Kindred: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death and Art by Rebecca Wragg Sykes is a ringside seat to the revolution occurring in the study of human origins. In a way, this revolution has been occurring since the heliocentric theory of the solar system became widespread. The earth-centric world envisioned people as the center of the universe. Existence existed for us.
Since then, the hallowed centrality of homo sapiens has been on the defensive. For sometime this seems not to be the case. The theory of evolution was widely misread regarding modern humans. We were here because we were smarter, better, and faster than other hominids who are long gone. Even in a decentered world we maintained our primacy.
But the recent DNA evidence of interbreeding between homo sapiens and Neanderthals, and Denisovans, and Neanderthals and Denisovans, shows that the dividing line between hominids was and is fuzzy. If you can breed with another species, are they really another species?
And now a book like this, which further illustrate that Neanderthals were quite like us. Our survival and their extinction seem less preordained the more we learn about these people and their abilities. Survival seems more about who is lucky, than who is fit.
No comments:
Post a Comment