Comments on: DNA analysis shakes up Neandertal theories

By: beej

beej — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 16:55:10 +0000

I’m just mulling over whether an epidemic of some sort may have been a factor in the depopulation, and a small group of survivors, protected by a mutation that provided immunity to a viable breeding population, or perhaps just geographically separate, subsequently expanded to fill the continent.

By: Tez

Tez — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 19:26:42 +0000

I do not really see how generalisations about a very small local population can be applied when there is so little archeological evidence, for all we know they may have been an isolated tribe who practiced incest as there where no other non-related people nearby. This would obviously skew any DNA results.

By: mathieu gasc

mathieu gasc — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 08:16:15 +0000

As usual any dna ‘discovery’ is higlighted in the news as the new insight into such and such. Nothing new under the sun, especially not kids toying with genes, claiming to be objective scientists. DNA study is so new and intricate that it might very well be a totally different set of approach defining it within a decade.
Sometimes i wonder if journalists know a thing about human evolution and more particularly about neanderthal…
The bottle neck theory has been discussed for a while, while the recovery is not really evidence by anything, only the arrival of sapiens, same old story… go take archaeology 101 gail glover.

By: Aurelius

Aurelius — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 07:32:30 +0000

Is it not possible that with more inclement weather patterns, many Neandertals in European enclaves may have just shifted their ranges to more clement zones and the diminished mtDNA is a result of remnant populations breeding with those individuals left in their now colder home ranges? Would the persistence of Neandertals in these now harsher climactic zones not indicate adaptation? Changes such as the onset of a new harsher period in Ice-Age weather did not happen in one season. The indication of a diminished gene pool may just coincide with the new environments lack of ability to support populations as large as what once seemingly inhabited Europe. Less fauna equals less folks able to exploit available resources and greater land areas would most likely have been needed to support existing populations, or remnant populations. Yes, Neandertals as an individual species are now extinct, but as evidenced through genetic persistence of some Neandertal sequences (and now Denisovan genetics) in modern populations would their disappearance as a species indicate a failure or a triumph in hominin adaptability? On a cold, lonely night, by a campfire, it seems that a Neandertal, a Cro-Magnon, and why not add a Denisovan, found that their differences may not be not so great. Love this stuff. Many of us, it seems, are hybrids.

By: Buzz Adams

Buzz Adams — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 20:28:39 +0000

It would be interesting to see on a map the hypothetical populations compared to the ice cover in europe. It wouldn’t be to surprising to understand that no population could be found in periods where these areas were completely covered. If the severity of ice ages varied then perhaps the last one was just too big.