Posted on 10/26/2023 11:05:47 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
Modern Europeans have a smaller proportion of Neanderthal genes in their genomes than East Asians do. New research suggests the reason lies at the feet of migrating early farmers.
A wave of migrating farmers from the ancient Middle East may be the reason why modern Europeans don't carry as much Neanderthal DNA as today's East Asians do, a new study finds.
All humans with ancestry from outside of Africa have a little bit of Neanderthal in them — about 2% of the genome, on average. But people with East Asian ancestry have between 8% and 24% more Neanderthal genes than people of European ancestry. That's a bit of a paradox, because fossil evidence suggests Neanderthals lived in Europe. Why, then, should East Asians carry more of those genes today?
Now, a new study posits a solution to this conundrum: While a wave of human migration out of Africa before at least 40,000 years ago brought Homo sapiens — who were hunter-gatherers — into contact with their Homo neanderthalensis cousins and led to interbreeding, a later wave of H. sapiens migrating about 10,000 years ago diluted Neanderthal genes in Europe only. This was the movement of farmers with minimal Neanderthal ancestry from what is today the Middle East and southwestern Asia into Europe. These early farmers mixed with local hunter-gatherers, bringing a more H. sapiens-flavored genome to the region. The Homo sapiens who settled East Asia by around 60,000 to 70,000 years ago did not undergo this dilution from newcomers...
Research suggests that having Neanderthal genes didn't lead to any major survival advantages or disadvantages for humans, so natural selection is probably not the reason why some populations carry more of these genes than others, Hawks told Live Science...
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
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Er, science doesn’t have may, might or could in it.
Atilla the Hun................
That’s called an hypothesis.
At least their admitting they really don't know for sure. Unlike COVID and climate change which as you know is "settled".
Of course it does. Superstitions speak in absolutes.
if Neanderthal DNA confers no evolutionary advantages or disadvantages, then why didn’t Neanderthals survive through time to today?
They did. We call them demo-commies now-a-days.
“Er, science doesn’t have may, might or could in it.”
It does if it is reporting uncertainty.
I believe they did.
Well regardless of what your DNA is, if your whole tribe gets killed off by the opposition that DNA is a dead end.
“Only a sith deals in absolutes.”
“Research suggests that having Neanderthal genes didn’t lead to any major survival advantages or disadvantages for humans”
All manner of jokes are begging to follow this comment!
I had previously read the highest Neandertal DNA was in the Norse. That Neandertal were blond or red haired and contributed to the height.
I guess they were smarter, but more naturally peaceful, and the newcomers either wiped them out and/or raped them out of existence.
In contrast, genes associated with the neuropathways that guide speech were strongly selected against in modern humans, suggesting that the H. sapiens genes provided real advantages.
Most of the surviving Neanderthal DNA is inactive, which also suggests it may have been selected against or simply did nothing in H. sapiens cell metabolism but did not interfere with it.
As far as survival goes, the evidence so far suggests that early modern humans formed much larger social groups and communicated over much larger distances, giving those groups a big advantage over Neanderthals. They may not have been killed off, merely bred out of existence. If Neanderthals had survived in the Near East and learned agriculture, they might be wondering why H. sapiens did not survive.
Unlikely on both counts. They had bigger brains, but most of the increase in the back part of the skull associated with vision. They also had larger eyes, so I would guess they had much better vision than we do, especially night vision.
The lack of some genes associated with speech suggests they couldn't communicate as well as we can.
As far as peaceful goes, the modern humans who lived as the Neanderthals did (and who have a high level of Denisovan genes) are the highlanders of New Guinea. Their clans constantly fought ferociously and ate each other.
Don’t get me started on those *******s. ;^)
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