Regarding Neanderthals and modern humans, there are several examples of behaviors or technologies
that developed in the two groups, and sometimes developed at the same moment,
or when the two groups were in contact.
And, of course, it is very tempting to think that maybe one group adopted one behavior,
or one technique, from the other.
For example, we see that burials appeared about 130,000
120,000 years ago;
and it’s interesting to see that all these burials are found in the Near East
in a very small area which is south of the Levant in Israel.
And we have modern humans making burials, and soon after, or simultaneously,
we have maybe one Neanderthal burial. Soon after, we have several Neanderthal burials.
Did the Neanderthals and the modern humans invent independently this behavior
in the same place, at the same time?
That’s really strange.
A long time after, say 40,000 years ago, when modern humans arrived into Europe,
these modern humans had some behavior, some technologies
that never existed before in the Neanderthal world.
And among others, there is one which is fascinating, which is this use of body ornaments:
beads, pierced teeth, objects like that.
And almost at the same time, we see for the first time, this behavior in the latest Neanderthals.
Again, it’s really weird to think that the Neanderthals,
after 400,000 years of separate evolution,
would have invented the same kind of object and behavior just by chance.
And I do believe that there was some kind of exchange between the two groups.
You know, it’s like, you would go to the planet Mars, you would find Martians,
and they would have Coca-Cola.
So, would you think that they invented Coca-Cola independently?
No, you would think that somebody came before you and imported Coca-Cola on the planet Mars.
And I think this is what happened with the body ornaments of the Neanderthals.