Archaeologica.org

P. boisei dental profiles also were compared to the New World mantled howling monkey and Old World silvered leaf monkey, which eat mostly leaves. Researchers also compared them to some of P. boisei's more contemporary counterparts--Australopithecus africanus, which lived between 3.3 million and 2.3 million years ago, and Paranthropus robustus, which lived between 2 million and 1.5 million years ago.

The findings showed that P. boisei teeth had light wear, suggesting that none of the individuals ate extremely hard or tough foods in the days leading up to death. The pattern was more consistent with modern-day fruit-eating animals than with most modern-day primates.

"It looks more like they were eating Jell-O," Ungar said.

This finding, while contradictory to previous speculation on the diet of P. boisei, is in line with a paradox documented in fish. Liem's Paradox states that animals may actively avoid eating the very foods they have developed adaptations for when they can find other food sources.

Whether (and if) the last common ancestor of classic cold-weather Neanderthals and Moderns existed around;

465 000 to 600 000 years ago, as Distell proposed on the basis of phylogenetic analysis of Neanderthal mitochondrial DNA (Disotell 1999), or

between 365 000 and 853 000 years ago (Ovchinnikov et al. 2000), or

around 465 000 BP with confidence limites of 317 000 and 741 000 (Krings et al. 1999), or, finally,

in the most recent and exhaustive of studies of nuclear genes, between '1015 and 465 kiloyears (kyr)' with confidence levels of 95% (Foley and Mirzon Lahr 2007), with averages of 516 kyr (Green et al. 2006) and 706 kyr (Noonan et al. 2006) being calculated for this event,

PARIS (AFP) - A new, simplified family tree of humanity, published on Sunday, has dealt a blow to those who contend that the enigmatic hominids known as Neanderthals intermingled with our forebears.

Neanderthals were a separate species to Homo sapiens, as anatomically modern humans are known, rather than offshoots of the same species, the new organigram published by the journal Nature declares.

Minimalist wrote:http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080504/sc ... wI0mVFeQoB

PARIS (AFP) - A new, simplified family tree of humanity, published on Sunday, has dealt a blow to those who contend that the enigmatic hominids known as Neanderthals intermingled with our forebears.

Neanderthals were a separate species to Homo sapiens, as anatomically modern humans are known, rather than offshoots of the same species, the new organigram published by the journal Nature declares.

We are direct linear descendants of H. habilis. H. sapiens started to show up around 200,000 years ago.

Cognito wrote:

One group of scientists - known as the multi-regionalists, led by Milford Wolpoff from Michigan University - claim these ancient humans began to evolve in these new homelands and that the Chinese, aborigines from Australia, the Inuit and other races today are the direct descendants of these ancient emigres. An example is provided by the Neanderthals who dominated Europe from about 250,000 years ago until they disappeared around 35,000 years ago. In their place, a race of sophisticated craftsmen and hunters called the Cro-Magnons began to flourish. Multi-regionalists claim Neanderthals vanished for the simple reason they had evolved into Cro-Magnons, who then became the founding stock of Europeans today.

Beags, I asked Prof. Wolpoff the question, "Who were the Aurignacians?" and he returned his reply with three lengthy PDF files captioned as "recent research". His take is that the Aurignacians were either Neanderthals or hybrids -- but certainly not moderns from Africa. Should anyone wish, just PM me with your direct email and I'll forward the files. The three articles are 123 total pages in length so don't sue me for gumming up your computer! To make matters worse, Milford scanned one of the papers upside down. Don't ask me rotate it -- not gonna happen in this lifetime.

Given the morphology, the most likely answer is that the Neanderthals were hybridized out of existence. Most genetic traces would be washed out over a few thousand years by an overwhelming immigration into the area post-LGM. However, I suspect my neighbor's daughter is an annoying little throwback to a Neanderthal.

Cognito wrote:So what happened to H. erectus? And if bones of H. sapiens have been dated to 195kya in Ethiopia, then IMO that the species "showed up" far earlier than 200kya.

In NEANDERTHAL LEGACY, eminent psychologist and paranormal researcher Stan Gooch brings together the wide-ranging investigative strands of his lifetime of study of the human brain.

One of the world's leading experts on the influence of Neanderthal Man on the cultural and biological development of humanity, Gooch contends that the Neanderthals' enlarged cerebellum was a source of deep connection with the psychic and dream worlds, which remains extant in modern man in paranormal phenomena that conventional science cannot explain.

Gooch offers new scientific evidence of the crossbreeding between Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons that is responsible for the dichotomous nature of our feelings, thoughts, impressions, beliefs and even our cultural mores and politics.

The hybrid vigour produced by this mating has gifted modern man with abilities and sensibilities that the scientific establishment and conventional educational system entirely ignore.

The author explores the legacy of our Neanderthal ancestors in an effort to awaken their virtues and qualities, which are so needed in our modern world. · Examines the genetic evidence for Neanderthal/Cro-Magnon crossbreeding and the dual-nature effects this hybrid cross produced · Explains the influence of the Neanderthal's enlarged cerebellum on our modern brain function and psychic and paranormal abilities.

The hybrid vigour produced by this mating has gifted modern man with abilities and sensibilities that the scientific establishment and conventional educational system entirely ignore.

In NEANDERTHAL LEGACY, eminent psychologist and paranormal researcher Stan Gooch brings together the wide-ranging investigative strands of his lifetime of study of the human brain.

Minimalist wrote:

In NEANDERTHAL LEGACY, eminent psychologist and paranormal researcher Stan Gooch brings together the wide-ranging investigative strands of his lifetime of study of the human brain.

I take it that Gooch is not one of those who figure that Neanderthal meekly went extinct when we gloriously burst upon the scene?