[extropy-chat] thank evolution for the interstate highway system

[Mike Lorrey]

--- kevinfreels at hotmail.com wrote:
> > No, neanderthals did not have larger braincases than homo sapiens,
> that
> > is a myth. What they did have was larger spaces for anterior lobes,
> > i.e. the more primitive area of the brain, while having less space
> for
> > frontal lobes.
> Do you have anything to show this? Everything I have come acroos
> shows the braincase itself exceeding modern man's by about 200cc.
> Here for example:
> http://www.ecu.edu/org/ags/archives/hominidtable.htm

http://www.psychomedia.it/pm/science/psybyo/mancia.htm
"FIG. 6 - Brain of a) cat, b) macaque, c) chimpanzee, d)
australopithecus, e) sinianthropus, f) Neanderthal Man, and g) Homo
sapiens. Numbers on the various circumvolutions indicate central areas
according to Brodmann. Note the considerable development of the parieto
- occipital cortex in Australanthropus and the large cranial fan
aperture which bring it very close to Neanderthal Man. In Homo Sapiens
we find a further widening of the fan and an increase in the cortical
areas of the "liaison brain". "

As stated, neanderthalis lacked a number of advanced brain
developments, relying instead on enlargement of more primitive lobes.

A problem with the hominid table brain volume specs you cited is that
the volumes specified for neanderthalis were calculated using a number
of fossils that exhibited a congenital malformation involving a lack of
the sagittal suture, which would lead to larger than normal brain case
size. This is not unsurprising, since the first neanderthalis found was
severely wracked by arthritis, a condition that led early
anthropologists to conclude that the neanderthalis was primitive
because it walked hunched over. It was not until the arthritic
condition of the bones was recognised that this picture of
neanderthalis changed.

Another problem with the table is that homo sapiens sapiens exhibited a
much wider variation in braincase size than neanderthalis, ranging from
as little as 900cc to as much as 2200 cc, with entirely healthy skull
development.

I would also be concerned about a paper that referred to a
neanderthalis' diet as including "veggies". Is that a scientific term?


=====
Mike Lorrey
"Live Free or Die, Death is not the Worst of Evils."
                                       - Gen. John Stark
"Fascists are objectively pro-pacifist..."
                                       - Mike Lorrey
Do not label me, I am an ism of one...
Sado-Mikeyism: http://mikeysoft.zblogger.com

__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Free Pop-Up Blocker - Get it now
http://companion.yahoo.com/