Posted by figleaf
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Wed, 2009-11-04 20:57
We have no, zero, none idea whether the sexual behavior in Neanderthals, or Cro Magnons, or any other species in our genus would be that much like ours. We have very little reason to believe that other species would be more attracted to members of our species — presumably Neanderthals would prefer to meander down the the Neander with a man or woman with a nice bell-shaped rib-cage and undershot jaw instead of the weirdly hourglass-shaped, pointy-chinned “princess” the slashdot commentator imagines would be more “hawt.”
Paleoanthropologist John Hawks picks up an unconsciously but hugely man-hating comment on Slashdot.
Slashdot picks up the Svante Pääbo “Humans had sex with Neandertals“ story.
You do not need any DNA analysis to figure that out. What do you think the troll did to the captured the [sic] princess, once he took her back to his mountain cave? And they did not call it the Stockholm syndrome if she ever was freed; it was called bergtatt (literally: taken into the mountain) or bewitched.
Mod skepticism +5…
He said it here.
We have no, zero, none idea whether the sexual behavior in Neanderthals, or Cro Magnons, or any other species in our genus would be that much like ours. We have very little reason to believe that other species would be more attracted to members of our species — presumably Neanderthals would prefer to meander down the the Neander with a man or woman with a nice bell-shaped rib-cage and undershot jaw instead of the weirdly hourglass-shaped, pointy-chinned “princess” the slashdot commentator imagines would be more “hawt.”
Neantherthals would be as
Submitted by fiveofnine (not verified) on Thu, 2009-11-05 03:48.Neantherthals would be as close to Cro magnon as a dog is to a wolf, where. you do have interspecies mating with viable off spring.
I would venture to say when humans were rare and communities were small, a matter of survival probable played a role. No one has ever said these variations of man had no culture.
[They surely had culture, not least because they left behind cultural artifacts. I’m just saying we have no idea what that might be beyond projections of one’s own culture and/or fantasies like the Slash-dot guy. I was reacting more to the assumption that of course Neanderthals would just automatically prefer Nordic princesses. Thanks, Five. —fl]
Except that the neanderthals
Submitted by Nightfall (not verified) on Thu, 2009-11-05 15:15.Except that the neanderthals were probably closer to “nordic princesses” (albeit with flat foreheads) since they lived in europe during the ice age, and the cro-magnons probably had a more african look. Which one’s the troll?
[It’s true, of course. And I’m making my own assumptions that the guy supposed the princess would be a contemporary fairy-tale princess. —fl]
Oh, wow, the gender
Submitted by Diatryma (not verified) on Thu, 2009-11-05 09:50.Oh, wow, the gender assumptions in that bit. Cavemen vs civilized women! Because men are Neanderthals, and women are princesses.
[Yup. It’s not that it’s impossible. It’s just that there’s seriously no way to make the assumption. Which means that yeah, claims like that reveal more about the speaker than about the presumed culture. Thanks, Diatryma. —fl]