Our early hominid ancestors were living in what is now Africa when climate change caused the Sahara Desert to expand and cut off the connecting route between north Africa and Europe about 300,000 years ago. This caused our ancestors to split into two groups. Their descendants in frigid Europe evolved into the Neanderthals and in hot Africa evolved into early modern humans. Early modern humans eventually crossed into the middle east by about 50,000 years ago and then expanded quickly into Eurasia.Another human species, called Denisovans, was also living in Asia with the Neanderthals at that time and left fossils in a Siberian cave. This meant there were at least three species of humans living together for thousands of years! There’s genetic evidence that all three sometimes mated and had children together. In Sisters of the Wolf, Shinoni is an Early Modern Human, Keena is a Neanderthal, and Deka is a Denisovan.

WHAT THEY LOOKED LIKE

NEANDERTHALS

The Neanderthal people flourished in the land area we call Europe and Asia today. They lived there for thousands of years and developed their own way of life and culture.  We know they had a gene that’s associated with language in modern humans. That means it’s likely they also had a spoken language like us. They probably also made music because there is evidence they made bone flutes.

Neanderthal bones show they were shorter and stockier than modern humans. They had bigger attachment areas for muscles on their bones, so we know they were strong and muscular. Their arms and legs were shorter and heavier than those of modern humans. Their skulls show us they had heavy brow ridges over their eyes. Men had larger brow ridges than women, and children didn’t develop them until they were older.

Neanderthal brains were larger than modern human brains and had a bulge, called a bun, at the back. Their brains had a large area for controlling vision. Sight was obviously an important sense for Neanderthals. Their noses were broad and spread across the middle of their faces so scent was another important sense for them. Inside their nostrils were extra nasal folds, which helped warm the icy air they breathed.

Genes show us that at least some Neanderthals had red hair and others likely had a variety of darker hair shades. They also had varied eye colours, at least some of which were green. Neanderthals had pale skin, which would have helped them absorb Vitamin D from the sunshine in their chilly northern world.

DENISOVANS

Scientists found the first Denisovan fossils in a Siberian cave in 2010.  They are a close relative to the Neanderthals. Very few Denisovan fossils have been found so far. Three of these are teeth and one is part of a finger bone. The fossils are from a young girl, an adolescent, and an adult man. They all lived in the Denisova Cave in Siberia. However, their fossils lay in different soil levels of the cave and they lived thousands of years apart. Almost everything we know about Denisovans comes from their genetic make-up.

DNA taken from the tiny finger bone of the young Denisovan girl showed she had lived sometime between 74,000 and 82,000 years ago. We can’t tell her exact age, but she was a child. She had brown skin, brown eyes and dark hair. It’s likely adult Denisovans would have had some type of brow ridge, just as Neanderthals did. The three Denisovan teeth found so far were larger and more robust than either the teeth of Neanderthals or Early Modern Humans.

EARLY MODERN HUMANS

The first people called Early Modern Humans had the same traits as people today and lived in Africa 200,000 years ago. By 100,000 years ago, some of them had travelled into the Middle East where Israel is today. Most of the Early Modern Humans started arriving in a steady stream around 50,000 to 55,000 years ago when the climate was much warmer and wetter. From the Middle East, they spread north and east into Asia and west into Europe where they met and mingled with the other human groups already there.

Today Homo sapiens have a wide range of skin, hair, and eye colours. However, there wasn’t always that much variety. When they first arrived in the Middle East, Europe, and Asia and for a long time after, they had dark eyes and hair, and brown skin. Their faces were flatter with smaller noses than Neanderthals and their chins were visible like ours. They had thinner bodies and longer legs and arms than Neanderthals. That came from their centuries of living in Africa’s hot climate. Eventually some early modern humans had changes to their body shape and size, skin colour, eyes, and hair. This happened over many generations because of their new environments.

