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129-508: Apidima Cave ( Greek : Σπήλαιο Απήδημα , Spilaio Apidima ) is a complex of five caves located on the western shore of Mani Peninsula in southern Greece. A systematic investigation of the cave has yielded Neanderthal and Homo sapiens fossils from the Palaeolithic era. One skull fossil, given the name Apidima 1, shows a mixture of modern human and primitive features and has been dated to be more than 210,000 years old, older than

258-577: A Linear B clay tablet found in Messenia that dates to between 1450 and 1350 BC, making Greek the world's oldest recorded living language . Among the Indo-European languages, its date of earliest written attestation is matched only by the now-extinct Anatolian languages . The Greek language is conventionally divided into the following periods: In the modern era, the Greek language entered

387-405: A subspecies of modern human as Homo sapiens neanderthalensis . This would necessitate the classification of modern humans as H. sapiens sapiens . A large part of the controversy stems from the vagueness of the term "species", as it is generally used to distinguish two genetically isolated populations, but admixture between modern humans and Neanderthals is known to have occurred. However,

516-644: A Neanderthal in a modern business suit and hat to emphasise that they would be, more or less, indistinguishable from modern humans had they survived into the present. William Golding 's 1955 novel The Inheritors depicts Neanderthals as much more emotional and civilised. However, Boule's image continued to influence works until the 1960s. In modern-day, Neanderthal reconstructions are often very humanlike. Hybridisation between Neanderthals and early modern humans had been suggested early on, such as by English anthropologist Thomas Huxley in 1890, Danish ethnographer Hans Peder Steensby in 1907, and Coon in 1962. In

645-602: A Neanderthal skull ("Apidima 2") found at the cave, which per some interpretations makes Apidima 1 the oldest proof of Homo sapiens living outside Africa , the second oldest being the maxilla from Misliya Cave in Mount Carmel, Israel, with a maximum age of about 190,000 years ago. Apidima 1 is more than 150,000 years older than previous H. sapiens finds in Europe. The Apidima Cave complex consists of five karstic caves (previously reported as four small caves) formed in

774-650: A Neanderthal/ H. heidelbergensis lineage. Eight hundred thousand years ago has H. antecessor as the LCA, but different variations of this model would push the date back to 1 million years ago. However, a 2020 analysis of H. antecessor enamel proteomes suggests that H. antecessor is related but not a direct ancestor. DNA studies have yielded various results for the Neanderthal/human divergence time, such as 538–315, 553–321, 565–503, 654–475, 690–550, 765–550, 741–317, and 800–520,000 years ago; and

903-577: A basis for coinages: anthropology , photography , telephony , isomer , biomechanics , cinematography , etc. Together with Latin words , they form the foundation of international scientific and technical vocabulary ; for example, all words ending in -logy ('discourse'). There are many English words of Greek origin . Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European language family. The ancient language most closely related to it may be ancient Macedonian , which, by most accounts,

1032-636: A cold climate, but they may also have been adaptations for sprinting in the warmer, forested landscape that Neanderthals often inhabited. They had cold-specific adaptations, such as specialised body-fat storage and an enlarged nose to warm air (although the nose could have been caused by genetic drift ). Average Neanderthal men stood around 165 cm (5 ft 5 in) and women 153 cm (5 ft 0 in) tall, similar to pre-industrial modern Europeans. The braincases of Neanderthal men and women averaged about 1,600 cm (98 cu in) and 1,300 cm (79 cu in), respectively, which

1161-489: A combination of these factors. Neanderthals lived in a high-stress environment with high trauma rates, and about 80% died before the age of 40. The total population of Neanderthals remained low, and interbreeding with humans tended toward a loss of Neanderthal genes over time. They lacked effective long-distance networks. Despite this, there is evidence of regional cultures and regular communication between communities, possibly moving between caves seasonally. For much of

1290-543: A dental analysis concluded before 800,000 years ago. Neanderthals and Denisovans are more closely related to each other than they are to modern humans, meaning the Neanderthal/Denisovan split occurred after their split with modern humans. Assuming a mutation rate of 1 × 10 or 0.5 × 10 per base pair (bp) per year, the Neanderthal/Denisovan split occurred around either 236–190,000 or 473–381,000 years ago, respectively. Using 1.1 × 10 per generation with

1419-562: A different group of archaic humans, in Siberia. Around 1–4% of genomes of Eurasians , Indigenous Australians , Melanesians , Native Americans and North Africans is of Neanderthal ancestry, while most inhabitants of sub-Saharan Africa have around 0.3% of Neanderthal genes, save possible traces from early sapiens-to-Neanderthal gene flow and/or more recent back-migration of Eurasians to Africa. In all, about 20% of distinctly Neanderthal gene variants survive in modern humans. Although many of

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1548-612: A distinct species, though some regard it as a subspecies of Homo sapiens ) who lived in Eurasia until about 40,000 years ago. The type specimen , Neanderthal 1 , was found in 1856 in the Neander Valley in present-day Germany. It is not clear when the line of Neanderthals split from that of modern humans ; studies have produced various times ranging from 315,000 to more than 800,000 years ago. The date of divergence of Neanderthals from their ancestor H. heidelbergensis

1677-508: A faster, more convenient cursive writing style with the use of ink and quill . The Greek alphabet consists of 24 letters, each with an uppercase ( majuscule ) and lowercase ( minuscule ) form. The letter sigma has an additional lowercase form (ς) used in the final position of a word: In addition to the letters, the Greek alphabet features a number of diacritical signs : three different accent marks ( acute , grave , and circumflex ), originally denoting different shapes of pitch accent on

1806-775: A few animal specimens with probable traces of butchering. The two Homo fossils were excavated from the thick and cohesive breccia 4 m (13 ft) above sea level. In addition to fossils, researchers located several tools, including handaxes and tools produced from local flint, along the perimeters of poljes at the Kokkinopilos and Alonaki locations. Researchers uncovered two significant fossils in Apidima Cave "A" in 1978. The two fossils are now referred to as Apidima 1 and Apidima 2 . Stone tools were found in all four caves. Research published in July 2019 indicates that

1935-442: A high-quality Neanderthal genome preserved in a toe bone from Denisova Cave, Siberia. Homo sapiens Denisovan from Denisova Cave Denisovan from Baishiya Karst Cave Neanderthal from Denisova Cave Neanderthal from Sidrón Cave Neanderthal from Vindija Cave Neanderthals are hominids in the genus Homo , humans, and generally classified as a distinct species , H. neanderthalensis , although sometimes as

