Neanderthals and Homo sapiens were in contact for 5,000 to 7,000 years. Both lived in the same type of environments, but our species had a competitive advantage that gradually forced Neanderthals to the edges of Europe. These maps show the range of Neanderthals (left) and Homo sapiens (right) between 38,600 and 36,500 years ago. By this time, Neanderthals had been crowded out of Europe except the Iberian peninsula. The white circles are archaeological sites. (Courtesy William Banks)
Archaeology.org – The scientific, legal, and ethical obstacles.
“Newly developed techniques could make cloning Neanderthal cells or body parts a reality within a few years. The ability to use the genes of extinct hominins is going to force the field of paleoanthropology into some unfamiliar ethical territory”.
“I think there would be no question that if you cloned a Neanderthal, that individual would be recognized as having human rights under the Constitution and international treaties,” says Lori Andrews, a professor at Chicago-Kent College of Law.”
“Hawks believes the barriers to Neanderthal cloning will come down. “We are going to bring back the mammoth…the impetus against doing Neanderthal because it is too weird is going to go away.”
It would nice to clone Jesus perpetually, so every generation has the distinct pleasure of crucifying him.
Further Reading:
Farming in Central Europe was not a Local Innovation
Altruism vs. Selfishness in Group vs. Individual Selection
Truly Unbelievable Story about Google Maps Street View
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I sent a link to your item to a friend who is an anthropologist/archeologist currently in China’s far north west. I thought he would love your comments because he is also a devout protestant (father is a senior Minister in Scotland) but with a very weird sense of humor.
His reply was classic – he said that cloning Jesus would be a waste because nobody would recognize “Him”. His other comment was that cloning Neanderthal Man in general would also be a waste because we already have Serbs and Ukranians.
I guess he has had some previous experiences that he has not shared with me…….
In Europe everyone who borders you or does business with you is a Neanderthal.