posted
Well hell, why not go back to the Romans or the Egyptians? Or how about our Neanderthal ancestor, Ooga Magoog, who clubbed Saddam Hussein's ancestor Mooga Gagoog over the head?
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posted
Minor tangent: Actually, what are the details on the Neanderthal Homo Sapiens connection? Last I heard scientists still couldn't figure out whether the Neaderthals had no impact on modern humans, or whether we simply outbred them while breeding with them, incorporating some of their traits into our European genepool. Do they know anything more now?
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quote:Originally posted by TSN: Minor note: modern humans are not descended from Neanderthals.
Yes, I know, but I didn't remember the genus and species for our own ancestors. I was just going for humorous effect.
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posted
Well, at the time of the Neaderthals, our ancestors were Homo sapiens, just like now. Also known as Cro-Magnons. I think before that came H. erectus.
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posted
Ah, that's the name I was trying to think of -- the Cro-Magnons. Nuts.
And thanks.
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posted
Well now wait a minute. We were decended from Cro-Magnons. I thought the whole purpose of the Kromaggs on Sliders was they they were the other species that became dominant, and that they were supposed to be Cro-Magnon man or something?
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The first member of the genus Homo was Homo habilis and they were present in east Africa at least 2 million years ago. Homo habilis was the first hominid to exhibit the marked expansion of the brain that would become a hallmark of subsequent hominid evolutionary history.
Over the next 400,000 years, Homo habilis had evolved into a larger, more robust, and larger-brained species known as Homo erectus which migrated off the African continent into Asia, Indonesia, and Europe.
Between 400,000 and 250,000 years ago, Homo erectus evolved into Homo sapiens. Transitional forms between Homo erectus and Homo sapiens are referred to as archaic Homo sapiens. With the exception of Homo sapiens neandertalensis or the Neanderthal man, no additional subspecies are recognized (however some scientists (mostly the crazy ones) do identify the Neanderthal as its own species, Homo neandertalensis.
Archaic Homo sapiens changed gradually, becoming somewhat larger, more gracile and larger-brained through time. By 100,000 years ago in Africa and Asia and 28,000 years ago in Europe the transition to Homo sapiens was complete, and fully modern humans became the single surviving hominid species
(It should be noted that these hominids (including the Cro-Magnon man) contributed to the extinction of the Neanderthals, and thus Homo sapiens began their reign of terror to the planet Earth by helping in the elimination their own competition! ).
The Cro-Magnon man (early modern man) differs significantly from Neanderthals, due to anotomical differences (hence why some scientists believe that the latter should be considered its own species).
The key in what identifies the Cro-Magnon man above all as an early modern man, is the location to which they lived. Cro-Magnon were centralized in Central and South-Western Europe, whereas the Neanderthal was more widespread.
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posted
I would be a little more cautious about describing the fate of the Neanderthals, though, as that issue is Contentious.
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posted
Er, no, nothing like those. That modern humans hunted down the neanderthals is only one possibility. They could have simply outcompeted them for resources, or, as you allude to, absorbed the neanderthal populations they came across, depending upon how closely related they were.
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quote:Originally posted by Sol System: Er, no, nothing like those. That modern humans hunted down the neanderthals is only one possibility. They could have simply outcompeted them for resources, or, as you allude to, absorbed the neanderthal populations they came across, depending upon how closely related they were.
Actually, that is what I meant. Otherwise, I simply overstated the portion of man hunting its own evolutionary cousin as far as to point out the beginning of mans little journey into destroying other species...otherwise, yeah, Neanderthals most likely just were not able to "keep up" with their cousins in the respect of being out competed, much like we see in many many many other competition scenarios...as in the classic, "survival of the fitess".
And I never really alluded to the Neanderthals being absorbed by the Homo sapiens. To my knowledge only a few rare occurances of hybrid Neanderthal/early Homo sapiens exist. Survival of the fittest almost clearly reigns here as the ultimate demise of Neanderthals, but as I originally pointed out, they too, in part were hunted, wiped out, or what have you, by their evolutionary cousins as well.
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"With the exception of Homo sapiens neandertalensis or the Neanderthal man, no additional subspecies are recognized (however some scientists (mostly the crazy ones) do identify the Neanderthal as its own species, Homo neandertalensis."
Actually, I've only seen H. neanderthalensis as its own species, not as a subspecies of H. sapiens. So, I doubt it's confined to the "crazy" minority you suggest...
"To my knowledge only a few rare occurances of hybrid Neanderthal/early Homo sapiens exist."
I think they found a single skeleton (in Portugal, IIRC?) that looks like a hybrid, but it hasn't been genetically tested to prove one way or the other.
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posted
Yeah, the one you mentioned is the only one I was aware of as well, but I wasn't sure if there were any other ones.....I haven't heard about any updates on the creature.
And yeah, I am one of those crazy minority I guess...i'll admit my biothesis was on the 'evolution of the canine'...the course didnt get into hominids much beyond what I included up above, but one way or the other there is still some dispute about the true identity of the neanderthal.
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