Neanderthals and Early Humans May Not Have Mingled Much

NY Times ^ | May 9, 2011 | Nicholas Wade

[LiteKeeper]

Neanderthals were early humans.

[SunkenCiv]

Earlier, anyway. The irrational bias(es) against Neandertal which persists probably originated with Virchow:

The Future of the Past: Archaeology in the 21st Century by Eberhard Zangger

[W]hen the headteacher Johann Karl Fuhlrott discovered the bones of a Neanderthal in a cave near Dusseldorf in 1856... Rudolf Virchow, President of the Deutsche Gessellschaft fur Anthropologie... who personally promoted the principle 'always practise honesty and stand by the facts whatever happens' -- endorsed the interpretation that the Neanderthal was a bow-legged, Mongolian Cossack with rickets, who had been lucky enough to survive multiple head injuries, but who, during a campaign by Russian forces against France in 1814, had been wounded, and (stark naked) had crawled into a cave, where he had died. Thirty years passed before the specialists recognised their mistake. [pp 288-289]

[stuartcr]

I wasn’t aware that the first tribe to discover religion went on to take over the whole world. Where can I find proof of this? Thanks in advance.

[GraceG]

If Neanderthal Women looked like Helen Thomas this would explain it....

[Reeses]

I wasn’t aware that the first tribe to discover religion went on to take over the whole world. Where can I find proof of this? Thanks in advance.

Page 60 on covers it. Particularly read the second paragraph on page 62:

Supernatural selection: how religion evolved

[stuartcr]

How do you know Mr. Rossano is correct?

[Reeses]

I don’t know with certainty that he is correct but he makes sense given the available circumstantial evidence. Some of that evidence is available in the living. For example from anywhere on Earth people are quarrelsome and have a remarkable ability to reject evidence in conflict with their already made up minds. Those talents are useful for catalyzing human evolution and for maintaining a religious faith.

[stuartcr]

While not proof, circumstantial evidence can be fun and useful, especially for college professors that write books.