Do you think that there were other "human-like" species and we killed them off, like neanderthals?

I think we did. Just like there are many types of big cats and wolfs there were many types of "Human-like" animals and we killed them.

Well, even though I hate to regurgitate knowledge from tv, I remember watching the discovery channel years ago about what possible human-like counterparts we had during the ages of way back. The two that come to mind and might have been the only two they mentioned was the neanderthal and the pixie. The neanderthal most likely was sexed out of existance rather than murdered out of existance. Mixed in with our population and diluted into what we see as modern human today.

The pixie however if i recall corectly just went extinct, as they were primitive and isolated on an island known to miniaturize its inhabitants.

Perhaps, my knowledge of the subject is a litlle rusty, but conflict between different humanoid species probably did occur. However fossil evidence would suggest that only neanderthal, cro-magnon, and homo sapien existed together at the times they did, and as to whether we killed them, interbred with them, or they died from other reasons remains a complete mystery. Although, I have heard before that human beings then were vastly different then they were today (in that if you compared a human from today with one from 10,000 years ago they would seem like different species almost).

My favorite theory on the mattter though, is that we interbred with them, and that their genes still in a sense "exist" in the genes of other humans. It would explain why I have flat feet, hairy legs, and an under beard.

I also heard recently that the Max Plank institute had nearly mapped the neanderthal genome and would soon be ready to clone their species. Wouldn't that be interesting if they did so?

The pixie however if i recall corectly just went extinct, as they were primitive and isolated on an island known to miniaturize its inhabitants.

Pixies? Are you serious? I have never heard of this, really...

Pixies? Are you serious? I have never heard of this, really...

I think that he was referring to a strange species of humanoid creatures that had the build of "hobbits" : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homo_floresiensis

Quite an interesting species I might add.

Hmm, that is interesting. It really does conjure up a sort of real life Middle Earth possibility. Maybe all of the fiction is just tapping into some sort of ancestral memory in our dna??

Originally posted by caprice
Hmm, that is interesting. It really does conjure up a sort of real life Middle Earth possibility. Maybe all of the fiction is just tapping into some sort of ancestral memory in our dna??

Actually there probably have been times when accounts of mythology were based upon the finding of extinct species of animals. For example orges, goblins, trolls, and giants, may have been based on the findings of neanderthal skulls, which would appear to ancient germanic people as the skulls of bulky humanoid creatures. The cyclops originates from the skulls of elephants, which resemble one eyed human skulls when observed without knowing what an elephant looks like. And in China the dragon may have originated from the discovery of dinosaur skulls, specifically the two legged carniverous ones (actually this may be true of many other cultures as well).