LAST STAND OF THE NEANDERTHALS
Movie synopsis by Fran Detower:

*This film is a work of fiction inspired by Fran Detower and loosely based on anthropological events. The movie is being developed with the sole purpose of entertaining modern audiences; it is not meant to disparage any ethnicity or culture or make any sort of racial, political or religious statement.

Introduction: Camera span regressively over the globe with anthropological illustration on physical characteristics, migration routes, living standard and hunting styles of both human ancestors back to 30,000 years ago, in the plains of present Europe.

Opening Narrative Scenes: The peaceful and nature contemplative life of an early human community – the Homo-Neanderthalensis- is about to change forever. A band of sneering, sadistic warriors from a more advanced civilization –the Homo sapiens- take over their hunting territory and descend upon them with repugnant savagery, burning their villages, killing the males and displacing the surviving women and children. One by one, the native clans of Neanderthals were being harassed, hunted down and eliminated. Most were exterminated by mismatched direct confrontations, other died indirectly as result of being expelled from their homes, environmental hazards, over exposure to virus and contagious deceases for which they have no natural defense.

Leading Action Scene: But there were some who resisted: After a fierce fight that causes surprising casualties to both sides, three survivors are chased across the jungle by a band of determined ‘Sapiens’ hunters; One is killed by a spear, the second is pierced several times with arrows but the third one (Crawler) escapes by running in ‘all four’ crawling under dense vegetation, climbing trees and diving into a crocodile infected lagoon. As he crosses to the far side of the water, he is shockingly surprised as he bumps onto a strong warrior standing tall with a large mallet…It is one of the neighboring Hunks; He is saved and the counter-insurgency begins!

Center Conflict: The story revolves around the counterinsurgency led by the Hunks, a small clan of Neanderthals characterized by their robustness and a peculiar sound used to communicate ‘hjuunnk! By default, they become defensive fighters in a desperate attempt to save their friends and families from an impending genocide.

Side Romance: Sapien-2 is dumped unconscious and rescued on the night by a Neanderthal woman, NW2 who nurture him back to life, adopt him to her clan. The pair strives with difficulties but he earns their trust by freeing other clan members from a Sapien’s camp. She becomes an active matriarch, Sapien-2 joins the resistance and their inter-race romance survived through the ages.

After a series of bloody combats, night raids, ambushes, chases and forced migrations, the Hunks stage a heroic ‘last stand’; a trapped mammoth is set on fire and released towing a dead tree loaded with swarms of killer bees; hundreds of Homo sapiens are lured into the valley of the dead were the Neanderthals unleash a pack of captive hyenas and counter attack by thrashing them with large pieces of rocks from the surrounding cliff; a courageous Hunk, drags a log with four bears across the snow-covered mountain’s top and intentionally provokes the final disaster; as a large contingent of Sapiens continue on pursue of the fleeing caravans, they are forced to retreat when an unavoidable snow avalanche buries most of their warriors at the foot of the sacred mountains.

Ending: While the Homo sapiens have to turn back and retain the conquered territories, the surviving Neanderthals -lead by a small troop of heroic Hunks, migrate beyond their range into the Western European horizon and peacefully disappear forever…or did they?

*Although most scientist commonly claim that “no one know why or how did the Neanderthals became extinct”, the story of resistance by the ‘Hunk’s clan is a fictional sequence of events based on known archeological evidence publicly displayed by the London Museum of Natural History (www.nhm.ac.uk) and the American Museums of Natural History (www.amnh.org) The concluding points of view and social evolution theories that follows are the sole opinion of the author @ www.richteacher.net

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The Homo sapiens’ dominance factor and the genocide of the Neanderthals
By Dr. Fran Detower @: www.richteacher.net

Introduction

Genocide is defined today by the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (CPPCG) article 2 as "any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, as such: "Killing members of the group; Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; and forcibly transferring children of the group to another group."

Determining which anthropological and/or historical events constitute genocide, and which is merely criminal or inhuman behavior is not a clear-cut matter. Although millions of people have die in every case of genocide, partisans of various sides have fiercely disputed the interpretation and details of the event, often to the point of promoting wildly controversial versions of the facts.

There is a long history of human genocide. Broken skull and bones remains on display at the Natural History museum, shows that the first hominids were both hunters and easy prey eaten by other carnivores. They also have violent encounters and frequently killed each other. These early humans began spreading out from Africa around three million years ago with several waves of migratory descendents (from homo-erectus) heading toward Asia and Europe*.

