Try to imagine that a Neanderthal unexpectedly turned up in parliament and addressed the politicians there:<\/p>\n
\u00bbWe Neanderthals did not know 40,000 years ago that we were about to become extinct. You, on the other hand, have the knowledge and the opportunity to avoid the same disaster that happened to us. So why don\u2019t you think about this, before your time is up?\u00ab<\/p>\n
This is the message that museum director Peter C. Kj\u00e6rgaard is trying to convey in the exhibition \u2018Neanderthals\u2019 at the Natural History Museum of Denmark.<\/p>\n
\u00bbThe Neanderthals are our closest extinct relative. Technically, culturally, and in human terms, they had the same skills and knowledge as we had. And we can therefore use the Neanderthals as a reflection of ourselves, our community, and our relationship with nature and global warming. Because Neanderthals were challenged by climate change, just like we are,\u00ab says Peter C. Kj\u00e6rgaard, Professor of Evolutionary History at the University of Copenhagen.<\/p>\n
There is nothing to suggest Homo Sapiens wiped them out.<\/p>\n
Peter C. Kj\u00e6rgaard, museum director<\/p>\n
<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Together with his staff at the Natural History Museum, he has focused on giving guests to the museum an understanding of how much we have in common with them. They live on, literally, within us:<\/p>\n
\u00bbWe had viable children with each other, so our genetic material contains up to approximately two per cent Neanderthal genes, and while there were a maximum of a few hundred thousand Neanderthals in the world at the same time, we are almost eight billion homo sapiens today. In this way, there is now more active genetic material from the Neanderthals within us, than at the time when they lived,\u00ab says Peter C. Kj\u00e6rgaard.<\/p>\n
The museum’s largest room is full of large images of Neanderthals , showing us how they lived together. They are depicted in different social situations, like sitting around fires. You can also hear sounds from children’s play and laughter, hammer blows from stone tools, and animal sounds as you move around.
\n
\nOne part of the exhibition shows us that the Neanderthals were so technically advanced that they could produce birch tar. This was used as a strong glue for hunting tools. Birch tar sounds like a relatively simple thing to produce, but it is not. You need to heat up birch bark to a certain temperature to release the tar.<\/p>\nNo air \u2014 or oxygen \u2014 can interfere with the process. This means that the heating has to be done in a closed space. You may well wonder how the Neanderthals knew about this, and how they were able to solve this challenge.<\/p>\n
There is also a large room with skeletons from two of the animals most frequently associated with the Neanderthals: The big, strong, and fearsome cave bear, as well as the even bigger, and even stronger, mammoth, which was important hunting game for the Neanderthals.<\/p>\n
A really incredible spear<\/h3>\n
The most spectacular object of the exhibition is in the very first room. A 2.4 metre long spear of wood in a large showcase. The spear is an archaeological sensation.
\n
\n\u00bbThis spear is one of the most incredible Neanderthal finds we have. It is 120,000 years old and is almost completely preserved. The spear is one out of only ten that we have found from the Neanderthals,\u00ab says Peter C. Kj\u00e6rsgaard and continues:<\/p>\n\u00bbWhat is even more exciting is that we found the spear in the chest of a straight-tusked elephant along with some Neanderthal stone tools. This has made it possible for us to recreate a hunting scene: The elephant was chased into a bog where it had the spear drilled into it by a Neanderthal. It then started to slowly descend into the mire. But before it finally disappeared, the hunters cut pieces of meat from it to carry away and eat. We can see the cutting marks on the bones from the use of sharp flint tools.\u00ab<\/p>\n
Huge steppes made life harder<\/h3>\n
It is 166 years since the skeleton of the first Neanderthal emerged from the ground in Germany. For a long time, science thought that the Neanderthals were an evolutionary dead end, and that it was therefore doomed to extinction. The neanderthals were assumed to be primitive. This has turned out to be completely wrong.<\/p>\n
\nThe Neanderthals interacted with us for 14,000 years<\/p>\n
Neanderthals emerged about 450,000 years ago in Eurasia. They repeatedly met humans of the Homo Sapiens type. The two human species lived side by side in Europe for about 14,000 years, from the time the first Homo Sapiens appeared there 54,000 years ago, until the Neanderthals went extinct 40,000 years ago.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The exhibition does not offer a direct answer to why the Neanderthals died out. But Peter C. Kj\u00e6rgaard offers his own conjecture about happened in the entire region where Neanderthals lived \u2014 an area stretching from Spain and the Atlantic in the west to the Caucasian mountains and Siberia in the east.<\/p>\n
Peter C. Kj\u00e6rgaard has, as a researcher, now been given the chance to answer this question, because the sciences relating to the Neanderthals have become interdisciplinary within the last few decades. It used to be mainly archaeologists and palaeontologists who did research on the Neanderthals, and they were only peripherally concerned with trends in nature, climate, and population migrations. This has changed through the collaboration with other branches of science, leading to new knowledge.
