Re: DISCOVER/Neanderthal/Homo Sap.
Gerrit Hanenburg (ghanenbu@inter.nl.net)
Sun, 3 Sep 1995 15:49:46 GMT
cc3265@CNSVAX.ALBANY.EDU wrote:
>There seems to be a great trend towards "splitting" lately, which may not
>be justified in this case.
As far as the splitting is concerned:the fossils provide no access to genetic
or ecological information other than by inference,so it seems we have no
option but to define paleontological species on the basis of morphology.
In certain aspects of their skeletal anatomy the Neanderthals seem too
derived to be placed in Homo sapiens together with such specimens as
Cro-Magnon.
This leaves the question whether or not their was any sexual exchange between
Neanderthals and modern humans open.
(interspecific sex in primates has been described.Chimps and baboons in the
Gombe area in Tanzania don't seem to have much trouble with an occasional
attempt to interspecific mating.-Jane Goodall (1990)"Through a Window:thirty
years with the chimpanzees of Gombe."
Gerrit.
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