WHERE AND HOW THEY LIVED

NEANDERTHALS

Neanderthals lived during the late Pleistocene from 40,000 to 400,000 years ago. They   experienced rapid swings and changes of climate, especially toward the end of this long period. They spread across Europe and Asia, coming in contact with different types of habitats, plants, and animals. According to the fossil record, scientists say that Neanderthals spread widely, but their groups were fairly small.

Scientists think Neanderthals travelled in small groups, likely extended families with possibly a few others joining them. In some areas larger groups could have formed. They likely had territories with a home base in a cave or rock shelter. They hunted in the surrounding area, and stayed as long as there was enough food for them to eat.

Neanderthals were usually ambush hunters, sneaking up on their prey and using large hand-held spears to kill it. However, some may have used long sharpened poles from small trees as throwing spears. They seemed to prefer forests with tree cover for hunting. Of course, when the climate and environment changed, they had to adapt or move. Those that found themselves in open tundra or steppe may have used other types of ambush hunting like chasing animals over cliffs or into traps. In some cases, larger groups might have come together to kill or butcher huge beasts like mammoths.

Neanderthals had everything in their environment figured out pretty well. They knew their territories and the animals and plants they depended on. Then THEY showed up!”

EARLY MODERN HUMANS

Early Modern Humans developed in Africa by 200,000 years ago. A few adventurous ones arrived in the Middle East around 100,000 years ago. However, most didn’t arrive there until about 50,000 to 55,000 years ago. That’s when they started meeting the other humans, the Neanderthals and Denisovans, who called Europe and Asia home.

The newcomers didn’t want to live in small semi-permanent groups with small hunting territories like the Neanderthals. They were rovers and rapidly moved north, east, and west to explore the environments and habitats around them. The climate was in an interglacial period when they arrived, so the weather was milder than it had been for a long time. Even so, they likely had to get used to colder temperatures than the ones they’d experienced in Africa.

The newcomers adapted quickly and travelled into the Neanderthal and Denisovan territories. They all hunted the same animals, but their techniques were different. Rather than having to get close to large, dangerous animals to kill them, the newcomers could shoot small spears and arrows from a distance. Soon the Neanderthals had to compete for food, hunting areas, and even shelter with the Early Moderns. Still it was a large, rich land and the strangers usually didn’t stay in one place too long. So at least for a while the different human groups could co-exist.

Habitats available to Neanderthals, Denisovans, and Early Modern Humans varied by how far north they were. It also depended on how far up mountains like the Alps, Pyrenees, Balkans, and Carpathians they lived and hunted. Even in the cold times, some lived in warmer valleys or coastal areas. The major habitat zones shifted north and south depending if it was a glacial or interglacial period.

TUNDRA/STEPPE – Sometime called The Mammoth Steppe, these northern lands and high mountainsides were cold year-round. Below the glaciers, the ground was dry and often frozen. Grasses, moss, lichens and dwarf shrubs were the main vegetation. The land was mainly treeless although dwarf trees might cling to the soil here and there. Hardy animals like the mammoths and reindeer lived here.

BOREAL/MIXED FORESTS – Areas of coniferous forests of pine, tamarack and spruce along with deciduous trees like alder, birch, and willow clung to areas below the tundra. In warmer areas, mixed forests had survived with oak, elm, ash, spruce, and pine trees. Forested areas provided shelter and food for many species that couldn’t survive on the cold tundra and steppe.

PLAINS/SAVANA /STEPPE – Sprawling areas of grasslands spread across the middle of Eurasia providing food and homes for many more species. The great Central European Plain and the vast Eurasian Steppe were two parts of this ecosystem. Both supported grazing species and the predators that depended on them for food.

MEDITERANEAN AND COASTAL AREAS – These areas were lower and provided warmer, wetter habitats that offered relieve from the harsh, cold, dry climate of northern and inland habitats. They provided a lot of good food and habitat for many species. Some scientists feel this was the preferred habitat for Neanderthals when it was available to them.

