[ad_1]
Neanderthals cared for their sick and wounded, and new research suggests that this well-documented behavior was more than just a cultural phenomenon or an expression of compassion – it really helped them survive.
To cope with the harsh conditions of the Ice Age in Europe, Neanderthals have adopted several strategies, including group hunting, parental collaboration and food sharing. New research published in Quaternary Science Reviews adds another tip to Neanderthal's survival guide: health care.
"We argue that, rather than just a cultural trait, health care can be seen as part of many adaptations that have allowed Neanderthals to survive in unique environments where they lived alongside large carnivorous predators and often relied on large [mammals]… as a major food source, "write the authors, led by Penny Spikins of the University of York, in their new study. "In addition, health care may have been an important factor in allowing Neanderthals to occupy a predatory niche that they might not otherwise have access to."
Indeed, Neanderthals have made their home in Ice Age Europe for hundreds of thousands of years. So they obviously did it right. It's easy to hold on to extinction, a process that began about 40,000 years ago, but Neanderthals are more than just disappearing. Their story is one of the survival.
It is no secret that Neanderthals were practicing health care. And no wonder: they have faced all kinds of threats, including large and dangerous animals. Neanderthals were also experienced hunters, a practice that presented considerable risk. For Neanderthals, injuries were part of everyday life. But instead of neglecting the wounded or treating them as a burden to give up, they engaged in health care.
"We have evidence of health care going back 1.6 million years, but we think it probably goes back further than that," Spikins said in a press release. "We wanted to determine whether health care provided in the Neanderthal was more than a cultural practice. was it something they had just done or was it more fundamental in their survival strategies?
Evidence gathered by Spikins and colleagues suggests that these practices have been beneficial to the group as a whole and, consequently, to significant evolutionary adaptation.
For this study, researchers analyzed the skeletal remains of 30 Neanderthals previously discovered. These specimens have wounds ranging from mild to severe, but each of these individuals has managed to survive their wounds (paleontologists can visually tell when a fractured bone or fracture is healed). In many of these cases, the researchers said it was highly unlikely that the individual could have survived without help and that a well-developed health care system should have been put in place.
"The high level of injuries and recovery from serious illnesses, such as a broken leg, suggests that others must have collaborated with their care and helped not only to relieve the pain, but to fight for their survival so they can recover their health. and actively participate again in the group, "said Spikins.
Neanderthals with disabilities survive through social support
A new analysis of a 50,000-year-old Neanderthal skull shows that in addition to undergoing multiple …
Read more
The Shanidar I specimen is an excellent example of a person receiving Neanderthal care. This individual lived until his forties (which is quite old by Paleolithic standards) despite a missing hand and forearm, a severely damaged leg, an eye blindness and a probable deafness. This person would not have survived without the daily care and food supply.
"Prolonged interpersonal care, despite the absence of any overall economic benefit, is also evident in other cases," write the authors of the study, pointing to the individual from La Chapelle to Saints I, who survived several disabling diseases. conditions, such as osteoarthritis and extensive signs of the disease. Many other examples presented in this study are equally striking.
Neanderthals may have used various strategies to treat their injuries depending on the nature and severity of the injury. Really serious injuries, such as a broken leg, would require fever management, maintaining hygiene, repositioning broken bones and, in some cases, limiting blood loss. So yes, the treatments were quite sophisticated.
"Neanderthals seem to have also been expert collaborative health care providers," write the authors in the study. "In addition, visible archaeological evidence will likely constitute the" iceberg summit "of the most common health care practices, the majority of which remain invisible to archaeological interpretation."
Like their modern human cousins, Neanderthal mothers were at risk for difficult deliveries because of the shape of their pelvis and the size of their baby's head. It is therefore "likely that they would have had an assisted delivery," said Spikins, "the role we now assign to midwives," adding that "without support, they would probably not have survived the Catastrophic record of the death rate of mothers and babies could have taken on their communities. "
Treating the sick and wounded and helping mothers give birth takes a lot of time and energy, but for Neanderthals, it was a necessity. Because they lived in small groups, the loss of a single individual could be catastrophic. Treating severely injured group members was a matter of overall survival. This does not mean that the Neanderthals did not act out of compassion, they probably did. What the researchers say is that it served a pragmatic and holistic purpose that helped the group survive as a whole and, by extension, the entire species.
Thus, the provision of health care "was not just an evolutionary adaptation more important than previously thought," write the authors in the study; it may also have been essential for a species occupying the most northerly limit of glacial Europe. The researchers say that without the benefits of healthcare, Ice Age Europe would probably have been inaccessible.
Researchers would like to know more about the techniques used in the health field for Neanderthals and to determine how these practices can be traced over time.
Despite their heroic efforts, the Neanderthals have disappeared, a likely consequence of human encroachment and, ironically, climate change. But their long period of operation in one of the most difficult periods of recent geological history is testament to their abilities and a timely lesson for our own species.
[Quaternary Science Reviews]Source link
