That's what I read in the paper yesterday.
Sensing some sort of bestiality, I read on. The article claimed that there had been matings between Humans and Neanderthals, which gave a boost to our immune system. I found this extremely puzzling; did our ancestors manage to acquire some sort of virus or bacterium by mating with the Neanderthals which invaded our immune system and improved it ? Confusedly I read on.
Apparently the mating between Human and Neanderthal had resulted in offspring, and the improved immune system of said offpring had resulted from the mingling of the genes of the two. Now that made sense!
However, I learned way back when I was at Uni that if matings between two types of creatures result in viable offspring - ie not sterile, and able to survive to also have surviving offspring - then actually they are members of the same species. That's the definition of 'species'. So what really happened was that members of two human subspecies successfully mated and thereby improved the species.
Moreover, if we are the result of a successful mating between 'Humans' and Neanderthals, doesn't that mean that the Neanderthals are in fact among our ancestors? So what the headline should have said was, 'Neanderthals are among the ancestors of modern human beings!' The headline as it is is rather like saying 'Your Dad had sex with a married woman', neglecting to state that the woman is your mother and that they were married to each other at the time.
Speaking of which, why this talk of mating and having sex when it comes to early humans? Why this assumption that our ancestors didn't have children within deeply felt emotional relationships, and that children weren't raised within a loving caring family? Emotions are older than language and culture, and indeed than the human species, as anyone who ever lived with a cat or dog can attest.
So perhaps a contemporary headline would have read, 'Ravishing Redhead falls for Hunky Foreigner!' The accompanying article might have claimed, 'Parents distraught, but shaman points to superior intelligence of newcomer and welcomes fresh blood for tribe.'
Well, that's what I would have written!
PS I have not specified the gender of either Redhead or Foreigner, so any interpretation is OK with me. But if 'fresh blood' suggests cannibalism, well that's NOT what I mean!
