Page 14 THE VILLADOM TIMES III • January 23, 2013 rying a briefcase. Nobody who met him on a crowded bus or subway would scream, and if he had a really good deal in that briefcase, many people might sign up. About 400 Neanderthal skeletons or parts have been discovered around Europe and north Asia, as far south as Turkey or northern Israel, but never in Africa. The message is that, while 19th century eugenicists saw Africans as more primitive than white Europeans and somewhat more primitive than Asians, the exact reverse was true. Neither were the Neanderthals as primitive in culture as the “ape-man” hypothesis suggested. Flint knappers who made tools by chipping flint describe handmade Neanderthal flint cutters, used for skinning animals and cutting meat, as deliberately thought out and carefully sharpened by gradual knapping. Neanderthal spearheads were attached to the spear shafts not just by thongs, but by manmade pitch, presumably produced by heating birch wood in underground containers made of small animal skulls until the birch tree fragments, under prolonged heat from fire, oozed a black pitch that fixed the spearheads to the shafts. This somewhat blurs the old-fashioned distinction between Neolithic and Paleolithic periods. The fact that a complicated process like pitch production was handed down from one generation to the next suggests Neanderthals knew how to talk. The Neanderthals also took the time to bore holes in the tops of seashells so they could presumably string them and wear them as ornaments. What appears to be a bone needle for sewing turned up at another site. Scraps between the teeth of skulls suggest they may have eaten both vegetables and meat. Other sites reveal they painted pictures on the walls of caves. One site in Spain revealed a teenaged Neanderthal girl laid out for burial in the fetal position with both hands clasped beneath her head. This suggests, though it may not prove, that the Neanderthals had some concept of an afterlife. Sites in Russia suggest that Neanderthals built simple houses out of the bones of the animals they hunted or scavenged, possibly covered with animal hides. What became of these promising people? The old theory was that Cro-Magnons or homo sapiens -- essentially modern men and women, based on skeletal reconstruction -- swept up north out of Africa and murdered them all. The Neanderthals were the only people in northern Europe 40,000 years ago; 25,000 years ago, the full-blood Neanderthals were extinct. DNA came to the rescue. Scientists of the 21st century were able to reconstruct the Neanderthal genome and this overturned the theory of total extinction. “Those of us who live outside Africa carry a little Neanderthal DNA in us,” said Svante Pääbo of the Max Planck Institute in Leipzig in 2010. “The proportion of Neanderthal-inherited genetic material is about one to four percent,” said Dr. David Reich of Harvard Medical School, who worked on the study. “It is a small but very real proportion of ancestry in non-Africans today.” Jared Diamond once joined many other theorists in believing that Neanderthals had been exterminated. That is a theory, but DNA science is subject to peer review. Neanderthal DNA keeps cropping up among whites, Asians, and people with white or Asian ancestors. The most probable explanation is that when the homo sapiens came north from Africa, they interacted with the Neanderthals, perhaps peacefully, until the Neanderthals were swamped. Skeletal evidence suggests that there were eventually 10 Cro-Magnons for every Neanderthal in Europe and the Neanderthals were at a disadvantage, not intellectually, but because their robust bodies required a lot more protein than their new neighbors. So there you have it. The heaviest concentration of Neanderthal genes is in Tuscany, and the lowest is in China, but if you are reading this, you are almost certainly part Neanderthal, as I am. That could explain my computer skills, or lack of same, but I cannot claim to have benched 500 pounds. My full-blooded Lakota friends were optimistic when they suggested I was at least a Neander half-breed. I needed a shave that day. Next time somebody calls you a Neanderthal, smile as if you know something he or she does not. DNA testing has revealed that all people from Europe or Central Asia are Neanderthals -- at least in part. The recent “Nova” TV show, “Decoding Neanderthals,” showed an American college teacher bringing it home to his class. He took a blood sample from each student who volunteered and later gave the leery kids the results on camera. One young woman who was black, white, and Indian, was about one percent Neanderthal; a Chinese man was 1.2 percent; and a blue-eyed blonde woman was three percent. DNA samples taken all over the world indicate that full-blooded tribal Africans have no Neanderthal ancestry, continental Asians have some, and Europeans have the most, although quotients of more than four percent are unusual. Neanderthals, when first discovered, got very bad press. The first recognized Neanderthal skull and bones were discovered in the Neander Valley in western Germany in 1856, and were originally thought to be the remains of a bear. When the skull turned out to be human, the remains were ascribed to a bow-legged Cossack of mixed Mongolian ancestry who was presumed to have deserted from the Tsarist Russian contingent that was fighting Napoleon. A few years after the discovery, Charles Darwin unveiled his theory of evolution by natural selection and the Neanderthal became an “ape-man” -- a missing inking between the gorilla and the Victorian. This was not the universal opinion. Rudolf Virchow, the Prussian