Interpret an Article - Essay Example

Scientists have found out that Cave Denisova in the Altai Mountains of Siberia has been the home of Neanderthals, Denisovans and modern humans. Therefore this site holds great importance from an anthropological point of view. Denisovans and Neanderthals lived in Asia and Europe. Their genes had immunity to certain diseases and since modern humans carry a certain percentage of their DNA, it can be safely said that modern human’s ancestors mated with Denisovans and Neanderthals. This article gives birth to a lot of questions such as: How did this union take place?

Did it bring any cultural exchange with it? How did the Neanderthals become extinct? And was this mating process romantic or aggressive in nature? Scientists have yet to answer most of these questions but they have certainly concluded the answers of many of such questions. Modern human ancestors and Neanderthals came across each other during their territorial expansion in Asia and Europe. This expansion was the result of environmental and cultural changes. It has been believed that the modern human ancestors eradicated the Neanderthals.

This however, has not been proven otherwise either. . Studies have shown that the ancient humans engaged in social networking just like the modern humans do. Amidst the fierce competition to ensure the survival of their progenies, ancient humans have shown the tendency to act altruistically and perform acts such as sharing food. This result was produced by Coren Apicella from Harvard medical school. She conducted her study on Hadza that is one of the last surviving ethnic groups of the hunter gathers in Tanzania.

Researchers have traced the movements on land of Neanderthals due to cultural and socio-ecological changes. Human beings just like any other specie migrate to areas that have the best conditions for survival and they adapt to their new environment through culture. That is why the culture of a particular group of people can unveil a lot of hidden information about them. Moreover, the stone artifacts and tools, used by ancient people, give researchers an insight to the lives of the people who used them.

This is how researchers have been able to model the movements of Neanderthals on computers. Their results have shown that the movement of Neanderthals changed during the last ice age but the contradiction here is that Neanderthals have been known to avoid long distances from their homes. The general conclusion that can be drawn from this article is of immense importance; There may be many other groups of humans whose existence may have ceased but their genes and cultural knowledge may have been passed on to the modern human and the modern human may not even be aware of it.

Works Cited Arizona State University (2012, February 7). Neanderthal demise due to many influences, including cultural changes. ScienceDaily. Retrieved