This brief inquiry focuses on an episode of social evolution with disastrous consequences that may have occurred about 35,000 years ago: a new wave of Homosapiens* -direct ancestors of modern humans- migrated westward across Europe and came in face to face contact with their close an older relatives; the Neanderthals*. Soon after this encounter, this entire species disappeared from the archeological record, leading to much speculation about their fate: did the Homosapiens displace, out-compete, interbreed or commit genocide against the Neanderthals?

Most scientists prefer to say, “no one knows what happened” while the archeological evidence suggests that ‘the Sapiens’ did all of the above. The genetic spectrum shows that all humans living today are direct descendants of the dominant Homosapiens*. Analyses of DNA suggest that Homosapiens, Cro-Magnons and Neanderthals were around 99.5% the same. The similarity between two random people of any race today is 99.9% and between a chimp and a human is 98.7%*. I hypothesize that, not only did Homo sapiens out-competed for resources, but that some interbreed while committing a gruesome genocide, and that Neanderthals were not as dumb as some may have labeled them for they have adapted and survived in the wild for over 200,000* years; they may have resisted by fighting a war of attrition till their final dismay 25,000 years ago.

The paradoxical reality of genocide and forced migration is precisely what has prompted the end of countless generations. The side effects of the primal ‘hunter-and-prey’ syndrome are still deeply imbedded in the unconscious mind. When an individual or a culture is labeled as ‘superior’, it wrongly assumes that others are ‘inferior’ and that the ‘others’ must flee or submit to the new masters. But when the oppressed by the ‘superior’ resort to rebellion or war, such reactions of fear leading to natural resistance are used as an excuse for punitive abuse; blaming the ‘inferior’ for getting further subjugation or provoking their own extermination. If we dare to regress on the historical time-line of human ‘civilization’ we can clearly see the common heritage of dominance and imperial aggressiveness we all share with the Americans, English, Russians, Nazis, Europeans, Chinese, Japanese, Hungarians, Mongolians, Indians, Spanish, Aztecs, Apaches, Muslims, Christians, Romans, Greeks, Persians, Arabs, Jews, Assyrians, Babylonians, Egyptians, Nubians, Zulus, Ancient world tribes, Homosapiens, Neanderthals, Homoerectus, some apes and all territorial animals who tend to annihilate others to the tipping point of becoming extinct themselves.

A comprehensive understanding of nature and social evolution may help humans to control our instinctive fear-dominance impulses and redirect our intentional actions toward peaceful, environmental coexistence away from brutality, violent behavior and devastation.

THE NEANDERTHALS

In 1856, when workers digging for lime found unusual bones in the Neander Valley of western Germany*, they thought they had discovered an ancient cave bear. Eight years later, these bones were classified as the remains of a previously unknown human species; Homo Neanderthalensis*.

Researchers uncovered fossil evidence that between 500,000 and 200,000 years ago*, several branches of the homo-erectus species (Cro-Magnon, homo-Neanderthalensis, Homosapiens)* flourished in the rugged terrain and harsh climates of Western Europe.

The Homo-Neanderthalensis* were a remarkable group that continually existed for more than 200,000 years. They had brains as large as modern humans, and were outstanding toolmakers. But they apparently did not develop a comprehensive language, create art or think symbolically. Their brains were at least as big as modern humans, although there were physical differences; the frontal lobes were smaller, suggesting they may not have been as adept at planning, while the rear of the brain was larger, suggesting keener sight than modern humans. Some may suggest they were dim-witted but there is no evidence that Neanderthalis had less brainpower than Homo sapiens*.

Their stocky stature was chiefly a useful adaptation trait considering they lived through the cold of the Ice Age. Their bodies were short and powerfully built, with bigger noses and receding foreheads. Being squat reduces a creature's surface area, and so less heat is lost from the body. But climate may have played only a part though, some scientists* believe the Neanderthal's squat form favored their lifestyle of limited roaming with regular and physical wrestles with other animals hunted as their prey.

An archeological site in Krapina, of modern Croatia*, has yielded hundreds of Neanderthal fossil fragments from multiple individuals. Some of these fossils have cut marks made by sharp stone tools, which could be a sign that these Neanderthals practiced some form of cannibalism or were exposed to vicious combat attacks*. In the 1950s, scientists recovered the remains of nine Neanderthals at Shanidar Cave in Iraq*. One adult male had arm bones that were severely deformed, indicating he had suffered from a major disability, perhaps since childhood. Some researchers believe this individual would not have survived long without the help of others—and that the Neanderthals lived in social groups that nurtured family bonds, took care of their sick and buried their dead.

