WERE NEANDERTHALS A SUBSPECIES OF MODERN HUMANS? NEW RESEARCH SAYS NO

Among the most controversial topics in paleoanthropology the following question arise:

Were Neanderthals a different species from modern humans or just a subspecies?

New evidence supported that our close relatives, Neanderthals, were a distinct species separate from Homo sapiens and not a subspecies of them. This has been demonstrate by looking at the complete morphological pattern of the whole nasal complex in Neanderthals fossil remains and comparing them with modern humans data. This comparison has revealed clear species- level differences in nasal structure and function.

Furthermore, the research has indicated that the Neanderthal nasal complex was not adaptively inferior to that of modern humans, and thet Neanderthal´s extinction was likely due to competition from modern humans and not an ability of the Neanderthal nose to process a colder and drier climate.

IN fact, it seems that previous works about Neanderthals nose, have approached this anatomical enigma from the wrong perspective; comparing nasal dimensions of Neanderthals to modern humans populations (Inuit and Europeans whose nasal complex is adapt to cold and mild climates).

However, the results of the current study suggests that the upper airways of this extinct group worked through a different set of rules as a result of their evolutionary history separate from modern humans. Modern Homini also stated in its different overall cranial structure of ours, all resulting in a mosaic of features not found among any population of Homo sapiens.

THE GENETIC ANALYSIS DONE TO A SKELETON FOUND IN AFRICA SHED LIGHT ON OUR ORIGINS

The archeologist Andrew Smith, discovered a skeleton in St Helena´s baith in 2010, near the place where some human tracks from 117.000 years ago, appeared. Those prints were called Eva´s prints. That skeleton belongs to a man that lived in southern Africa 2.330 years ago, and the finding of it gives us more information about human´s origins and our common ancestor.

The mitocondrial or matern DNA extracted from a teeth and a rib  was analyzed and it has aported the first proof of our origin: we all come from Africa (from a lineage that is, presumably, extinct). Besides, it can be used to develop the human geneological tree with all the branches derivated from a common mitocondrial Eva.

The genetic information found in those bones are the oldest ones that diverged from the genetic profile made about some modern human appeared 200000 years ago.