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> And the neanderthal population broke down and was completely replaced by us.
> Maybe neanderthals *had* the ability to synthetize vitamin C?

Not exactly.  There is a lot of evidence that we interbreeded  with
Neanderthals. In fact the latest theories suggest that the bones as found in
Portugal that have both 'modern' human features and Neanderthal mean that this
happened globally.
Wherever our African ancestors moved, they always found groups of local
inhabitants and absorbed them over the years. The last few eeks there was a most
interesting documentary on BBC that showed this.
In fact, when looking carefully you can see people having some Neanderthal
fatures (pointed out in the series) !!!!  One scientist showed a picture of his
father , heavy eyebrows, build like a house etc.  While our African genes would
tend to give us long arms and long legs...  Even in my own family I can see
this.
There is nothing wrong in my opinion with interbreeding theories.  It probably
gave us the best of both worlds.  The physical strength and creative innovations
of that combination is what makes us what we are today.
So I don't know about the vitamine C but Neanderthals were probably not replaced
by us as was once thought.

Christy

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