2064-609: A lack of evidence of Southern Scandinavian occupation is (at least during the Eemian interglacial) due to the former explanation and a lack of research in the area. Middle Palaeolithic artefacts have been found up to 60°N on the Russian plains, but these are more likely attributed to modern humans. A 2017 study claimed the presence of Homo at the 130,000-year-old Californian Cerutti Mastodon site in North America, but this

2193-958: A larger cerebellum . Neanderthal brains also have larger occipital lobes (relating to the classic occurrence of an occipital bun in Neanderthal skull anatomy, as well as the greater width of their skulls), which implies internal differences in the proportionality of brain-internal regions, relative to Homo sapiens, consistent with external measurements obtained with fossil skulls. Their brains also have larger temporal lobe poles, wider orbitofrontal cortex, and larger olfactory bulbs, suggesting potential differences in language comprehension and associations with emotions ( temporal functions ), decision making (the orbitofrontal cortex ) and sense of smell ( olfactory bulbs ). Their brains also show different rates of brain growth and development. Such differences, while slight, would have been visible to natural selection and may underlie and explain differences in

2322-408: A larger diaphragm and possibly greater lung capacity . The lung capacity of Kebara 2 was estimated to have been 9.04 L (2.39 US gal), compared to the average human capacity of 6 L (1.6 US gal) for males and 4.7 L (1.2 US gal) for females. The Neanderthal chest was also more pronounced (expanded front-to-back, or antero-posteriorly). The sacrum (where

2451-548: A legitimate species. The most influential specimen was La Chapelle-aux-Saints 1 ("The Old Man") from La Chapelle-aux-Saints , France. French palaeontologist Marcellin Boule authored several publications, among the first to establish palaeontology as a science, detailing the specimen, but reconstructed him as slouching, ape-like, and only remotely related to modern humans. The 1912 'discovery' of Piltdown Man (a hoax), appearing much more similar to modern humans than Neanderthals,

2580-568: A lengthening of the head (phase 1), which then led to other changes in skull anatomy (phase 2). However, Neanderthal anatomy may not have been driven entirely by adapting to cold weather. Accretion holds that Neanderthals slowly evolved over time from the ancestral H. heidelbergensis , divided into four stages: early-pre-Neanderthals ( MIS 12 , Elster glaciation ), pre-Neanderthals (MIS 11 – 9 , Holstein interglacial ), early Neanderthals (MIS 7– 5 , Saale glaciation – Eemian ), and classic Neanderthals (MIS 4–3, Würm glaciation ). Numerous dates for

2709-590: A lesser extent, in the Western Mediterranean in and around colonies such as Massalia , Monoikos , and Mainake . It was also used as the official language of government and religion in the Christian Nubian kingdoms , for most of their history. Greek, in its modern form, is the official language of Greece, where it is spoken by almost the entire population. It is also the official language of Cyprus (nominally alongside Turkish ) and

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2838-400: A limited but productive system of compounding and a rich inflectional system. Although its morphological categories have been fairly stable over time, morphological changes are present throughout, particularly in the nominal and verbal systems. The major change in the nominal morphology since the classical stage was the disuse of the dative case (its functions being largely taken over by

2967-459: A mixed syllable structure, permitting complex syllabic onsets but very restricted codas. It has only oral vowels and a fairly stable set of consonantal contrasts . The main phonological changes occurred during the Hellenistic and Roman period (see Koine Greek phonology for details): In all its stages, the morphology of Greek shows an extensive set of productive derivational affixes ,

3096-542: A more forward direction, by comparison. Neanderthal eyeballs are larger than those of modern humans. One study proposed that this was due to Neanderthals having enhanced visual abilities, at the expense of neocortical and social development. However, this study was rejected by other researchers who concluded that eyeball size does not offer any evidence for the cognitive abilities of Neanderthal or modern humans. The projected Neanderthal nose and paranasal sinuses have generally been explained as having warmed air as it entered

3225-400: A more recent mitochondrial LCA (observable by studying mtDNA) and Y chromosome LCA. This likely resulted from an interbreeding event subsequent to the Neanderthal/Denisovan split. This involved either introgression coming from an unknown archaic human into Denisovans, or introgression from an earlier unidentified modern human wave from Africa into Neanderthals. The fact that the mtDNA of

3354-544: A new generation every 29 years, the time is 744,000 years ago. Using 5 × 10 nucleotide sites per year, it is 616,000 years ago. Using the latter dates, the split had likely already occurred by the time hominins spread out across Europe, and unique Neanderthal features had begun evolving by 600–500,000 years ago. Before splitting, Neanderthal/Denisovans (or "Neandersovans") migrating out of Africa into Europe apparently interbred with an unidentified "superarchaic" human species who were already present there; these superarchaics were

3483-504: A protrusion on the back of the skull, although it is within the range of variation for modern humans who have it. It is caused by the cranial base and temporal bones being placed higher and more towards the front of the skull, and a flatter skullcap . The Neanderthal face is characterised by subnasal as well as mid-facial prognathism , where the zygomatic arches are positioned in a rearward location relative to modern humans, while their maxillary bones and nasal bones are positioned in

3612-603: A rather large jaw which was once cited as a response to a large bite force evidenced by heavy wearing of Neanderthal front teeth (the "anterior dental loading" hypothesis), but similar wearing trends are seen in contemporary humans. It could also have evolved to fit larger teeth in the jaw, which would better resist wear and abrasion, and the increased wear on the front teeth compared to the back teeth probably stems from repetitive use. Neanderthal dental wear patterns are most similar to those of modern Inuit. The incisors are large and shovel-shaped, and, compared to modern humans, there

3741-464: A second variation of BNC2 was also present, which in modern populations is associated with darker skin colour in the UK Biobank . DNA analysis of three Neanderthal females from southeastern Europe indicates that they had brown eyes, dark skin colour and brown hair, with one having red hair. In modern humans, skin and hair colour is regulated by the melanocyte-stimulating hormone —which increases

3870-524: A skull, shares several physical attributes with Neanderthals, although these may be the result of convergent evolution rather than Neanderthals extending their range to the Pacific Ocean. The northernmost bound is generally accepted to have been 55°N , with unambiguous sites known between 50 – 53°N , although this is difficult to assess because glacial advances destroy most human remains, and palaeoanthropologist Trine Kellberg Nielsen has argued that

