How were interactions between hominins?
Today we are aware that our evolutionary
tree is not a linear line, but one has many branches and dead branches. One of
the interesting things I have found about evolution is that our species have
never interacted with another hominin. However, in the past, there is evidence that
several hominins whose timeline were active in the same time as other hominins.
For example, we know for a fact that Homo sapiens and Neanderthals interacted
with each other, and further, the interaction could have had some impact on the Neanderthals'
disappearance. Additionally, In Herries et al. article they discuss new
findings within a cave in South Africa. Within these caves, it was discovered
that three different hominins (Australopithecus, Paranthropus,
and early Homo erectus) occupied the same space around 2 million years
ago in Drimolen, South Africa. It is interesting to think about how these hominins
would have thought of each other and how they would interact. Based on the evidence, we are aware that several hominin species did interbreed among themselves
including Neanderthals and Denisovans, Homo sapiens and Neanderthals, and
several others. This must of led to some violence because individuals must have
been taken from their group in order for interbreeding to be somewhat
successful. I believe there was quite a bit of competition between other
hominins based on them being hunters and gatherers. Due to this, there must have
been some competition between territory and food. Especially in areas like Drimolen,
South Africa where several species of hominins occupied during the same time,
there must have been competition due to the limited supply. Despite violence
being present within the societies, I believe in some ways they collaborated
especially Neanderthals and Homo sapiens with tools. In later hominins, I believed
they used some forms of speech to communicate with one another. Especially, Neanderthals
had advanced language abilities, but their language is believed to be improved due
to their interactions with Homo sapiens.
THis is awsome. I like how you bring in the Herries piece here since it is so relevant to this question. and yes, so many of these models assume (probably fairly in some sense) that these interactions would have been violent. but maybe not. i think we undersell colloboration for sure. And i just got a new book in the mail about Neandertal language so i am really excited to read that one. but interesting to think if they could understand each other...IIRC a lot of scifi has Neandertals communicating telepathically or something like that, but maybe communication would have been universal from hominins
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