Neanderthal ManGAMBIER, Ohio (March 18, 2011)
Paleoanthropologist Bruce Hardy, who knows Neanderthals, gives the Presidential Lecture on Tuesday at 11:10 a.m. in Olin Auditorium on the subject "Neanderthals - Too Stupid to Live?"
Hardy, associate professor of anthropology and department chair, has been a high-profile defender of the Neanderthals and their survival fitness, which kept them going for more than 200,000 years. His research has focused on understanding the behavioral changes associated with the transition from Neanderthals to modern humans.
"Neanderthals have a bad reputation, one that goes back to their initial discovery over 150 years ago," Hardy said. "Based on our current assumptions, we have created an image of a human that was literally too stupid to live."
And he sees more in the modern attitude toward Neanderthals, which "reflects our broader treatment of human diversity," he said. "They are the ultimate 'other' to which we compare ourselves to feel superior. Rather than follow our long-held assumptions about Neanderthal inferiority, we need to look at the evidence in its entirety and let it tell the story. In doing so, we may find that Neanderthals were not so different than us."
His findings based on research into the similarities between Neanderthals and early modern humans were noted on the Web site of Scientific American in 2009. Hardy studied artifacts at the Hohle Fels site in Germany, noting that modern humans created a larger variety of tools but Neanderthals engaged in mostly the same activities and did well. His findings were presented that year at the annual meeting of the Paleoanthropology Society in Chicago.
He was quoted at www.nature.com in October about the discovery of flour residue on grinding stones in Europe from about 30,000 years ago, before the dawn of agriculture. Hardy told Nature, "This is not isolated to a small group of people. It's a regular part of subsistence for humans," he said. "If you get that much meat in your diet not balanced out with other nutrients, you get protein poisoning." The comment was also picked up by Discover magazine. A December story in the Los Angeles Times about Neanderthals enjoying a diverse diet with plants included comments by Hardy, who said, "We've painted a pretty unrealistic picture of Neanderthals as dimwitted," he said. "For some 200,000 years in Europe, they were really successful. They were prospering."
Hardy was also featured in a Columbus Dispatch story in January about his research with student David Hohl '12 on the hunting acumen of Neanderthals.