Mercy! Mercy! That Dang Nabed PERCY!

Whatever happened to the Neanderthals?

If you want to read some interesting stuff search Cro Magnon/ Neanderthal/ chromosomes. What is being discovered is fascinating. So is the spin of speculation that's being offered. The central question seems to be, were they destroyed by modern man or were they absorbed into the gene pool? I don't think the answer to that requires a whole lot of heavy thinking. Look at what the Jews did when they entered the Promised Land. Look at what the Spaniards did upon entering the New World. Look what happened to the Native Americans in the United States and Canada. It doesn't take much of a stretch to figure out what happened to the Neanderthals.

However, there is no single answer since most modern humans of today carry between 1 and 4 percent Neanderthal genes. Scientists seem to agree that when the two cultures collided about 60,000 years ago they were on the edge of being genetically incompatible. It was sort of like the horse and donkey producing a hybrid offspring... but not quite that severe. Male offspring tended to be sterile but not so much the female. Surprisingly what has been passed down to us appears to be the legacy of a Neanderthal man mating with a Cro Magnon female and the issue being raised in the Cro Magnon societies. Since the Neanderthal societies became extinct it makes sense, even though one might find it hard to reconcile a Neanderthal male being afforded the opportunity to mate with a modern female given that racial prejudice isn't exactly a new idea.

If you read the biblical accounts having slaves from another culture was sometimes tolerated. This was not just in the Old Testament but more the norm in ancient cultures. So one can imagine, especially after three or four generations, a gradual acceptance of the progeny. The inescapable outcome of two unlike cultures coming together, is competition for resources, conflict and the taking hostage of women and children. Some of these captives reached maturity, mated and produced the viable legacy that continues on in today's gene pool.