Science a GoGo's Home Page Forums General Discussion General Science Discussion Forum Scientists Build 'Frankenstein' Neanderthal Skeleton

"Anthropologists have built a "Frankenstein" Neanderthal skeleton, the first and only full-body reconstruction of the species. The result, announced today, is a shape no one expected."

http://www.livescience.com/history/050310_neanderthal_reconstruction.html

Nice find Amaranth.
His findings are interesting.
i.e
Sawyer doesn?t believe that modern humans could have evolved from Neanderthals based on the pelvic and torso discrepancies between the two species.
"There is no way that modern humans, I believe, could have evolved from a species like Neanderthal," Sawyer said. "They?re certainly a cousin ? they?re human ? but they?re one of those strange little offshoots."

Guess he will have to take a little flak from
certain objection groups.

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"You will never find a real Human being - even in a mirror." .....Mike Kremer.

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Sawyer obviously hasn't yet seen the "Geico" ads.

Great find. But I am surprised there are no complete Neandertal skeletal remains. I thought many burial sites were known where I would have expected a full inventory of parts.

The article says:

"As we stood back, we noticed one interesting thing was that these are kind of a short, squat people. These guys had no waist at all ? they were compact, dwarfy-like beings."

Hey, I actually know people like that! I suspect the article is another example of philosophy influencing science. The idea that humans are a chosen, special species, unconnected to the rest of biology, is a basic belief in the Judeo-Christian philosophy (and some others).

The skeletons shown are no different to what we find today in different breeds of dog or cattle. In fact evidence suggests that it takes between two and three million years for mammal species to diversify sufficiently that they are unable to form fertile hybrids. Humans and Neanderthals separated no more than a quarter and a sixth of that time. Again, is it that we believe humans somehow might obey their own set of biological rules?

Sure, Neanderthal genes may have died out but to say because of this that they were not human is the same as saying Australian Aborigines and North American Indians are not human. Their genes are likely to be diluted and die out within a few generations.

I'd clearly land on the side that they were as human as we are ... unless evidence to the contrary prevailed.

We have a knack for being self-centered ... and wrong.