Study: Neanderthal DNA Lives On in Modern Humans

[ImTellinTim]

Re: Study: Neanderthal DNA Lives On in Modern Humans

I'm not trying to bring religion or any type of discussion into anything.

BUT...the bolded made me LOL

Me too. Quite the statement there. If that was intentional, well played sir.

[MassNole]

Re: Study: Neanderthal DNA Lives On in Modern Humans

I'm a McGill grad who studied Archaeology mainly. I studied under the best in the world in this subject and my biggest paper was on the (possible) interactions between regular humans (homo sapiens) and Neanderthals.

they lived in the same area for about 10,000 years, so one can safely assume that they had run-ins with each other. What isn't certain is what happened.

In my research I argued that it was one of the following possibilities that brought Neanderthals to an end.

1) extinction via warfare vs sapeins
2) extinction via disease via sapiens * that was my original idea extrapolated from classical history ex. euro's and native americans
3) extinction via natural selection pressured by land competition and migration further up mountain ranges
4) extinction via interbreeding with sapiens - human bands and number were lager which would have basically engulfed them (although arguments raged whether breeding was possible)

- or some combination such as mild war-fare and migration and disease.

The bottom line is it's not provable to an absolute and will remain unknown. It is extremely fascinating though to think of mankind's first encounter with a different species of homo. Imagine witnessing that! what would the first inclination be? At this point in history migrating bands probably didn't war so much with eachother and would have had to interact on occasion especially to curtail incest. I wonder if they immediately recognized neanderthals as fundamentally different?

It's amazing really.

I'd love to see this paper.

[allBthere]

Re: Study: Neanderthal DNA Lives On in Modern Humans

Sounds like an interesting paper. I'm very interested in genetics myself would like to read the paper of which the news story posted by OP is about. One interesting about H. neanderthalensis that the story didn't mention is that they actually had a larger brain capacity than fully modern H. sapiens sapiens. However, I think I read a news story some years ago about some researchers examining the structure of the neanderthal hyoid bone and thoat structure and determing that they were not sufficiently adapted for spoken language. I could be wrong though as I think I was still in high school when I read that article so it was a long time ago.

Yes, they did have larger cranium's up to 1600 cc's if I remember correctly. The issue with their brain size was the underdeveloped frontal lobes. They had sloped foreheads (to the extreme), and most psychologist's agree that our thinking/intelligence capacity is thanks to the frontal lobes.

They were not 'stupid' though, there is some evidence of 'altruism' which was bones of an older individual who was missing and arm via deformity - meaning the group would have had to take care of that person or 'take up the slack' so to speak. There is also limited evidence pointing to 'ritual' ...such as burial techniques. They also fashioned a variety of tools to use and would have 'taught' this to pass on to younger ones. They would have also been much stronger than regular humans as they were much more heavily muscled.

But some of this info suggests that they would have had some sort of communication...perhaps some would have been rudimentary language.

I can't believe I'm remembering some of this stuff from 6 years ago! I does make me want to look up what's been discussed/uncovered since.

[allBthere]

Re: Study: Neanderthal DNA Lives On in Modern Humans

I remember my first encounter.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clGef...eature=related

[allBthere]

Re: Study: Neanderthal DNA Lives On in Modern Humans

I'd love to see this paper.

Thanks. Me too actually...I think it's gone forever though. Gmail is pretty cool as I see that I've saved a bunch of other ones accidentally - but this one is either in a box somewhere or just gone.

I remember in the breeding section I had pictures from 'physical types' pictures (ectomorph, mesomorph and endomorph and combinations) from studies of the 40s,50s and 60s and tried to see how incorporating neanderthals into our genetics could have affected physical structures. ... I photocopied so many though that months later my roommates and I would find black and white pictures taped in strange places and our rooms of naked people lol.

[chicubsfan20]

Re: Study: Neanderthal DNA Lives On in Modern Humans

I could've told you this without some study after visiting the Madden forum.

LOL man thats classic

[Jukeman]

Re: Study: Neanderthal DNA Lives On in Modern Humans

I could've told you this without some study after visiting the Madden forum.

beat me to it