Last night on my local PBS station, NOVA had a fascinating show on the debate raging in paleoanthropological circles over the appropriate place for Neanderthals in the human family tree.
In a nutshell: when Modern Humans (homo sapiens sapiens) poured out of Africa did they replace the Neanderthal (homo neanderthalensis) population or absorb it? Are there traces of Neanderthal genes in our DNA? How separate was the evolution of the Neanderthal? Were they actually a different species or was interbreeding possible?
Needless to say, there are no clear answers. And, as with anything anthropological, the prejudices and presuppositions that the scientists bring to the investigation tend to determine the kind of evidence they discover. The parallels with earlier "race" typing are clear and troublesome.
I highly recommend you catch the show if it broadcasts again, and you can visit the website for more information.
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