Steven Churchill is an associate professor here at Duke whose specialty is paleoanthropology. Big word. Basically, he conducts research on early humans, trying to determine how they hunted, adapted to their environment, and how they lived. Recently, Churchill was involved in finding new evidence for the theory that modern humans helped kill off Neanderthals. This new evidence came in the form of the remains of Shanidar 3, a male Neanderthal with a sharp wound to his rib. Churchill and researchers determined a projectile weapon caused the wound and at this time, modern humans were the only ones to use projectile weapons.
While this new research cannot absolutely tell us what happened thousands and thousands of years ago, scientists and paleoanthropologists like Professor Churchill are continuing to piece together and refine what may have been the scenario back then and how we, in the 21st century, came to be. Remarkable huh?
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Duke chapter.