SKULL AND BONES

IN 200,000 YEARS WE'LL BE FOSSILIZED BITS TO PONDER

Are we, Homo sapiens sapiens (wise wise man?), the culmination of the 5 million
years of human evolution, or a step along the way to something else, to Homo
sapiens futuristis? Two hundred thousand years ago, Neanderthals--technically
Homo sapiens neanderthalensis--were the dominant human life on Earth. What kind
of people will the earth see 200,000 years from now?

Fifteen years ago, when I first started researching for The Clan of the Cave
Bear, the earliest known appearance of modern humans was in Europe around 40,000
years ago, during the last ice age. They were the ones referred to as
Cro-Magnons, and there was evidence that for a period of time, they lived side
by side with Neanderthals,

The case for their coexistence has now become much stronger. The skeleton of a
Neanderthal was found in France that dates to around 30,000 years ago,
demonstrating that western Europe was home to both for perhaps 10,000 years, but
even more astonishing are discoveries from the rest of the world. New techniques
have dated the bones of an anatomically modern man discovered in Israel as
90,000 years old. There is still some doubt about the dating method, but if the
date holds it means that both modern and Neanderthaloid types of humans occupied
that part of the world for 60,000 years!

When did these two subspecies of Homo sapiens emerge? Around a million and a
half years ago in Africa, an earlier form of hominid, Homo erectus, began
migrating and eventually populated the rest of the Old World. Neanderthal types
that have been found throughout Africa and Eurasia apparently evolved directly
from the local H. erectus. In France, for example, there are erectus sites such
as Tautavel that date back 400,000 years, and the recently excavated Grotte
Vaufrey that date Neanderthals at about 300,000 years.

At one time most archaeologists thought that modern humans, H. sap. sapiens,
evolved in Europe from H. sap. neanderthalensis, but new evidence suggested that
we arrived later, bringing with us a more developed stone tool kit. It was then
theorized that at some unknown location, east or south, modern humans evolved
from an earlier type, perhaps H. erectus, and migrated to Europe.

Then, a few years ago, DNA studies indicated that anatomically modern humans
could be traced back to an original mother, dubbed Eve, though it may have been
a group of related women who evolved, again in Africa, less than 200,000 years
ago. Those early modern humans are thought to have migrated to all the rest of
the world, completely replacing the existing populations.

That theory has been disputed by some paleoanthropologists who have examined
skulls of earlier forms, such as H. erectus, particularly in Asia, and found
indications of characteristics still seen in Oriental people today. How could
the newcomers replace existing populations but take on their physical traits?
Could there have been some intermixing? In central Europe and the Mideast, a
combination of Neanderthal and modern human characteristics is sometimes found
in a single skull, but scientists debate whether it shows evolution or
crossbreeding.

Debates are the heart of the scientific process, but looking at the past can
shed light on the future. The evidence suggests that evolution is still going
on, but what lies ahead? Drastic climatic changes probably played a major role
in the adaptive strategies of ancestral hominids, but mutational changes occur
at different rates and contemporary societies have so much control of their
physical environment, they can live in any climate, including no climate at all,
in space. Will that lessen the selective pressures to change and cause the
process of evolution to slow?

Or will the pollution, the chemical fertilizers and pesticides, the toxic and
nuclear wastes, the greenhouse effect, and the depletion of the ozone layer
accelerate mutations? What about reactor meltdowns? Nuclear winter? Nuclear war?
Though most would be harmful or fatal, might some mutations actually be
beneficial? Perhaps selecting for immunity from some of the effects? What about
genetic engineering?

There are no more Neanderthals, but are there still a few Neanderthal genes?
Were they replaced or assimilated? Would we share our world with another kind of
intelligent human being? One that might make us the next Neanderthals? The
thought is fascinating to consider. One could even imagine stories...