http://scienceblog.com/64490/study-sugge...rn-humans/

Quote:Fast-accumulating data seem to indicate that our close cousins, the Neandertals, were much more similar to us than imagined even a decade ago. But did they have anything like modern speech and language? And if so, what are the implications for understanding present-day linguistic diversity? The Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in Nijmegen researchers Dan Dediu and Stephen C. Levinson argue in their paper in Frontiers in Language Sciences that modern language and speech can be traced back to the last common ancestor we shared with the Neandertals roughly half a million years ago.

I'm always uncomfortable with these distinctions of various ancient humans as "species." We already know at HNS and HSS interbred as did HNS and the Denisovans. That would seem to throw a monkey wrench into the more strict definition of "species" to begin with.

BUT WHEN DID NEANDERTHALS EVOLVE INTO UNICORNS HUH

(July 10, 2013 at 2:48 am)Ryantology Wrote: BUT WHEN DID NEANDERTHALS EVOLVE INTO UNICORNS HUH

Just before they evolved into narwhals.

We probably did more than that... like use them as slaves and rape their females, and perhaps contributed to their extinction.

(July 10, 2013 at 5:46 am)Insanity x Wrote:

(July 10, 2013 at 2:48 am)Ryantology Wrote: BUT WHEN DID NEANDERTHALS EVOLVE INTO UNICORNS HUH

Just before they evolved into narwhals.

(July 10, 2013 at 1:04 am)Minimalist Wrote: I'm always uncomfortable with these distinctions of various ancient humans as "species." We already know at HNS and HSS interbred as did HNS and the Denisovans. That would seem to throw a monkey wrench into the more strict definition of "species" to begin with.

Well species has always been kind of nebulous.

Wolves and domesticated dogs are called different species and they can interbreed. There are a lot of animals like that.

Nature doesn't confirm perfectly black and white with how humanity tries to describe it.

I've read other studies that said even though modern European humans have a certain amount of neanderthal DNA that offspring was a rare occurence even when we tried to interbreed with them. We were just almost too far apart for it to ever be successful.

Thanks for the study. I hadn't seen it before.

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(July 10, 2013 at 6:42 am)little_monkey Wrote: We probably did more than that... like use them as slaves and rape their females, and perhaps contributed to their extinction.

I rather doubt that. Neanderthals were pretty tough hombres. If we did contribute to their extinction it was probably just because of competition more than direct conflict.

(July 10, 2013 at 7:00 am)Rahul Wrote:

(July 10, 2013 at 6:42 am)little_monkey Wrote: We probably did more than that... like use them as slaves and rape their females, and perhaps contributed to their extinction.

I rather doubt that. Neanderthals were pretty tough hombres. If we did contribute to their extinction it was probably just because of competition more than direct conflict.

Tell that to Jared Diamond.

http://www.helium.com/items/1842942-the-...anderthals

Quote:Well species has always been kind of nebulous.

Which would be an excellent reason to stop using the term.

Who says that Neanderthals are extinct? Haven't you ever watched Jersey Shore?

Me smell shit.