Extinction of the Neanderthals

Psalm 8:4-5

“What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.”

Every month, there is almost always at least one article about Neanderthals. The month in which I am writing this script is no exception. One website carries information about a study of the extinction of the Neanderthals.

Researchers at Aix Marseille Université in France suggest that Neanderthals became extinct from 4,000 to 10,000 years ago. The researchers built a computer model by looking at “observational data on modern hunter-gatherer groups and extant large apes”. In their analysis of these groups, researchers were concentrating on three factors: survival, migration and fertility rates. Their conclusions from these studies were that extinction was due to a decrease in fertility rates of between 2.7 and 8%.

It should be noted that a number of assumptions have been made. First, we should see that the researchers have assumed that Neanderthals, being less evolved than modern humans, would have attributes in common with large apes. This is an assumption based on their worldview, not on factual data. There is no actual scientific data to show a common ancestry between apes and humans, and, biblically, this is, in any case, impossible. Even more disturbingly is the assumption that data on modern hunter-gatherer populations is to be taken alongside that of apes. This suggests the racist notion that there is a clear link between modern apes and remote modern tribes.

We have emphasized many times that Neanderthals were, in fact, no different to modern humans, and the attempt to differentiate them is, itself, a form of chronological racism.

Prayer: What are we, Lord, that You are mindful of us? We are thankful that we are made in Your image and precious in Your sight. Amen.

Author: Paul F. Taylor

Ref: PLOS. “Declining fertility rates may explain Neanderthal extinction: Population modelling shows population could have dwindled to extinction due to demographics, not catastrophe.” ScienceDaily, 29 May 2019. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/05/190529145057.htm>. Image: Adobe Stock Images, licensed to author.