A Neanderthal skull discovered in 1848 at Forbes' Quarry, GibraltarAquilaGib/Wikimedia/CC 3.0
Posted on 03/13/2025 8:32:41 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
...Dubbed the "Lapedo Child" after its discovery in the Lapedo Valley in central Portugal in 1998, the skeleton of the child, who was likely no more than five years old at the time of death, has fascinated scientists due to its combination of features from these two distinct human lineages...
When scientists first studied the skeleton of the Lapedo Child, they noted the unusual combination of physical characteristics that seemed to indicate the child could be the offspring of one Neanderthal parent and one anatomically modern human parent.
According to the researchers who performed the initial analysis, the temporal bone, mandible, teeth, and pubic bone showed distinctive traits of modern humans. Conversely, they noted that the overall body proportions, femorotibial lengths, and other components "align the skeleton with Neanderthals."
Archaeologists have long suspected that modern humans leaving Africa and Neanderthals who had been in Europe for over 200,000 years bred with one another. Thanks to advances in DNA analysis, in recent years scientists have been able to offer genetic evidence that confirms this hypothesis.
Several studies have confirmed the interaction between these two branches of humanity as recently as 45,000 years ago. Some scientists have even found evidence that Neanderthals were using advanced techniques and tools rivaling the complexity of those made and used by humans...
The study "Direct hydroxyproline radiocarbon dating of the Lapedo child (Abrigo do Lagar Velho, Leiria, Portugal)" was published in Science Advances.
(Excerpt) Read more at thedebrief.org ...
A Neanderthal skull discovered in 1848 at Forbes' Quarry, GibraltarAquilaGib/Wikimedia/CC 3.0
“The Clan of the Cave Bear”
What would be interesting if they can determine if the father or mother was Neanderthal. A female Neanderthal woman could kick a male homo-sapiens ass. If the mother was Neanderthal it would indicate a union of choice, if the opposite it would indicate a union by force.
The similarities they noted were morphological, maybe the DNA sequencing will work out in the future.
From the article:
“ the half-human, half-Neanderthal hybrid child likely lived between 27,780 and 28,850 years ago.”
Hey, the family story about Uncle Bob is that his parents were a true love match. So: no ugly speculations about my kin. We’ll own the cannibalism and headhunting — they were, after all, trolls — but there’s no reason to throw rape into the picture.
modern humans leaving Africa and Neanderthals who had been in Europe for over 200,000 years bred with one another.
Somebody was wearing beer goggles...
Met each other on the carbon dating web site
Just not easy on the eyes.
Just don’t let your friends catch you doing it.
That’s the range of the dating, not the length of the individual’s life, if that’s what you’re claiming.
They were around and contributing DNA up until more recently than formerly suggested.
Also, I've been watching some pod casts about this and the beginning date for Neanderthals’ presence in Europe gets kicked around a lot. It seems that their presence in Europe goes back further than initially stated and could conflict with the out of Africa story.
I'm waiting for some final consensus on that. I also saw something about a 500K year date for Peking Man that's also at odds with the out of Africa story.
"Hirsute is cute!"
<BTW...Laz would hit it.>
There have been interesting speculations from time to time about relict populations of neanderthals lingering on much longer in isolated and mountainous regions, especially in northern latitudes. The speculations often point to the very ancient folktales found in so many places and across cultures about cave dwellers, trolls and giants.
It’s now thought that woolly mammoths survived on Wrangel Island until about 4,300 hundred years ago. That’s the Bronze Age. Achilles might have lived longer had he chosen to hunt woolly mammoths rather than Trojans. Unless the last surviving ogres and trolls got him first.
Anyhow, it’s not hard to speculate on a foundation for the ubiquitous myths and legends. Michael Crichton did a novel on it, and I imagine others have as well. A few movies have picked it up. To what vanishing tribe did Grendel and Grendel’s mother belong before Beowulf extinguished the last of the line?
“Neanderthal chicks were easy.”
Once you get past the lice.
And again, man the animal as opposed to man, made in the image of God, as we know him now. The Bible did not say “let us create a creature and call it man”, it simply says “let is make man in our image(as if whatever “man” was at that time already a known commodity)”.
I guess we all retain something like 2% Neanderthal DNA but the Basque people have a higher percentage.
Also, Basque language and blood type are unique to them. It was suggested that there is a closer connection to what could have been Neanderthal language and DNA than what the rest of Europeans have.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
