Um...im so confused about NEANDERTHALS?

Question

I know that they were adapted to colder climates and couldn't survive itherwise, but were they at all intelligent. Could they have a conversation with homo sapiens and what did they look like.

Answer 1

Come to my apartments, I'm surrounded by them!

Actually, in the evolutionary theory, I believe they are considered as being in the process of becoming man as we know him today.

A lot of evolutionary theory, when carefully considered, does not hold up.

In contrast, check out the Creation research Institute on line, and see what that world view has to say re. such things.

It's all about frame of reference when examining these teachings,the  way evidence gets interpreted is directly affected by one's approach to the subject.

Answer 2

European Neanderthals were adapted to colder climates, but there were also Neanderthals in the Middle East, who may have not have been quite so cold-adapted.

It is likely that Neanderthals were quite intelligent.  Their brains were large -- the size of (and sometimes larger than) modern human brains.  Given their smaller body size, that also means that their encephalization quotient (ratio of brain to body size, thought to be a good indicator of intelligence) was even higher than ours.

They also had a fairly advanced culture, including a tool industry and habitation system on a technological par with their contemporary Homo sapiens.  There is evidence that they may have cared for their sick, buried their dead, and perhaps even held religious beliefs.

As far as conversatin, they were physically capable of language, and the apparent intricacy of their social organization suggests that they most likely did have language with which to organize and maintain their relationships and traditions.  

Could they have conversed with Homo sapiens?  Difficult to say. It is unlikely that the two species naturally had the same language in common, but they might have developed a common trade language or something like it -- but that assumes that the language of each was even recognizeable to the others, and also that they had regular enough interactions. Neither of these things is known for certain.

What did they look like?  You'll see all sorts of characterizations, some making them fairly monstrous, nd others making them almos indistinguishable from modern day humans.  They were probably bulkier than Homo sapiens; we know they walked a little differently and so probably stood a little differently; we know their heads were shaped a bit differently.  Apart from that, it's conjecture.

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Just to add a little clarification since I was called a little out in the subsequent answer...

The Neanderthal tool culture, known as the Mousterian, definitely did not undergo all the development and innovations that the Homo sapiens tool culture did.  But the tools are still "on a par with" their human counterparts' for quite a while, and there are areas where they are practically indistinguishable, particularly in the Middle East.

Secondly, it is quite true that the Neanderthal culture developed symbolic material expression until quite late, but there is other evidence of a complex cosmology.  For instance, the Sahnidar IV burial (~ 70 KYA) shows ritual activity remarkably different from anything known in earlier hominids.

Regarding brain size, there is certainly debate about the overall capacity of Neanderthal, and their brains may simply have been roughly the same as Homo sapiens rather than larger on average.  Stanyon et al (1993) did suggest that the Neanderthal EQ was marginally smaller than that of fossil Homo sapiens.  Others argue for slightly larger brains, and a marginally larger EQ.  Others imply that the brain sizes are similar by grouping them together in analysis.

Answer 3

Osteo missed some answers but he was close.  Neanderthals had more primitive tools and their tools didn't change as much as did H. sapiens indicating that their tools were ideally suited to their needs or humans beings were more inventive.  I suspect they were very intelligent.  They had an advanced hyoid bone which indicates they probably talked.  They didn't make symbolic artifacts until possibly very late (50,000 y.o.) after exposure to similar H. sapiens artifacts.  Many paleoanthropologist do not believe they could talk at all but I think they are mistaken.  I think it likely that they couldn't talk as well as H. sapiens.  Their brains were very large, but their brawn was pretty large as well indicating that their encephalization quotient was large but probably smaller than ours IMO.

This picture shows a Neanderthal.  It may have been more hairy than depicted but it is probably close. Note how big and strong it is compared to a modern human.  

http://www.t-nation.com/img/photos/05-12...

Answer 4

Yes, scientists say that they were as smart as their human counterparts.

They say that their body structure and high energy diet is the reason they went extinct, meaning they were too slow to catch fast prey like deer, and they were constantly hungry, always demanding more food, and their daily catch barely sustaining them.