"The 2D tessellation becomes a collection of shadows, a fake and poor copy of the real world, an idea strongly reminiscent of the Socratic theory of forms. The two races or species finally reconcile in the foreground by shaking hands in the new, three dimensional world. The strongest feature of the engraving is indisputably the illusion of interplay between the 2D and 3D worlds. By some invisible source of light hovering centrally above, the creatures’ shadows radiate from the center of the scene, some seemingly still half attached on the tessellation. It is exactly there that the boundary between the two dimensional world of the shadows and the three dimensional world of the dancing creatures becomes vague and undecided." - Adriano

About 325,000 years ago, the European range and the African range became separated. The European range evolved into Neanderthal, the African range eventually turned into modern humans. New research raises questions about the theory that modern humans and Neanderthals at some point interbred, known as hybridisation. The findings suggest that common ancestry, not hybridisation, better explains the average 1-4% DNA that those of European and Eurasians share with Neanderthals. PNAS, 14 Aug 2012 http://www.pnas.org/content... - Adriano