Rugby and Neanderthals

As the superior race on earth we have traced our background back to the more primitive humans, hominids and apes. We have found so many different species, representing different stages in evolution… and there might not even be a missing link any more?! From the species' evolved features, scientists can make up their minds about how smart these guys where amongst other things.

I read this article a while back about the Neanderthals. They where hunters and maybe not the smartest of the lot! According to findings, the Neanderthals cornered their prey and often had to go head on with the animals. You can imagine it being a warthog, a buck of some kind or something bigger fighting for it's life. Their killing technique was unrefined and often put them in great danger. They took a lot of hard knocks… and often to the head! When you take a serious hit apparently, you get a growth on your bones. That's your internal workshop's automatic service, but leaves you scarred for life (and way longer, on the bones at least)! The Neanderthals had a lot of these growths in the forehead especially…

I’m watching the rugby World Cup on TV now. For me as a Norwegian, rugby does not come around as a very intelligent game when you are first introduced to it… especially not when 15-20 overgrown men are putting their heads against each other in a scrum. I’ve got the hang of the game now, but that’s not the point… They go in with their head first in this game, and take quite a few knocks during a match…
I’m watching the features of these rugby guys… Muscular and big they are indeed! But it’s the eye brows… or rather the bone structure behind them that looks rather oversized as a general feature that draws my attention. Schalk Burger is on the screen (quite fitting name for a rugby player I must say), and the TV commentator is telling me that the players are developing growths in their foreheads from all the knocks (early match in the tournament). Probably not a very big growth, but a few extra millimeters like a bump. Those extra millimeters combined with all the constant bruises and swellings makes a quite distinct look! Big Ben from the Fantastic Four comes to my mind, but where the hell did I read about growths like this recently…??? Where did I see these features before…?! Then I realize, it’s those Neanderthal faces I posted earlier (http://stensbys.blogspot.com/2007/08/neanderthal-affair.html).

Let’s say our civilization goes under now (due to global warming or whatever)… then in another few thousand years, a new advanced civilization develops. They start excavating and finding old human remains and starting to reason what these people where like and how we lived. Be sure, they will find a rugby player… and then for all history we will be marked as backwards people who went head to head hunting for food. I’m not a famous guy, but quite happy in the belief that maybe some of my friends and/or family members think highly of me… only to have my bones displayed next to Schalk Burger’s and be labeled a Neanderthal… that sucks! I’ll choose cremation… better that way!!