[titanmike]

Aside from the fact that you can't make any sort of a case based on one or two skeletons, the fact that the one or two possible crossbreeds for which somebody does have skeletal remains did not live past childhood might tell you something. As I see it, the preponderence of evidence including the DNA studies, Shreeve's article, and Gunnar Heinsohn's comments indicate that neanderthals were the human type antecedant to us, and that the changeover was rapid and driven by design change of some sort rather than evolution. That doesn't preclude the two types living in proximity for some number of generations AFTER the introduction of modern humans.

That apelike rib cage is a real kicker. That's a piece of the puzzle I was not aware of until now. That alone would probably make a neanderthal so ugly to one of ourselves as to preclude dating or anything like that.

[PatrickHenry]

That apelike rib cage is a real kicker. That's a piece of the puzzle I was not aware of until now.

How do you reconcile that with your "low gravity" theory, Ted? If gravity were truly lower then, the chronological sequence of the skeletons should be reversed.

[VadeRetro]

Aside from the fact that you can't make any sort of a case based on one or two skeletons, the fact that the one or two possible crossbreeds for which somebody does have skeletal remains did not live past childhood might tell you something.

Skuhl 5 is an adult. That West Asia link mentions a number of specimens with overlapping and intermediate features.

As I see it, the preponderence of evidence including the DNA studies, Shreeve's article, and Gunnar Heinsohn's comments indicate that neanderthals were the human type antecedant to us, and that the changeover was rapid and driven by design change of some sort rather than evolution.

We know for sure that it's more complicated than that. In much of the Near East, neanderthals replaced more modern-looking humans for a long time. Your simplistic Intelligent-Designer "Shazaam!" version doesn't allow or account for that.