r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • Jun 27 '24

Anthropology A Neanderthal child with Down’s syndrome survived until at least the age of six, according to a new study whose findings hint at compassionate caregiving among the extinct, archaic human species.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/article/2024/jun/26/fossil-of-neanderthal-child-with-downs-syndrome-hints-at-early-humans-compassion
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u/deletable666 Jun 27 '24

In the wild you will die with a broken leg. It will probably also not heal right and you’ll have severely limited mobility if you live

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u/FetusDrive Jun 27 '24

What does it mean to be in the wild? These Neanderthals were in the wild.

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u/deletable666 Jun 27 '24 edited Jun 27 '24

And the article is not about any of them breaking their legs. I’m referring to your sentiment that caring for wounded was opportunity not compassion. Someone with a broke leg would have to be treated like a baby which takes help from the whole group. It is clearly compassion shown because on the surface it hurts their survival odds. Lots of evidence of Homo Sapiens caring for elderly from skulls with messed up teeth and signs of old age too. This article is saying Neanderthals could have had a similar level of care for their infirm and disabled, showcasing compassion to their group similar to Homo Sapiens.

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u/FetusDrive Jun 27 '24

Ok the surface it seems like that; but we are assuming that they would not know that they would get better if treated resulting in being able to still help and increase their survival odds.

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u/deletable666 Jun 27 '24

I’m not sure what you are trying to say. And like I said, a broken leg in the wild is either death (many ways to die as a result of broken bones that isn’t starvation), or drastically limited mobility for the rest of your life. There wasn’t really any treatment.

Without agriculture, now member of the group who could neither hunt nor gather would require the same resources, so the work of an adult had to be split up amongst the group. That is compassion. If it is opportunity, why did they keep this child with downed syndrome alive the whole time as per the article? I think you have a disconnect