\n
\n\u00bbThe huge region where the Neanderthals\u2019 preferred hunting game thrived was originally covered by woodlands. But several climate changes changed the landscape completely. The ice grew and then receded, covered, and then laid waste to areas and destroyed the forests. The entire area gradually became a huge steppe about 85,000 years ago,\u00ab says Peter C. Kj\u00e6rgaard and continues:<\/p>\n\u00bbBut it is important to understand that it was not one single factor that caused the Neanderthals to become extinct, even though the steppe landscape may have made life harder for the Neanderthals so that it ended up pushing down population levels over many thousands of years. There is nothing to suggest that Homo Sapiens wiped them out systematically,\u00ab says Peter C. Kj\u00e6rgaard.<\/p>\n
Energy-consuming bodies<\/h3>\n
A particular problem for Neanderthals has been that their bodies were designed by nature to need more energy than Homo Sapiens. This led them to concentrate primarily on acquiring lots of meat filled with energy-rich fats and proteins.<\/p>\n
This may have been their Achilles heel. Humans of the Homo Sapiens variety can live on a much more varied diet that, in addition to meat, can also come from roots, fruits, nuts, berries and seeds. These things are found in the open steppe landscape. A landscape that, conversely, does not offer the best living conditions for large prey which were the main ingredients in the Neanderthal’s more monotonous diet.<\/p>\n
\u00bbWe know that as individuals are put on existential pressure, the more their fertility decreases. This applies to both animals and humans. We also know that the Neanderthals were increasingly dispersed into smaller groups until 45,000 years ago, when they finally lived in such small groups, and so far apart, that they were no longer genetically viable. There may well have been a competitive element relative to Homo Sapiens, but this was not because they made war upon each other. It has only been a result of the two human species using the same resources,\u00ab says Peter C. Kj\u00e6rgaard.
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","name":"double-jpg","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":133638,"date":"2022-04-28 09:00:42","modified":"2022-05-10 12:20:51","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1600,"height":1067,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/doublejpg-1-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/doublejpg-1-480x320.jpg","medium-width":480,"medium-height":320,"medium_large":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/doublejpg-1-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/doublejpg-1-1280x854.jpg","large-width":1280,"large-height":854,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/doublejpg-1-1536x1024.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/doublejpg-1.jpg","2048x2048-width":1600,"2048x2048-height":1067,"featured-soft":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/doublejpg-1-290x193.jpg","featured-soft-width":290,"featured-soft-height":193,"featured-hard":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/doublejpg-1-290x180.jpg","featured-hard-width":290,"featured-hard-height":180,"narrow":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/doublejpg-1-700x467.jpg","narrow-width":700,"narrow-height":467,"extended":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/doublejpg-1-990x660.jpg","extended-width":990,"extended-height":660}},"style":"full","text_placement":"metadata-below","image_link_url":"","image_link_title":"","caption_prefix":"","enable_alternative_caption":true,"alternative_caption":"The exhibition opens with painted portraits that include this man and woman. Notice how their gaze expresses self-awareness. They are by the artist Tom Bj\u00f6rklund."},{"acf_fc_layout":"Standfirst","subject":"Special exhibition","text":"The exhibition \u2018Neanderthals\u2019 at the Natural History Museum of Denmark rejects the idea that the Neanderthals extinction was due to some kind of defect in their intellectual abilities. And the exhibition offers an archaeological sensation.","use_post_excerpt":false},{"acf_fc_layout":"Byline","is_author":true,"contributors":false},{"acf_fc_layout":"Content","content":"<p>Try to imagine that a Neanderthal unexpectedly turned up in parliament and addressed the politicians there:<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbWe Neanderthals did not know 40,000 years ago that we were about to become extinct. You, on the other hand, have the knowledge and the opportunity to avoid the same disaster that happened to us. So why don\u2019t you think about this, before your time is up?\u00ab<\/p>\n<p>This is the message that museum director Peter C. Kj\u00e6rgaard is trying to convey in the exhibition \u2018Neanderthals\u2019 at the Natural History Museum of Denmark.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbThe Neanderthals are our closest extinct relative. Technically, culturally, and in human terms, they had the same skills and knowledge as we had. And we can therefore use the Neanderthals as a reflection of ourselves, our community, and our relationship with nature and global warming. Because Neanderthals were challenged by climate change, just like we are,\u00ab says Peter C. Kj\u00e6rgaard, Professor of Evolutionary History at the University of Copenhagen.