National Geographic: Neandertals, Modern Humans May Have Interbred
I think I could have told you this just from driving around Ames on a daily basis (oh snap!) but: Neandertals, Modern Humans May Have Interbred, Skull Study Suggests
Comparisons to other skulls suggest the Romanian skull clearly belongs to a modern human, said paper co-author Erik Trinkaus, an anthropologist at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.
“But some characteristics are extremely unusual and rather archaic,” he said.
I have this huge bump on the back of my head, which probably means that I’m decended from camel-men…but that’s just my theory.
This possibility has been suggested by Creation scientists for years noting that Neaderthals and Cro Magnon man, if suited up and shaved, would pass us on the sidewalk and we would never know the difference. They were both, including Heidelberg man, were fully human! Artist’s depictions of them as hairy, stooped ape-men were influenced by diseased skeletons and evolutionary assumptions.
I think it’s pretty obvious, if you are in an area where there are people from many cultures (say… central ISU campus at passing time), and you watch people, that we come in many many varieties of shapes, sizes, and even bone structures.
Look at peoples heads sometime, there are many different shapes. Some even look a little more “primitive” than others. (That word “primitive” probably meaning “less aryan/euro-centric than others”)
Thanks for that little insight though Tim, didn’t know that about diseased skeletons.
I think we, as a species, are always looking for reasons why we are “different”. Often, if someone is different from us, we conclude they are either better or worse than we are, smarter or dumber, and even human and less human. This attitude is found in all cultures and in all times of human existance… look at Cain and Abel… even the first sons of Adam and Eve were very different, and it caused strife…