Is it possible to delve inside the minds of our long-departed Neanderthal cousins? Two researchers believe it is, and have proposed a theory suggesting Neanderthals lacked the large working memory required to juggle many concepts at the same time. That would have limited their ability to innovate, which may have contributed to their downfall. But others have ridiculed the idea, calling it a 鈥渇antasy鈥�.
Speculation has been rife that Neanderthal brains worked differently to those of our Homo sapiens ancestors. One idea, proposed by Steven Mithen of the University of Bristol, UK, is that Neanderthals lacked creativity. Now anthropologist Thomas Wynn and cognitive psychologist Frederick Coolidge of the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs have gone a step further.
Stone tools show that Neanderthals were technologically as sophisticated as humans living alongside them. That suggests their 鈥渆xpert memory鈥� 鈥� specific technical skills in specialised areas 鈥� matched ours. Yet Neanderthals were slow to innovate with their tools, which could be evidence that Neanderthals could not process a large number of ideas simultaneously, the researchers say (Journal of Human Evolution, vol 46, p 467).
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Being a poor strategist would have made it increasingly difficult for Neanderthals to compete with our ancestors as the ice age worsened (New Scientist, 24 January, p 10). 鈥淯ltimately this relative inability to be inventive is one of the things that led to their demise,鈥� says Wynn.
But anthropologist Erik Trinkaus of Washington University in St Louis, Missouri, says the archaeological record for the two species is almost identical, and evidence of creative body ornaments, pigments and engraving has been linked to Neanderthals as well as modern humans. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e trying to find some magic bullet that explains the success of modern humans and the disappearance of Neanderthals, and there is no magic bullet,鈥� Trinkaus told New Scientist.
