Much of the impassioned debate regarding the General Theory of Evolution centers on human origins. The very notion that God’s highest creation could be nothing more than a distant cousin to an ape has sparked outrage in religious and secular circles alike. Various family trees for the human race have been devised with time. Many of these trees include an ancient species known as the Cro-Magnon Man. However, as the following article showcases, a recent study indicates Cro-Magnon was not exactly a distant cousin. Indeed, its similarity is such that maybe we can even call it human. Of course if that is true, then the GTE will need even more revising.

Science Daily reports on the similarity in an article. "A group of geneticists, coordinated by Guido Barbujani and David Caramelli of the Universities of Ferrara and Florence, shows that a Cro-Magnoid individual who lived in Southern Italy 28,000 years ago was a modern European, genetically as well as anatomically."

"The risk in the study of ancient individuals is to attribute to the fossil specimen the DNA left there by archaeologists or biologists who manipulated it...To avoid that, we followed all phases of the retrieval of the fossil bones and typed the DNA sequences of all people who had any contacts with them," said Barbujani.

Journal reference for the article:

1. Caramelli et al. A 28,000 Years Old Cro-Magnon mtDNA Sequence Differs from All Potentially Contaminating Modern Sequences. PLoS One, 2008; 3 (7): e2700 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0002700

The citation for the article itself:

"Europe's Ancestors: Cro-Magnon 28,000 Years Old Had DNA Like Modern Humans", ScienceDaily, July 16th, AD 2008, found at http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080715204741.htm on July 19th, AD 2008.