<\/p>\n<h3>Neanderthal people live on within us<\/h3>\n<blockquote><p>There is nothing to suggest Homo Sapiens wiped them out.<\/p>\n<p class=\"quotee\">Peter C. Kj\u00e6rgaard, museum director<\/p>\n<p> <\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Together with his staff at the Natural History Museum, he has focused on giving guests to the museum an understanding of how much we have in common with them. They live on, literally, within us:<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbWe had viable children with each other, so our genetic material contains up to approximately two per cent Neanderthal genes, and while there were a maximum of a few hundred thousand Neanderthals in the world at the same time, we are almost eight billion homo sapiens today. In this way, there is now more active genetic material from the Neanderthals within us, than at the time when they lived,\u00ab says Peter C. Kj\u00e6rgaard.<\/p>\n<p>The museum’s largest room is full of large images of Neanderthals , showing us how they lived together. They are depicted in different social situations, like sitting around fires. You can also hear sounds from children’s play and laughter, hammer blows from stone tools, and animal sounds as you move around.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"MultiImage","images":[{"image":{"ID":134053,"id":134053,"title":"Neandertalerne ligner os mere, end vi tror02","filename":"dsc_0852_dxo_web.jpg","filesize":332404,"url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/dsc_0852_dxo_web.jpg","link":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/neandertalerne-ligner-os-de-havde-baade-klima-issues-og-hoej-selvbevidsthed\/dsc_0852_dxo_web-2\/","alt":"","author":"8","description":"","caption":"Familiehygge p\u00e5 tv\u00e6rs af generationerne, som det kan have set ud for 100.000 \u00e5r siden.","name":"dsc_0852_dxo_web-2","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":133638,"date":"2022-05-06 08:34:34","modified":"2022-05-16 08:06:08","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1600,"height":1067,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/dsc_0852_dxo_web-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/dsc_0852_dxo_web-480x320.jpg","medium-width":480,"medium-height":320,"medium_large":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/dsc_0852_dxo_web-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/dsc_0852_dxo_web-1280x854.jpg","large-width":1280,"large-height":854,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/dsc_0852_dxo_web-1536x1024.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/dsc_0852_dxo_web.jpg","2048x2048-width":1600,"2048x2048-height":1067,"featured-soft":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/dsc_0852_dxo_web-290x193.jpg","featured-soft-width":290,"featured-soft-height":193,"featured-hard":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/dsc_0852_dxo_web-290x180.jpg","featured-hard-width":290,"featured-hard-height":180,"narrow":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/dsc_0852_dxo_web-700x467.jpg","narrow-width":700,"narrow-height":467,"extended":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/dsc_0852_dxo_web-990x660.jpg","extended-width":990,"extended-height":660}},"caption_prefix":"","enable_alternative_caption":true,"alternative_caption":"Family fun across multiple generations, as it might have looked like 100,000 years ago. "},{"image":{"ID":134051,"id":134051,"title":"Neandertalerne ligner os mere, end vi tror03","filename":"dsc_0844_dxo_web.jpg","filesize":550639,"url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/dsc_0844_dxo_web.jpg","link":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/neandertalerne-ligner-os-de-havde-baade-klima-issues-og-hoej-selvbevidsthed\/dsc_0844_dxo_web-2\/","alt":"","author":"8","description":"","caption":"Neandertalermand ved hyggeb\u00e5l. Udstillingen er lavet, s\u00e5 blandt andet dette b\u00e5l viser bev\u00e6gelige flammer og r\u00f8g. Neandertalerne havde mange forskellige slags b\u00e5l, nogle store, andre sm\u00e5, men alle bygget til bestemte form\u00e5l. ","name":"dsc_0844_dxo_web-2","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":133638,"date":"2022-05-06 08:34:32","modified":"2022-05-10 12:15:41","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1600,"height":1067,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/dsc_0844_dxo_web-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/dsc_0844_dxo_web-480x320.jpg","medium-width":480,"medium-height":320,"medium_large":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/dsc_0844_dxo_web-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/dsc_0844_dxo_web-1280x854.jpg","large-width":1280,"large-height":854,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/dsc_0844_dxo_web-1536x1024.