Osbourne DNA Tests Finds Neanderthal Roots

By James Donahue

We have long proposed that Neanderthal man did not disappear in distant history but remain with us through inter-breeding with Homo sapiens. A recent story in Scientific American has shown that we were correct.

The story said rock star and television personality Ozzie Osbourne participated in a DNA study by Cofactor Genomics of St. Louis and Knome, Inc. which revealed trace evidence of Neanderthal lineage.

The story has been a big hit with the tabloids whose readers remember Osbourne as the wild front man for the heavy metal band Black Sabbath who bit off the head of a bat while performing in Des Moines, Iowa in 1982.

But the results of the DNA tests performed on Osbourne as well as other volunteers has been showing clear evidence that the controversy among scientists as to just what happened to the Neanderthals has been solved. He is still among us in the DNA of our ancestors.

Nathan Pearson, director of research at Knome, where Osbourne’s DNA was analyzed, told Scientific American: “For a long time we thought that Neanderthals didn’t have any descendents today, but it turns out that Asians and Europeans have some evidence of Neanderthal lineage. We found a little segment on Ozzy’s chromosome 10 that very likely traces back to a Neanderthal forbearer.”

The story noted that George Church, founder of Knome, Inc., found even more Neanderthal evidence in his own DNA when it was mapped. It appears that a lot of people walking this planet today have genetic roots in the ancient forerunners of contemporary man.

Before DNA testing proved them wrong, there was a common belief in the scientific community that Neanderthals, who existed from 300,000 years to 20,000 years ago, went extinct after Homo sapiens came on the scene.

But archaeologists have found evidence that Homo sapiens, or modern humans, have been around for at least 200,000 years. This means that we co-existed with Neanderthals for a very long time.

We also co-existed with Cro Magnons, who thrived between 45,000 and 10,000 years ago before they also disappeared. Both Cro Magnons and Neanderthals were humanoid type species that walked upright, hunted with spears, and lived in some form of social settings while on the planet.

The general theory was that both Cro Magnon and Neanderthal humanoids were either killed off or simply unable to compete with Homo sapiens who eventually occupied the planet.

Then there was the theory, now supported by strong DNA evidence, that we just cross-bred with the other humanoids. After a few thousand years the Homo sapiens became the dominant species, having absorbed the others into themselves.

While we do not like to admit it, humans are active and often creative in their deviant sexual behavior. That the Old Testament laws prohibited the Hebrew people from having sex with animals suggests that this kind of behavior has been going on for thousands of years. What, then, would stop Homo sapiens from breeding with Neanderthals and Cro Magnon humanoids? And if this happened, would it have been possible for them to produce children?

Dr. Calum MacKellar, director of research at the Scottish Council on Human Bioethics, recently noted that the similarities of DNA of both humans and the ape might make it possible for a hybrid type of humanoid to be created by fertilizing a female chimpanzee with human sperm.

MacKellar’s information was issued as a warning to contemporary DNA researchers against trying such experimentation in the rush to fill the growing demand for organ donors. He expressed concern that an odd hybrid humanoid might emerge as the result of such a cross.

Indeed, genetic researchers who have studied the feasibility say there is no reason why the two species could not breed, although they question why anyone would want to try it. The DNA evidence indicates that ancient man was not only willing, he did it.