Sorry, double post

This is my very first post here and I WILL go to introductions soon. :-D

Tom Sawyer said (don't know how to do quotes yet):
My question is this. If it takes so long to develop and adapt, why has there been such a large change in the looks of man over the last 100,000 years? And how is it that we have adapted such different features in the various cultures across the world?

From my limited reading on this is that there were several (5?) types of humans at their start, I remember only Neandrathal (N) and Cro-Magnum (CM). The point is we are cro-Magnum and have not changed since their inception.

We did not descend from Neandrathals, as they went extinct. Probably because CMs crowded them out or something. They apparently didn't interbreed (CM and N). CMs looked VERY different from Ns. CMs haven't changed and if you dressed one in modern clothing, no one would notice them on the street. This is according to Professor Jared Diamond (Pullitzer-prize winner) in The Third Chimpanzee, I believe.

So, the premise that we have evolved a lot is untrue.

Pat

Pat-

There is quite a lot of debate on whether or not Neandertals and modern humans interbred and how much if any genetic material Neandertals contributed to the human genome. Jared Diamond is not a huge influence in the world of paleoanthropology.

I don't exactly know what you mean by "evolved a lot". There has been genetic changes in modern humans since we first appeared over 100,000 years ago. Not enough for a speciation event, but secular change does occur and can be genetic or environmental.