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/dsc_0844_dxo_web.jpg","2048x2048-width":1600,"2048x2048-height":1067,"featured-soft":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/dsc_0844_dxo_web-290x193.jpg","featured-soft-width":290,"featured-soft-height":193,"featured-hard":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/dsc_0844_dxo_web-290x180.jpg","featured-hard-width":290,"featured-hard-height":180,"narrow":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/dsc_0844_dxo_web-700x467.jpg","narrow-width":700,"narrow-height":467,"extended":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/dsc_0844_dxo_web-990x660.jpg","extended-width":990,"extended-height":660}},"caption_prefix":"","enable_alternative_caption":true,"alternative_caption":"Neanderthals snuggling up in front of a nice hearth. The exhibition is set up so that the fire has moving flames, and smoke. Neanderthals had many different types of fires, some big, some small, but all built for specific purposes. "}]},{"acf_fc_layout":"Content","content":"<p>One part of the exhibition shows us that the Neanderthals were so technically advanced that they could produce birch tar. This was used as a strong glue for hunting tools. Birch tar sounds like a relatively simple thing to produce, but it is not. You need to heat up birch bark to a certain temperature to release the tar.<\/p>\n<p>No air \u2014 or oxygen \u2014 can interfere with the process. This means that the heating has to be done in a closed space. You may well wonder how the Neanderthals knew about this, and how they were able to solve this challenge.<\/p>\n<p>There is also a large room with skeletons from two of the animals most frequently associated with the Neanderthals: The big, strong, and fearsome cave bear, as well as the even bigger, and even stronger, mammoth, which was important hunting game for the Neanderthals.<\/p>\n<h3>A really incredible spear<\/h3>\n<p>The most spectacular object of the exhibition is in the very first room. A 2.4 metre long spear of wood in a large showcase. The spear is an archaeological sensation.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"MultiImage","images":[{"image":{"ID":133722,"id":133722,"title":"Neandertalerne ligner os mere, end vi tror04","filename":"dsc_0833_dxo_web.jpg","filesize":251963,"url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/dsc_0833_dxo_web.jpg","link":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/neandertalerne-ligner-os-de-havde-baade-klima-issues-og-hoej-selvbevidsthed\/dsc_0833_dxo_web\/","alt":"","author":"8","description":"","caption":"Et 2,4 meter langt neandertalspyd, der virker n\u00e6rmest elegant. Det g\u00f8r det ekstra sv\u00e6rt at tro p\u00e5, at det virkelig har kunnet sl\u00e5 en skovelefant ihjel. ","name":"dsc_0833_dxo_web","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":133638,"date":"2022-04-29 09:25:04","modified":"2022-05-10 12:16:17","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1600,"height":1067,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/dsc_0833_dxo_web-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/dsc_0833_dxo_web-480x320.jpg","medium-width":480,"medium-height":320,"medium_large":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/dsc_0833_dxo_web-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/dsc_0833_dxo_web-1280x854.jpg","large-width":1280,"large-height":854,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/dsc_0833_dxo_web-1536x1024.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/dsc_0833_dxo_web.jpg","2048x2048-width":1600,"2048x2048-height":1067,"featured-soft":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/dsc_0833_dxo_web-290x193.jpg","featured-soft-width":290,"featured-soft-height":193,"featured-hard":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/dsc_0833_dxo_web-290x180.jpg","featured-hard-width":290,"featured-hard-height":180,"narrow":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/dsc_0833_dxo_web-700x467.jpg","narrow-width":700,"narrow-height":467,"extended":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/dsc_0833_dxo_web-990x660.jpg","extended-width":990,"extended-height":660}},"caption_prefix":"","enable_alternative_caption":true,"alternative_caption":"A 2.4 metre-long neanderthal spear that almost seems elegant. It makes it difficult to believe that it was really possible to kill a straight-tusked elephant. "},{"image":{"ID":133726,"id":133726,"title":"Neandertalerne ligner os mere, end vi tror05","filename":"dsc_0838_dxo_web.jpg","filesize":334250,"url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/dsc_0838_dxo_web.jpg","link":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/neandertalerne-ligner-os-de-havde-baade-klima-issues-og-hoej-selvbevidsthed\/dsc_0838_dxo_web\/","alt":"","author":"8","description":"","caption":"Spidsen er af tr\u00e6, og den er fint formet. Det var \u00e5benbart ikke alle neandertalerspyd, der havde en k\u00e6mpe flintespids. Det sidste ved man vist i \u00f8vrigt heller ikke ret meget om, for det kr\u00e6ver flere fund at f\u00e5 det bekr\u00e6ftet. ","name":"dsc_0838_dxo_web","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":133638,"date":"2022-04-29 09:25:44","modified":"2022-05-10 12:17:19","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1600,"height":1067,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/dsc_0838_dxo_web-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/dsc_0838_dxo_web-480x320.jpg","medium-width":480,"medium-height":320,"medium_large":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/dsc_0838_dxo_web-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/dsc_0838_dxo_web-1280x854.jpg","large-width":1280,"large-height":854,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/dsc_0838_dxo_web-1536x1024.