What, Exactly, is “Human”?

These look "human" to you?

On NPR this morning, a commentator noted a research publication (1) that indicates cave art in parts of Europe may predate the arrival of the so-called “modern” human, Homo sapiens sapiens by several thousand years. If correct, this means that the decorations were done by our relatives known as Neanderthals. There is some debate about the actual place Neanderthals occupy in the human lineage. There is even debate on the scientific name, traditionally Homo sapiens neanderthalensis . I am not qualified to jump into the taxonomic dog fight.

I really don’t care how the names work out. It matters little to any of us if our ancestors were Homo sapiens sapiens or Homo sapiens neanderthalensis or some combination of the two. Maybe there was a third ancestor somewhere. What I do care about is the arrogance of people who call us and our ancestors “human” and the others just by their common names, implying they were not humans. There is absolutely no evidence to suggest that the term “human” should only be applied to modern people. Definitions in various dictionaries don’t agree either, but most focus on us.
The essence of the issue is how to define who and what a human being actually is. Art? Neanderthals had it. Religion? Neanderthals had it. Speech? Neanderthals had it. Clothing? Neanderthals had it. Fire? Neanderthals had it. Tools? Neanderthals had them. Forty six chromosomes? Neanderthals had them. The list is probably longer than I have time and energy to research. You get the point? We define ourselves as “human” to create an exclusive club, probably because some bible or other had some cockamamie story of origins. Actual human beings go back a very long way and over much time gradually became us. Don’t fight it, embrace it. And as for the myth that Neanderthals disappeared 30000 years ago? I don’t believe it, and genetics seems to agree with me. Another reason why don’t I believe it? I have had students who were nearly 100% recombined Neanderthals. And then there was Fred, the body man. Tale for another time.
1. http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/341443/title/European_cave_art_gets_older
Image: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/6/6a/GuaTewet_tree_of_life-LHFage.jpg/220px-GuaTewet_tree_of_life-LHFage.jpg