Neanderthals and Down Syndrome?

Question

My husband postulated an interesting theory to me the other day, and I would like to see what people think of it.

He does not believe carbon dating is as accurate as many scientists would have us believe, he only trusts it dating back about 1000 years or so. Beyond that, he feels the error margin is too great to call it 100%.

With that said, he theorized that if carbon dating is incorrect, the Neanderthal skeletons we have found may not be as old as we think they are. And we know from history that people are afraid of what they don't understand and segregate people that they don't understand/fear.

So what if Neanderthals were actually colonies of people with something similar to Down Syndrome? Segregated from the normal population due to the ancient people's lack of understanding as to what was wrong. And we know that two people with Down Syndrome are more likely to have a child with Down Syndrome. So the colonies could have had family units.

Is this a new theory?

Answer 1

Good theory. Unfortunately that is near impossible. More likely Neanderthals were just a different family of hominids that were near contemporaries of Cro-Magnon hominids (modern man). There are too many sites of Neanderthals for the practice of "segregation" to have spontaneously occurred in so many places.

Have you noticed how indigenous people from Mexico have very distinctive features? They are the descendants of Mayas and Aztecs. There is no denying they are humans, obviously. But they are suffering from no syndrome or disfigurement of any kind. It's like saying that Irish people are somehow genetically "imperfect" because they have a high likelihood to have red hair and green eyes.

No, Neanderthals were a different branch of the same tree. The genetic difference between Neandethals and Cro-Magnons is slim. But Cro-Magnons were more evolved.

Consider it this way. In 1991 you have Windows 2.0. It is a great system. Very powerful. But then in 1992 Bill Gates updated the software package and Windows 3.11 dame out. Same OS, same logo, same old functions. But a lot of new ones too! BOth existed around the same time, both co-existed for a while, but one lived on while the other disappeared.

A modern theory is that the Neanderthals were absorbed into the bigger genetic pool. Instead of being exterminated (there is no evidence of big battles or massacres) they simply blended into the background. As Cro-Mags and Nean's had offspring, the hybrid children had less pronounced features. And the generations marched onward until only once in a while you saw someone with the protruding eyebrows, weak chin, or sloped head of the Neanderthal. Much like nowadays sometimes a brown-eyed couple produces a blue-eyed baby.

Answer 2

I've never heard the part about Down Syndrome specifically, but I have heard some form of this theory before. I'd say the credibility of either theory (evolution or people with a genetic disorder) would hinge on the accuracy of the dating process. I've heard arguments both ways, and I don't know what to believe because I don't have enough specific or first-hand information on the subject.

Answer 3

I would be curious to know what facts have caused your husband to mistrust the carbon dating process. I don't know a whole lot about it myself except that it relies on the half-life of carbon atoms (or something like that).

And actually, I believe that people with Down's Syndrome are perfectly capable of having an un-handicapped child. Down's Syndrome is a genetic disorder that comes from damage done to a woman's egg prior to fertilization.

Answer 4

I see this question is almost ten years old, well a new DNA study does show Neanderthals were positively selected for a gene which causes autism and down-syndrome.

Answer 5

No. Firstly, he's incorrect about carbon dating. It doesn't have 100% accuracy at any time but it can reliably date back much further than 1000 years.
More importantly though, Down Syndrome is not hereditary. It can't be inherited.

Answer 6

Even assuming that carbon dating was that wildly inaccurate, which, while it may not be 100% accurate is not that inaccurate, Neanderthals would still have died out ten of thousands of years ago. And, the skull configuration is different. There is no very close link between homo sapiens and Neanderthals.

Answer 7

I doubt it. Genetic tests (if enough DNA is left) would have revealed a trisomy, deletion or whatnot.