Neanderthal Genome Project.....

[Dr Mordrid]

http://www.sci-tech-today.com/story.xhtml?story_id=1100067UCD4I

Neanderthal Genome Project Launches

July 20, 2006 10:27AM

"By having Neanderthal, we'll really be able to home in on the small percentage of differences that gave us higher cognitive abilities. Neanderthal is going to open the box. It's not going to answer the question, but it's going to tell where to look to understand all of those higher cognitive functions."

[Brian Ellis]

Maybe they'll discover the cognitive abilities of Neanderthal will exceed that of 50% of h. sapiens!

[KvHagedorn]

We'll never really know, now will we? It's likely the IQ ranges overlap, but in the end, who killed who off? If the damned PC crowd had been alive and kicking back then, CM man would have been required to stop having children in order to support Neanderthals until we eventually died out.

[Dr Mordrid]

Maybe they'll discover the cognitive abilities of Neanderthal will exceed that of 50% of h. sapiens!

They did have 10-15% larger brains.

We'll never really know, now will we? It's likely the IQ ranges overlap, but in the end, who killed who off? If the damned PC crowd had been alive and kicking back then, CM man would have been required to stop having children in order to support Neanderthals until we eventually died out.

Actually a lot of people think they were just poorly adapted to changing conditions. A more adaptable breed, us, just out-survived them.

[lowlifecat]

They did have 10-15% larger brains.

Actually a lot of people think they were just poorly adapted to changing conditions. A more adaptable breed, us, just out-survived them.

Modern humans have been around for ~100k years. Neanderthals where around for over 300k years before they died out. they pretty much vanished after we showed up on the scene.

[KvHagedorn]

They did have 10-15% larger brains.

Did this not correspond to a proportionately more robust body? Brain/Body mass ratio is the important thing. Whales and elephants have much marger brains than do humans, but their bodies are much more massive as well. A petite woman might have a smaller brain than a large man, but her IQ is not correspondingly lower.

[Dr Mordrid]

The Neanderthal (Homo neanderthalensis) or Neandertal was a species of the Homo genus that inhabited Europe and parts of western Asia. The first proto-Neanderthal traits appear in Europe as early as 350,000 years ago, by 130,000 years ago, full blown Neanderthal characteristics had appeared and by 50,000 years ago, Neanderthals disappeared from Europe, although they continued in Asia to 30,000 years ago.

Neanderthals had many adaptations to a cold climate, such as large braincases, short but robust builds, and large noses — traits selected by nature in cold climates, as observed in modern sub-arctic populations.
>
Fate of the Neanderthals

No one knows why neanderthals became extinct. There are currently three theories as to why neanderthalensis, which persisted for 200,000 years, are no longer extant.

Unable to adapt

As the European populations of neanderthalensis were adapted for a cold environment, it is possible that they were unable to adapt to the warming climate at the end of the most recent ice age.

Unable to compete

It is possible that Neaderthals were unable to compete with H. sapiens as they moved into neanderthalensis territory in Europe. This could have taken the form of direct competition (open conflict and warfare between the species) or indirect competition (reduced access to resources).

Introgression into H. sapiens

It is likely that there was contact between Neanderthal and Cro-magnon populations (see "Multiregional hypothesis"), but the absence of Mitochondrial DNA traceable to the Neanderthals in modern humans has been taken to suggest a species barrier between Neanderthals and Cro-magnons. Some studies using European DNA suggest that there was an introgression of Neanderthal DNA into the modern human genome over long time period, but other studies contradict those findings.

Another possibility is that modern humans brought with them pathogens that Neanderthals had no defense against. This would fit nicely with a rapid extinction.

Dr. Mordrid

[KvHagedorn]

They persisted up to 30,000 years ago, yet the Toba incident of 74,000 years ago reduced human population to around 5000-10,000 individuals? Hmm..

[KvHagedorn]

By the way.. remember the bus driver from the movie Speed? Serious brow ridge and jaw protrusion there.. some may have survived.

[Brian Ellis]

Doc

You forgot the REAL cause: multiculturism

[Jessterw]

No, no... CaveMart crushed the local Neanderhuts. Never had a chance.

[Dr Mordrid]

Doc

You forgot the REAL cause: multiculturism

KvH;

That post-Toba population estimate was based on an iffy mitochondrial DNA mutation 'clock'. VERY iffy.

[Gurm]

You are ALL forgetting that according to the recent finds in Antarctica, we are the SECOND evolution of this form to occur on Earth. The Ancients, of course, all left after the great plague nearly wiped them out, taking most of their cities and technology with them...

[Dr Mordrid]

The Piri Reis Map is what Gurm is referring to;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piri_Reis_Map

A good analysis;

http://www.uwgb.edu/dutchs/PSEUDOSC/PiriRies.HTM

[Technoid]

What REALLY annoyes me is the way the "years ago" numbers are trown around and how "humans" sometimes means "Homo Sapiens sapens" only, everything back to homo habilis, just us and neanderthals, cro magnon somethimes refered to as something diffrent from H.S:S and sometimes the same, etc etc...