Jadi Perdebatan Berabad-Abad, Apakah Neanderthal dan Homo Sapien Spesies yang Sama?

So the debate for centuries, Are Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens the Same Species?

Neanderthals, who disappeared from the archaeological record about 40,000 years ago, are considered our closest evolutionary relatives.

But since the first discovery of Neanderthal remains in the 1800s, scientists have been debating whether Neanderthals are their own species or if they are just a subset of our own species, Homo sapiens, which has since become extinct.

The question of whether Neanderthals can be considered the same species as modern humans is complicated by our understanding of the meaning of species, says Jeff Schwartz, a physical anthropologist and emeritus professor at the University of Pittsburgh.

The most common definition, called the concept of biological species, describes species as a group of individuals that can interact naturally and produce offspring that can survive. But even today, some strange hybrids are undermining this definition.

"Merupakan Makhluk Hasil Persilangan" translates to "Is a Creature Resulting from Crossbreeding" in English.

"Horses and donkeys can reproduce, but the mule they produce is infertile, so they are considered different species," said Schwartz. However, other combinations do produce viable offspring. This includes the liger (a cross between a lion and a tiger) and the beefalo (a cross between a cow and an American bison)."

Scientists Can Distinguish Bones from Both Groups

During a long period of time, scientists did not know whether Neanderthals and modern humans had sexual interactions, so this definition does not provide much enlightenment. Instead, the judgment is based on the anatomy of Neanderthals, which is quite different from H. sapiens, allowing experts to often distinguish bones from both groups.

Neanderthals have longer and lower skulls with more prominent brows and less prominent chins than H. sapiens, for example, and their bodies are more muscular.

"As a result, in 1864, Neanderthal was first classified as their own species, H. neanderthalensis. But with the discovery of more ancient human relatives, such as H. erectus in 1891, H. heidelbergensis in 1907, and H. habilis in 1960, their relationships with each other became increasingly complex."

"Compared to other species, Neanderthals appear more 'human,' said Schwartz."

In 1962, a group of anthropologists, geneticists, and behaviorists gathered in Austria to compile and voice their opinions on the history of human evolution based on the species that had been discovered at the time. The resulting manuscript, called "Classification and Evolution of Humans," placed Neanderthals under H. sapiens as a subspecies. "And when I was in college, that's what was taught to me," said Schwartz.

New in the 1970s and 1980s, Neanderthals were reclassified as their own species based on new analysis, and that is the most commonly seen naming until now.

Source: Live Science

Baru pada tahun 1970-an dan 1980-an, Neanderthal diklasifikasikan kembali sebagai spesies mereka sendiri berdasarkan analisis baru, dan itulah penamaan yang paling umum dilihat hingga saat ini.

"Discovery Year 2010"

An international team consisting of dozens of researchers published the first draft of the Neanderthal genome, based on three individuals, and compared it to modern humans. Scientists discovered evidence of Neanderthal signatures in the human genome, indicating that Neanderthals interbred with modern humans at least 120,000 years ago. Dozens of papers confirm this and find evidence of crossbreeding occurring at various points in time.

"The implications are clear: Neanderthals and humans interbred," said Jaume Bertranpetit, an evolutionary biologist at Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, Spain, to Live Science. He added that Neanderthals and H. sapiens also interbred with other early hominid groups, namely Denisovans. So, it is possible that the three represent different versions of the same species," he said."

"Bertranpetit points out modern humans as an example."

People around the world have striking differences in terms of height, skin, hair, and eye color, but we are very similar from a genetic perspective. The amount of genetic variation between two individuals is only about 0.1%, which means that only one base pair out of every 1,000 will be different. As a comparison, a 2010 paper showed that the Neanderthal genome is 99.7% identical to that of five modern humans.

"Having significant differences in morphology does not necessarily mean you have to have significant differences in genetics; it just means you need some differences in certain genes."
"So the idea that they are different species doesn't make sense to me as a geneticist."

The word Bertranpetit.

Schwartz argues that genetic evidence has not yet been able to settle this debate, but he is not worried about the rigor of research conducted by other groups. Moving forward, he recommends an interdisciplinary approach that does not place genetics as the final decision.

Source: Live Science

"We need a holistic approach, and we cannot continuously pit one discipline against another,"

"We must gather and find out," said Schwartz.

“Kita memerlukan pendekatan holistik, dan kita tidak bisa terus menerus mengadu domba satu disiplin ilmu dengan disiplin ilmu lainnya,”

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