Controversial Theory Says Modern Man is a Descendant of the Neanderthals

Did modern man live side by side with the Neanderthal, or evolve from him?

Scientific belief has for a long time now held that humans evolved out of Africa, slowly making our way “out of Africa” in waves. Having just finished The World Without Us by Alan Weisman, I remember a section which depicted the early man, looking out over the crest of a ravine and seeing the greener grass on the other side.

From there, speculation leads us to believe that we essentially invaded the rest of the planet, working our way steadily outwards. This theory also lends itself to the downfall of the North American and Australian mega-fauna as theorized by Paul S. Martin. He believes that the extinction of so many of the species – Wooly Mammoth, saber toothed tiger, etc – were wiped out, hunted in to extinction by early man, craving food or warmth from their skins.

But Eugène Morin, an anthropology professor at Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario, has put forth an alternative theory, lending our existence to an evolution from the Neanderthal.

Morin’s theory posits that instead of evolving out of Africa, and overwhelming the Neanderthal populations of Europe, that we are a result of several evolutionary bottlenecks, forced as a result of a dramatic cooling 40,000 years ago in Europe.

Published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the theory is one that has raised eyebrows and many questions amongst his peers.

His controversial conclusions come from bone beds examined in western France. The bone fragments date back 40,000 years ago to 35,000 years, a period considered to be the major transitional period in biological and cultural development of modern humans. This period saw the creation of new tools, and a flare for the artistic. In addition, modern anatomical features started appearing, features not necessarily in line with what we know about the Neanderthal.

"These changes," Prof. Morin explained, "have nothing to do with population replacement, but rather with a population decline and an adaptation to a harsher climate."

Professor Morin examined the bone beds and found animal bones, recovered from an area of limestone cliffs in Saint-Césaire from that transition period. This same region saw the discovery of a Neanderthal skeleton in 1979, and later saw a complete stratigraphy of the time period created.

Excavations from the area found the skeletal remains of numerous animals, from bison to wooly rhinos to cave lions and wolves. But the evidence that Morin found that helped support his cause was evidence of a dramatic drop in temperature. Morin found more and more remains from animals such as reindeer and narrow-skulled voles – both animals that are well adapted to colder climates. The dating found that these remains grew in number as the myriad of other creatures dropped off.

"During this 5,000-year time period, the landscape changed from a northern temperate climate to a sub-arctic climate," Prof. Morin said.

This would not have been an environment welcoming of new arrivals and especially not one where new arrivals would have the knowhow to overwhelm an existing species. The land would not have supported as many people as a result of the decline in the diversity of animals, forcing the populations to go through a series of "population bottlenecks," he argued.

Due to the drop in temperatures, Morin theorizes that the Neanderthals would have roamed farther and wider in search of food. As a result, they would likely have increased their chances of encountering other settlements of humans; a process which Morin believes would have introduced more modern traits in to the Neanderthal gene pool.

Prof. Morin theorizes that some groups of Neanderthals began to evolve in to modern humans, whereas some simply did not and thus died out.

There has been a lot of questions raised and Morin is no doubt in for the fight of his academic career. Over the past 5 years there have been numerous studies and finds that only support the Out of Africa theory.

Posted by Josh Hill.

Related Galaxy posts:

Did Neanderthals Share the "Language Gene" with Homo Sapiens?
Bringing Ancient Human Viruses Back to Life: A Jurassic Park or Salvation?
Loren Eiseley on Evolution: Transcending the Cosmos -A Galaxy Insight
"Out of Africa" View of Early Human Origins Disputed
Neanderthal Man, the Sequel -Scientists Aim to Bring Extinct Species Back to Life
Was there an Ancient Language of Universal Symbols?

Link:

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22989973-12377,00.html
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080101.wevolve01/BNStory/Science/home

Comments

[Scott Maxwell]

Good God...please...not again...and again. This fight has crippled anthropology for a century. Chris Stringer and Milford almost came to blows several times over it. Now we have another newbie entering the fray. What say you John Hawks?

[Gerry]

This same theory keeps coming up from the '60 Marxists students. Evidence constsntly disproves it.
In a PBS Nova, episode this was pointed out.

They refered to it as a "civil rights" issue. Trying to make "Neanderthals" and "Modern Humans" as brother and equals, they transpose the Civil rights movement issues of blacks and whites to ancient man.