3999-460: A state of diglossia : the coexistence of vernacular and archaizing written forms of the language. What came to be known as the Greek language question was a polarization between two competing varieties of Modern Greek: Dimotiki , the vernacular form of Modern Greek proper, and Katharevousa , meaning 'purified', a compromise between Dimotiki and Ancient Greek developed in the early 19th century that

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4128-573: A wide array of food, mainly hoofed mammals , but also megafauna , plants, small mammals, birds, and aquatic and marine resources. Although they were probably apex predators , they still competed with cave lions , cave hyenas and other large predators. A number of examples of symbolic thought and Palaeolithic art have been inconclusively attributed to Neanderthals, namely possible ornaments made from bird claws and feathers, shells, collections of unusual objects including crystals and fossils, engravings, music production (possibly indicated by

4257-578: A ~430,000 years old early Neanderthal-line archaic human from Sima de los Huesos in Spain is more closely related to those of Denisovans than to other Neanderthals or modern humans has been cited as evidence in favour of the latter hypothesis. It is largely thought that H. heidelbergensis was the last common ancestor of Neanderthals, Denisovans and modern humans before populations became isolated in Europe, Asia and Africa, respectively. The taxonomic distinction between H. heidelbergensis and Neanderthals

4386-490: Is also unclear. The oldest potential Neanderthal bones date to 430,000 years ago, but the classification remains uncertain. Neanderthals are known from numerous fossils, especially from after 130,000 years ago. The reasons for Neanderthal extinction are disputed. Theories for their extinction include demographic factors such as small population size and inbreeding, competitive replacement, interbreeding and assimilation with modern humans, change of climate, disease, or

4515-567: Is always Neandertaler ("inhabitant of the Neander Valley"), whereas Neandertal always refers to the valley. The valley itself was named after the late 17th century German theologian and hymn writer Joachim Neander , who often visited the area. His name in turn means 'new man', being a learned Graecisation of the German surname Neumann . Neanderthal can be pronounced using the /t/ (as in / n i ˈ æ n d ər t ɑː l / ) or

4644-623: Is considerably larger than the modern human average (1,260 cm (77 cu in) and 1,130 cm (69 cu in), respectively). The Neanderthal skull was more elongated and the brain had smaller parietal lobes and cerebellum, but larger temporal, occipital and orbitofrontal regions. The 2010 Neanderthal genome project 's draft report presented evidence for interbreeding between Neanderthals and modern humans . It possibly occurred 316,000 to 219,000 years ago, but more likely 100,000 years ago and again 65,000 years ago. Neanderthals also appear to have interbred with Denisovans ,

4773-426: Is estimated that Apidima 2 to be dated more than 150 thousand years ago. The fossilized cranium appeared to have multiple fractures, as well as malformation of the left side of the skull, suggestive of sediment pressure which occurred after having been deposited. Apidima 2 has undergone analysis via CT scan in which the cranium was virtually reconstructed. Scientists used the digital nature of this analysis to reconstruct

4902-467: Is largely considered implausible. It is unknown how the rapidly fluctuating climate of the last glacial period ( Dansgaard–Oeschger events ) impacted Neanderthals, as warming periods would produce more favourable temperatures but encourage forest growth and deter megafauna, whereas frigid periods would produce the opposite. However, Neanderthals may have preferred a forested landscape. Stable environments with mild mean annual temperatures may have been

5031-484: Is limited by the amount of food it can obtain, which in turn is limited by its technology. Innovation increases with population, but if the population is too low, innovation will not occur very rapidly and the population will remain low. This is consistent with the apparent 150,000 year stagnation in Neanderthal lithic technology. In a sample of 206 Neanderthals, based on the abundance of young and mature adults in comparison to other age demographics, about 80% of them above

5160-442: Is most similar to that of Inuit and Siberian Yupiks among modern humans —and shorter limbs result in higher retention of body heat. Nonetheless, Neanderthals from more temperate climates—such as Iberia—still retain the "hyperarctic" physique. In 2019, English anthropologist John Stewart and colleagues suggested Neanderthals instead were adapted for sprinting, because of evidence of Neanderthals preferring warmer wooded areas over

5289-513: Is mostly based on a fossil gap in Europe between 300 and 243,000 years ago during marine isotope stage 8. "Neanderthals", by convention, are fossils which date to after this gap. DNA from archaic humans from the 430,000-year-old Sima de los Huesos site in Spain indicate that they are more closely related to Neanderthals than to Denisovans, indicating that the split between Neanderthals and Denisovans must predate this time. The 400,000-year-old Aroeira 3 skull may also represent an early member of

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5418-1097: Is sometimes called aljamiado , as when Romance languages are written in the Arabic alphabet. Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Greek: Transcription of the example text into Latin alphabet : Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in English: Proto-Greek Mycenaean Ancient Koine Medieval Modern Neanderthal Neanderthals ( / n i ˈ æ n d ər ˌ t ɑː l , n eɪ -, - ˌ θ ɑː l / nee- AN -də(r)- TAHL , nay-, -⁠ THAHL ; Homo neanderthalensis or H. sapiens neanderthalensis ) are an extinct group of archaic humans (generally regarded as

5547-763: Is still used internationally for the writing of Ancient Greek . In Greek, the question mark is written as the English semicolon, while the functions of the colon and semicolon are performed by a raised point (•), known as the ano teleia ( άνω τελεία ). In Greek the comma also functions as a silent letter in a handful of Greek words, principally distinguishing ό,τι ( ó,ti , 'whatever') from ότι ( óti , 'that'). Ancient Greek texts often used scriptio continua ('continuous writing'), which means that ancient authors and scribes would write word after word with no spaces or punctuation between words to differentiate or mark boundaries. Boustrophedon , or bi-directional text,

5676-632: Is to modern spoken English ". Greek is spoken today by at least 13 million people, principally in Greece and Cyprus along with a sizable Greek-speaking minority in Albania near the Greek-Albanian border. A significant percentage of Albania's population has knowledge of the Greek language due in part to the Albanian wave of immigration to Greece in the 1980s and '90s and the Greek community in

5805-483: The Altai Mountains in southern Siberia. Pre- and early Neanderthals, on the other hand, seem to have continuously occupied only France, Spain and Italy, although some appear to have moved out of this "core-area" to form temporary settlements eastward (although without leaving Europe). Nonetheless, southwestern France has the highest density of sites for pre-, early and classic Neanderthals. The Neanderthals were

5934-562: The British Overseas Territory of Akrotiri and Dhekelia (alongside English ). Because of the membership of Greece and Cyprus in the European Union, Greek is one of the organization's 24 official languages . Greek is recognized as a minority language in Albania, and used co-officially in some of its municipalities, in the districts of Gjirokastër and Sarandë . It is also an official minority language in

