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Protein reveals the oldest episode of sex and procreation among human species
Science ^ | May 13, 2026 | Nuño Domínguez

Posted on 05/28/2026 2:11:53 AM PDT by SunkenCiv

Since humans developed the ability to study DNA extracted from fossils, we have uncovered a mystery that until now had no answer. In the DNA of some human species, including our own, Homo sapiens, there were "super-archaic" markers, vestiges of older, unknown species with which we had interbred and produced offspring. Unable to determine who these genomic intruders were, some scientists called them ghost populations...

Researchers in China have analysed proteins from the tooth enamel of six fossils dating back around 400,000 years -- five men and one woman -- found at sites across much of the country from north to south. They were able to recover two proteins, and one of them -- the M273V variant of the enamel protein ameloblastin -- is key. The results show that this protein is present in all the fossils analyzed, which belonged to our ancestor Homo erectus. The same compound had previously been identified in the teeth of another human group, the Denisovans -- close relatives of Neanderthals, themselves the species most closely related to our own.

The finding implies that, at some point around 400,000 years ago, Homo erectus, which originated in Africa, and the Denisovans, a human population adapted to Eurasia, encountered one another, had sex, and produced fertile offspring. It is the oldest known episode of interbreeding between human groups, and the first to feature Homo erectus, a species that until recently had been largely overlooked. The results were published on Wednesday in Nature.

(Excerpt) Read more at english.elpais.com ...


TOPICS: History; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: ameloblastin; ancientautopsies; denisovans; genealogy; godsgravesglyphs; helixmakemineadouble; homoerectus; teeth
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To: trebb
Denisovan Chick: “Hey, big boy, ya wanna?”

Homo Erectus: “Nah, I don’t swing that way!”


21 posted on 05/28/2026 5:34:56 AM PDT by Uncle Miltie (Here I am; send me!)
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To: Candor7

We’ll tell him the extraction is for a movie role.


22 posted on 05/28/2026 5:51:23 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (The Demagogic Party is just a collection of violent, rival street gangs.)
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To: SunkenCiv; Candor7

Recently defeated Congressman Al Green underneath all the hair.


23 posted on 05/28/2026 6:05:06 AM PDT by Cheesehead in Texas ( )
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To: one guy in new jersey

No, actually it doesn’t.


24 posted on 05/28/2026 6:06:56 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (The Demagogic Party is just a collection of violent, rival street gangs.)
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To: SunkenCiv

25 posted on 05/28/2026 6:15:29 AM PDT by Bratch
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To: arthurus

I have a lot of Neanderthal, according to my ex-wife.


26 posted on 05/28/2026 6:30:07 AM PDT by Ge0ffrey (No.)
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To: SunkenCiv
Now we know where the genome of Alfred E Newman originated.

We took the tooth !



27 posted on 05/28/2026 6:38:23 AM PDT by Candor7 ( Ask not for whom the Trump Trolls,He trolls for thee!<img src="" width=300</img><a href="">tag</a>))
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To: SunkenCiv

Macro scale evolution (one species giving rise to another species, and so on, and so on), via genetic transcription “mistakes” purportedly producing improvement, or advancement, has been debunked as statistically impossible within the envisaged time span.

A word to the wise really ought to be sufficient, SC.


28 posted on 05/28/2026 7:04:00 AM PDT by one guy in new jersey
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To: one guy in new jersey

Are we not men? We are DEVO!


29 posted on 05/28/2026 7:04:53 AM PDT by dfwgator ("I am Charlie Kirk!")
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To: dfwgator

We are DEVO.


30 posted on 05/28/2026 7:22:09 AM PDT by one guy in new jersey
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To: SunkenCiv

the guy on the left is the spitting image of a former boss o mine


31 posted on 05/28/2026 7:33:13 AM PDT by faithhopecharity ("Politicians aren't born, they're excreted." Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 to 43 BCE))
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To: alexander_busek

yours:
“>..tooth enamel? What does that tell us about the depraved sex practices of our ancient ancestors?”

mine:

they must have bit on it. its a miracle any of us are here...


32 posted on 05/28/2026 7:34:55 AM PDT by faithhopecharity ("Politicians aren't born, they're excreted." Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 to 43 BCE))
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To: SunkenCiv

33 posted on 05/28/2026 7:43:12 AM PDT by Tench_Coxe (The woke were surprised by the reaction to the Bud Light fiasco. May there be many more surprises)
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To: equaviator
It's hard to think of them as being men and women when you're talking about it being almost half a million years ago.

You're thinking that it's wrong to characterize them as binary? You would maybe prefer "...them as being two-spirits and lesbians?"

Seriously: They were undeniably members of the genus Homo - hence: humans.

Regards,

34 posted on 05/28/2026 7:45:14 AM PDT by alexander_busek (Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.)
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To: SunkenCiv

Muzz-tards will eff anything.🙄


35 posted on 05/28/2026 7:49:47 AM PDT by BiteYourSelf ( Earth first, we'll strip mine the other planets later.)
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To: BiteYourSelf

Muzztards have been around less than 2000 years.

ANY young woman can get laid any time she wants to. ANY. Because there is ALWAYS some dude desperate enough. Take a look at ghetto baby-mamas for proof.


36 posted on 05/28/2026 8:02:32 AM PDT by NorthMountain (... the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed)
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To: SunkenCiv

Homo Carvillus

37 posted on 05/28/2026 8:16:10 AM PDT by eldoradude (Think for yourself...)
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To: SunkenCiv
The transition from H. erectus to H. sapiens was a gradual one. That's why in the fossil record going about 600 ka - 1 Ma+ you have a bunch of skulls and other skeletal elements assigned to "archaic Homo sapiens", with names like H. rudolfensis, H. heidelbergensis, etc.

Some of these pre-date the H. sapiens - Neanderthal split, others are thought to be the H. sapiens line leading to just after the split.

It makes perfect sense that once modern humans appeared, there would still be some "H. rudolfensis" or something similar around that they could interbreed with - they're populations on the same genetic "branch" as we are. Interbreeding with true H. erectus with their much smaller brains and more primitive culture is much less likely. Most likely humans in Indonesia hunted and ate the "hobbits" rather than mating with them!

38 posted on 05/28/2026 9:12:42 AM PDT by ek_hornbeck
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To: alexander_busek
But tooth enamel? What does that tell us about the depraved sex practices of our ancient ancestors?

You can use the amino acid sequences of proteins (as you would the DNA sequences that built them) to infer whether a part of our genome is consistent with the consensus for our species vs. due to something "alien", like cross-breeding with Neanderthals or archaic members of the lineage.

As to how depraved they were, you have to wonder how many of these interbreeding events were due to rape rather than consensual. I'm guessing that much of the human-Neanderthal hybridization was due to burly Neanderthal males having their way with human females.

If this study suggests a H. sapiens x "archaic" H. sapiens cross, it could have been either rape or consensual. If it happened early on, the early H. sapiens line wouldn't be all that different from H. rudolfensis, etc, maybe less so than H. sapiens and Neanderthals.

39 posted on 05/28/2026 9:22:44 AM PDT by ek_hornbeck
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To: alexander_busek

Scientifically (Biology, Anthropology 101) speaking, they were male and female, not “men and women” (Sociology 101).


40 posted on 05/28/2026 9:30:00 AM PDT by equaviator (Nobody's perfect. That's why they put pencils on erasers!)
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