posted
Sources people! We need sources! Or are we expected to take all of this admittedly interesting, but unsourced commentary as fact?
Registered: Mar 1999
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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.
I stumbled across some article a few weeks ago, actually, that said there's been some AMAZING NEW RESEARCH(tm) that has made the prospect of Neandertals (the more correct spelling, actually, given the name of the German valley where they were found) disappearing via interbreeding to be highly unlikely.
And no, I can't find the source.
-------------------- "I was surprised by the matter-of-factness of Kafka's narration, and the subtle humor present as a result." (Sizer 2005)
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
This an ongoing debate that requires much much much more research than I really intend to put into this, due to the fact that Im not writing a formal paper on the subject, as I was originally only trying to offer the basic distinction between Cro-Magnon man and Neanderthal man......
And yes, there is even a debate over the spelling of Neanderthal/Neandertal, so obviously solving the debate regarding their extinction is far from conclusive.
Either way, there seem to be two possible theories that can be identified as being widely accepted:
The Replacement Theory, hypothesizes that there was little or no exchange of genetic material between Neanderthals and modern humans (H. sapiens). This theory believes that Neanderthals were driven to extinction by competition from modern humans who migrated into the region from Africa. If this view is correct, then the first extinction caused by modern humans was that of our closest cousin. This seems to be the most popular theory.
The other theory is known as the Multi-Regional Theory, hypothesizes that Neanderthals were just another kind of early modern human, a regional subgroup (synonymous w/ sub-species) that interbred with other regional subgroups, each with its own distinct physical and cultural traits. Thus, Neanderthals were not a separate species that died out, but a subpopulation that gradually evolved, together with other human subpopulations, into modern humans. [However, this may tie back to the single Neanderthal/primative-human hybrid as really being the only bit of concrete evidence, however, due to lack of proper research, certainly much is still being overlooked.] If this theory is correct, then the extinction of Neanderthals is really a "pseudoextinction." This theory seems to be the lesser of the two.
Because the internet is not considered a primary resource, one really cannot go into any further depth without actually consulting anthropology or human evolution journals, which is really more of a pain in the ass than it is worth...especially since (a) I'm not getting graded for this, and (b) I'm not getting paid for this...
quote: And I never really alluded to the Neanderthals being absorbed by the Homo sapiens.
I was refering to the bit in your original post where you mention the possibility of Neanderthals (Take that, Germans!) being more closely related to us, which suggests the possibility of an assimilation scenerio.
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
Originally it was the Neanderthal (Neander Valley). But then there was the spelling reform of 1901 and Thal became Tal and Neanderthaler became Neandertaler.
-------------------- "Never give up. And never, under any circumstances, no matter what - never face the facts." - Ruth Gordon
Registered: Mar 2000
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