clipped from: www.abc.net.au   

A simplified family tree of humanity has dealt a blow to those who contend that Neanderthals intermingled with our forebears.

Neanderthal family

Neanderthals were a separate species to Homo sapiens rather than offshoots of the same species, according to the new family tree published online in the journal Nature.

The method, invented by evolutionary analysts in Argentina, marks a break with the conventional technique by which anthropologists chart the twists and turns of the human odyssey.

That technique typically divides the genus Homo into various classifications according to the shape of key facial features: flat-faced, protruding-faced and so on.

The authors of the new study, led by Dr Rolando Gonzalez-Jose at the Patagonian National Centre
say the problem with the conventional method is that, under evolution, facial traits do not appear out of the blue but result from continuous change
The team
uses a different approach
focusing in particular on a set of fundamental yet long-term changes in skull shape.