M.J. Rose

It’s so fascinating to imagine the lost world of our ancestors. A world where human beings were not the only intelligent hominid species roaming the earth. A world where we had contemporaries such as the Neanderthals…

These days, it’s a little lonely to be us. Perhaps that’s why we’ve conjured up so many myths of other “people” to share our world — fairies, elves, Bigfoot…the list goes on. We have even spent billions of science dollars seeking life on other planets to keep us company.

So, it’s no surprise that the mystery of what became of our most recent lost contemporary, the Neanderthal, continues to burn. Did we cause our own vast loneliness by driving our brothers into extinction? Did we breed them out? In the meantime, new science has concluded that the neanderthals were a distinct species and not simply a subspecies of modern humans. No doubt, there is much much more to learn about our old departed friends…

Were Neanderthals a sub-species of modern humans? New research says no

(Science Daily)

“Researchers have identified new evidence supporting the growing belief that Neanderthals were a distinct species separate from modern humans (Homo sapiens), and not a subspecies of modern humans.

In an extensive, multi-institution study led by SUNY Downstate Medical Center, researchers have identified new evidence supporting the growing belief that Neanderthals were a distinct species separate from modern humans (Homo sapiens), and not a subspecies of modern humans…”

For the rest, click here.

In other news, the science world is actually wondering, should we clone a Neanderthal? Here.

How we treat our fellow humans reveals much about our own humanity…

Julia Pastrana: A “Monster to the Whole World”

(The Public Domain Review)

“Julia Pastrana, a woman from Mexico born with hypertrichosis, became one of the most famous human curiosities of the 19th century, exhibited the world over as a “bearded lady” while both alive and dead. Bess Lovejoy explores her story and how it was only in 2013, 153 years after her passing, that she was finally laid to rest.

When Julia Pastrana was born, in the mountains of Western Mexico in 1834, her mother worried that her looks were the result of supernatural interference. The local native tribes often blamed the naualli, a breed of shape-shifting werewolves, for stillbirths and deformities, and after seeing her daughter for the first time, Julia’s mother is said to have whispered their name. She fled her tribe — or was cast out — not long after.

Two years later, Mexican herders searching for a missing cow found Julia and her mother hiding in a mountain cave. They took them to the nearest city, where Julia was placed in an orphanage. Sweet, intelligent, and almost totally covered in black hair, she became a local celebrity. After hearing of her unusual looks and charming disposition, the state governor adopted Julia to serve as a live-in amusement and maid. She stayed with the governor until she was twenty, when she decided to return to her own tribe. But she never completed the trip home: an American showman known as M. Rates met her somewhere on her journey back to the mountains, and persuaded her to take up a life onstage.

Julia would go on to become one of the most famous human curiosities of the nineteenth century, variously known as “the Ape Woman,” “the Bear Woman,” or “the Baboon Lady.” She made her debut in December 1854, at the Gothic Hall on Broadway in New York City. She wore a red dress, sang Spanish folk tunes, and danced the Highland Fling. Huge, appreciative crowds flocked to see her, although it wasn’t really the singing and dancing they were after…”

See the rest here.

The explanation is more ominous than you might think…

via Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg, Cod. Pal. germ. 128, f.74r

Objects of Intrigue: 16th Century Rocket Cats

by Allison Meier

(From Atlas Obscura)

“Why are these animals in a 16th century manuscript wearing jet packs? That’s the mystery Mitch Fraas, Scholar in Residence at the University of Pennsylvania Libraries’ Kislak Center for Special Collections, set out to decipher. It turns out the truth is a bit macabre, but the illustrators obviously took some whimsical joy in depicting these rocket cats and birds. Fraas told Atlas Obscura more about these fire-fueled cats:

Just about a year ago, a friend sent me a link with a picture from one of our manuscripts here at Penn. I gaped… was that really a picture of a cat and a bird propelled by rocket packs!? This seemed pretty unlikely for a 16th century manuscript, but within a week I had turned up another half dozen examples of similar illustrations. So, what’s the deal with these rocket creatures?…”

For the complete piece click here to go to Atlas Obscura.