New gene study rewrites Neanderthal history

I've always been very upfront about the fact that I don't like the Neanderthal/Sapiens interbreeding hypothesis at all. It has become a bit of a trend, recently, but to paraphrase Al Gore, "The science is far from settled", as far as I can see. (I rather suspect that the 'interbreeding' theory is popular amongst anthropologists, because it is sensationalist and therefore good for generating grants, and because it fits in with the 'we are all the same' notion of leftist and collectivists).

The thing is that Neanderthals and humans DID have a common ancestor. I'm of the opinion that whatever interbreeding took place happened in Africa between pre-Neanderthals and pre-humans when they were genetically much closer to each other, long before Neanderthals dispersed into the rest of the world to become Neanderthals proper, and pre-humans developed into Sapiens proper.

It could even be that at that stage, (when interbreeding may have taken place) the pre-Neanderthals were intellectually superior to pre-humans. They did, after all, manage to populate other parts of the world, whereas pre-humans stayed put in Africa.

But by the time humans left Africa more than a 250,000 years later, there was no comparison (in terms of intelligence, technical skill) anymore and we had two properly distinct species, incapable of interbreeding.

 I cannot agree more.

It also seems to me that the science is not unsettled only in relation to the cross-breeding, but also in many other respects when it comes to our ancestors. This is based on the regularity with which previous classifications and dates are revised. I appreciate that our ancestory may present difficulties, but often conclusions are presented with a brash conviction later proved to be unwarranted.

I lately tend to suspect that there was a much wider distribution of humans and ancestors than projected by the Out of Africa scenario. Perhaps it happened, but not exclusively to Africa. This would imply that there was a much wider, earlier movement of people all over the world and that the situation remained fluid for a long time. Assuming that we all descend from a single cell, one perhaps has to assume an intial origin and an exodus from somewhere, but much, much earlier than the popular Africa one.