19591

Just curious about the wording in the first paragraph of this article: “Around 36,000 years ago, Neandertals and people lived side by side ….” Were not the Neandertals “people,” and isn’t it true that Neandertals and Cro-Magnons were both Homo sapiens?

John Hanson Mitchell
Lincoln, Mass.

This is one of the biggest debates in paleoanthropology. Many researchers regard Neandertals as a separate species , Homo neanderthalensis. Others view Neandertals as a geographic variant of H. sapiens. The debate is far from over .—B. Bower