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Them and Us: Neanderthal predation and the bottleneck speciation of modern human
Danny Vendramini*
*Independent scholar.Keywords:
Human evolution, Neanderthals, Levant, Upper Palaeolithic, predation, natural selection, modern human origins.
Abstract
Based on a reassessment of Neanderthal behavioural ecology that suggests Neanderthals were the Eurasian apex predator, a theory of human origins is proposed in conjunction with a narrative account of recent human evolution. ‘Neanderthal Predation theory’ argues that the emergence of behaviourally modern humans was the consequence of systemic Neanderthal predation of Middle Palaeolithic humans in the East Mediterranean Levant between 100 and 45 thousand years BP. The hypothesis proposes intraguild predation, sexual predation, hybridisation, lethal raiding and coalitionary killing gradually reduced the Levantine human population, resulting in a population bottleneck >50 Kya and precipitating the selection of anti-Neanderthal adaptations. Sexual predation generated robust selection pressure for an alternative human mating system based on private copulation, concealed ovulation, menstrual synchrony, habitual washing, scent concealment, mate guarding, enforced female fidelity, incest avoidance, romantic love, long-term pair bonding and sympatry. Simultaneously, intraguild predation, lethal raiding and coalitionary killing generated selection pressure for strategic adaptations, including cognitive fluidity, male aggression, language capacity, creativity (related to projectile and other weapons systems) increased athleticism, central nervous system robusticity, enhanced semantic memory, group loyalty, male risk taking, capacity to form strategic coalitions, guile, conjectural reasoning and manual dexterity. Nascent fully modern human phenotypes were fixed during the population bottleneck by genetic drift and dispersed via global migrations. The new anti-Neanderthal species - Homo sapiens sapiens - agonistically replaced Neanderthals and Neanderthal-human hybrids, firstly in the Levant, then progressively throughout Europe and western Asia.
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