There have been discussions here about Neanderthals
(not you, Mike Lee!) So you might be interested in the following
abstract of an article in today's issue of Nature. (If your library
access is like mine, you might get to read the article in a month.)
It is an interesting idea: Neanderthals, though intelligent, were
adapted for a low-tech, cold weather evolutionary niche. So maybe
they were a different species--the debate goes on.
---David
----------------------------------------------------------------
> Life-history traits correlate closely with dental growth,
> so differences in dental growth within Homo can enable us to determine
> how somatic development has evolved and to identify developmental
> shifts that warrant species-level distinctions. Dental growth
> can be determined from the speed of enamel formation (or extension
> rate). We analysed the enamel extension rate in Homo
> antecessor (8 teeth analysed), Homo heidelbergensis (106), Homo
> neanderthalensis ('Neanderthals'; 146) and Upper
> Palaeolithic-Mesolithic Homo sapiens (100). Here we report that
> Upper Palaeolithic-Mesolithic H. sapiens shared an identical
> dental development pattern with modern humans, but that H.
> antecessor and H. heidelbergensis had shorter periods of dental
> growth. Surprisingly, Neanderthals were characterized by having
> the shortest period of dental growth. Because dental growth is
> an excellent indicator of somatic development, our results suggest
> that Neanderthals developed faster even than their immediate
> ancestor, H. heidelbergensis. Dental growth became longer and
> brain size increased from the Plio-Pleistocene in hominid
> evolution. Neanderthals, despite having a large brain, were
> characterized by a short period of development. This autapomorphy
> in growth is an evolutionary reversal, and points strongly to a
> specific distinction between H. sapiens and H. neanderthalensis.
_______________________________________________
http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
