Re: "Was Neanderthal White ?"
Alex Duncan (aduncan@mail.utexas.edu)
27 Jun 1995 17:21:48 GMT
In article <3so5h0$fp6@newsbf02.news.aol.com> FaStAg, fastag@aol.com
writes:
>Asking whether Neanderthals were white or not (for the moment, leaving
>aside the dubious nature of the whole 'race' thing) is like asking
>whether chimpanzees are white. They're different species, it doesn't
>compute.
For the most part, attempts to link fossil populations with modern
"races" have been abanded (sp?) -- but see Wolpoff. In part, this is
because the race concept has questional biological validity. It
certainly would be ridiculous to attempt to link Neandertals to
"causasians" or "indo-europeans" (but again, see Wolpoff) because they
are probably a different species and contributed nothing to the modern
human genome.
Asking about the skin color of Neandertals is relevant, because
skin color is an adaptation.
Alex Duncan
Dept. of Anthropology
University of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX 78712-1086
512-471-4206
aduncan@mail.utexas.edu
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