6063-512: The Divje Babe flute ), and Spanish cave paintings contentiously dated to before 65,000 years ago. Some claims of religious beliefs have been made. Neanderthals were likely capable of speech, possibly articulate, although the complexity of their language is not known. Compared with modern humans, Neanderthals had a more robust build and proportionally shorter limbs. Researchers often explain these features as adaptations to conserve heat in

6192-484: The European Wildcat species ( Felis silvestris ) and red fox (Vulpes vulpes), as well as remains of the beech marten ( Martes foina ). Greek language Greek ( Modern Greek : Ελληνικά , romanized :  Elliniká , [eliniˈka] ; Ancient Greek : Ἑλληνική , romanized :  Hellēnikḗ ) is an Indo-European language, constituting an independent Hellenic branch within

6321-657: The European canon . Greek is also the language in which many of the foundational texts in science and philosophy were originally composed. The New Testament of the Christian Bible was also originally written in Greek. Together with the Latin texts and traditions of the Roman world , the Greek texts and Greek societies of antiquity constitute the objects of study of the discipline of Classics . During antiquity , Greek

6450-516: The Indo-Iranian languages (see Graeco-Aryan ), but little definitive evidence has been found. In addition, Albanian has also been considered somewhat related to Greek and Armenian, and it has been proposed that they all form a higher-order subgroup along with other extinct languages of the ancient Balkans; this higher-order subgroup is usually termed Palaeo-Balkan , and Greek has a central position in it. Linear B , attested as early as

6579-780: The United Kingdom , and throughout the European Union , especially in Germany . Historically, significant Greek-speaking communities and regions were found throughout the Eastern Mediterranean , in what are today Southern Italy , Turkey , Cyprus , Syria , Lebanon , Israel , Palestine , Egypt , and Libya ; in the area of the Black Sea , in what are today Turkey, Bulgaria , Romania , Ukraine , Russia , Georgia , Armenia , and Azerbaijan ; and, to

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6708-402: The body mass index for Neanderthal males was calculated to be 26.9–28.2, which in modern humans correlates to being overweight . This indicates a very robust build. The Neanderthal LEPR gene concerned with storing fat and body heat production is similar to that of the woolly mammoth , and so was likely an adaptation for cold climate. The neck vertebrae of Neanderthals are thicker from

6837-468: The genitive ). The verbal system has lost the infinitive , the synthetically -formed future, and perfect tenses and the optative mood . Many have been replaced by periphrastic ( analytical ) forms. Pronouns show distinctions in person (1st, 2nd, and 3rd), number (singular, dual , and plural in the ancient language; singular and plural alone in later stages), and gender (masculine, feminine, and neuter), and decline for case (from six cases in

6966-479: The limestone cliffside on the west shore of the Mani Peninsula in southern Greece. Today the caves open on the face of a large sea cliff and are accessible only by boat, but during the ice ages the sea level went lower by more than 100 m (330 ft), and several seashore caves around the world, today submerged or situated at the wave zone—Apidima Cave belonging to the latter category—rose well above

7095-462: The pelvis connects to the spine ) was more vertically inclined, and was placed lower in relation to the pelvis, causing the spine to be less curved (exhibit less lordosis ) and to fold in on itself somewhat (to be invaginated). In modern populations, this condition affects just a proportion of the population, and is known as a lumbarised sacrum. Such modifications to the spine would have enhanced side-to-side (mediolateral) flexion , better supporting

7224-417: The syntax of Greek have remained constant: verbs agree with their subject only, the use of the surviving cases is largely intact (nominative for subjects and predicates, accusative for objects of most verbs and many prepositions, genitive for possessors), articles precede nouns, adpositions are largely prepositional, relative clauses follow the noun they modify and relative pronouns are clause-initial. However,

7353-533: The 140- to 120,000-year-old Israeli Nesher Ramla remains, which feature a mix of Neanderthal and more ancient H. erectus traits, represent one such source population which recolonised Europe following a glacial period. Like modern humans, Neanderthals probably descended from a very small population with an effective population —the number of individuals who can bear or father children—of 3,000 to 12,000 approximately. However, Neanderthals maintained this very low population, proliferating weakly harmful genes due to

7482-478: The 1911 The Quest for Fire by J.-H. Rosny aîné and the 1927 The Grisly Folk by H. G. Wells in which they are depicted as monsters. In 1911, Scottish anthropologist Arthur Keith reconstructed La Chapelle-aux-Saints 1 as an immediate precursor to modern humans, sitting next to a fire, producing tools, wearing a necklace, and having a more humanlike posture, but this failed to garner much scientific rapport, and Keith later abandoned his thesis in 1915. By

7611-566: The 20th century on), especially from French and English, are typically not inflected; other modern borrowings are derived from Albanian , South Slavic ( Macedonian / Bulgarian ) and Eastern Romance languages ( Aromanian and Megleno-Romanian ). Greek words have been widely borrowed into other languages, including English. Example words include: mathematics , physics , astronomy , democracy , philosophy , athletics , theatre, rhetoric , baptism , evangelist , etc. Moreover, Greek words and word elements continue to be productive as

7740-643: The Apidima 2 skull fragment (designated LAO 1/S2) has Neanderthal morphology , and using uranium-thorium dating , was found to be more than 170,000 years old. The Apidima 1 skull fossil (designated LAO 1/S1) was found to be older, dated—using the same method—to more than 210,000 years old. As of 1999, Theodore Pitsios, a Professor of Physical Anthropology and Faculty member of Medicine at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, estimated that over 30 thousand fossils had been collected from Apidima Cave with

7869-544: The Greek alphabet since approximately the 9th century BC. It was created by modifying the Phoenician alphabet , with the innovation of adopting certain letters to represent the vowels. The variant of the alphabet in use today is essentially the late Ionic variant, introduced for writing classical Attic in 403 BC. In classical Greek, as in classical Latin, only upper-case letters existed. The lower-case Greek letters were developed much later by medieval scribes to permit

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7998-549: The Greek language was the Cypriot syllabary (also a descendant of Linear A via the intermediate Cypro-Minoan syllabary ), which is closely related to Linear B but uses somewhat different syllabic conventions to represent phoneme sequences. The Cypriot syllabary is attested in Cyprus from the 11th century BC until its gradual abandonment in the late Classical period, in favor of the standard Greek alphabet. Greek has been written in

