Re: Could our big brains come from Neanderthals?


John Roth wrote:
pete wrote:
on 10 Nov 2006 15:14:20 -0800, Lee Olsen <paleocity@xxxxxxxxxxx> sez:

Jois wrote:
"Spanish Paranoia" <laparanoia@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message


[...]

Doesn't this say that 30% of the human population has inferior
brains?

No, if I have Roth's explanation right (and I probably don't :-), and
what the article is actually saying,

"Lahn and his coauthors suggest that the haplogroup might have made
Homo sapiens better able to adapt to the Eurasian environments that
Neandertals had occupied long before modern newcomers arrived."

See my comment elsewhere in this topic on this one.


People were moving out of Africa before AMH came in contact with
Neanderthals - they don't have the D allele?

Right.

The conclusion here must be that despite the association with brain
development, variation in this gene (short of microcephalic pathology)
does not have a significant effect on overall intellectual function.

The only feasible conclusion is that we don't know. Given the high
rate of spread, it's got to be doing something. It might not be
brain function; after all microcephalin is expressed in several other
tissues. But I wouldn't bet on it.

I think what Pete is saying is that because Africans don't have it, it
can't have anything to do with "intelectual" function or else Africans
would have it, equal as they are. So in that sense it is feasible that
we do know what it isn't.


...But hey, remember the guy who used to post here who was convinced
that autism/Asperger's was due to a Hn gene? Within that idea is the
notion that genes from Hn might change behaviour, but not overall
intellectual ability. That's not out of the question, but it would
be difficult to tease out, I would guess.

That was before I rejoined. As a possibility it's not ruled
out, but that's mostly because we don't know the actual
genetic basis of any of the autism-spectrum disorders.
In other words, I consider it a piece of wild hand-waving.


What does this mean in terms of
race?

Nothing as far as Hss, it might have something to do with Neandertals
being the same species as us.

And would this give Klein's theory of the great leap that occurred in
the AMH a great leap forward?

No, I thought that at first also, but the advantage was only claimed
for "Eurasian environments." This makes sense because the 10% of
Europens that don't have the special D are not enviromentally
challenged, but probably came more recently from a warmer or an African
type environment. Roth said 100% D in Native Americans. This also is
OK, because their ancestors spent more time farther north (developing
shoveled incisors and such), weeding out the non-Ds, thus finally
ending up in the Americas at 100%.

I would guess if this haplogroup distribution is as they say, it
must be pretty much non-existent in Australian aborigines. I'm
not aware of any suggestion that the Aa's are particularly mentally
deficient. Australia continues to refute Klein's theory, and
he seems to have failed to address it at all, that I'm aware.
It would seem he must reject the accepted dates for Australian
occupation...

Since I'm not sure what Klein's theory you're refering to, I
can't comment on that. What I will say is that the last three

http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2002/may1/klein-51.html
Neutral Mutation Hypothesis @ 50,000 kya.


weeks or so seems to have completely rehabilitated multi-regionalism,
which puts the entire race question back on the front burner,
where a lot of people can get third degree burns if they're not
careful how they handle it (and possibly if they are).

WRT the Australian aborigine question: I understand it's a
very sensitive issue in Australia. It might even be more
sensitive than the Native American question is here in the
States, hard as that is for me to believe. Before making any
pronouncements on that, I'd be very careful to read the
literature on settlement waves. I'm under the impression
that it's more complex than one settlement at an early
date.

More than one early? I missed that, got a citation?



John Roth



--
==========================================================================
vincent@triumf[munge].ca Pete Vincent
Disclaimer: all I know I learned from reading Usenet.

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Could our big brains come from Neanderthals?
    ... John Roth wrote: ... Homo sapiens better able to adapt to the Eurasian environments that ... I think what Pete is saying is that because Africans don't have it, ... It would seem he must reject the accepted dates for Australian ...
    (sci.anthropology.paleo)
  • Re: Could our big brains come from Neanderthals?
    ... Homo sapiens better able to adapt to the Eurasian environments that ... Neandertals had occupied long before modern newcomers arrived." ... Roth said 100% D in Native Americans. ... It would seem he must reject the accepted dates for Australian ...
    (sci.anthropology.paleo)