Re: Modern Neanderthals?
Yousuf Khan (ykhan@achilles.net)
Mon, 14 Oct 1996 13:36:52 GMT
On Sat, 12 Oct 1996 09:21:27 -0700, "Aurelius M." <cicero9@ix.netcom.com>
wrote:
>> Why the Yeti? Why not the modern people of Europe, Middle East, and India?
>> Neanderthals populated all those parts of the world when we recognized them
>> as Neanderthals. Now we recognize them as Caucasians.
>Yousuf while there is no doubt Neanderthal genes in Europe and
>the Middle East, your statement is rather absurd. It is like
>calling Africans Australopithecus because they were only found
>in Africa. Best Regards
Not if neanderthals weren't a separate species. I personally find the whole
concept of classifying Neanderthals as a separate species as a racist
concept. Scientists who are so disgusted by what they see that they can't
stand to classify them in the same category as "us" (whoever "us" may be at
the time).
I can guarantee you that if were having this conversation in the last
century, we'd be calling individual races as separate species. Blacks,
whites, orientals, etc. Let's face it there are enough features different
between these groups to justify classifying them separately: shapes of
noses, flatness of faces, musculature, etc. Yet today in our more
"enlightened" times we wouldn't dream of calling any of our existing
peoples as members of separate species, because all of those differences
are considered "minor".
I can guarantee you that in the next 100 years that some anthropologists of
that time will be sitting around discussing how racist we were for
considering Neanderthal features as even remotely significant. Of course,
by then they will have their own set of prejudices to overcome.
Yousuf Khan
--
Yousuf J. Khan
ykhan@achilles.net
Ottawa, Ont, Canada
Nation's capital
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