8127-593: The Indo-European language family. It is native to Greece , Cyprus , Italy (in Calabria and Salento ), southern Albania , and other regions of the Balkans , Caucasus , the Black Sea coast, Asia Minor , and the Eastern Mediterranean . It has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning at least 3,400 years of written records. Its writing system is the Greek alphabet , which has been used for approximately 2,800 years; previously, Greek

8256-689: The Italian Visogliano and Fontana Ranuccio sites indicate that Neanderthal dental features had evolved by around 450–430,000 years ago during the Middle Pleistocene . There are two main hypotheses regarding the evolution of Neanderthals following the Neanderthal/human split: two-phase and accretion. Two-phase argues that a single major environmental event—such as the Saale glaciation —caused European H. heidelbergensis to increase rapidly in body size and robustness, as well as undergoing

8385-523: The Middle Pleistocene in what is now southern Greece: an early Homo sapiens population, followed by a Neanderthal population." Harvati said that the team would attempt to extract ancient DNA from the fossils, but that she was not optimistic about finding any. If sufficient specimens can be obtained, a palaeoproteomic analysis of ancient proteins may also be done on the fossils. In a 2020 publication another research group concluded that

8514-456: The Neanderthal braincase to that of a chimpanzee and argued that they were "incapable of moral and [ theistic ] conceptions". The first Neanderthal remains— Engis 2 (a skull)—were discovered in 1829 by Dutch/Belgian prehistorian Philippe-Charles Schmerling in the Grottes d'Engis , Belgium. He concluded that these "poorly developed" human remains must have been buried at the same time and by

8643-525: The Neanderthal line. It is possible that gene flow between Western Europe and Africa during the Middle Pleistocene, may have obscured Neanderthal characteristics in some Middle Pleistocene European hominin specimens, such those from Ceprano , Italy, and Sićevo Gorge , Serbia. The fossil record is much more complete from 130,000 years ago onwards, and specimens from this period make up the bulk of known Neanderthal skeletons. Dental remains from

8772-484: The Neanderthal/human split have been suggested. The date of around 250,000 years ago cites " H. helmei " as being the last common ancestor (LCA), and the split is associated with the Levallois technique of making stone tools. The date of about 400,000 years ago uses H. heidelbergensis as the LCA. Estimates of 600,000 years ago assume that " H. rhodesiensis " was the LCA, which split off into modern human lineage and

8901-547: The abilities to create fire , build cave hearths (to cook food, keep warm, defend themselves from animals, placing it at the centre of their homes), make adhesive birch bark tar , craft at least simple clothes similar to blankets and ponchos, weave, go seafaring through the Mediterranean, make use of medicinal plants , treat severe injuries, store food, and use various cooking techniques such as roasting , boiling , and smoking . Neanderthals consumed

9030-429: The absence of Neanderthal-derived patrilineal Y-chromosome and matrilineal mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) in modern humans, along with the underrepresentation of Neanderthal X chromosome DNA, could imply reduced fertility or frequent sterility of some hybrid crosses, representing a partial biological reproductive barrier between the groups, and therefore species distinction. In 2014 geneticist Svante Pääbo summarised

9159-401: The actual function would be unclear, so they may not be a good indicator of evolutionary pressures to evolve such a nose. Further, a computer reconstruction of the Neanderthal nose and predicted soft tissue patterns shows some similarities to those of modern Arctic peoples, potentially meaning the noses of both populations convergently evolved for breathing cold, dry air. Neanderthals featured

9288-404: The acute during the late 20th century, and it has only been retained in typography . After the writing reform of 1982, most diacritics are no longer used. Since then, Greek has been written mostly in the simplified monotonic orthography (or monotonic system), which employs only the acute accent and the diaeresis. The traditional system, now called the polytonic orthography (or polytonic system),

9417-597: The age of 20 died before reaching 40. This high mortality rate was probably due to their high-stress environment. However, it has also been estimated that the age pyramids for Neanderthals and contemporary modern humans were the same. Infant mortality was estimated to have been very high for Neanderthals, about 43% in northern Eurasia. Neanderthals had more robust and stockier builds than typical modern humans, wider and barrel-shaped rib cages; wider pelvises; and proportionally shorter forearms and forelegs. Based on 45 Neanderthal long bones from 14 men and 7 women,

9546-846: The anatomical features of both skulls show they can be attributed to the group of evolved European Homo erectus hominins, with some early Neanderthal features, similar to the skulls of Sima de los Huesos , Swanscombe , Biache-Saint-Vaast and Lazaret , but they can be differentiated from the classical Neanderthals. Fossils of large animals have been found at the Kalamakia site, north of Apidima. These findings consisted of Rhino, elephant, deer, goat, and sheep species. The deer and caprid species fossils are considered to have been food items. At Apidimia, Caves B and C held fossils of leopard ( Panthera pardus) and European Badger (Meles meles), whereas Caves C and D contained fossils from multiple lynx ( Lynx lynx ). Cave C also provided fossil remains of

9675-479: The arrival of Proto-Greeks, some documented in Mycenaean texts ; they include a large number of Greek toponyms . The form and meaning of many words have changed. Loanwords (words of foreign origin) have entered the language, mainly from Latin, Venetian , and Turkish . During the older periods of Greek, loanwords into Greek acquired Greek inflections, thus leaving only a foreign root word. Modern borrowings (from

9804-422: The average height was 164 to 168 cm (5 ft 5 in to 5 ft 6 in) for males and 152 to 156 cm (5 ft 0 in to 5 ft 1 in) for females. For comparison, the average height of 20 males and 10 females Upper Palaeolithic humans is, respectively, 176.2 cm (5 ft 9.4 in) and 162.9 cm (5 ft 4.1 in), although this decreases by 10 cm (4 in) nearer

9933-489: The average was about 1,478 cm (90.2 cu in) disregarding sex, and modern human brain size is suggested to have decreased since the Upper Palaeolithic. The largest Neanderthal brain, Amud 1 , was calculated to be 1,736 cm (105.9 cu in), one of the largest ever recorded in hominids. Both Neanderthal and human infants measure about 400 cm (24 cu in). When viewed from

10062-524: The bones of six or more individuals having been found. Of note within these collected fossils are the two crania imbedded in breccia rock in different layers of stratigraphy and were dated to have been deposited during all periods of the Pleistocene era. In addition to hominid fossils, tools made from both bone and stone were located along with the bones of animals indicative of hunting practices. In addition to these fossils and tools, evidence of fire use

