Thread: Climate

Originally Posted by Moa Hunter

Did you look at the vid. It covers a structure now detected under the melting ice sheet which if it turns out was made by a pre human civilisation will be a very exciting discovery.

@Moa Hunter a bit disappointing to find the 'pre-human culture' is just Denisovans! I remember back in my uni days my Anthropology lecturer told us that the idea of Neanderthals being brutes was totally wrong; they had bigger brains than anatomically modern humans, and a neanderthal skull had been found that had been carefully opened and had healed in a way that if the same thing was seen on a modern skull during a forensic autopsy it would be considered proof that the deceased individual had undergone successful brain surgery. Further more, while the neanderthals did look different as a group, the defining characteristics are not outside the modern human variation and if you put a neanderthal into a business suit walking down a modern city street no one would look twice, given the existing variation in modern humans. Except for the fact their significantly larger brains would mean they were likely to be very successful people and probably the boss! I don't think it is reasonable to consider neanderthals, denisovans etc as seperate to modern humans as they clearly cross-bred with us and one of the defining traits of species is the ability to produce viable offspring. They were people, and possibly even of superior genetics to us.