The Neanderthal shot by the spaceman!

Hi all,

A light-hearted post today. I am currently reading a book by Chris Stringer, a paleoanthropologist at the National History Museum in London. The book is titled "Lone Survivors:How we came to be the only Humans on Earth." (Times Books. New York. 2012. ISBN 978-0-8050-8891-51.) (Click here.)

The book is about a radical new theory of humanity's origins in Africa. It's about as far away from the topic of UAP as it's possible to get. Yet, on page 253 there is an amusing little story which I'd like to share in this post.

It concerns a skull known as the Broken Hill skull, found in Zambia in 1921. The skull has "...a small and nearly circular hole in the left side of the braincase. Over the years, this has been suggested to be from a spear point, a lion's canine, or even primitive surgery. But not long after I joined the National History Museum, I learned of an entirely new idea. A British newspaper was serialising a book  called Secrets of the Lost Races and requested permission to print a picture of the Broken Hill skull.

When I asked what caption would accompany the illustration, I was told that it would say that this was the skull of a Neanderthal shot by an alien's bullet 100,000 years ago!

I pointed out that the fossil wasn't really that of a Neanderthal; that it was probably much older than 100,000 years, and that a bullet hole would probably have been accompanied by radiating cracks. I also asked, what self-respecting alien would be using something as primitive as bullets? Nevertheless, it was agreed that the newspaper could have its photo if it included the statement that recent research suggested the hole showed signs of healing and was probably caused by disease emanating from within the braincase.

Of course, such scientific data didn't suit the paper's agenda, and it included a drawing of the skull instead, leading me to suffer several frustrating weeks as members of the public telephoned, wrote, or even turned up unannounced at the Museum asking to see "the Neanderthal shot by the spaceman!"