Topic: Delving into the Neanderthal Genome

http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/science/07/20/neanderthal.genome.ap/index.html

Should be interesting...

I have been waiting for this for a loooong time!

Exciting indeed!

From new findings, we know that the Neanderthals were carnivores - meat-eaters like wolves, where meat constituted 85% of the normal diet.

Examination of the brain lobes also introduces a rather interesting note - Neanderthals seem to be missing the area of the brain (the fore-lobe area) that is responsible for controlling aggression.

Combine that with the ancient tales of Orcs, goblins, etc and things start to look interesting (well, to me anyway! )

Since I have always wondered about the rather abrupt extinction of the Neanderthal after contact with Modern Humans, perhaps Neanderthals were not "picky" about WHAT they ate, were extremely aggressive, and considered the newcomers just more meat for the evening fireplace. Perhaps our ancestors were engaged in a bitter war of survival - perhaps we will learn more about this from what is found in the Genome.

In any regards, I am really looking forwards to what they are able to find out!

WebShaman | The keenest sorrow (and greatest truth) is to recognize ourselves as the sole cause of all our adversities.
- Sophocles

(Edited by WebShaman on 07-24-2006 15:25)

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WebShaman said:

I have been waiting for this for a loooong time!

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You probably aren't the only one
This is so very exciting... I've also just had a look to refresh my memory about when they used to live, and found that they only disappeared 30,000 years ago!*
It probably won't surprise many people, but it did surprise me to (re)discover a few things.

* [edit] What surprised me most was to realise than Homo neanderthalensis and Homo sapiens seem to have been two different species (which we'll soon be ably to find out ); which lead me to think: what would have happened if both Homo neanderthalensis and Homo sapiens had evolved until now along with each other? Yikes! I know there probably are thousands of reasons why this wouldn't have been possible, but still, what a party it could have been

(Edited by kimson on 07-24-2006 16:21)

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kimson said:

What surprised me most was to realise than Homo neanderthalensis and Homo sapiens seem to have been two different species

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One of the more common misconceptions is to think that modern humans evolved from the Neanderthal - but we simply evolved from a common ancestor.

Yes, we seemed to have both evolved from the Homo Heidelbergensis, as shown on this graph

I wonder what I learnt at school, as I really don't remember this!

I wasn't really excited until I read WebShaman's post.

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kimson said:

Yes, we seemed to have both evolved from the Homo Heidelbergensis, as shown on this graph

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"According to the "Recent Out of Africa" theory, similar "Archaic Homo sapiens" found in Africa (ie. Homo rhodesiensis and Homo sapiens idaltu), and not Homo heidelbergensis, are thought to be direct ancestors of modern Homo sapiens. Homo antecessor is likely a direct ancestor living 750,000 years ago evolving into Homo heidelbergensis appearing in the fossil record living roughly 600,000 to 250,000 years ago through various areas of Europe." ? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homo_heidelbergensis

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kimson said:

I wonder what I learnt at school, as I really don't remember this!

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I didn't learn anything like this until college from an anthropology course with an exceptionally cool instructor.

Remember, Cro-Magnon est français, pronounce it as such!

(Edited by reisio on 07-24-2006 20:44)