Modern humans may well have evolved from hardy Neanderthals who suffered through a dramatic cold spell that descended on Europe about 40,000 years ago, according to a new study that throws another coal into the already heated scientific debate about our origins. The report, published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, disagrees with the widely held belief that humans’ early ancestors came in waves out of Africa to overwhelm the separate and distinct Neanderthal populations of Europe.
We heatedly discussed the prospect of the working out of Neanderthal DNA back in Nov. 2006. This new study relates to the number of narrow-skulled voles found near Neanderthal sites. I am all a giggle over this news but the question remains – what will this do to the putative humour of the GEICO ads? Is it not now much the same as saying “So easy a Hittite could do it”?