Posted on 01/29/2014 3:14:52 PM PST by blam
Here's What Happened When Neanderthals And Ancient Humans Hooked Up 80,000 Years Ago
Dina Spector
Jan. 29, 2014, 1:49 PM
Neanderthal REUTERS/Nikola Solic
Hyperrealistic face of a neanderthal male is displayed in a cave in the new Neanderthal Museum in the northern Croatian town of Krapina February 25, 2010
By comparing the Neanderthal genome to modern human DNA, the authors of two new studies, both published on Wednesday, show how DNA that humans have inherited from breeding with Neanderthals has shaped us.
Modern humans, Neanderthals, and their sister lineage, Denisovans, descended from a common ancestor. The ancestors of modern humans broke off from this single branch more than 500,000 years ago. The Neanderthals split from the Denisovans some time later. The Neanderthals formed their own lineage that lived in Europe and Asia from around 200,000 years ago to 30,000 years ago. There's also a period when scientists believe that Neanderthals and ancient humans overlapped and interbred.
Researchers from Harvard Medical School, who published their findings in Nature, previously showed that the ancestors of modern humans interbred with Neanderthals between 80,000 years ago and 40,000 years ago, before Neanderthals went extinct.
Any given person of European or Asian descent owes at least 1% of their DNA to the Neanderthal genome.
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(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
Neanderthal chicks are easy.
bump for later
There is also the possibility that humans had a broader “toolkit” and vocabulary, and between better tools and communication, out competed Neandertals.
The lack of both Y chromosomes and mitrochondrial DNA from Neandertals also suggests DNA contributions were one way - Neandertals raping human women (maybe due to our better neoteny), which then gives humans a reason to kill Neandertals. Given a small population, they would allow the hybrid females to live as breeding stock but kill most of the hybrid males. Those females were healthy and disease resistant, spreading the Neandertal DNA to the next generation of humans.
End result - the genetic results we see as well as lack of Neandertals.
There was a theory that early humans learned to exploit and defend in groups sea beds of clams and mollusks. This is one of the few high protein / calorie sources that is small enough for a small group to defend that is worth the effort.
After we started to spread north in Africa and outside of the continent, we had the skillset and language and tools for larger group warfare of dozens of men against a smaller band and groups against each other - making wiping out Neandertals when they competed for food or raped our women a stronger victory.
Interesting speculation.
Not likely...Neanderthals had empathy and took care of the weak and crippled, and created remarkably realistic, identifiable art, and beautiful work tools. Not to mention none have every been found to have died in the act of painting a selfie.
Or...both Neanderthal and h. sapien males were more attracted to h. sapiens women and nobody wanted to bed any Neanderthal woman with faces that could stop a mammoth in its tracks.
Or...both Neanderthal and h. sapien males were more attracted to h. sapiens women and nobody wanted to bed any Neanderthal woman with faces that could stop a mammoth in its tracks.
....and maybe h. sapien females found the extra manly Neanderthal men extra hot, fur and all.
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