Well, maybe . . .

[polaris93]

A 100,000-Year-Old Civilisation? | Features | Fortean Times

Now, the Fortean Times is perhaps not the best place to look for dependable data on ancient humanity (or anything else of any relevance to the real world, for that matter). But this story reminded me of something.

Neandethal man died out -- or otherwise disappeared from the Earth --

Comments

[brezhnev]

But they were interfertile. A few hybrid skeletons have been found. And there's DNA evidence as well showing that non-Africans typically have 2-4% Neanderthal heritage. And Ozzy Osbourne especially (I'm not making this up).

[polaris93]

Ah-ha! :-) I believe it about Ozzy Osbourne -- there has to be some explanation for his weird metabolism, and that one does just fine. I guess they've finally been able to find enough Neanderthal DNA to sequence their genome and compare it with modern humanity's. Which leaves another mystery: So why didn't that damned Discovery Channel series use any of what was then available to at least leave open the question? And why did the narrator go out of his way to dehumanize Neanderthals through his choice of terminology -- e.g., "dominant male" instead of "headman" or "leader"?

[hannahsarah]

Homo Sapiens arrogance. It really messes with some people's world view to think that anything else intelligent could exist alongside "modern humans". People get extremely unnerved by dolphins, great apes, chimps and even lesser animals and birds that use tools. The only way we can define "our" superiority is to classify all of "them" as lower. Anything else is too threatening.

[polaris93]

Either that, or the Discovery Channel is going the same way that the History Channel has: straight down into the toilet.