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A review by kevin_shepherd
The Invaders: How Humans and Their Dogs Drove Neanderthals to Extinction by Pat Shipman
4.0
Where modern humans go a wave of extinction is sure to follow. This is the gist of Pat Shipman’s hypothesis on the disappearance of the Neandertals. She contends that it was a combination of factors—climate change, deforestation, volcanic activity, competition for resources, genetic propensity, invasive modern humans, and, ultimately, domestic dogs—that tipped the scales in our favor and ultimately spelled doom for our robust cousins.
It may seem odd to think of ourselves as an invasive species yet we Homo sapiens are the most pervasive invasive species that has ever lived. Additionally, we are the quintessential Apex predator and we have worked, consciously and unconsciously, to eliminate every other Apex predator that might compete with us in every single ecosystem we’ve encountered.
“An invasive species is an introduced, nonnative organism (disease, parasite, plant, or animal) that begins to spread or expand its range from the site of its original introduction and that has the potential to cause harm to the environment, the economy, or to human health. -U.S. Geological Survey, usgs.gov
Based on the archaeological record, dogs were solely associated with modern humans. The Invaders doesn’t introduce domestic dogs as a factor in the extinction of Neandertals until chapter 12, which is about two thirds of the way through the book. It is almost an afterthought. Shipman admits that the evidence for this part of her theory is scant and largely circumstantial but she nonetheless makes a pretty good argument. For anyone interested in paleoanthropology, this is well worth reading.
*NOTE: The canine skeletons excavated from early modern human encampments show that these were not the domestic dogs we know and love today. They were descended from wolves but were far enough removed from wolves to be a distinct and separate species. What’s really surprising is that some geneticists argue that these early specimens are not ancestral to modern domestic canines. So what are they and where did they go? Genetically speaking, they were something distinct and enigmatic.
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I Found This Humorous…
Another potential reason that Modern Humans survived and Neandertals perished was the limited ability of the latter to adapt. Dr. Shipman calls this the Jagger Principle. Modern humans and brown bears were able to adjust to the receding forests and expanding grasslands, Neandertals and cave bears were not—proving that you can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes you just might find that you get what you need.
It may seem odd to think of ourselves as an invasive species yet we Homo sapiens are the most pervasive invasive species that has ever lived. Additionally, we are the quintessential Apex predator and we have worked, consciously and unconsciously, to eliminate every other Apex predator that might compete with us in every single ecosystem we’ve encountered.
“An invasive species is an introduced, nonnative organism (disease, parasite, plant, or animal) that begins to spread or expand its range from the site of its original introduction and that has the potential to cause harm to the environment, the economy, or to human health. -U.S. Geological Survey, usgs.gov
Based on the archaeological record, dogs were solely associated with modern humans. The Invaders doesn’t introduce domestic dogs as a factor in the extinction of Neandertals until chapter 12, which is about two thirds of the way through the book. It is almost an afterthought. Shipman admits that the evidence for this part of her theory is scant and largely circumstantial but she nonetheless makes a pretty good argument. For anyone interested in paleoanthropology, this is well worth reading.
*NOTE: The canine skeletons excavated from early modern human encampments show that these were not the domestic dogs we know and love today. They were descended from wolves but were far enough removed from wolves to be a distinct and separate species. What’s really surprising is that some geneticists argue that these early specimens are not ancestral to modern domestic canines. So what are they and where did they go? Genetically speaking, they were something distinct and enigmatic.
_________________________________
I Found This Humorous…
Another potential reason that Modern Humans survived and Neandertals perished was the limited ability of the latter to adapt. Dr. Shipman calls this the Jagger Principle. Modern humans and brown bears were able to adjust to the receding forests and expanding grasslands, Neandertals and cave bears were not—proving that you can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes you just might find that you get what you need.