Re: [asa] Humanity and the Fall: Questions and a Survey

On Tue, May 6, 2008 at 2:15 PM, Dick Fischer <dickfischer@verizon.net>
wrote:

Let's take your 51K figure for the last migration of H sapiens out of
Africa. Black hair and brown eyes characterize black Africans,
Asiatics and native Americans. Only in the area where cross breeding
is therotically feasible, or dare I way likely, do we see human beings
with blond or red hair and blue eyes, and a bump at the base of the
skull. Since we do know Neanderthals had red hair and a clump at the
base of the skull, and keeping in mind the bone-jumping predisposition
of our forebears, why would we not suspect a Neanderthal genetic
input? On what basis would you think otherwise?

Here's your problem. 51 kya is the *first* migration and not the
*last*. The PNAS study I cited looked at other scenarios with earlier
migration(s). They didn't pan out with migrations starting at 51 kya.
The model preferred by the data is migration from Africa into Eurasia
*starting* 51 kya followed by exponential rather than instantaneous
growth. Those who remain mult-regionalists do not claim that
Neanderthal came from Homo Sapiens but rather the remaining
Neanderthal had limited breeding with Homo Sapiens showing up *for the
first time*. This is why I Iabel your view as bizzare.

  You also make the DNA extracted from Neanderthal as dicier than it
is. While there is still a possibility of contamination by modern
humans that would only make Neanderthal to appear genetically closer
than they really are. As it stands there is too much genetic distance
between Neanderthal from modern Europeans that would need to have been
selectively swept away. The issue here is really only for the nuclear
DNA because the MtDNA is relatively solid. The studies I am citing
look at the MtDNA, the Y chromosome DNA, and the autosomal DNA.
Combined with the fossil data they all point in the same direction.

You also are also way too obsessed with phenotypes when you should be
looking at genotypes. This is like falsely accusing a woman of
adultery based on the eye color of the child. There is a need to take
a DNA test. The latter is definitive while the former is not.

Rich Blinne
Member ASA

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Received on Wed May 7 09:25:08 2008