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| Science & Technology |
| Human and |
| 2007-01-16 |
| A 40,000-year-old skull found in a Romanian cave shows traits of both modern humans and Neanderthals and might prove the two interbred, researchers reported on Monday. If the findings are confirmed, the skull would represent the oldest modern human remains yet found in Europe. The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, will add to the debate over whether modern Homo sapiens simply killed off their Neanderthal cousins, or had some intimate interactions with them first. DNA samples taken from Neanderthal bones suggest there was no mixing, or at least that any Neanderthal genetic contribution did not make it to the modern DNA pool. But Erik Trinkaus of Washington University in St. Louis has in the past found bones that he believes show both modern human and Neanderthal traits, and now he and colleagues have found a skull. The skull, probably that of a teenager, has been dated to 40,000 years ago and shows many modern traits. But it also is a little flatter than most modern Homo sapiens, and exceptionally large upper molars more associated with Neanderthals. "Such differences raise important questions about the evolutionary history of modern humans," said Joao Zilhao of the University of Bristol in Britain, who worked on the study. It could be "evolutionary reversal" he said -- humans changing back into archaic forms. "They could also reflect admixture with Neanderthal populations as modern humans spread through western Eurasia," Zilhao said in a statement. "This mixture would have resulted in both archaic traits retained from the Neanderthals and unique combinations of traits resulting from the blending of previously divergent gene pools." Modern humans are believed to have spread into Europe around 45,000 to 50,000 years ago, and had completely replaced the older Neanderthals by 30,000 years ago. But that means at least 10,000 years of living side by side, and artifacts attributed to the more modern humans have been found at Neanderthal sites. Neanderthals were also once designated Homo sapiens, although are a designated subspecies -- Homan sapiens neanderthalis. But some experts now designate them as a separate species -- Homo neanderthalis. Zilhao, Trinkaus and colleagues examined the skull from the Pestera cu Oase, or the Cave with Bones, in southwestern Romania. It was mostly full of bones from cave bears but then the researchers found some human skull fragments. They are the earliest modern human remains found in Europe, although last week researchers reported finding 45,000-year-old human artifacts in Russia south of Moscow. |
| Posted by:Jackal |
| #9 They could also reflect admixture with Neanderthal populations... It was mostly full of bones from cave bears... Ayla? Durc? |
| Posted by: Angie Schultz 2007-01-16 22:38 |
| #8 half human and half VHS-zoid Go to your room. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2007-01-16 21:48 |
| #7 1) Sapiens and/or Neandertal must find the other palatable enough to have intercourse. Hey, it's all good! |
| Posted by: Chuck Darwin 2007-01-16 14:41 |
| #6 Reminds me of the story of Dianna Troi from STNextGen. She was half human and half betazoid. She said one time she was worried she would be replaced by someone who was half human and half VHS-zoid. |
| Posted by: mhw 2007-01-16 14:04 |
| #5 There was a theory floating around that HIV/AIDS was originally contracted by bush-meat hunters having sex with monkeys, there's that woman who wanted to marry the performing dolphin of her dreams ... and we know the sharia position on sex with quadropeds. There are those uninterested in the conventionality of the appearance of their sex object. Not to mention European/American explorers happily taking native wives for the duration, sometimes for life (Mr. Wife's great grandfather apparently had an Iroquois wife, which somehow everyone managed not to notice, even though they're all descended from her). |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2007-01-16 13:13 |
| #4 Sapiens and/or Neandertal must find the other palatable enough to have intercourse. Never went to bed with a Neandertal chick, but I've woken up with a few. (rimshot) Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all week. Try the veal...... |
| Posted by: Steve 2007-01-16 12:14 |
| #3 But this was in "laboratory" conditions and with a non-gregarious species. Consider this: 1) Sapiens and/or Neandertal must find the other palatable enough to have intercourse. Preferrably not one time in a million (near guarantee that at one point the hybrid line would extinguish) but quite frequently. 2) Differnce between species must be small enough for union being fecund 3) Even if it is fecund, humans are basically a gregarious species with little chances of surviving if mother or child is thrown out of the tribe (because she has had a baby who doesn't look right or "because you don't look like one of us"). If mother and baby are not thrown out of the tribe they still could be subject to discriminations => less food => weak baby who, if a boy, has little chances to prevail in competition against other males or, if a girl, could have fecundity reduced due to lack of food. 4) He/she will look funny to other sapiens, other neandertals so it is not sure he/she will find a partner. BTW that is another reason why it is requirement to have a significant number of hybrids (not just one in a million): because then hybrids can mate other hybrids, form tribes of hybrids and this greatly increases the chances of the hybrid genetic line surviving 5) If differnces between parents are great enough then he/she will be sterile |
| Posted by: JFM 2007-01-16 11:39 |
| #2 Still, it's been recently demonstrated that polar and grizzly bears can successfully interbreed... |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2007-01-16 10:52 |
| #1 It is not even sure that sex between Sapiens and Neandertalis could lead to the birth to a hybrid and still less sure that this hybrid would not have been sterile. |
| Posted by: JFM 2007-01-16 07:52 |