10191-637: The colder mammoth steppe , and DNA analysis indicating a higher proportion of fast-twitch muscle fibres in Neanderthals than in modern humans. He explained their body proportions and greater muscle mass as adaptations to sprinting as opposed to the endurance-oriented modern human physique , as persistence hunting may only be effective in hot climates where the hunter can run prey to the point of heat exhaustion ( hyperthermia ). They had longer heel bones , reducing their ability for endurance running, and their shorter limbs would have reduced moment arm at

10320-429: The controversy, describing such " taxonomic wars" as unresolvable, "since there is no definition of species perfectly describing the case". Neanderthals are thought to have been more closely related to Denisovans than to modern humans. Likewise, Neanderthals and Denisovans share a more recent last common ancestor (LCA) than to modern humans, based on nuclear DNA (nDNA). However, Neanderthals and modern humans share

10449-796: The country. Prior to the Greco-Turkish War and the resulting population exchange in 1923 a very large population of Greek-speakers also existed in Turkey , though very few remain today. A small Greek-speaking community is also found in Bulgaria near the Greek-Bulgarian border. Greek is also spoken worldwide by the sizable Greek diaspora which has notable communities in the United States , Australia , Canada , South Africa , Chile , Brazil , Argentina , Russia , Ukraine ,

10578-581: The cranium, thigh bones, right arm, left humerus and ulna , left ilium (hip bone), part of the right shoulder blade , and pieces of the ribs . Following Charles Darwin 's On the Origin of Species , Fuhlrott and Schaaffhausen argued the bones represented an ancient modern human form; Schaaffhausen, a social Darwinist , believed that humans linearly progressed from savage to civilised, and so concluded that Neanderthals were barbarous cave-dwellers. Fuhlrott and Schaaffhausen met opposition namely from

10707-441: The dative led to a rise of prepositional indirect objects (and the use of the genitive to directly mark these as well). Ancient Greek tended to be verb-final, but neutral word order in the modern language is VSO or SVO. Modern Greek inherits most of its vocabulary from Ancient Greek, which in turn is an Indo-European language, but also includes a number of borrowings from the languages of the populations that inhabited Greece before

10836-470: The descendants of a very early migration out of Africa around 1.9 mya. Pre- and early Neanderthals, living before the Eemian interglacial (130,000 years ago), are poorly known and come mostly from Western European sites. From 130,000 years ago onwards, the quality of the fossil record increases dramatically with classic Neanderthals, who are recorded from Western, Central, Eastern and Mediterranean Europe, as well as Southwest , Central and Northern Asia up to

10965-528: The earliest forms attested to four in the modern language). Nouns, articles, and adjectives show all the distinctions except for a person. Both attributive and predicative adjectives agree with the noun. The inflectional categories of the Greek verb have likewise remained largely the same over the course of the language's history but with significant changes in the number of distinctions within each category and their morphological expression. Greek verbs have synthetic inflectional forms for: Many aspects of

11094-558: The early 2000s, supposed hybrid specimens were discovered: Lagar Velho 1 and Muierii 1 . However, similar anatomy could also have been caused by adapting to a similar environment rather than interbreeding. Neanderthal admixture was found to be present in modern populations in 2010 with the mapping of the first Neanderthal genome sequence. This was based on three specimens in Vindija Cave , Croatia, which contained almost 4% archaic DNA (allowing for near complete sequencing of

11223-475: The early 20th century, European researchers depicted Neanderthals as primitive, unintelligent and brutish. Although knowledge and perception of them has markedly changed since then in the scientific community, the image of the unevolved caveman archetype remains prevalent in popular culture. In truth, Neanderthal technology was quite sophisticated. It includes the Mousterian stone-tool industry as well as

11352-659: The end of the period based on 21 males and 15 females; and the average in the year 1900 was 163 cm (5 ft 4 in) and 152.7 cm (5 ft 0 in), respectively. The fossil record shows that adult Neanderthals varied from about 147.5 to 177 cm (4 ft 10 in to 5 ft 10 in) in height, although some may have grown much taller (73.8 to 184.8 cm based on footprint length and from 65.8 to 189.3 cm based on footprint width). For Neanderthal weight, samples of 26 specimens found an average of 77.6 kg (171 lb) for males and 66.4 kg (146 lb) for females. Using 76 kg (168 lb),

11481-412: The extent that one can speak of a new language emerging. Greek speakers today still tend to regard literary works of ancient Greek as part of their own rather than a foreign language. It is also often stated that the historical changes have been relatively slight compared with some other languages. According to one estimation, " Homeric Greek is probably closer to Demotic than 12-century Middle English

11610-494: The first human species to permanently occupy Europe as the continent was only sporadically occupied by earlier humans. The southernmost find was recorded at Shuqba Cave , Levant; reports of Neanderthals from the North African Jebel Irhoud and Haua Fteah have been reidentified as H. sapiens . Their easternmost presence is recorded at Denisova Cave , Siberia 85°E ; the southeast Chinese Maba Man ,

11739-399: The front to the rear and transversely than those of (most) modern humans, leading to stability, possibly to accommodate a different head shape and size. Although the Neanderthal thorax (where the ribcage is) was similar in size to modern humans, the longer and straighter ribs would have equated to a widened mid-lower thorax and stronger breathing in the lower thorax, which are indicative of

11868-403: The gene variants inherited from Neanderthals may have been detrimental and selected out, Neanderthal introgression appears to have affected the modern human immune system , and is also implicated in several other biological functions and structures, but a large portion appears to be non-coding DNA . Neanderthals are named after the Neander Valley in which the first identified specimen

11997-400: The genome). However, there was approximately 1 error for every 200 letters ( base pairs ) based on the implausibly high mutation rate, probably due to the preservation of the sample. In 2012, British-American geneticist Graham Coop hypothesised that they instead found evidence of a different archaic human species interbreeding with modern humans, which was disproven in 2013 by the sequencing of

12126-526: The individual reconstructed on the basis of the skull was occasionally called "the Neanderthal man". The binomial name Homo neanderthalensis —extending the name "Neanderthal man" from the individual specimen to the entire species, and formally recognising it as distinct from humans—was first proposed by Irish geologist William King in a paper read to the 33rd British Science Association in 1863. However, in 1864, he recommended that Neanderthals and modern humans be classified in different genera as he compared

12255-449: The language show both conservative and innovative tendencies across the entire attestation of the language from the ancient to the modern period. The division into conventional periods is, as with all such periodizations, relatively arbitrary, especially because, in all periods, Ancient Greek has enjoyed high prestige, and the literate borrowed heavily from it. Across its history, the syllabic structure of Greek has varied little: Greek shows

