BBC Wednesday, 1 August, 2001, 18:05 GMT 19:05 UK Meet the Neanderthals
Neanderthal child (model reconstruction: E. Daynčs, Paris)

By BBC News Online's Helen Briggs Reconstructions of Neanderthal skulls add to growing evidence that the creatures were not close relatives of modern humans. The distinctive features of the Neanderthal skull were established in early infancy - possibly even in the womb - say researchers in Switzerland. Their conclusion is based on sophisticated computer graphics charting the cranial development of Neanderthals, from babyhood to adult life. The findings support the idea that Neanderthals did not interbreed with early modern humans and contributed little or nothing to the present human gene pool. 'Sister' species Christoph Zollikofer and Marcia Ponce de León of the University of Zürich used fossils to construct 3D virtual computer images of the skulls of Neanderthals and early modern humans. Physical differences in skull development - such as the Neanderthal's receding chin and low, sloping forehead - were fixed by the age of two years, said Dr Zollikofer.

A modern human child (left) and a Neanderthal child (right)

"Most of what makes a Neanderthal and what makes a modern human is already present in the infant," he told BBC News Online. This suggests that Neanderthals were a separate "sister" species from modern humans. "We don't see any evidence of gene mixing at all," he said. "But we can't prove this." Mysterious demise Neanderthals were an ancient race of people that lived in Europe, the Near East, Central Asia, and probably western Siberia more than 100,000 years ago. Their mysterious demise about 30,000 years ago has been the subject of much debate and speculation. Some believe that the Neanderthals were killed off by a new type of human which began to take over their hunting grounds during the middle of the last Ice Age. Another theory is that the Neanderthals disappeared through interbreeding with humans. Recent DNA analysis of three Neanderthal skeletons suggests that they were not our ancestors but a sidebranch of human evolution. The Swiss research, published in the scientific journal Nature, seems to support that view.
Modelling the soft tissue

Virtual and stereolithographic reconstructions of a Neanderthal child

Clinical CT and MRI data (left) were used to construct the face of an adolescent Neanderthal

-- Anonymous, August 01, 2001

Answers

Wow... you just posted a childhood picture of my ex-wife! Jeez- Louise! Even the open-mouthed vacant stare.... scary! (even scarier that she was my wife, and we reproduced) OWOOOO !!!

-- Anonymous, August 01, 2001

GDD, just remember that there was something about that vacant stare that really tickled your fancy at one point. Better be sure you don't subconsciously still have a soft spot for that sort of thing. How about the Great Danes, for that matter. Do they have such a stare? As a puppy, maybe? I think I saw a picture like the one posted above when I was reading a National Geographics article about the Ozarks.

-- Anonymous, August 02, 2001

Hey, she's cute... Looks like a cousin to the Olson twins...

-- Anonymous, August 02, 2001

Any redheads here?

Redheads "are Neanderthals", scientists believe

London (dpa) - Red hair may be the genetic legacy of Neanderthals, according to a new study by British scientists.

Researchers at the John Radcliffe Institute of Molecular Medicine in Oxford were quoted by The Times Monday as saying the so-called ginger gene" which gives people red hair, fair skin and freckles could be up to 100,000 years old.

They claim that their discovery points to the gene having originated in Neanderthal man who lived in Europe for 200,000 years before Homo sapien settlers, the ancestors of modern man, arrived from Africa about 40,000 years ago.

Rosalind Harding, the research team leader, told The Times: The gene is certainly older than 50,000 years and it could be as old as 100,000 years.

An explanation is that it comes from Neanderthals." It is estimated that at least 10 per cent of Scots have red hair and a further 40 per cent carry the gene responsible, which could account for their once fearsome reputation as fighters.

Neanderthals have been characterised as migrant hunters and violent cannibals who probably ate most of their meat raw. They were taller and stockier than Homo sapiens, but with shorter limbs, bigger faces and noses, receding chins and low foreheads.

The two species overlapped for a period of time and the Oxford research appears to suggests that they must have successfully interbred for the ginger gene" to survive. Neanderthals became extinct about 28,000 years ago, the last dying out in southern Spain and southwest France.

Explains My Ex-Wife Too

-- Anonymous, August 02, 2001

Ahem--this old git had glorious chestnut hair with definite copper highlights and still has freckles and green eyes. On the other hand, my Neanderthal first husband had black hair and blue eyes. From what I understand, the original Brits were short, dark, swarthy and hairy--and were fearsome warriors. Those who were secure from the Romans and other invaders behind mountains and rivers (i.e., the Welsh and Cornish) strongly show those physical characteristics to this day (so do the Bretons). I always thought the Scots and Irish got their red hair from the Vikings (think Erik the Red).

-- Anonymous, August 02, 2001

So our Old Git is a descendant of the Clan of the Cave Bear, hummm? Explains the club she's so fond of brandishing... :)

-- Anonymous, August 02, 2001

Club? Brandishing? I thought *we* were her club. And I never got any offer of brandy. Snort!

-- Anonymous, August 03, 2001

Damn, I didn't think anyone knew about that.

-- Anonymous, August 03, 2001