Neanderthals v Humans

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Littlestone L
Littlestone Nov 3, 2012 10:08:25
Replying to handofdave

handofdave wrote:
I believe that they would qualify as our ancestors in the sense that we do contain their DNA in varying amounts... if we're Europeans. Sub-Saharan Africans do not... Apparently, Neanderthals were always a northern hominid and did not venture down into Africa.
Well, I might be wrong, but the common ancestor of Homo Sapiens and Neanderthals is Homo heidelbergensis. As far as I know Homo Sapiens are not descended from Neanderthals in any way what so ever, though we do carry some of their DNA through breeding with them at some point.

Going back some half a million years, and long before Neanderthals were here, Homo heidelbergensis was at Boxgrove in West Sussex (though even they were not the earliest example of humanoids in this part of the world). There’s a nice little write-up on Homo heidelbergensis here if you’re interested.

H Harryshill
Harryshill Nov 3, 2012 11:05:42
Replying to Littlestone

To get their DNA we would have had to breed with them (As you say) and the offspring from that union would then carry both of their genetic material. whether or not that offspring only mated with humans or not, would not alter the fact that it's children, would have a neanderthal as a grandparent, and all children of that line would have a neanderthal as a ancestor.

Or am I missing something?