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Seven Ages of Man - 06 Dwarfs/The Neanderthals - Juan Luis Arsuaga - Intelligence
Identifier
021752
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
A description of the experience
Were the Ancestors and Neanderthals intelligent? Well if the brain size is a guide to processing power then they were and they could have been brighter than we are today.
The Neanderthal's Necklace – Juan Luis Arsuaga
“The available evidence leads us to believe that the average Neanderthal cranial capacity was greater than that of modern humans.... The largest known Neanderthal cranium was found at Amud, an Israeli site. In fact, its endocranial volume if the largest of any in the fossil record at 1,750 cc”
This intelligence appears to have been evident in their ability to plan and organise their lives.
The Neanderthal's Necklace – Juan Luis Arsuaga
“the East European plain stretches from the Carpathians in the west to the Urals in the east and to the Arctic sea in the North. In the south, the vast low lying plain ends at the Black Sea, the Caspian Sea and the solid wall of the Caucasus ….The severity of the climate intensifies as one travels northward ….the average January temperature at the centre of the area is 14 degrees Fahrenheit ….The first humans who dared to migrate to the Plain were Neanderthals. That was about 120,000 years ago, in the inter-glacial period that preceded the last glaciation. They reached a point about 52 degrees north latitude [Khotylevo site]. There is no doubt... that they were able to adapt to extreme conditions, and it is difficult to deny them an extraordinary aptitude for organisation and planning. Would human existence in such circumstances be possible without it?”
This too is borne out in myths and legends where dwarfs are regarded as extremely intelligent and resourceful.
The Heldenbuch
“God made the Dwarfs very artful and wise, that they might know good and evil right well and for what everything was good”