Were Neanderthals a sub-species of modern humans?This article in Phys.Org covers a report in
The Anatomical Record. The authors made an in depth study of the anatomy of the nasal region of modern humans and compared them with the same regions of neanderthal fossils. The concluded that the differences are such that the neanderthals were a distinct species from modern humans.
There are nasal characteristics in the neanderthals that have been interpreted as being analogous to those of cold adapted modern humans, such as the Inuit of Alaska and Canada. However, the authors of the study concluded that the neanderthal nasal area was sufficiently different that it was developed by a different evolutionary pathway from that by which the modern human nasal region developed.
My understanding has been that this is not really news. However some neanderthal specialists have been fighting to make the neanderthals be closer relatives than what they really are.
Bill Gill