Who are we and how did we get here? It is one of the biggest questions humanity knows, and the driving force behind paleoanthropology, the study of human origins.
Paleoanthropologists, however, sometimes prefer to turn the question around and ask instead, Who are we not? Who did we replace? How were they different from us? Recent research on Neandertals, who were either our closest cousins or one of our most recent ancestors, perhaps provides some of the most revealing answers to the question of what exactly Homo sapiens is or is not.
"Being Neandertal: The Life and Times of Our Closest Relatives," a public symposium being offered by Arizona State University's Institute of Human Origins (IHO) on Oct. 3 at ASU's Neeb Hall, presents a day-long exploration of the most recent research on Neandertals, with an international group of authorities speaking on topics ranging from Neandertal skeletal structure, behavior and ancestry to studies of paleoecology, and recent efforts to extract and analyze Neandertal DNA from fossils.
Recognized as a group of fossils with similar traits from Europe and the Middle East, ranging in age from 300,000 to 30,000 years old, Neandertals have been the focus of scientific and popular interest for over 140 years. At the center of the debate is the still-not-fully-resolved issue of whether Neandertals represent a distinct, competing species that co-existed with Homo sapiens for more than 70,000 years before going extinct, or whether the Neandertals were merely an extreme variation of the human species that eventually disappeared into our ancestral gene pool.
Both sides of the debate are represented at the symposium. Of particularly high profile is a thesis currently being argued by Spanish anthropologist Juan Luis Arsuaga that Neandertals (Homo neanderthalensis) first evolved as a separate species on the European continent, while Homo sapiens evolved 200,000 years later in Africa, later spreading into Neandertal territory and around the world.
Arsuaga is a principal scientist at an important group of research sites in Atapuerca, Spain, where hominid fossils perhaps as old as 300,000 years have been discovered with partial Neandertal traits. Arsuaga argues that the fossils show evidence of Neandertal evolution on the European continent from an ancestor already separate from the evolutionary branch that led to Homo sapiens. This would make Neanderthals a clearly distinct biological species from humans, despite the fact that they had similar brain capacities and had evolved human-like culture and tool-making abilities, as the archaeological record shows -- beings very much like us, but very much not us as well.
Other presenters, notably ASU Anthropology Professor Geoffrey A. Clark, represent the other school of thought and argue for a "continuity" in the fossil record that blurs the distinction between humans and Neandertals, indicating interbreeding and shared evolution. Also presented will be research into the specializations of Neandertal body structure and their behavioral implications; archaeological evidence for the lifestyles and ecology of Neandertals; and the implications of ancient DNA, which recently has been extracted from Neandertal fossils.
The full symposium program is as follows:
"Through a Glass, Darkly: Historical and Current Assessments of the Neandertals," Dr. Fred Smith, Northern Illinois University.
"Pit of Bones: Origins and Ancestry of Neandertals in Europe," Dr. Juan Luis Arsuaga, Universidad Complutense de Madrid.
"The Neandertal Skeleton: Perspectives on Predatory Behavior and Foraging Dynamics," Dr. Steven Churchill, Duke University.
"Paleolithic Paradoxes: Archaeological Evidence of Neandertal Lifeways Around the Mediterranean," Dr. Steven Kuhn, University of Arizona.
"Neandertal Archaeology in Europe and the Levant," Dr. Geoffrey Clark, Arizona State University.
"Getting Blood from a Stone: What Ancient DNA Tells Us about Neandertals," Dr. Anne Stone, University of Arizona.
"Seeing the Forest and the Trees: A Summary View of Late Pleistocene Human Evolution," Dr. William Kimbel, IHO/Arizona State University.
IHO Director Donald C. Johanson will host and moderate the symposium, which is scheduled for 9:00 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Neeb Hall. Free parking is available adjacent to the building in ASU Parking Structure #3 on Myrtle Ave.
Symposium tickets purchased in advance are $35 for ASU faculty, staff and the general public, and $15 for students, with the fee including a one-year membership in the IHO. Call 727-6580 to register. Tickets may also be purchased at the door with an additional $5 surcharge. A limited number of complimentary tickets are also available for ASU students, courtesy of the Sun Angel Foundation. Call the registration number for details.