Re: neanderthal-dna-illuminates-split-with-humans


jsavard@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
G Horvat wrote:

Are the above two statements compatible?

Neandertal mtDNA sequences are much closer to human than chimp.

That is true. I would indeed be surprised if the two lineages had
diverged, say, 3 million years ago (half the time when the human and
chimp lineages diverged).

But I have no problems - even just given Neanderthal Man's general
appearance - with modern humans and Neanderthal having split separately
from H. erectus rather than from any subsequent descendant of H.
erectus, even H. antecessor.

This piece is a bit of logic chopping: since, baring hybredization,
species split in a tree structure. There is a _single_ common
ancestor to modern h.sapiens and h.neandertal.


Given what we know about endogenous retroviruses in chimpanzees, I also
think that we shouldn't criticize our Cro-Magnon ancestors too harshly
for wiping out H. neandertalensis; rival tribes of humans, after all,
often raided each other for women - and if there was a Neanderthal
Endogenous Retrovirus that produced an AIDS-like disease in H. sapiens,
they would have had good reason.

It could well be true that instead of being directly exterminated,
Neanderthals were simply driven out into the margins, until they died
from starvation - although, I suspect that Neanderthals wouldn't take
that fate lying down any more than humans. So of the last few
Neanderthals, the adult males might well have been killed for raiding
crops or trespassing on hunting grounds, with the women and children
left to starve nonviolently.

Nobody knows yet. My personal opinion is that all of
what's been published to date is either cultural assumptions
of ours masquerading as deep thought, or so much hot air
emitted to plump up publications and elevate the speaker's
visiblity.

John Roth

John Savard

.

Relevant Pages

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  • Re: New Cytochrome C evidence
    ... Neanderthals and humans lived about 660,000 years ago, give or take ... Neandertal mtDNA falls outside the variation of extant human mtDNAs, ... Neandertal mtDNA was reduced compared with other primate lineages, ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: New Cytochrome C evidence
    ... Neanderthals and humans lived about 660,000 years ago, give or take ... Neandertal mtDNA falls outside the variation of extant human mtDNAs, ... That is a far too simplistic look on cytochrome oxidase mutations. ...
    (talk.origins)