo's work is groundbreaking and really useful for that.
Again, thanks for this episode!Extremely happy now.
This content is really helping me escape the pandemic blues. Thanks!
How do we know he absolutely lost his right arm before he died? We've found incomplete sets of most of the fossils we've collected, and those aren't said to be missing limbs and teeth.
There are various ways of telling if an injury has healed in the fossil/archeological record vs happened during or after death. The shape of the broken bone, signs of wear --like arthritis, signs of a broken bone having been set and healed, etc.
If you ever saw the TV show "Bones", it's essentially that. Injuries leave marks on our bones that can be read, and that's pretty cool!
Yes I remember the late pleistocene epoch. It was before smartphones were invented. Everything was so nice and quiet.
How loud were the Mammoths and Wooly Rhinos?
Oh, you know. They go by so often you don't even notice.
It aint much but it's home.
They made REAL rock-music. They knew how to play their i̶n̶s̶t̶r̶u̶m̶e̶n̶t̶s̶ boulders back then.
Compassion and empathy may be a key part of what makes us human but if we've learned anything from the last couple of years it's that a lot of humans do not possesses them.
Man, thabk for our ancestors for doing all the work for us humans living in the present. They had to learn to hunt , to survive. They had to fall down and get up. They had to suffer so much. They probably didn’t sleep at night cuz they thought they might have been hunted. It was a tough life. I wish there was a show about this or a documentary.
PBS + human evolution = instant thumb up