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/dsc_0838_dxo_web.jpg","2048x2048-width":1600,"2048x2048-height":1067,"featured-soft":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/dsc_0838_dxo_web-290x193.jpg","featured-soft-width":290,"featured-soft-height":193,"featured-hard":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/dsc_0838_dxo_web-290x180.jpg","featured-hard-width":290,"featured-hard-height":180,"narrow":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/dsc_0838_dxo_web-700x467.jpg","narrow-width":700,"narrow-height":467,"extended":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/dsc_0838_dxo_web-990x660.jpg","extended-width":990,"extended-height":660}},"caption_prefix":"","enable_alternative_caption":true,"alternative_caption":"The tip is of wood, and it is exquisitely shaped. Not all Neanderthal spears had a giant flint tip. We do not, actually, know a lot about this, as it will take many finds to confirm it. "}]},{"acf_fc_layout":"Content","content":"<p>\u00bbThis spear is one of the most incredible Neanderthal finds we have. It is 120,000 years old and is almost completely preserved. The spear is one out of only ten that we have found from the Neanderthals,\u00ab says Peter C. Kj\u00e6rsgaard and continues:<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbWhat is even more exciting is that we found the spear in the chest of a straight-tusked elephant along with some Neanderthal stone tools. This has made it possible for us to recreate a hunting scene: The elephant was chased into a bog where it had the spear drilled into it by a Neanderthal. It then started to slowly descend into the mire. But before it finally disappeared, the hunters cut pieces of meat from it to carry away and eat. We can see the cutting marks on the bones from the use of sharp flint tools.\u00ab<\/p>\n<h3>Huge steppes made life harder<\/h3>\n<p>It is 166 years since the skeleton of the first Neanderthal emerged from the ground in Germany. For a long time, science thought that the Neanderthals were an evolutionary dead end, and that it was therefore doomed to extinction. The neanderthals were assumed to be primitive. This has turned out to be completely wrong.<\/p>\n<div class=\"factbox\">\n<p class=\"factbox-header feature-color\">The Neanderthals interacted with us for 14,000 years<\/p>\n<p>Neanderthals emerged about 450,000 years ago in Eurasia. They repeatedly met humans of the Homo Sapiens type. The two human species lived side by side in Europe for about 14,000 years, from the time the first Homo Sapiens appeared there 54,000 years ago, until the Neanderthals went extinct 40,000 years ago.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The exhibition does not offer a direct answer to why the Neanderthals died out. But Peter C. Kj\u00e6rgaard offers his own conjecture about happened in the entire region where Neanderthals lived \u2014 an area stretching from Spain and the Atlantic in the west to the Caucasian mountains and Siberia in the east.<\/p>\n<p>Peter C. Kj\u00e6rgaard has, as a researcher, now been given the chance to answer this question, because the sciences relating to the Neanderthals have become interdisciplinary within the last few decades. It used to be mainly archaeologists and palaeontologists who did research on the Neanderthals, and they were only peripherally concerned with trends in nature, climate, and population migrations. This has changed through the collaboration with other branches of science, leading to new knowledge.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"Image","image":{"ID":134048,"id":134048,"title":"Neandertalerne ligner os mere, end vi tror06","filename":"dsc_0818_dxo_web.jpg","filesize":514046,"url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/dsc_0818_dxo_web.jpg","link":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/neandertalerne-ligner-os-de-havde-baade-klima-issues-og-hoej-selvbevidsthed\/dsc_0818_dxo_web-2\/","alt":"","author":"8","description":"","caption":"Den nude neandertaler er udl\u00e5nt fra en tidligere udstilling p\u00e5 Moesg\u00e5rd Museum.","name":"dsc_0818_dxo_web-2","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":133638,"date":"2022-05-06 08:32:40","modified":"2022-05-10 12:34:44","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1600,"height":2400,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/dsc_0818_dxo_web-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/dsc_0818_dxo_web-480x720.jpg","medium-width":480,"medium-height":720,"medium_large":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/dsc_0818_dxo_web-768x1152.