A Bit of Neanderthal In All Of Us?

Neanderthals were humans that lived 40.000 years ago in northern and southern Europe.

The Neanderthal shortly became extinct after the arrival of Cro-Magnon man or modern humans. Many scientists believe that Cro-Magnon man wiped the Neanderthal population by depleting their resources and by war. Other scientists possibly believe that Cro-Magnon man and the Neanderthal interbred to a degree that there is no traces to distinguish if there is Neanderthal genes.

The Neanderthal population in Europe was estimated to be at its climax only around 10,000 people. Their small population size put the breed into vulnerability of extinction. It could be possible that the two breeds of human never crossed each other; however, it is more likely that Cro-Magnon man and Neanderthals did encounter. I imagine how an encounter with two distinct breeds of humans would have been like. I would immediately feel fearful of the other’s possible next actions. I would crouch down and clutch and slightly raise my stone spear. I would probably use my
weapon with any slight indication of danger.

With this scenario I believe that Cro-Magnon man probably engaged in war or resource competition with the Neanderthal that eventually caused the extinction of the Neanderthal. Recent studies have proven that the Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon hunted the same prey, thus increasing the probability of conflict between to the two humans. It seems that interbreeding would have been more difficult to happen because of the isolation between to the two breeds, and recent DNA evidence that display our DNA strikingly different than the Neanderthal.

Mitochondria DNA was extracted from Neanderthal bones and studied. Mitochondria DNA is more abundant than nuclear DNA ,and is only transmitted by the mother; therefore, mitochondria would expose any form of mutation. The studies exposed that Neanderthal DNA has 27 differences compared to the modern human. The Neanderthal DNA was compared to five modern European samples of DNA which resembled no evidence that interbreeding ever happen. If Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon did interbreed there is no evidence to prove it.

However, there is also no evidence to prove that there was any racial wars between the Neanderthals and Cro-Magnon. I believe Cro-Magnon was aloof ,and enjoyed living with the nuclear family. They were more nomadic and warlike than the Neanderthal. Combined with the fact that both humans hunted the same prey, I would conclude that Cro-Magnon could have possibly played a role in the Neanderthal extinction.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/the-neanderthal-murder-mystery...