From around 30,000* years ago there were no Neanderthals left in Europe. There is strong genetic evidence that Homosapiens just replaced them. This evidence comes from comparative migration data and the little bit of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) that scientists have managed to pull from a few fossils*.

MIGRATION AND DOMINATION OF HOMO SAPIENS

Around 150,000* years ago Homo sapiens emerged as a new species, co-descending from homo-erectus, most likely in central East Africa, and from there migrated into the Middle East, South Africa, Europe, central Asia, and finally crossed over into the Americas*. In the comparatively short time that Homo sapiens have existed, they have populated the entire globe. Many scholars think innovations like; language, creative arts expression and sophisticated tool making helped modern humans gain a distinctive advantage over other hominids and eventually left them behind or drove them out of existence.

Homo Sapiens’s lineages have much more endurance presence than others perhaps because when they migrated into an area they actually killed and forcedly displaced other hominids already there*. This alpha male and dominant characteristic carries the same tragic effect for generation after generation later. The genetic spectrum shows that all human races living today are direct descendants of one migrating group of Homosapiens. Analyses of DNA suggest that Homo sapiens, Cro-Magnons and Neanderthals did not descend from each other but they were around 99.5% the same after evolving separately from earlier common ancestor. The similarity between two random people from any race is 99.9%. Between humans and other apes the similarity is 98.7%*. Indeed, while some close relatives have vanished, Homo sapiens were so successfully dominants that we are the only living species of hominids still migrating around the world today.

THE OLDEST GENOCIDE IN HUMAN HISTORY

Based on the previous anthropological and historical records we can infer that when Homo sapiens migrated through the Middle East, Neanderthal were already in Europe for over 200,000 thousands years. These two surviving groups of the hominid family may have come in frequent contact, beginning 35,000 years ago. Although they made stone tools, used fire and had comparable brains, they were similar yet different to each other; the Neanderthals were likely to be matriarchal, robust upper body with heavy brow ridges and forward-projecting faces, while the Homo Sapiens were patriarchal, taller and lighter-boned with smaller, less protruding faces. Certainly there was a family resemblance, yet they did not get along well enough or one to survive. I venture to conclude that the migratory arrival of our modern human relatives to Eastern Europe stands as the smoking gun that triggered the demise of the Neanderthals.

It is my assertion that 30,000 years ago, our Homo sapiens ancestors were as belligerent, territorial and fearfully aggressive as contemporary tribal nations. Indeed, these early human exhibited virtually the entire blueprint of dominant behavior that characterizes the warring people of today. Spanning over thousand of years in constant migration, the Homo sapiens systematically supplanted Neanderthal communities in similar factions as present European settlers displaced the natives in the American continent. One by one, the resident clans of Neanderthals were harassed, hunted down and eliminated. Most male were exterminated by direct confrontation with a superior adversary using new tools, weaponry, language communication and better social organization. Able women may have been sexually abused and kept as personal slaves. After being forced to flee the safety of their dwellings, the runaway elders, women and children would have been easy prey for Sapiens hunters and wild beasts. Millions must have died indirectly as result of environmental hazards, over exposure to virus and contagious deceases for which they have no natural resistance. The genocide was prompted by forcing a continual mass migration; a lethal combination of aggressive persecution, brutal killings, destruction of their natural food supply and relocation from one barren place to another until their final extinction at the far edge of continental Europe.

Primitive stone tools and remnants from wood fires recovered from the Gorham's cave, on the area of Gibraltar, suggest Neanderthals found refuge there, and may have clung to life for thousands of years after they had died out somewhere else. Previously uncovered remains lead scientists to believe the Neanderthals died out some 35,000 years ago. However, carbon dating of charcoal fragments excavated alongside spear points and basic cutting tools indicates the cave was home to a group of around 15 Neanderthals at least 28,000 years ago, and possibly as recently as 24,000 years ago*.

Elsewhere during that time, glaciations caused violent lurches in climate that turned fertile pastures into barren wastelands. But at Gorham's cave, and along the nearby coast, the climate would have been calmer, maintaining what may be called a "Mediterranean Serengeti", with red deer, leopards and giant hyenas roaming between watering holes*. For the fleeing families, there was no better place to run to; limited in one side by the sea, this area offered them plenty of food, water and a breathtaking view. The archeological evidence supports the idea that, after being forced to relocate across Europe, these caves in the Iberian Peninsula* may have been Neanderthals last surviving outpost.

* All archeological references are publicly displayed by the London Museum of Natural History (www.nhm.ac.uk) and the American Museums of Natural History (www.amnh.org) The concluding points of view and social evolution theories are the sole opinion of the author @: www.richteacher.net