Neandertals and Modern Humans

Neandertals and Humans in Popular Culture
Neandertals and “Cro-Magnon” (early AMH) have long held the popular imagination. From Boule’s unfortunate depiction of the old man at La Chappelle as a stopped, brooding primitive, to the tyranny of the Paleodiet, pop culture is frequently drawing attention on our hominin cousins and early forms of our species to make sense of our place in the world. This paper provides a critical analysis of Neandertals and humans in the popular culture. This critical analysis will be based on the film The Clan of the Cave Bear (1986), which is one of the films that provides a representation of pop culture of Neandertal and/or anatomically modern humans. Peer reviewed journal articles relating to the topic will also be incorporated in this critical analysis of the film’s depiction of Neandertals, AMH, and their interactions.
Film Depictions of Neandertals and AMH
The Clan of the Cave Bear (1986) is a classic, historical novel that was written by Jean M. Auel as the first book series in Earth’s Children. The author of the book, Auel, conducted archaeological and paleontological research for the book from her public library and through other measures. Some of these measures that helped in developing content for the book include attending archeological conferences/workshops and conducting tours on sites with information from active field archeologists. The film, which is derived from this book, provides significant insights on the probable interactions between Neandertals and contemporary Cro-Magnon humans i.e. anatomically modern humans (AMH).
While the film begins with the story of a 5-year-old girl who was orphaned and homeless due to an earthquake, it soon shifts to a group of individuals known as “The Clan” and regarded as Neandertals.[footnoteRef:1] The 5-year-old girl named Ayla is a Cro-Magnon who is adopted by group of Neandertals i.e. “The Clan.” One of the depictions of Neandertals in The Clan of the Cave Bear, is that they are a group of individuals with imperfect vocal apparatus. As a result, these individuals use a highly developed sign language for communication as they rarely speak. The speech difficulties for Neandertals is evident in various situations including the fact that they call the 5-year-old girl, Ayla, which is the closest they came toward pronouncing her name, which they considered strange. These individuals are portrayed as different from Cro-Magnons and modern humans since they do not share similar characteristics. In addition to speech difficulties, Neandertals do not display similar emotions like Cro-Magnon such as smiling, laughing or crying. In essence, Neandertals are portrayed as very different species in comparison to Cro-Magnon and modern humans. On the other hand, Cro-Magnon (or AMH) are depicted as humans with different capabilities compared to Neandertals. AMH share similar attributes to modern humans including the ability to speak and display different emotions such as crying. For example, due to her different thought processes and capabilities, Ayla breaks important Neandertals’ traditions and customs. [1: Anne Hamilton, “Popular Depictions of Neanderthals,” Totem: The University of Western Ontario Journal of Anthropology 13, no. 1 (2011):90]

Interactions Between Neandertals and AMH
One of the emerging themes regarding the interactions between Neandertals and AMH in The Clan of the Cave Bear is the myth of human superiority or Neandertal inferiority. As a Cro-Magnon and modern human, Ayla considers herself as superior to Neandertals to an extent that she had to suppress her initial human tendencies in order to conform to the restrained Neandertal norm. Many archaeologists and paleoanthropologists contend that Neandertals evolved into modern humans.[footnoteRef:2] This implies that these people were not modern humans in their original state as depicted in the film. Archaeological evidence, which is supported by fossils evidence, demonstrate that Africans were more contemporary looking compared to their Neandertal contemporaries. This points to the different depiction of Neandertals in the film and the differences in interactions. As evident in the film, the interactions between AMH and Neandertal are dominated by human superiority or Neandertal inferiority. Since Neandertals did not possess similar attributes to those of modern humans, their interactions with AMH like Ayla were characterized by inferiority complex and modern human superiority. [2: Paola Villa & Wil Roebroeks, “Neandertal Demise: An Archaeological Analysis of the Modern Human Superiority Complex”, PLOS One 9, no. 4 (2014):1]

The interactions between Neandertals and Cro-Magnons differ with regards to cultural practices. Neandertals cultural practices are passed down from generation to generation through an ever-accumulating memory. Archaeological and biological evidence shows that extended working memory was a major attribute and cognitive implication for early humans like Neandertals.[footnoteRef:3] In comparison to AMH, Neandertals have highly developed memories through which they strictly adhere to traditions and reduced ability to adapt. While Ayla, a Cro-Magnon was taught some of these traditions and customs, she quickly forgot and broke them. In this case, Neandertals have different cognitive capabilities to AMH, which contributes to an emphasis in cultural practices across all their interactions. [3: Terrence Twomey, “The Cognitive Implications of Controlled Fire Use by Early Humans”, Cambridge Archaeological Journal 23, no. 1 (2013):113.]

In conclusion, The Clan of the Cave Bear, is an epic movie based on a classic, historical novel that provides different depictions of Neandertals and anatomically modern humans (AMH) or Cro-Magnons. As evident in the film, Neandertals possessed different attributes and capabilities as compared to Cro-Magnons. These varying attributes and capabilities were evident in the interactions between Neandertals and Cro-Magnons. The most dominant themes or characteristic of the difference between Neandertals and Cro-Magnons in this film is the idea of human superiority and Neandertal inferiority.
Bibliography
Hamilton, Anne. “Popular Depictions of Neandertals.” Totem: The University of Western Ontario Journal of Anthropology 13, no. 1 (2011).
Twomey, Terrence. “The Cognitive Implications of Controlled Fire Use by Early Humans.” Cambridge Archaeological Journal 23, no. 1 (2013).
Villa, Paola & Roebroeks, Wil. “Neandertal Demise: An Archaeological Analysis of the Modern Human Superiority Complex.” PLOS One 9, no. 4 (2014).