So thinks prominent science writer (Science, paywall) Michael Balter:
The hominin Homo heidelbergensis, which lived between about 800,000 and 200,000 years ago, has long been considered a candidate for the common ancestor of Neandertals and modern humans. But the species is controversial, because whereas some researchers think it lived in Europe, Africa, and Asia, others see it as a European species only (and give other names to similar hominins on other continents). At a meeting in the southern French village of Tautavel, where a face and partial skull of this presumed species were found in a nearby cave in 1971, researchers debated its role in human evolution—and whether it actually existed as a discrete species. Resolving the debate is key to understanding the evolution of our own species, Homo sapiens.
See also: The Science Fictions series at your fingertips (human evolution) for why so many evolutionary biologists desperately need a scenario involving a number of different human species. See this also for why many people need to believe in big racial differences today, due to “ongoing evolution.”
The interesting part of all that “ongoing evolution” stuff is the way one can market racism quite safely today – as long as such Darwinian themes are invoked.
Wonder what that portends for the future?
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Hat tip: Creation-Evolution Headlines