pathologist who argued in 1854 that spontaneous generation was a myth and that sterile matter could not come to life, examined the Neander Valley skull and bones. Virchow discovered that the skull appeared to have been deformed by childhood trauma and that the bowed leg bones were due to rickets, a nutritional disease, rather than an ancestral proximity to apes. Chris Stringer, a modern British anthropologist quoted on “Nova,” confirmed that Virchow was right about the bow-legged stance based on a nutritional deformity. Stringer said it was caused by arthritis. Virchow also asserted that there were no “pure” Germans in the 19th century. He did not conjecture Neanderthal ancestry for moderns. People listened to, or dismissed, that opinion based mostly on whether they were proud of their own achievements or those of their ancestors. Erik Trinkaus, a modern expert, has studied Neanderthal foot bones. He confirmed in 1975 that Neanderthals walked as modern humans do. Early reconstructions of the Neanderthal man followed the Darwin myth rather than the Virchow analysis. The Neanderthals were depicted as stooped and shuffling, with receding chins and foreheads. Some of the facial features, such as the high brow ridges, are evidentially correct, but were exaggerated by the “monkey model.” Better forensic reconstruction shows Neanderthals were easily recognizable as humans, though their skeletons indicate they could have benched 300 to 500 pounds, according to one anthropologist. The museum in Heidelberg, the heart of Neanderthal country, shows a reconstructed Neanderthal in a suit car- Honk if you’re a Neanderthal Ho-Ho-Kus Jottings Foundation announces fundraiser The Ho-Ho-Kus Education Foundation will hold its annual Dinner Dance and Auction on Saturday, April 20 at the Ridgewood Country Club. The event celebrates the 20th year of the organization, which has awarded over $1 million in grants to enhance the educational experience of children at the Ho-Ho-Kus Public School. The foundation is currently seeking donations of auction items. For more information, or to donate an auction item, contact Nan Norbitz Kelly at cnkelly@aol.com. Nursery school hosts Open House The Ho-Ho-Kus/Waldwick Cooperative Nursery School will host Open Houses on Feb. 8 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and on Feb. 13 from 7 to 9 p.m. Parents and their preschoolers are invited to stop in to see the classrooms and meet with the teachers and current co-op members. Classes for two-, three- and four-year-old children and Mommy & Me, open to children 18 to 24 months old, are available for the 2013-14 school year. The nursery school offers various educational enrichment programs, including music and foreign languages. Extended day options are also available. The school provides a unique co-op opportunity for parents who wish to assist in their child’s classroom. Parents may also choose non-participating co-op status. Located at 400 Warren Avenue in Ho-Ho-Kus, the school is a state-approved, non-profit, and non-sectarian school. For more information, e-mail info@hohokuswaldwickcoop. com. Hermitage hosts Civil War Winter Camp The members of Company B, 2nd Rhode Island Volunteers, will stage a special winter encampment on the grounds of The Hermitage, 335 North Franklin Turnpike in Ho-Ho-Kus, on Jan. 26 and 27. The Civil War re-enactor group, based in Clifton, also hosts an encampment at The Hermitage each spring. The unit will set up the outdoor winter encampment regardless of the presence of snow. In fact, the re-enactors are hoping for snow to add to the realism of their living history portrayal of the hardships encountered by soldiers in the Civil War. In addition, there will be indoor displays of Civil War artifacts, and engaging hands-on activities for families with children. Entry to the Winter Encampment is $7. The cost of admission includes all Civil War programs, and access to the inside of The Hermitage, which is decorated for the holidays. Museum members and children under age six will be admitted free. The museum and encampment will be open from 1 to 4 p.m. both days. The Friends of the Hermitage, Inc., a nonprofit membership organization, manages The Hermitage, a New Jersey State Park and Bergen County’s National Historic Treasure. For information contact Friends of the Hermitage by mail: 335 North Franklin Turnpike, Ho-Ho-Kus, NJ 07423 or by phone at (201) 445-8311. Information is also available online at www.thehermitage.org. Rubino to address gardeners Chris Rubino, northeast sales manager for Monrovia Growers, discuss the best new plants at the Ho-Ho-Kus Garden Club’s Jan. 28 meeting. The program will be held at 7:30 p.m. in the Community Church of Ho-Ho-Kus, 400 Warren Avenue. Rubino is a graduate of Cornell University. His presentation will include information about improved plant varieties that are bred to be more pest and disease-resistant or have improved characteristics, such as increased flower or fruit production. Register for kindergarten The Ho-Ho-Kus Public School will hold kindergarten registration for the 2013-14 school year on Wednesday, Jan. 23 from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Registration will be held in the library of the school, which is located at 70 Lloyd Road in Ho-Ho-Kus. Incoming kindergartners must be five years old on or before Oct. 1, 2013. Those registering children will need to bring proof of the child’s birth date in the form of a birth certificate and two proofs of residency. Proofs may include a copy of the deed to your home or a fully executed rental lease and a copy of a utility bill. For additional information, call (201) 652-4555.