Wazzup Pilipinas!
This is an interview with Dr. Niobe Thompson of The Great Human Odyssey which will air on the 2nd of August, 8:00 p.m. on Discovery Channel.
Media: My question is about the Homo Sapiens, right, what was it about them that make them outlast (inaudible) before them, I mean, such the Neanderthals and all that, who were quite strong and you know, and very intelligent? So what was it about the Homo Sapiens that helped them evolved especially during that particular era in earth’s history which was very volatile?
Niobe Thompson: That’s a great question and we’ve been asking this for a long time already, and I wish I had a definitive answer.
I think that the mystery of our survival and the extinction of all of the human cousins is one of the things that keeps me coming back to, you know, the story of human evolution. I have a personal opinion, and that is that really it was our ability to work together.
Neanderthals and other human cousins closely related humans you could say were very intelligent, very resourceful. The Neanderthals survived for 10 times longer in Europe than humans have so far. So you know, these were formidable human-like creatures. But what none of them had was the ability to work together in a group. I don’t think that any human intel, modern humans, Homo Sapiens has had the ability to speak. I don’t think that Neanderthals or Denisovans or other forms of Homo Erectus had language.