So far this is a nice narrative that could easily be invented out of whole cloth and our present knowledge. It surely has to be authenticated by interviewing the author in particular. Otherwise it is a plausible enough scenario although it ishard to see how this could last without other villages around as well. That the daugter was offered so readily speaks to that need. It also shows us how even a well established community needed to intermarry and a minority will be naturally swallowed.
I hope that this is followed up. It may well be a tall tale but if the author is certain of authenticity then it is too coincidental to not be followed up directly.
Now a careful; inspection through Google Earth (which may no longer exist) should disclose any current hidden villages that need to be checked and while we are at it it is time to gather DNA to compare.
The Valley of the Neanderthal People
Does Evidence of Human-Neanderthal Hybrids Exist?
Lucien Camille Claerr, my grandfather, was born in the mid- 1800's, in
Alsace Lorraine, located in the northwest outskirts of the Alps that
border France, Germany
and Italy. The Alps have many moderate to large mountain peaks that
surround secluded Alpine Valleys. My grandfather lived in a small
village in one such valley. The villagers were hardy mountain
pastoralists, farming the lower slopes and grazing livestock in the
mountain pastures.
Lucien learned mountaineering arts at an
early age, and when he was as a young adult, he explored the Alps during
the summer months. With a bedroll and a backpack, he traveled about,
climbing summits and visiting the remote villages all through
Switzerland, France and as far south as northernmost Italy. Often he
would offer to work for food and shelter, or sometimes, for a small sum
of money.
He related this story to me of an adventure he had
near the border of France and Italy. One day, deep in the interior, he
happened across an isolated village that was peculiar in many respects.
The first thing he noticed was that the building construction was
different. Thatched houses and barns had supports made of rough-hewn
trunks with some of the big branches left on the trunk, to form arches
that supported the ceiling beams. The men of the village were all burly
and barrel-chested, bushy-haired and coarse featured, with enormous
beards. They wore leather breeches and homespun shirts. The women were
staying indoors, and he didn't see any for the first few days.
The men spoke with an usual accent and he could not understand some of
them at all, though he spoke both French and German fluently. But one
man, speaking fragmented bits of both languages befriended him. He
offered him food, and lodging in his barn, in return for helping to
build an irrigation sluice, fashioned from halves of hollowed-out logs.
My grandfather was good with an ax, and after a week of solid labor, the
man complemented him on his skillful work and invited him to dinner at
his house, suggesting that he introduce him to his daughter. On the
appointed evening, he went to their house.
When dinner was
served, the daughter came out of the kitchen carrying a tray of food.
Lucien was shocked to see that her "bare" arms were totally covered with
the same thick, woolly hair that her father and the other men had on
theirs, and that there seemed to be sideburns under her long shaggy
hair. When she leaned forward to set the tray down, he perceived that
she had more hair on her chest than he did! He was so disturbed that he
had to fight to swallow down the food.
After the meal the men
retired to the porch to smoke pipes. Lucien's host invited him to sleep
in their house that night. Lucien accepted, but found himself lying
awake half the night, tossing and turning. He remembered hearing stories
about rural customs that required a man to be engaged to a bride after
staying at her house for a night. In a fit, he finally got up and,
quietly as possible, left the house. He went to the barn and hurriedly
packed up his belongings. Fortunately, the night was brightly lit by the
full moon, so he hastily hiked out of the valley, traveling many miles
before even stopping a moment to rest.
Recently, I was reading
about the successful sequencing of the Neanderthal genome. Consequent to
the gene mapping, DNA sequences specific to the Neanderthals were
identified in the DNA of a fair percentage of modern Europeans. I
remembered my grandfather's story, which I had always thought of as a
quaint and amusing tale. But his description of the people of that
remote village could easily fit a geographically isolated population of
Human-Neanderthal hybrids who had only infrequent contact with outsiders
before the 20th century. Since many genetic researchers are currently
sampling gene pools from distinct geographic areas, I would suggest this
region as a possible target for gathering comparative data on
human-neanderthal inter-species contact.
Sources:
The
narrative account was transcribed from a verbal account by Lucien
Camille Claerr by the author, David A. Claerr. The image is a digital
illustration by David A. Claerr and copyrighted in his name,
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