If Neandertal would have evolved into modern man, it seems likely there would have been an intermediate step in the evolution, one which we do not find. This makes evolution from Neandertal man unlikely. Last, by tracing mitochondrial DNA, a new process that is still in its beginning stages, the length of time from whence one human and another have been genetically separated can be determined. This date shows that modern people from around the world have a common ancestor of about two hundred thousand years ago (Cann, 1987). So, these biologists believe that while Neandertals may have evolved from an ancestor common to ours, we are not descended from them, but merely successful rivals.
Neandertals were skilled hunters and gatherers who made and used artifacts such as spears, scrapers, and hand axes. They lived in caves and rock shelters during most of the year and had control over fire. The burial of their dead leads Fagan (1989) to believe that they practiced some kind of religion. These Neandertals were robust, with massive brow ridges, enlarged brain size, and high foreheads. Their height was usually about five feet tall and their bodies very muscular. The above description is very general. The specific physical characteristics of Neandertal differed throughout Europe, Asia and the Near East, and it does not seem likely that the evolutionary process would diminish these differences. It is hard to believe that under such varied conditions man would have evolved in exactly the same way. Trinkaus (1985, 453) concludes that this evolution is not likely and presents an alternative theory.
These alterations must have been produced by
a shift in selective pressures resulting in a
marked shift in gene frequencies, and probably
involving introduction of new genetic material
into populations in the Near East. The altera-
tions appear to be too marked and anatomically
pervasive to have bee...