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":1152,"large":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/dsc_0818_dxo_web-1280x1920.jpg","large-width":1280,"large-height":1920,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/dsc_0818_dxo_web-1024x1536.jpg","1536x1536-width":1024,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/dsc_0818_dxo_web-1365x2048.jpg","2048x2048-width":1365,"2048x2048-height":2048,"featured-soft":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/dsc_0818_dxo_web-290x435.jpg","featured-soft-width":290,"featured-soft-height":435,"featured-hard":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/dsc_0818_dxo_web-290x180.jpg","featured-hard-width":290,"featured-hard-height":180,"narrow":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/dsc_0818_dxo_web-700x1050.jpg","narrow-width":700,"narrow-height":1050,"extended":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/dsc_0818_dxo_web-990x1485.jpg","extended-width":990,"extended-height":1485}},"style":"narrow","text_placement":"metadata-below","image_link_url":"","image_link_title":"","caption_prefix":"","enable_alternative_caption":true,"alternative_caption":"The nude Neanderthal is on loan from a previous exhibit at Moesg\u00e5rd Museum in Aarhus, Denmark."},{"acf_fc_layout":"Content","content":"<p>\u00bbThe huge region where the Neanderthals\u2019 preferred hunting game thrived was originally covered by woodlands. But several climate changes changed the landscape completely. The ice grew and then receded, covered, and then laid waste to areas and destroyed the forests. The entire area gradually became a huge steppe about 85,000 years ago,\u00ab says Peter C. Kj\u00e6rgaard and continues:<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbBut it is important to understand that it was not one single factor that caused the Neanderthals to become extinct, even though the steppe landscape may have made life harder for the Neanderthals so that it ended up pushing down population levels over many thousands of years. There is nothing to suggest that Homo Sapiens wiped them out systematically,\u00ab says Peter C. Kj\u00e6rgaard.<\/p>\n<h3>Energy-consuming bodies<\/h3>\n<p>A particular problem for Neanderthals has been that their bodies were designed by nature to need more energy than Homo Sapiens. This led them to concentrate primarily on acquiring lots of meat filled with energy-rich fats and proteins.<\/p>\n<p>This may have been their Achilles heel. Humans of the Homo Sapiens variety can live on a much more varied diet that, in addition to meat, can also come from roots, fruits, nuts, berries and seeds. These things are found in the open steppe landscape. A landscape that, conversely, does not offer the best living conditions for large prey which were the main ingredients in the Neanderthal’s more monotonous diet.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbWe know that as individuals are put on existential pressure, the more their fertility decreases. This applies to both animals and humans. We also know that the Neanderthals were increasingly dispersed into smaller groups until 45,000 years ago, when they finally lived in such small groups, and so far apart, that they were no longer genetically viable. There may well have been a competitive element relative to Homo Sapiens, but this was not because they made war upon each other. It has only been a result of the two human species using the same resources,\u00ab says Peter C. Kj\u00e6rgaard.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"ArticleEnd"},{"acf_fc_layout":"Newsletter","lang_select":"en","identifier":"Newsletter","headline":"Get an email with our top stories","button_text":"Sign up here","class":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"OtherStories","headline":"","hand_picked_posts":false,"references":false,"category":false,"theme":false,"number_of_posts":"4","style":"default"}]},"taxonomyData":{"category":[{"term_id":43,"name":"Culture","slug":"culture","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":43,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":562,"filter":"raw"}],"post_tag":[{"term_id":3715,"name":"National History Museum of Denmark","slug":"national-history-museum-of-denmark","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":3715,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":2,"filter":"raw"}],"post_format":[],"expression":[{"term_id":15,"name":"News Article","slug":"news_article","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":15,"taxonomy":"expression","description":"","parent":0,"count":11485,"filter":"raw"}],"translation_priority":[{"term_id":5468,"name":"Optional","slug":"optional-en","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":5468,"taxonomy":"translation_priority","description":"","parent":0,"count":672,"filter":"raw"}]},"featured_media_url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/selvbevidsteneanderthalereserpaaos_facebook.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134413"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134413\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":134452,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134413\/revisions\/134452"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/133662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}