Posted on 05/15/2015 1:52:19 PM PDT by Red Badger
A Neanderthal skeleton, left, compared with a modern human skeleton. Credit: American Museum of Natural History
DNA testing of a human mandible fossil found in Romania has revealed a genome with 4.8 to 11.3 percent Neanderthal DNA—its original owner died approximately 40,000 years ago, Palaeogenomicist Qiaomei Fu reported to audience members at a Biology of Genomes meeting in New York last week. She noted also that she and her research team found long Neanderthal sequences. The high percentage suggests, she added, that the human had a Neanderthal in its family tree going back just four to six generations. The finding by the team provides strong evidence that humans and Neanderthals continued breeding in Europe, long after their initial co-mingling in the Middle East (after humans began migrating out of Africa.)
Last year, Fu and her team published a paper describing DNA analysis of a human bone fragment found in an unknown place in Siberia. Dated at 45,000 years old, the team found evidence of Neanderthal DNA, but more importantly, because it was remarkably well preserved, the relic served to strengthen a slower mutation rate than many in the field were embracing. In this new effort, Fu and her team also found that the jawbone (which still had some teeth in it) had visible Neanderthal traits, such as enlarged wisdom teeth. The jawbone was found in a cave accessible only by diving through a watery corridor back in 2002, and has been an object of study ever since. The high percentage of Neanderthal DNA is in sharp contrast to modern out-of-Africa humans, which typically have approximately one to four percent Neanderthal genes.
This latest finding, along with the bone found in Siberia and others in Europe has eroded the belief that human interbreeding with Neanderthals occurred only in the Middle East. It now seems possible that humans and Neanderthals were living in the same geographic areas over the course of five thousand years, which would of course explain why their DNA appears in every person not directly descended from people in Africa, on the planet. What is still a mystery, though, is what happened to the Neanderthal? Why did they disappear even as humans continued on? Eerily, this new evidence suggests that the two were interbreeding very nearly right up to the time when the Neanderthals ceased to exist.
More information: Fu, