Little Hominid May Have Been Failed Experiment

Science - Reuters ^ | 2004-07-01 | Maggie Fox

[bvw]

Great story!

[Deguello]

"Little villages of little people with large tools."

Typo? Did they mean "large stools"?

[Junior]

Did they mean "large stools"?

Probably not. People ate a lot more fiber back then.

[Modernman]

Maybe, maybe not. Check out:

http://www.rdos.net/eng/asperger.htm

[curmudgeonII]

Why couldn't little old tiny just be an especially small individual in an otherwise average sized population?

[wyattearp]

"My understanding is that Neanderthals were sufficiently distinct from modern humans so that interbreeding (and absorption) could not occur."

The found a good fossil in Spain (or Croatia?) that had easily identifiable characteristics of both Neanderthal and Sapien. They could, and did, interbreed. From what I've read though, it looks like all aspects of Neanderthal have died out.

There is an Indian tribe in the US, forgot the name, that absolutely would not marry outside of the tribe. Their numbers hovered at about 150 or so for quite some time. Then somebody noticed that ALL of the women were miscarrying. Nobody had been born in 20 years or so! They had to break their traditions and go outside the tribe to stir up the gene pool a bit.

[Junior]

The found a good fossil in Spain (or Croatia?) that had easily identifiable characteristics of both Neanderthal and Sapien.

The individual in question was a four-year-old child. As researchers have pointed out, determining possible Neanderthal lineage from a child that age is, at best, problematic.

[orionblamblam]

Could be, sure. But pick a name in the phonebook at random. What are the chances that they're a midget?

[mcshot]

Probably a lil alien gray that dropped in on the "big tool" civilization for specimens. Unfortunately, it looks like he got crunched by a saber-tooth on his way back to the mother ship. If only his tool was big enough our basketball hoops wouldn't be so dam high eh! :-))
Interesting read - especially the wandering comments.

mc

[Slings and Arrows]

Hobbits live in areas that look deceptively like the midlands in England..

I think you mean "New Zealand."

[PatrickHenry]

Hobbits are thread killers (except for the Hobbit Hole).

[Pippin]

It weren't me!

[Pippin]

Hey everyone!

there be HOBBITS!

[Conspiracy Guy]

Hobbits!

[tet68]

Some how I kept expecting to see a picture of Robert Reich.

[Pippin]

What I said!

They do exist! (or did) ahem!

[dagnabbit]

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[valkyrieanne]

Must have been these guys on the loose again...