Did Neanderthals go to war with our ancestors?

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https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20201102-did-neanderthals-go-to-war-with-our-ancestors

Did Neanderthals go to war with our ancestors?

(Image credit: Science Photo Library)
Neanderthals were far more like us than previously believed, and it 
probably means they engaged in warfare too (Credit: Science Photo Library)
By Nicholas R Longrich
2nd November 2020
 From The Conversation
The Conversation
Exactly why the Neanderthals died out 40,000 years ago is still greatly 
debated, but evolutionary biologist Nicholas Longrich looks at the 
evidence for a war between them and modern humans.
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Around 600,000 years ago, humanity split in two. One group stayed in 
Africa, evolving into us. The other struck out overland, into Asia and 
then Europe, becoming Homo neanderthalensis – the Neanderthals. They 
weren’t our ancestors (with the exception of a little interbreeding), 
but a sister species, evolving in parallel.

Neanderthals fascinate us because of what they tell us about ourselves – 
who we were, and who we might have become. It’s tempting to see them in 
idyllic terms, living peacefully with nature and each other. If so, 
maybe humanity’s ills – especially our territoriality, violence, wars – 
aren’t innate, but modern inventions.

Biology and palaeontology, however, paint a darker picture. Far from 
peaceful, Neanderthals were likely skilled fighters and dangerous 
warriors, rivalled only by modern humans.

Predatory land mammals are territorial, especially pack-hunters. Like 
lions, wolves and our own species Homo sapiens, Neanderthals were 
cooperative big-game hunters. Other predators, sitting atop the food 
chain, have few predators of their own, so overpopulation drives 
conflict over hunting grounds. Neanderthals faced the same problem – if 
other species didn’t control their numbers, conflict would have.

This territoriality has deep roots in humans. Territorial conflicts are 
also intense in our closest relatives, chimpanzees. Male chimps 
routinely gang up to attack and kill males from rival bands, a behaviour 
strikingly like human warfare. This implies that cooperative aggression 
evolved in a common ancestor of chimps and ourselves, at least seven 
million years ago. If so, Neanderthals will have inherited these same 
tendencies towards cooperative aggression.

Even since the earliest discoveries of Neanderthal remains there have 
been theories that they were war-like (Credit: Getty Images)
Even since the earliest discoveries of Neanderthal remains there have 
been theories that they were war-like (Credit: Getty Images)

Warfare is an intrinsic part of being human. War isn’t a modern 
invention, but an ancient, fundamental part of our humanity. 
Historically, all peoples warred. Our oldest writings are filled with 
war stories. Archaeology reveals ancient fortresses and battles, and 
sites of prehistoric massacres going back millennia.

To war is human – and Neanderthals were very like us. We’re remarkably 
similar in our skull and skeletal anatomy, and share 99.7% of our DNA. 
Behaviourally, Neanderthals were astonishingly like us. They made fire, 
buried their dead, fashioned jewellery from seashells and animal teeth, 
made artwork and stone shrines. If Neanderthals shared so many of our 
creative instincts, they probably shared many of our destructive 
instincts, too.

The archaeological record confirms Neanderthal lives were anything but 
peaceful.

Neanderthalensis were skilled big game hunters, using spears to take 
down deer, ibex, elk, bison, even rhinos and mammoths. It defies belief 
to think they would have hesitated to use these weapons if their 
families and lands were threatened. Archaeology suggests such conflicts 
were commonplace.

Some injuries could have been sustained in hunting, but the patterns 
match those predicted for a people engaged in intertribal warfare
Prehistoric warfare leaves tell-tale signs. A club to the head is an 
efficient way to kill – clubs are fast, powerful, precise weapons – so 
prehistoric Homo sapiens frequently show trauma to the skull. So too do 
Neanderthals.

Another sign of warfare is the parry fracture, a break to the lower arm 
caused by warding off blows. Neanderthals also show a lot of broken 
arms. At least one Neanderthal, from Shanidar Cave in Iraq, was impaled 
by a spear to the chest. Trauma was especially common in young 
Neanderthal males, as were deaths. Some injuries could have been 
sustained in hunting, but the patterns match those predicted for a 
people engaged in intertribal warfare – small-scale but intense, 
prolonged conflict, wars dominated by guerrilla-style raids and 
ambushes, with rarer battles.

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War leaves a subtler mark in the form of territorial boundaries. The 
best evidence that Neanderthals not only fought but excelled at war, is 
that they met us and weren’t immediately overrun. Instead, for around 
100,000 years, Neanderthals resisted modern human expansion.

Why else would we take so long to leave Africa? Not because the 
environment was hostile but because Neanderthals were already thriving 
in Europe and Asia.

It’s exceedingly unlikely that modern humans met the Neanderthals and 
decided to just live and let live. If nothing else, population growth 
inevitably forces humans to acquire more land, to ensure sufficient 
territory to hunt and forage food for their children. But an aggressive 
military strategy is also good evolutionary strategy.

Chimpanzees often form raiding parties and go to war with neighbouring 
groups (Credit: Anup Shah/Alamy)
Chimpanzees often form raiding parties and go to war with neighbouring 
groups (Credit: Anup Shah/Alamy)

Instead, for thousands of years, we must have tested their fighters, and 
for thousands of years, we kept losing. In weapons, tactics, strategy, 
we were fairly evenly matched.

Neanderthals probably had tactical and strategic advantages. They’d 
occupied the Middle East for millennia, doubtless gaining intimate 
knowledge of the terrain, the seasons, how to live off the native plants 
and animals. In battle, their massive, muscular builds must have made 
them devastating fighters in close-quarters combat. Their huge eyes 
likely gave Neanderthals superior low-light vision, letting them 
manoeuvre in the dark for ambushes and dawn raids.

Finally, the stalemate broke, and the tide shifted. We don’t know why. 
It’s possible the invention of superior ranged weapons – bows, 
spear-throwers, throwing clubs – let lightly-built Homo sapiens harass 
the stocky Neanderthals from a distance using hit-and-run tactics. Or 
perhaps better hunting and gathering techniques let sapiens feed bigger 
tribes, creating numerical superiority in battle.

Recent discoveries have shown that the Neanderthals had a sophisticated 
culture, even making jewellery out of eagle talons and art (Credit: 
AFP/Getty Images)
Recent discoveries have shown that the Neanderthals had a sophisticated 
culture, even making jewellery out of eagle talons and art (Credit: 
AFP/Getty Images)

Even after primitive Homo sapiens broke out of Africa 200,000 years ago, 
it took over 150,000 years to conquer Neanderthal lands. In Israel and 
Greece, archaic Homo sapiens took ground only to fall back against 
Neanderthal counteroffensives, before a final offensive by modern Homo 
sapiens, starting 125,000 years ago, eliminated them.

This wasn’t a blitzkrieg, as one would expect if Neanderthals were 
either pacifists or inferior warriors, but a long war of attrition. 
Ultimately, we won. But this wasn’t because they were less inclined to 
fight. In the end, we likely just became better at war than they were.

This article originally appeared on The Conversation, and is republished 
under a Creative Commons licence.

* Nicholas R. Longrich is a senior lecturer in evolutionary biology and 
palaeontology at the University of Bath, UK.

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