Return of the Neanderthals

[Thunderbird]

Last week in Nature, scientists reported major progress in sequencing the genome of woolly mammoths. They reconstructed it from two fossilized hair samples. One was 20,000 years old; the other was 65,000 years old. Now, according to Nicholas Wade of the New York Times, biologists are discussing "how to modify the DNA in an elephant's egg so that after each round of changes it would progressively resemble the DNA in a mammoth egg. The final-stage egg could then be brought to term in an elephant mother."

 

Cool, huh? But that's not the half of it. Wade notes:

 

The full genome of the Neanderthal, an ancient human species probably driven to extinction by the first modern humans that entered Europe some 45,000 years ago, is expected to be recovered shortly. If the mammoth can be resurrected, the same would be technically possible for Neanderthals.

 

More....

[Moontanman]

I think that bringing back Neanderthals is a great idea, as well as the mammoth. Bringing back extinct species, especially those we helped to extinction is a great idea. Neanderthals could tell us a lot about evolution, about ourselves. If indeed they turn out to be every bit as "Human" as ourselves I think we should even consider bringing them back as a population instead of just an individual.

[Thunderbird]

I think that bringing back Neanderthals is a great idea, as well as the mammoth. Bringing back extinct species, especially those we helped to extinction is a great idea. Neanderthals could tell us a lot about evolution, about ourselves. If indeed they turn out to be every bit as "Human" as ourselves I think we should even consider bringing them back as a population instead of just an individual.

 

That’s what I was thinking. It would be fascinating to see how their brains worked. If I’m not mistaken the Neanderthal brains where as large if not larger than our own, but the primitive parts where possibly larger while the frontal lobes were not as developed. This has led to the theory that they had a extremely sophisticated inherent memory system, which would explain why they made the same sort of tools over vast periods of time in comparison to early humans that passed technology on as a cultural meme, as opposed to a highly developed inherent instincts. The same way a bird is born knowing how to build a nest, the Neanderthal at maturity could make a spear. It would be exciting to observe a group in the wild to test this theory.

 

I do have some reservations about this however.

What if they are wired in such a way they could not adapt to the new world ? They may not be as adaptable as humans having hard wired memory that could only be expressed as genetic time clock as they matured.

On the other hand if they could be taught to speak they could share with us this inherent memory bank. I wonder what they might they tell us about how they perceive the world or the world they "remembered " .

In Jane Auel Book’s The “Earths Children” series, the Neanderthal could recount the memories of their ancestors. They may have not needed speech as we do to pass on information generation to generation. It is possible their genetics controlled a set of cognitive phases that kicked it automatically as they matured and where reinforced as a survival trait.