Abstract
In his detailed consideration of the place of various taxons in human history, Beasley suggests that most of the skeletal markers of the Neanderthals may be due to an active life in cold conditions, along with a naturally delayed maturity consistent with longer life than now experienced. Other than hypervitaminosis in H. erectus from East Africa (p.197), and reduced nutrition in Neanderthals (pp. 197-198), he does not consider the possibility of pathological changes affecting these fossils.