Neanderthal theory of Autism and occipital bun

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Once the last year, while procastinating, I found this theory which says there's a relation between neanderthal heritage and autism. One of the many vestigialities is the occipital bum, usually found in some European populations.

Further explanation: Wikipedia

Mine is really huge. I've found some people who also have it,but never as big as mine.
How many of you have it?

I have an occipital bun and my father looks like a neandertal. However if there were any genetic component to AS then I believe I inherited it from my mother's side.

I can certainly feel something. I'm not sure how prominent it would be considered. Kinda feels like a knuckle.

From what I feel, mine is actually quite large.

I aasumed everyone had one of those bumps. I guess I never looked.

Oh, so now we're less evolved human beings?? Or subhuman, depending on your point of view (although, from a taxonomic perspective, "Homo sapiens neanderthalensis" would necessarily imply "human")??

Anybody checked out Clan of the Cave Bear?? Possible quite a few of us have some Neanderthal in us...

Jean Auel had some interesting things to say about H. sapiens sapiens and H. sapiens neanderthalensis. None of the rest of the series is as good as Clan of the Cave Bear-- the driving conflict is just missing-- but the last one (Land of the Painted Caves, I think) had some very interesting things to say about "Flatheads."

We've become relatively certain that H. sapiens sapiens hunted H. sapiens neanderthalensis to extinction. On purpose, with intent. I think the term anthropologists are using is "intentionally excluded them from the environment."

Makes you wonder-- What would Homo sapiens sapiens (which we like to translate from Latin as "wise, knowing man" or "smartest guy so far" or something arrogant like that) be called if someone else had done the naming????

One wonders if Homo sapiens sapiens deserves one "sapiens," let alone two.

If we're Neanderthal holdovers, I'm going to go watch Rise of the Planet of the Apes again. Then change my signature to read, "Human no like smart ape."

No one said that. And there is no such thing as being "less evolved". By what measurement are you determining what constitutes "less evolved"?


There is no such species as "Homo sapiens neanderthalensis". It is just "Homo neanderthalensis".

I am completely lacking the occipital bun thingy. Does this mean I'm cro magnon?

Always wondered what the bump at the back of my head was.

lol that's funny

I can't tell if I have one or not but I loved that Clan of the Cave Bear book.

I think a lot of autistic people would enjoy that book. The main character grows up with people very different than her and has to fake and go against her natural inclinations just to fit in and live with them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Clan_of_the_Cave_Bear

In physical anthropology class years back, my professor was discussing the skull structure of Neanderthals, and specifically the occipital bun. She went on to discuss this being a marker of the species, and that it was exclusive to Neanderthals, I immediately raised my hand, and questioned, how her information was gathered on that particular subject, for I happened to have brought strong physical evidence with me that day to class to the contrary of what she was saying...my own skull, occipital bun included.

We discussed at fairly great length my hypothesis that Neanderthal had indeed been interbreed with modern man, and that we carried in us a trace of that lineage, even if it might be small. I maintained the position the there was an admixture, the obviousness lay right in front of our eyes if we only took a moment to see it.

I would also expect that beyond just the occipital bun, and other genes responsible for skull shape, that there was likely other inclusions that would have been very fortuitous to take from Neanderthal, on a purely physical level. These inclusion would be those that had helped Neanderthal adapt to the northern climate, including dietary/nutritional systems, pigmentation and hair types, and immune systems. Just for starters these inclusions would carry obvious benefits...and if one let their imagination loose on the idea of the admixture, the realm of the mind and brain comes to play.

She maintained, however, that no such admixture had taken place (nor could have taken place). As there is no trace of their mitochondrial dna in present man, making it impossible to have interbreed. I tried to explain the flaw in that logic to her, that mitochondrial dna is mother to child, and an admixture from Neanderthal male to human female would have produced a half-breed with human mitochondrial dna....but she maintained it wouldn't have been possible.

It irks me when mostly rational people fail to understand things that seem so obvious to me. But, I digress...

I have an occipital bun, it is rather pronounced, hats don't fit me properly, my head has a somewhat narrow, elongated appearance. I've been self conscious about it before, but it really doesn't seem to be viewed as unattractive or terribly disfiguring or anything, so I mostly just ignore it anymore....and don't wear hats.

http://rdos.net/eng/asperger.htm

There you have the whole theory with relatively long lists of traits which should be found among Aspies if it's right.
I guess it's been posted before. It must have been. But I though it was interesting linking for people who don't know about it.

I am thinking the occipital bump gives more dimension to the back of the head above the nape of the neck. My head is kinda flatter there. That's why I don't like to wear pony tails or put my hair back.

"Homo Sapiens Neanderthalis" WAS the nomenclature until some years ago: homo sapiens neanderthalis, and homo sapiens sapiens. Different subspecies of the same species. As opposed to the earlier homo erectus, and homo heidelburgenisis- who were different species within the same genus.

What the labels "species" and "genus" mean in general and how they apply to fossil homids specifically changes from decade to decade.

Neanderthals are now considered a different species.But older books use the above nomenclature that he was using.

I got one, too.

There could be other reasons for it other than the Neanderthal interbreeding hypothesis.
I mean, come on, every skull that existed in the past has not been discovered. No one can make any claim about it being exclusive to Neanderthal except to say that is the only place it has been seen so far in the fossil record. But clearly, given what is said in this thread, nobody is looking at the backs of our heads.