Written by: Ran Levi
In the 1970's and 80's, an interesting academic dispute rose between two rival camps of scientists in the field of Paleoanthropology, the study of human evolution. The main question dealt with the theories of when and where the modern human, the Homo-Sapiens, appeared.

Both sides agreed upon two main facts. The first was that fossils clearly show that the first humans appeared in Africa about a million and a half years ago. Their brain was relatively small, but their physical structure was similar to ours and they walked on two feet. This human creature, named Homo-Erectus, left Africa about a million years ago and spread around the world, from Asia to Europe; during that time the Homo-Erectus evolved and split into different species of humans, and among those species was the Neanderthal, who lived in Europe and the middle-East.

The second agreed upon fact was that today there is no variety of humans. There is one only species, the Homo-Sapiens and all living human beings today belong to that species.

The main question of the dispute was this: where did Homo-Sapiens come from, and what happened to the Neanderthals and the other human species that lived for a million years or more…yet no longer exist. Why are there Homo-Sapiens now, but no Neanderthals?

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