12384-467: The late 15th century BC, was the first script used to write Greek. It is basically a syllabary , which was finally deciphered by Michael Ventris and John Chadwick in the 1950s (its precursor, Linear A , has not been deciphered and most likely encodes a non-Greek language). The language of the Linear B texts, Mycenaean Greek , is the earliest known form of Greek. Another similar system used to write

12513-522: The limbs, allowing for greater net rotational force at the wrists and ankles, causing faster acceleration. In 1981, American palaeoanthropologist Erik Trinkaus made note of this alternate explanation, but considered it less likely. Neanderthals had less developed chins, sloping foreheads, and longer, broader, more projecting noses. The Neanderthal skull is typically more elongated, but also wider, and less globular than that of most modern humans, and features much more of an occipital bun , or "chignon",

12642-828: The limestone, while the horizontal opening is made by the sea. The scientific research programme at Apidima began in 1978 and is being conducted by the National Archaeological Museum of Greece in collaboration with the Laboratory of Historical Geology-Palaeontology of Athens University , the Institute of Geology and Mineral Exploitation and the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki . Approximately 20,000 bones, bone fragments, and teeth from various fauna have been collected since 1978 from this site by Theodore Pitsios and his team. There are

12771-419: The lungs and retained moisture ("nasal radiator" hypothesis); if their noses were wider, it would differ to the generally narrowed shape in cold-adapted creatures, and that it would have been caused instead by genetic drift . Also, the sinuses reconstructed wide are not grossly large, being comparable in size to those of modern humans. However, if sinus size is not an important factor for breathing cold air, then

12900-452: The many other countries of the Greek diaspora . Greek roots have been widely used for centuries and continue to be widely used to coin new words in other languages; Greek and Latin are the predominant sources of international scientific vocabulary . Greek has been spoken in the Balkan peninsula since around the 3rd millennium BC, or possibly earlier. The earliest written evidence is

13029-494: The material record in things like social behaviours, technological innovation and artistic output. The lack of sunlight most likely led to the proliferation of lighter skin in Neanderthals; however, it has been recently claimed that light skin in modern Europeans was not particularly prolific until perhaps the Bronze Age . Genetically, BNC2 was present in Neanderthals, which is associated with light skin colour; however,

13158-475: The middle of the century, based on the exposure of Piltdown Man as a hoax as well as a reexamination of La Chapelle-aux-Saints 1 (who had osteoarthritis which caused slouching in life) and new discoveries, the scientific community began to rework its understanding of Neanderthals. Ideas such as Neanderthal behaviour, intelligence and culture were being discussed, and a more humanlike image of them emerged. In 1939, American anthropologist Carleton Coon reconstructed

13287-465: The morphological changes also have their counterparts in the syntax, and there are also significant differences between the syntax of the ancient and that of the modern form of the language . Ancient Greek made great use of participial constructions and of constructions involving the infinitive, and the modern variety lacks the infinitive entirely (employing a raft of new periphrastic constructions instead) and uses participles more restrictively. The loss of

13416-528: The most suitable Neanderthal habitats. Populations may have peaked in cold but not extreme intervals, such as marine isotope stages 8 and 6 (respectively, 300,000 and 191,000 years ago during the Saale glaciation). It is possible their range expanded and contracted as the ice retreated and grew, respectively, to avoid permafrost areas, residing in certain refuge zones during glacial maxima. In 2021, Israeli anthropologist Israel Hershkovitz and colleagues suggested

13545-487: The period of the Neanderthal/modern human transition, and Neanderthals may have been at a demographic disadvantage due to a lower fertility rate, a higher infant mortality rate, or a combination of the two. Estimates giving a total population in the higher tens of thousands are contested. A consistently low population may be explained in the context of the " Boserupian Trap ": a population's carrying capacity

13674-440: The prolific pathologist Rudolf Virchow who argued against defining new species based on only a single find. In 1872, Virchow erroneously interpreted Neanderthal characteristics as evidence of senility , disease and malformation instead of archaicness, which stalled Neanderthal research until the end of the century. By the early 20th century, numerous other Neanderthal discoveries were made, establishing H. neanderthalensis as

13803-510: The proportion of eumelanin (black pigment) to phaeomelanin (red pigment)—which is encoded by the MC1R gene. There are five known variants in modern humans of the gene which cause loss-of-function and are associated with light skin and hair colour, and another unknown variant in Neanderthals (the R307G variant) which could be associated with pale skin and red hair. The R307G variant was identified in

13932-455: The rear, the Neanderthal braincase has lower, wider, rounder appearance than in anatomically modern humans. This characteristic shape is referred to as "en bombe" (bomb-like), and is unique to Neanderthals, with all other hominid species (including most modern humans) generally having narrow and relatively upright cranial vaults, when viewed from behind. The Neanderthal brain would have been characterised by relatively smaller parietal lobes and

14061-480: The reduced effectivity of natural selection . Various studies, using mtDNA analysis, yield varying effective populations, such as about 1,000 to 5,000; 5,000 to 9,000 remaining constant; or 3,000 to 25,000 steadily increasing until 52,000 years ago before declining until extinction. Archaeological evidence suggests that there was a tenfold increase in the modern human population in Western Europe during

14190-643: The regions of Apulia and Calabria in Italy. In the framework of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages , Greek is protected and promoted officially as a regional and minority language in Armenia, Hungary , Romania, and Ukraine. It is recognized as a minority language and protected in Turkey by the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne . The phonology , morphology , syntax , and vocabulary of

14319-702: The same causes as the co-existing remains of extinct animal species. In 1848, Gibraltar 1 from Forbes' Quarry was presented to the Gibraltar Scientific Society by their Secretary Lieutenant Edmund Henry Réné Flint, but was thought to be a modern human skull. In 1856, local schoolteacher Johann Carl Fuhlrott recognised bones from Kleine Feldhofer Grotte in Neander Valley—Neanderthal 1 (the holotype specimen )—as distinct from modern humans, and gave them to German anthropologist Hermann Schaaffhausen to study in 1857. It comprised

14448-540: The same, about 285  N (64 lbf) and 255 N (57 lbf) in modern human males and females, respectively. The Neanderthal braincase averages 1,640 cm (100 cu in) for males and 1,460 cm (89 cu in) for females, which is significantly larger than the averages for all groups of extant humans; for example, modern European males average 1,362 cm (83.1 cu in) and females 1,201 cm (73.3 cu in). For 28 modern human specimens from 190,000 to 25,000 years ago,

