Are they 'melted' into homo sapiens or what??
2006-11-24 13:45:49 · 4 answers · asked by idiotjim 3 in Social Science ➔ Anthropology
Current thought includes both. Since homo sapiens and neanderthals co-existed a lot of experts believe there was some interbreeding. The question is really how much. Was there enough that neanderthal traits (DNA) "melted", as you put it, with homo sapiens? Or, as some experts believe, did this only happen on rare occasion and never really became wide spread practise. There aren't really any commonly accepted theories that neanderthals evolved. It is often thought that they died out either because of direct or indirect competition with homo sapiens for food or because they were killed out right by their homo sapien cousins.
I guess the real answer is that no one has a definitive answer at this point.
2006-11-24 15:19:56 · answer #1 · answered by libra1079 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
that's what one current theory is (interbreeding with homo sapiens), though some people are arguing that they died out by competition or killing by homo sapiens. They had bigger brains but unfortunately not as clever. they are up to a million bases in sequence from neanderthal DNA and there will be many surprises to come!
2006-11-24 13:50:53 · answer #2 · answered by ♪ ♫ ☮ NYbron ☮ ♪ ♫ 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
They didn't die out, they evolved into a more intelligent being due to changes in the environment and the adaptations they made over the years.
2006-11-24 13:54:10 · answer #3 · answered by searious 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
...yeah,Sabretooth tigers were hungry
2006-11-24 16:39:04 · answer #4 · answered by eddy r 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