Neanderthal Homo sapiens 
"The earth of a hundred millennia ago was walked by at least six different species of man . . . Homo erectus, 'Upright Man' who survived . . . for close to 2 million years (was) the most durable human species ever. It is doubtful whether Homo sapiens will still be around a thousand years from now, so 2 million years is really out of our league." [Anatomically correct Homo sapiens, "Thinking Man" has been around 2 hundred thousand years.]*
Homo erectus At my local 7/11 I picked up a Sunday newspaper and handed it to the associate for checkout and payment. She was a tall, black woman with long eyelashes. We had occasionally chatted over the past couple of months. "May I ask you a question?"
"Sure" I mumbled.
"Are you part African-American?"
Totally alert - "Why do you ask?"
"Well - you have kind of an African nose."
"We are all out of Africa."
"Some people don't like that idea."
"Oh well" I relaxed, shrugged. "But I do wish you had thought my shoulders were off LeBron James or my physique, wit Muhammad Ali."
"No" she smiled, lashes dipped.
Fortuitously Dr. Erik Lindell, my brother has done some investigation of this matter. He swabbed his mouth and rushed the cotton ball with spittle attached off to the National Geographic Genographic project. The NGG than analyzed the DNA markers to determine the source of his ancestry (and much of mine though there still can be considerable differences) and the migratory route traveled by the paternal DNA.
But first a "shout out" for a man who lived 30 to 70,000 years past in East Africa known to scientists as M168. Mr. M168 is the common ancestor of every non-African alive today.
Dr. Lindell reports that his Y chromosome identifies our family as members of the Haplogroup N that migrated out of East Africa 50-60 thousand years ago. The group crossed Arabia, Central Asia, arriving in Siberia and halting for many millennia south of the Altai Mountains. DNA markers indicate that we are descendants of a man who lived in Siberia 10,000 years ago.
Scientists suggest that Haplogroup N was "stuck" in Siberia for 20 to 30,000 years unable to figure out (perhaps incompetent, dull witted, lost) a route over the formidable Altai's. Eventually they moved north and then west skirting the mountains, moving across Russia and into northern Finland. N's provide the demographic base for the reindeer-herding Saami people and most Scandinavians. Dr. Lindell robustly rejects the pessimistic possibilities that Ns were "stuck". He argues that they probably enjoyed life in Siberia confronting the towering snowy mountains, lush valleys and were "simply taking their time". But we digress.
Elements of the N group then proceeded south through Scandinavia and crossed the Doggerbank - a geographic feature now submerged beneath the North Sea - to arrive in the British Isles. Lindell reports that our family is a more complex cocktail than originally thought. The American wing of the Lindell family had adjusted to the idea of being 50% Swedish and 50% Irish. DNA stats indicate that we are: 42% Irish/British; 20% Scandinavian; 3% Finnish; 35% Broadly European; 2.9% Neanderthal.
The Irish/British 42% is something of a surprise while the "Broadly European 35%" is disappointing - a category that defies more specificity. We are also closer to residents of Siberia than to those of Sweden. But the presence in our genes of remnants of another Homo species "Neanderthals" leads me to intense speculation. There are hundreds of variants Neanderthals have contributed to Sapiens. Most Lindells enjoy tenting with nights illuminated by stars and bright hot campfires. Perhaps this is an echo of that other distant, extinct species.
*Yuval Noah Harari Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind 2015. Dr. Erik Lindell writes frequently on international trade issues for online publications. See also Arizona State University Institute of Human Origins. Online. Photos Wikimedia.
