In a message dated 3/29/00 1:44:25 AM Dateline Standard Time,
rylander@prolexia.com writes:
>Modern humans do not have Neanderthal ancestors in their family tree, a new
>DNA study concludes.
>The DNA extracted from the ribs of a Neanderthal infant buried in southern
>Russia 29,000 years ago was found to be too distinct from modern human DNA
>to be related.
>"There wasn't much, if any mixture, between Neanderthals and modern humans,"
>said William Goodwin, of the University of Glasgow, UK. "Though they
>co-existed, we can't find any evidence of genetic material being passed from
>Neanderthals to modern humans."
>The new work, published in the journal Nature, contradicts recent evidence
>from ancient remains of a child found in Portugal, which appeared to combine
>Neanderthal and human features. Those researchers concluded that some
>interbreeding must have taken place.
If interbreeding took place, then according to standard biological definitions
(important in evolution), Neanderthals and Homo were actually the same
species.
;)
Mike
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Wed Mar 29 2000 - 09:24:52 EST