14577-531: The specimen without fractures and breaks in order to visualize a clearer view of one of the earliest European hominid samples to date. In a 2019 study a research team proposed a hypothesis these Hominids present a mixture of modern human and primitive features. This makes Apidima 1 the oldest evidence of Homo sapiens outside Africa, more than 150,000 years older than previous H. sapiens finds in Europe. The lead researcher, Katerina Harvati , summarized, "Our results suggest that at least two groups of people lived in

14706-413: The standard English pronunciation of th with the fricative / θ / (as / n i ˈ æ n d ər θ ɔː l / ). The latter pronunciation, nevertheless, has no basis in the original German word which is pronounced always with a t regardless of the historical spelling. Neanderthal 1 , the type specimen , was known as the "Neanderthal cranium" or "Neanderthal skull" in anthropological literature, and

14835-437: The stressed vowel; the so-called breathing marks ( rough and smooth breathing ), originally used to signal presence or absence of word-initial /h/; and the diaeresis , used to mark the full syllabic value of a vowel that would otherwise be read as part of a diphthong. These marks were introduced during the course of the Hellenistic period. Actual usage of the grave in handwriting saw a rapid decline in favor of uniform usage of

14964-477: The water surface and were occupied by early people. The complex consists of four small caves, designated "A", "B", "C" and "D". It was formed by erosion within the Middle Triassic to Late Eocene limestone of depth 500 m (1,600 ft), from 4–24 m (13–79 ft) above sea level, in a vertical zone of depth 20 m (66 ft). The development of the caves is due to the vertical strikes of

15093-442: The wider lower thorax. It is claimed by some that this feature would be normal for all Homo , even tropically-adapted Homo ergaster or erectus , with the condition of a narrower thorax in most modern humans being a unique characteristic. Body proportions are usually cited as being "hyperarctic" as adaptations to the cold, because they are similar to those of human populations which developed in cold climates —the Neanderthal build

15222-574: Was a distinct dialect of Greek itself. Aside from the Macedonian question, current consensus regards Phrygian as the closest relative of Greek, since they share a number of phonological, morphological and lexical isoglosses , with some being exclusive between them. Scholars have proposed a Graeco-Phrygian subgroup out of which Greek and Phrygian originated. Among living languages, some Indo-Europeanists suggest that Greek may be most closely related to Armenian (see Graeco-Armenian ) or

15351-427: Was also found. Apidima I consists of the posterior portion of the cranium which does show signs of erosion. This specimen is suspected of being of similar taxonomic designation as Apidima II though, as of 2019, no testing had been done Apidima 1 has been found to have more modern features but still presents some older, more primitive features. In a 2019 article written by Katerina Harvati (et.al.) for Nature Journal, it

15480-557: Was also used in Ancient Greek. Greek has occasionally been written in the Latin script , especially in areas under Venetian rule or by Greek Catholics . The term Frankolevantinika / Φραγκολεβαντίνικα applies when the Latin script is used to write Greek in the cultural ambit of Catholicism (because Frankos / Φράγκος is an older Greek term for West-European dating to when most of (Roman Catholic Christian) West Europe

15609-425: Was an unusually high frequency of taurodontism , a condition where the molars are bulkier due to an enlarged pulp (tooth core). Taurodontism was once thought to have been a distinguishing characteristic of Neanderthals which lent some mechanical advantage or stemmed from repetitive use, but was more likely simply a product of genetic drift. The bite force of Neanderthals and modern humans is now thought to be about

15738-556: Was by far the most widely spoken lingua franca in the Mediterranean world . It eventually became the official language of the Byzantine Empire and developed into Medieval Greek . In its modern form , Greek is the official language of Greece and Cyprus and one of the 24 official languages of the European Union . It is spoken by at least 13.5 million people today in Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Albania, Turkey , and

15867-410: Was found. The valley was spelled Neanderthal and the species was spelled Neanderthaler in German until the spelling reform of 1901 . The spelling Neandertal for the species is occasionally seen in English, even in scientific publications, but the scientific name, H. neanderthalensis , is always spelled with th according to the principle of priority . The vernacular name of the species in German

15996-444: Was hypothesized that Apidima 1 may be an early example of Neanderthal prior to the changes in the overall cranial structures, but after the facial features had been developed. Apidima 1 is estimated to date to more than 200 thousand years ago. The second crania, labeled Apidima 2 is more representative of Neanderthal . A continuous and large brow ridge is present consistent with measurements with Neanderthal fossils found elsewhere. It

16125-485: Was recorded in writing systems such as Linear B and the Cypriot syllabary . The alphabet arose from the Phoenician script and was in turn the basis of the Latin , Cyrillic , Coptic , Gothic , and many other writing systems. The Greek language holds a very important place in the history of the Western world. Beginning with the epics of Homer , ancient Greek literature includes many works of lasting importance in

16254-580: Was under the control of the Frankish Empire ). Frankochiotika / Φραγκοχιώτικα (meaning 'Catholic Chiot') alludes to the significant presence of Catholic missionaries based on the island of Chios . Additionally, the term Greeklish is often used when the Greek language is written in a Latin script in online communications. The Latin script is nowadays used by the Greek-speaking communities of Southern Italy . The Yevanic dialect

16383-412: Was used as evidence that multiple different and unrelated branches of primitive humans existed, and supported Boule's reconstruction of H. neanderthalensis as a far distant relative and an evolutionary dead-end . He fuelled the popular image of Neanderthals as barbarous, slouching, club-wielding primitives; this image was reproduced for several decades and popularised in science fiction works, such as

16512-637: Was used for literary and official purposes in the newly formed Greek state. In 1976, Dimotiki was declared the official language of Greece, after having incorporated features of Katharevousa and thus giving birth to Standard Modern Greek , used today for all official purposes and in education . The historical unity and continuing identity between the various stages of the Greek language are often emphasized. Although Greek has undergone morphological and phonological changes comparable to those seen in other languages, never since classical antiquity has its cultural, literary, and orthographic tradition been interrupted to

16641-673: Was written by Romaniote and Constantinopolitan Karaite Jews using the Hebrew Alphabet . In a tradition, that in modern time, has come to be known as Greek Aljamiado , some Greek Muslims from Crete wrote their Cretan Greek in the Arabic alphabet . The same happened among Epirote Muslims in Ioannina . This also happened among Arabic-speaking Byzantine rite Christians in the Levant ( Lebanon , Palestine, and Syria ). This usage

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