Jawbone Reignites Cro-Mag/Neanderthal Debate
A US research team announced Monday that a jawbone found in a cave in present-day Romania is the "oldest definite modern human specimen in Europe." The lead researcher, Washington University's Erik Trinkaus, is an advocate of the theory that interbreeding occurred between Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons, who inhabited the same area for several thousands of years.
Opponents of this theory argue that no significant blending occurred and that the Neanderthals were wiped out, probably because of the Cro-Magnons' technological edge. In this account of events, Neanderthals contributed nothing to modern Homo sapiens and the belief that they persist among us is simply an urban legend used to diss soccer hooligans, heavy-metal musicians and hygiene-challenged boyfriends.
I was just reading Brian Sykes' The Seven Daughters of Eve a few days ago -- he concludes that the DNA evidence points to total replacement, so I'm interested to see that the debate has been revived. Because of its allegorical power, it sometimes gets co-opted either to justify or condemn violence by 21st century humans.
Meanwhile, a writer in Pravda proposes that Cro-Magnons were the result of a biological engineering project conducted by extraterrestials.
10:39:04 AM 
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