Posted on 01/15/2007 4:48:07 PM PST by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON - A skull found in a cave in Romania includes features of both modern humans and Neanderthals, possibly suggesting that the two may have interbred thousands of years ago.
Neanderthals were replaced by early modern humans. Researchers have long debated whether the two groups mixed together, though most doubt it. The last evidence for Neanderthals dates from at least 24,000 years ago.
The skull bearing both older and modern characteristics is discussed in a paper by Erik Trinkaus of Washington University in St. Louis. The report appears in Tuesday's issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The skull was found in Pestera cu Oase the Cave with Bones in southwestern Romania, along with other human remains. Radiocarbon dating indicates it is at least 35,000 years old and may be more than 40,000 years old.
The researchers said the skull had the same proportions as a modern human head and lacked the large brow ridge commonly associated with Neanderthals. However, there were also features that are unusual in modern humans, such as frontal flattening, a fairly large bone behind the ear and exceptionally large upper molars, which are seen among Neanderthals and other early hominids.
"Such differences raise important questions about the evolutionary history of modern humans," said co-author Joao Zilhao of the University of Bristol, England.
It could reflect a case in which ancient traits reappear in a modern human, or it could indicate a mixture of populations, Zilhao said. Or it simply may be that science hasn't been able to study enough early modern people to understand their diversity.
Dr. Richard Potts of the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History noted that the skull represents the earliest modern human ever found in Europe.
It's a big deal in that sense, he said, but the combination of characteristics don't necessarily indicate interbreeding between populations.
Overall there is no strong evidence for mixing of Neanderthal and modern human populations and "this doesn't add any," said Potts, who wasn't part of the research team.
None of the features cited as unusual in modern humans is exclusively Neanderthal, Potts said. Rather, they could be features passed down from earlier populations in Africa.
The field work that uncovered the skull was conducted in 2004 and 2005.
Meanwhile, a research team led by Svante Paabo of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, is trying to map the Neanderthal genome in hopes of better understanding any possible relationship to modern people.
The research was funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation, the Wenner-Green Foundation, Washington University, the Leakey Foundation, the Portuguese Institute of Archaeology, the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Science, the Romanian National Council for Academic Research and the Foundation Fyssen.
These Neanderthal chicks may not be much to look at, but they sure are easy!
This is also a theme in the apocryphal Book of Enoch: "6:1 And it came to pass when the children of men had multiplied that in those days were born unto 2 them beautiful and comely daughters. And the angels, the children of the heaven, saw and lusted after them, and said to one another: 'Come, let us choose us wives from among the children of men 3 and beget us children.'" http://www.world-mysteries.com/awr_1_10.htm
There's some wild stuff in there.
Stop bring up James Carville. But then he does look..............LOL
The angel theory doesn't make sense to me, as angels evidently don't 'breed'. The idea that the daughters of men were the descendents of Cain is possible. I've sometimes wondered if maybe Daughters of men = Neanderthals.
The idea that these were angels can be found in the Book of Enoch, which although isn't canonical is referenced to in the New Testament. I'm not sure how much of the book can be trusted, what little I've read of it is pretty wild.
Possible...all possible. But it just doesn't add up.
If the daughters of men were the descendents of Cain then how does that make everyone else the sons of God?
Man was created from the elements of the Earth...and woman from man.
This doesn't seem a likely creature to be called the 'sons of God'.
Men were men and they had daughters. The passages in Genesis speak of giants who were called the sons of God...the Nephilim. To me, this speaks directly of a different species...and it creeps me out when I think on it too long.
It's almost a little too Erich von Danikenish.
Exploding cell phone battery.
Well, you know what they say-once you go Cro-Magnon, you never go back...
Link to teaching by RC Sproul of this verse on daughters etc.
01/04/2007 - Thursday
"A Flood of Evil"
For broadband click here.
Dial-up:
Windows Media | All Other Players
From the series: Drama of Redemption Audio Collection
Windows media:
http://broadcast.ligonier.org/playlists/rym20070104-low.asx
Other media:
http://broadcast.ligonier.org/playlists/rym20070104-low.m3u
Page link
http://www.ligonier.org/rym_archive.php
Please!!
No more Helen Thomas threads!!!
That explains a lot
35,000 year old "modern human" remains Discovered!
Yahoo News | Sat Mar 6,11:27 AM ET | By ALISON MUTLER, Associated Press Writer
Posted on 03/10/2004 9:10:11 AM EST by vannrox
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1094602/posts
Humanity's Strange Face
Science News Magazine | 5-22-2004 | Bruce Bower
Posted on 05/25/2004 10:23:49 AM EDT by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1141837/posts
Fossil Remains Show The Merging Of Neandertals, Modern Humans
Washington University | 10-12-2006 | Neil Schoenherr
Posted on 10/12/2006 2:22:03 PM EDT by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1718246/posts
Bending The Branches (Archaeology - Neanderthals)
Archaeology Magazine | 10-19-2006 | Erij Trinkaus
Posted on 10/20/2006 1:22:23 PM EDT by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1723013/posts
Modern Humans, Neanderthals May Have Interbred
Yahoo - HealthDay | 10-30-2006 | E J Mundell
Posted on 10/31/2006 8:28:44 PM EST by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1729566/posts
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The Neandertal EnigmaFrayer's own reading of the record reveals a number of overlooked traits that clearly and specifically link the Neandertals to the Cro-Magnons. One such trait is the shape of the opening of the nerve canal in the lower jaw, a spot where dentists often give a pain-blocking injection. In many Neandertal, the upper portion of the opening is covered by a broad bony ridge, a curious feature also carried by a significant number of Cro-Magnons. But none of the alleged 'ancestors of us all' fossils from Africa have it, and it is extremely rare in modern people outside Europe." [pp 126-127]
by James Shreeve
I believe one of the old Neaderthal cave scribblings was actually successfully translated back in the 50's. It said, "human women are easy!"
We've had the evidence under our nose for half a century and chose to ignore it.
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