CLIMATE ROLLER COASTER AND STRANGE ECOSYSTEMS

During the cold phases of the Ice Age, the huge glaciers expanded and moved down the mountainsides. During extreme times, there could be nine months of winter in the higher elevations. Temperatures could drop to -20 C or colder. As time moved on the freezing and warm periods swung wildly back and forth more often, making it difficult to adapt to the climate. This created many strange groupings of plants and animals that weren’t like any previous ecosystems, or even any around today. This climate rollercoaster created landscapes where animals from different ecosystems such as tundra, woodland, or steppe were living side-by-side because their habitats were changing so rapidly.

WHAT DID SHINONI’S AND KEENA’S PEOPLE EAT?

This depends on where they lived and how many hunters in their group at that time.  Woolly mammoths, woolly rhinoceros, hippopotamus, steppe bison, aurochs, horses, deer, musk ox, and ibex all made good meals. They tended to eat whatever was available, so if big steaks weren’t on the menu, they often ate smaller meals like rabbits, hares, waterfowl, rock doves, tortoises, fish, and shellfish. Veggies were on the menu too, including pine nuts, acorns, mushrooms, berries, grains, moss, and tubers. These have all shown up in fossilized poop and tooth plaque. There’s also evidence that they ate plants which aren’t tasty, but are known to have medicinal properties.

WHO EATS SHINONI’S AND KEENA’S PEOPLE?   PREDATOR COMPETITION!

Cave bears often weighed over 1000 lbs and stood taller than two puny humans on top of each other. They preferred munching on plants more than humans but saw them as competitors for their caves in the long, cold winters. European brown bears were smaller than cave bears but liked the taste of humans more. Big cats enjoyed eating them, too. Cave lions were the biggest threat and hunted alone, in pairs, or even groups. Leopards liked to ambush them, especially if they were young, alone, or not paying attention. Cave hyenas were ferocious pack-hunting predators. No one was safe when they hunted as a group and they even stole the hard-won prey from other predators. Ice Age wolves hunted in family packs and took down large animals like steppe bison and young mammoths. Humans caught out in the open when a pack was hunting could end up as a wolf meal. During the Ice Ages there was a growing competition for food and shelter between all the predators including Neanderthals and Early Modern Humans. A good cave was often a prize they fought over and it could change hands and paws several times.

TOOLS, ART AND CLOTHING

Neanderthals and Early Modern Humans didn’t have big sharp teeth or claws to catch their food or protect themselves, so they needed to make tools. Both made a variety of sharp stone, bone, and antler blades, scrapers, and axes. Some of these were attached to wooden handles. These tools made life easier but fire was their greatest tool. They used it to heat their homes, cook their food, and protect them from predators roaming outside their caves. Neanderthals even used fire and birch bark to make pitch, a sticky glue to fasten things together. Some tools were used for scraping hides and punching holes in leather or wood. There were also bone needles and string made from plant fibre. These would be good tools for making clothing and fasteners from animal skin, furs, and sinew, and it’s likely that’s what they did. Neanderthals and Early Modern Humans also used bone, antler, teeth, claws, and shells for jewelry and decorations. Neanderthals in some areas seemed to have a particular interest in dark feathers, and eagle talons.

CAVES, HOMES, STRUCTURES, AND CEREMONIES

Many Neanderthal and Early Modern Human cave homes were divided into separate areas for food preparation, tool making, disposing of waste, and sleeping or relaxing – similar to our homes today. One Neanderthal cave even had a pit likely dug to heat water dug into its floor. There were several round stones cracked from heating in the pit. Both also used dried grasses and plants for bedding. However, comfy or not, humans sometimes had to leave their homes if food was scarce or the neighborhood hyenas wanted their cave back. It wasn’t always easy to find a new shelter right away. In those cases, they had to use their big brains and get creative if they wanted a home. The oldest free-standing human shelter was built by Neanderthals out of mammoth tusks and bones 44,000 years ago. Early modern humans also used tusks, bones and branches to construct shelters.

