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Neanderthals among us?
latimes.com ^

Posted on 02/06/2007 7:07:15 PM PST by Soothesayer

DID ANATOMICALLY modern humans interbreed with Neanderthals, the muscle-bound, big-browed and possibly mute cave dwellers who disappeared from Europe and the Middle East about 30,000 years ago? The answer may be less interesting than the fact that so many Homo sapiens are fixated on the question. The debate about whether there's a Neanderthal skeleton in our collective closet was revived last week when two groups of scientists reported that they had deciphered DNA from the thigh bone of a Neanderthal man who lived in Croatia 38,000 years ago. From their analysis of genetic material in the bone, the scientists estimated that Neanderthals and the modern people who supplanted them had 99.5% of their genes in common. This will come as an unpleasant surprise to anyone who remembers the film "Clan of the Cave Bear," in which a comely Cro-Magnon played by Daryl Hannah was adopted into a clan of brutish Neanderthals. But it will cheer anthropologists who argue that if you gave a Neanderthal a bath, a haircut and an iPod, he would blend in with any contemporary crowd. Since the discovery in the 19th century of Neanderthal remains in Germany's Neander Valley, scientific opinion has seesawed between the idea that Neanderthals were an evolutionary dead end only distantly related to modern humans and the view that at least some Neanderthals felt the urge to merge with smarter, nimbler modern humans who left Africa about 100,000 years ago.

(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...


TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: dna; evolution; godsgravesglyphs; neandertal; neanderthal; neanderthals; piltdownman
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To: hispanarepublicana

That guy on the right is really primitive!


21 posted on 02/06/2007 7:23:34 PM PST by speedy
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To: Soothesayer

C'mon, today's people "interbreed" with horses, chickens, goats, sheep and just about anything else that breathes and is above room temperature (just check out Sundance). And we are supposed to believe homo sapiens would've looked down their noses at Neanderthals, that copulating with them would have been below their station? Ha!


22 posted on 02/06/2007 7:24:09 PM PST by ProtectOurFreedom
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To: word_warrior_bob

LoL...


23 posted on 02/06/2007 7:24:39 PM PST by hosepipe (CAUTION: This propaganda is laced with hyperbole....)
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To: Soothesayer
Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting
24 posted on 02/06/2007 7:28:27 PM PST by IYellAtMyTV (Workday Forecast--Increasing pressure towards afternoon. Rum likely by evening.)
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To: Soothesayer
How many Neanderthals does it take to develop a yarn about evolution?..

Clan of the cave bear was a good one.. I loved it/them..

One thing ALL humans have in common.. They love a good story..

25 posted on 02/06/2007 7:28:54 PM PST by hosepipe (CAUTION: This propaganda is laced with hyperbole....)
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To: digger48

Hahahaha! That is sooo mean, but I must save this pic :)


26 posted on 02/06/2007 7:30:36 PM PST by TheSpottedOwl (Are those coyotes I hear, or is Hillary singing again?)
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To: BookmanTheJanitor

Are these photos real?


27 posted on 02/06/2007 7:37:50 PM PST by Farmer Dean (Every time a toilet flushes,another liberal gets his brains.)
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To: Soothesayer
From their analysis of genetic material in the bone, the scientists estimated that Neanderthals and the modern people who supplanted them had 99.5% of their genes in common.

Well humans and Oak trees are something like 90% the same, so a 0.5% does not prove much when a 1 millionth percent of a genetic difference separates an Einstein from an anacephalitic.

Stupid article but I did like the "Clan of the Cave Bear" movie and didn't even realize they were trying to depict Neanderthals vs. Cro-Magnons. I thought it was "primitive vs advanced", not a species difference they were depicting, that is if Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons even qualify as different species. From what I can see, the jury is still out on that.

28 posted on 02/06/2007 7:37:59 PM PST by Ditto
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To: Screamname

Hey, put that guy in lion-faced makeup and I know a convention full of ladies that'll swoon at his feet.


29 posted on 02/06/2007 7:39:14 PM PST by Tanniker Smith (For the children and the flowers are my sisters and my brothers . . .)
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To: Soothesayer
Poorly written article.

It does not accurately convey the actual DNA evidence for human/Neanderthal interbreeding.

There have been a lot of articles, including FR threads, on this subject. Check out the facts for yourself.

30 posted on 02/06/2007 7:46:09 PM PST by Coyoteman (Religious belief does not constitute scientific evidence, nor does it convey scientific knowledge.)
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To: Coyoteman

I know but I thought it was funny. Even if the "people" at LA Times "think" otherwise.


31 posted on 02/06/2007 7:49:13 PM PST by Soothesayer (Birth is murder!)
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To: Soothesayer

Somebody needs to do a DNA test on Dan Dierdorf. Just saying.


32 posted on 02/06/2007 7:50:28 PM PST by RichInOC (NO! BAD Rich!)
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To: Post Toasties; WestVirginiaRebel
"That looks more like interbreeding with the hog family."

"Them brothers don't run to handsome, but that "Oink" is one seriously ugly feller."

33 posted on 02/06/2007 7:54:33 PM PST by NicknamedBob (Sign says, "No dogs allowed -- except seeing-eye dogs" Why don't they put that sign down lower?)
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To: BookmanTheJanitor
Reminds me of this:


34 posted on 02/06/2007 8:01:28 PM PST by Disambiguator
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To: Farmer Dean
Are these photos real?

Yes. Here's another...


35 posted on 02/06/2007 8:06:54 PM PST by BookmanTheJanitor
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To: Soothesayer

No question in my mind: Mr. Fairview is a direct lineal descendant of the Neanderthals. But he is his own species.


36 posted on 02/06/2007 8:25:23 PM PST by Fairview
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To: BookmanTheJanitor

The little guy almost won that fight.


37 posted on 02/06/2007 8:30:48 PM PST by Tribune7 (A bleeding heart does nothing but ruin the carpet.)
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To: Screamname

LOL. I thought at first you were referring to Ron Perelman (extra e), the neanderthal billionaire who bought Revlon Cosmetics in the '80's.


38 posted on 02/06/2007 8:36:32 PM PST by khnyny
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To: digger48; pandoraou812

Oh,ho. That's bad. LOL


39 posted on 02/06/2007 10:10:38 PM PST by TigersEye (Ego chatters endlessly on. Mind speaks in great silence.)
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To: unkus

Yeah, he's a crybaby.


40 posted on 02/06/2007 10:11:50 PM PST by ozzymandus
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