Maneaters

If you’re reading this blog, you probably have enough of a grasp on evolutionary history to know what modern humans didn’t evolve from Neanderthals as many people think. Though we had a common ancestor, we existed at the same time. We may have even gotten it on! But for some reason, Neanderthals were an evolutionary dead end, and they died out about 30,000 years ago. (For you creationists, that was about 24,000 years before the Earth was formed.) It’s been hypothesized that a combination of relatively low climate adaptability and a losing battle for resources with the more clever and versatile modern humans are what led to Neanderthal’s demise. But a new discovery by French scientists may add another spoke in the extinction wheel. They found a cache of ancient bones, most of which were of modern humans. But one of them was a Neanderthal’s jaw bone. Interestingly, it bears the same kind of cut marks found on the bones of deer that were hunted and slaughtered by our ancestors. Which leads some to think that we may have actually eaten some of our hairy, dimwitted relatives. Sure, it seems a little gross to you, but keep in mind that some people still eat pork rinds even today, and there’s nothing more disgusting than that. More details here.