Neanderthals most likely interbred with modern humans

[BigMcLargehuge]

and were thus assimilated (borg like.... Boooo spooooky!!!).

Modern Humans, Neanderthals May Have Interbred

By E.J. Mundell
HealthDay Reporter Mon Oct 30, 5:03 PM ET

MONDAY, Oct. 30 (HealthDay News) -- There may be a little Neanderthal in all of us.

That's the conclusion of anthropologists who have re-examined 30,000-year-old fossilized bones from a Romanian cave -- bones that languished in a drawer since the 1950s.

According to the researchers, these early Homo sapien bones show anatomical features that could only have arisen if the adult female in question had Neanderthal ancestors as part of her lineage.

The findings may answer nagging questions: Did modern humans and Neanderthals interbreed on a significant scale? And were the Neanderthals exterminated about 28,000 years ago -- as some anthropologists contend -- or did they gradually assimilate into the gene pool of people living today?

<snip>

http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20061030/hl_hsn/modernhumansneanderthalsmayhaveinterbred

[InvisibleTouch]

1. Were they exterminated or assimilated?

Probably a bit of both.

[Kerrytravelers]

2. And the lasting results?

Republicans.



See, evolution is a fact after al. Now we have proof.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

3. I've posted this before on the Science forum, but it bears repeating

The habitat of the Neanderthals (Europe and the Middle East) coincides almost exactly with the regions where pink-beige skin, light-colored hair, and blue eyes (remember the Afghan girl on the National Geographic cover?) are found. Everywhere else in the world, people have black hair, tan to black skin, and brown eyes.

The accepted theory is that Europeans developed their pale coloring as a means of coping with the lack of sunlight in the winter, because too little exposure to sunlight can lead to Vitamin D deficiency. Yet Homo Sapiens have been in Europe for only about 50,000 years, as opposed to the Neanderthals,

Furthermore, it's known that Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens coexisted for thousands of years in the Middle East, the first stop on the way out of Africa.

The first part of the Biblical book of Genesis, obviously a disjointed collection of scraps of oral tradition, speaks of "giants in the earth" and "the sons of God taking the daughters of men."

Physical anthropologists believe that Neanderthals would have been much more muscular than modern humans and so would have seemed like "giants" to the first Africans venturing northward.

[XemaSab]

6. White people STRONG!

GAH! White people carry big stick! Hit people with! :bounce:

[mainegreen]

7. The jury will be out on this one until we fully sequence the Neanderthal genome

but I've often thought about the odd overlap of certain features and Neanderthal range. That, and I've seen many modern Europeans (including one friend of mine) who look absolutely like Neanderthals.

Unfortunately both sides right now are arguing with insufficient evidence to settle it one way or another.

Personally, I'm hoping interbreeding happened. It's good for genetic diversity!

[matcom]

4. NOW we know how republicans were created

[hedgehog]

8. More anti-Neanderthal prejudice!

What would you say if I told you that there is one theory in circulation that the original Irish and Scots (I'm talking before the Celts here) where the last Neanderthals? Supposedly, that's where the red hair comes from; not to mention a little bit of ESP.

[peekaloo]

5. Take a close look at Sean Hannity. n/t

[bif]

9. I think my neighborr is mostly Neanderthal!

[xchrom]

10. of course they did. people fuck.

i don't WHY that concept is so resisted.

people fuck -- any time, any where, and with just about any one.

[bikebloke]

11. Sluts

Nor is it saying much about those horn dog homo sapiens. But who knows after a few beers, while watching NASROCK races....

[Taverner]

12. That means we all carry their genes

Which explains a lot: fundamentalist Xians, Focus on the Family, the 32% and all that

[wildhorses]

13. isn't this the premise for Jean M. Auel series--

"The Clan of the Cave Bear" :shrug: