Thanks
Interesting article on Neanderthals if anyone is interested
by Randomthoughts 14 Replies latest social current
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goingthruthemotions
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Earnest
Also interesting is the article in the April 2014 article in PLOS, Neandertal Demise: An Archaeological Analysis of the Modern Human Superiority Complex, which indicates that "the debate on the demise of the Neandertals needs to be reframed in terms of some degree of interbreeding. In that sense, Neandertals did not go extinct, even though their distinctive morphology did disappear".
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Apognophos
To be more serious than I was in my last post, one of the interesting things about Neanderthals is that they had larger brains than we do. This is in addition to being stronger than us and having almost the same DNA. It's difficult to imagine why they died out if they weren't less intelligent than us (which we can't really know because brain size does not directly equate to IQ), but the main theories have to do with physiological issues that could not be corrected by evolution fast enough to keep up with Homo sapiens, such as intolerance to temperature extremes.
One thing that scientists can't tell from looking at skeletons is if a difference in racial personality was the cause of losing the competition against modern humans. For all we know, Neanderthals may have been our brainier ancestors who did too much thinking and talking, and too little fighting and $%^&ing.
Since we have the genome now, I think there's only one way to find out, which is to start making test-tube Neanderthal babies. Any volunteers to carry one to term?
