> Well, is it emprically determined (through genetic
> comparisons) that the Neanderthals were in fact a
> separate species? (I'm not well-informed in biology --
> the question is probably incredibly naive.)
A good chunk of determining whether different creatures of of the same species is whether they can interbreed -- difficult to determine between HS and H. Neanderthalis (sp.?).
There is some speculation that Basques, with their linguistic isolate, are pre-celtic descendants of the Cro-Mags (not the band).
-- Andy