Neanderthals sometimes used caves and built structures for other purposes. In one case, they carried torches the length of three football fields into the darkness of Bruniquel Cave in France where they built a strange structure out of stalagmites. Some scientists suggest it had a ritual purpose. Another cave in Spain seems to have been used for a funeral ritual. The bones of a Neanderthal child were surrounded by hearth fires and the antlers and horns of powerful animals.

CAVE PAINTING AND ART

When we think of prehistoric art, we often think of the cave paintings of animals in Europe and Asia dating back thousands of years. These are mostly of large animals that were hunted for food like mammoth, deer, horses, bison, aurochs, and rhinoceros. There were also paintings of predators like cave bears, lions, wolves, and hyenas but these are much rarer. Human figures, when painted are less realistic. Birds, fish, and a small weasel-like animal have been documented as well. These paintings could indicate a strong connection with the natural and animal world these people depended on.

At least some of these paintings likely have symbolic importance, perhaps in hunting and protection. Although we cannot know for sure the meaning or purpose of the art, they obviously had meaning and importance in the lives of the prehistoric humans who painted them. They were generally placed in dark caves, sometimes a considerable distance into the gloom, where fires or torches would be needed for light. They were painted with red, yellow and black pigment from ochre, manganese oxide, charcoal and hematite. These were mixed with water, spit, blood, or other liquids.

Human hand prints are also often seen in the caves as well. These can be “positive” images made by putting red pigment on the hand and making an image on a wall.  Others are “negative” images, meaning the hand has pigment blown or spit over it so the print is outlined on the wall. There can be single handprints or many clustered together. These are sometimes found with the animal paintings or sometimes alone. At least half of these handprints have been made by women and some may have been made by children based on size and shape. Dating indicates that some may be made by Neanderthals. Whoever made them, they appear to be an important means of communicating, perhaps with the spirit world and animal world.

There is another form of cave painting that is now being analyzed in many of the caves. These are symbols that are seen over and over in many caves in 32 standard shapes and seem to be used as a way of communicating. See the ground breaking work of Canadian archaeologist Genevieve von Petzinger who is bringing these fascinating ancient messages from the past to light in her book The First Signs and her Ted Talks in the RESOURCES section. These may have been created by Early Modern Humans or Neanderthals or perhaps both.

Whether the assorted types of cave art: animal and human figures, handprints, or symbols, are meant to communicate with someone or something, they represent an active use of symbolic behaviour and beliefs.

MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS – It’s likely that our ancestors created music as well because both Early Modern Humans and Neanderthals have produced bone flutes. The flutes were quite similar with the Early Modern Human ones made from a bird bone and mammoth ivory around 40,000 years ago and one credited to Neanderthals from a young cave bear bone around 50,000 years ago. Exact replicas have been made of each, and make haunting sounding music when played in caves.

EARLY MODERN HUMANS AND NEANDERTHALS - A SPIRITUAL WORLD VIEW?
The rich heritage of cave art and even music left by both Early Modern Humans such as the Cro Magnon people and also by our Neanderthal relatives has intriguing clues that a belief system called Animism could have been in place.

ANIMISM – is recognized in Anthropology as the earliest known form of a religious or spiritual belief system. It is the belief that animals, plants, trees, objects like rocks, rivers, lakes, weather/wind etc. have a spiritual essence. There often is a personal or animal totem that may be seen as a spirit guide. There also may be shamans who are believed to mediate or communicate with the spirits. It’s thought that Animism extends back into prehistory and there are many cultures that today still have vibrant Animist belief systems and practicing shamans including some in Mongolia, Tibet, Sweden, Norway, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Siberia, Viet Nam, Japan, and North and South America among others. This animistic world view is the prehistoric view taken in Sisters of the Wolf.