Paleoanthropologists Update “Race Does Not Exist” To “Species Does Not Exist”!

Most of the career incentives in the paleoanthropology business encourage scientists to declare whatever piece of ancient skull they dig up represents a new species previously unknown to science, or even a new genus. 

But what does it mean to say that two bones from different eras represented different species? We barely have a workable definition of species for living creatures. Ernst Mayr`s definition — can and/or will two individuals mate and produce fertile offspring — is about the best we`ve got, and it has obvious problems. (For example, are dogs, coyotes, and wolves different species or not? If they are all one species, should the Endangered Species Act apply to wolves? What about the protected Red Wolf, which is actually part coyote? Etcetera etcetera).

Skull Fossil Suggests Simpler Human Lineage 




In other words, different races existed back in Ye Olde Days, just like today. Of course, that, in turn, raises the question of “What is a race?”

… Dr. Lordkipanidze and his colleagues said the differences between these fossils were no more pronounced that those between any given five modern humans or five chimpanzees. The hominids who left the fossils, they noted, were quite different from one another but still members of one species.

Or maybe not. Maybe they wouldn`t breed together because they disliked each other`s smell. Who knows?

Yet, all these inherent uncertainties doesn`t mean Species Does Not Exist