Fate of the Neanderthals

Well, I would expect to find a lot of similarity between the genomes H. sapiens and H. neanderthalensis, since I would expect us to be even more related to them than chimpanzees/bonobos. However, this raises the question of how you determine which genes are shared because of a common ancestor, and which genes are shared because of interbreeding?

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"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics."

Sorry, this is a bit off topic, but I couldn't resist putting it in the "Fate of Neanderthals" thread. New evidence has arisen that suggests that in some cases Homo sapiens maybe have killed and eaten Neanderthals.

quote:

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The controversial suggestion follows publication of a study in the Journal of Anthropological Sciences about a Neanderthal jawbone apparently butchered by modern humans. Now the leader of the research team says he believes the flesh had been eaten by humans, while its teeth may have been used to make a necklace.

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Fernando Rozzi, of Paris's Centre National de la Rcherche Scientifique, said the jawbone had probably been cut into to remove flesh, including the tongue. Crucially, the butchery was similar to that used by humans to cut up deer carcass in the early Stone Age.

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The evidence is by no means unequivocal or overwhelming. But it's an interesting thought.

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We have many intuitions in our life and the point is that many of these intuitions are wrong. The question is, are we going to test those intuitions?
-Dan Ariely

Well, I suppose it's all in how you define cannibalism. Is it only eating members of your own species, or could it include eating members of your genus? I think it's also important to consider the implications of eating another sentient being. From a public health perspective, though, I guess the most important thing is how would prions and viruses have passed between neanderthals and humans.

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We have many intuitions in our life and the point is that many of these intuitions are wrong. The question is, are we going to test those intuitions?
-Dan Ariely