Neanderthals and modern humans made babies 47,000 years ago

Science ^ | May 21, 2024 | Michael Price

[SunkenCiv]

Most people alive today carry traces of genes inherited from Neanderthals -- the enduring legacy of prehistoric hookups with our extinct cousins. But researchers have long debated when and where that mingling happened, and whether these were one-off romps or commonplace trysts. Now, an analysis of ancient and modern genomes suggests contemporary people's Neanderthal DNA came from a single, prolonged period of mixing some 47,000 years ago...

To do that, Priya Moorjani, a population geneticist at the University of California, Berkeley, and colleagues analyzed previously sequenced genomes from 59 ancient H. sapiens, mostly from Western Europe and Asia, dating from between 45,000 and 2200 years ago. The oldest included DNA from Ust'-Ishim man in western Siberia (45,000 years old), the Czech Republic's Zlatý kůň woman (45,000 years old), and individuals from Bulgaria's Bacho Kiro caves (35,000 to 45,000 years old) and Romania's Peștera cu Oase caves (40,000 years old).

The researchers next identified regions of Neanderthal DNA in these ancient modern human genomes and in genomes from 275 present-day individuals from around the globe. Then, they used computer software to track the evolution of Neanderthal genes over time across the various ancient and recent populations, estimating approximately how many generations would be needed for the genomes to subtly diverge the way they did. Because the team included the ancient H. sapiens genomes, their analysis reached a level of precision that simply wasn't possible in earlier studies based primarily on contemporary genomes, McCoy notes.

Moorjani and colleagues conclude in the preprint that Neanderthal genes began flowing into the ancestors of people alive today about 47,000 years ago.

[SunkenCiv]

• 75,000-Year-Old Neanderthal Woman's Facial Reconstruction Sheds New Light on Our Archaic Human Ancestors [05/03/2024]
• Homo Sapiens Arriving in Northern Europe Over 45,000 Years Ago Encountered This Enigmatic Human Species [02/05/2024]
• 400,000-year-old fossils from Spain provide earliest genetic evidence of Neandertals [03/20/2016]
• Ancient Denisovan DNA excavated in modern Pacific Islanders [03/20/2016]
• Better Living Through Neanderthal Chemistry [03/02/2016]
• Neanderthals and modern humans mated 50,000 years earlier than we thought, scientists say. [02/21/2016]
• Neanderthal-human trysts may be linked to modern depression, heart disease [02/12/2016]
• Genetic analysis of 40,000-year-old jawbone reveals early modern humans interbred with Neandertals [06/22/2015]
• Here's What Happened When Neanderthals And Ancient Humans Hooked Up 80,000 Years Ago [01/29/2014]
• Modern Humans in India Earlier Than Previously Thought? [09/15/2013]
• Archaeogenetic research refutes earlier findings [06/13/2013]
• Human ancestors interbred with related species [09/08/2011]

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks for that link, I finally got around to it. :^)

As always, the problems facing drawing conclusions of this kind include the fact that we only get half our parents' genetic information, which means we really have 46 family trees (23 chromosome pairs), and that where people live today and where their ancestors lived can't be ascertained without a physical trail of recoverable DNA of known ancestors. So when someone says (as happens at the end of the article) that most human varieties don't have living descendants, they're just making an unsubstantiated claim.

Everyone has 64 great-great-great-great-grandparents (give or take some consanguinuity) but only carries a genetic heritage from at most 46 of them (again, give or take...). Claiming that the disappearance of at least 18 of them from our DNA means that they're not our ancestors is to engage in foolishness.

46 is about 2.17 percent of our genome (remembering however that the chromosome pairs are of varied lengths), and that's about the same as the average amount of all living humans. For that to have endured through the millennia given the 50% loss in each generation suggests that Neanderthals are the core population of our ancestors.

Also take into account that the low number of prehistoric DNA specimens can't help but skew the results.

[xoxox]

Missing link found, then?

[SunkenCiv]

Grow up.

[Red Badger]

Well, yeah..........................

[usurper]

Modern human females would not put out so modern human men checked out the Neanderthal females. Turns out they were great party girls and would do anything for a Hershey Bar and nylon stockings.

[adorno]

The Neanderthal influence is very evident today, with the lack of a fully functioning brain in democrats, who lack common sense and lack of understanding economics, and shamelessly talk about the right to kill babies in the womb and even later.

[9YearLurker]

I do seem to have hybrid vigor...

[riverrunner]

Proves once again that some people well have sex with anybody.

[9YearLurker]

But which one was mating “up”?

[Lazamataz]

Proves once again that some people well have sex with anybody.

Was it really necessary to mention me by name?

[al baby]

Woman’s neanderthals basketball association

WNBA

[packagingguy]

Why does your statement make me think of the Bidens?

[Tell It Right]

Bible geek notes:

The fact that Leviticus 18:23 bans bestiality suggests that human beings interbred with non humans enough for God to say to stop. Outside the Bible is a history of the Canaanites engaging in bestiality as well as other sexual immoralities on a regular basis. Egypt and Greece recorded bestiality in their art.

I don't recall anything specifically in history about interbreeding with neanderthals. But given the various history of mankind engaging in sex with different kinds of animals, neanderthal interbreeding wouldn't surprise me.

[vetvetdoug]

“A hard dick has no conscience nor preference”...

[Georgia Girl 2]

So that’s where Democrats came from. 🤔

[SunkenCiv]

Since Neanderthals weren’t animals, it’s not surprising that it wasn’t mentioned.

[adorno]

Woman’s neanderthals basketball association

There is one decent human being now in the WNBA, and the black lesbian Neanderthals are trying to get rid of her.

[central_va]

Neanderthal chicks were easy.

[SunkenCiv]

Neanderthal brains were larger than living people's, the greater volume probably pertained to their overall larger muscle mass, as more nervous system is needed for basic movements. That suggests that our Neanderthal ancestors were no smarter or dumber than we are. Since Virchow, here's been a constant saddling on to one made-up thing after another regarding Neanderthal, and this odd bigotry seems to have persisted most strongly in the UK. I'd guess that has to do with the fact that Neandertal was first identified in Germany.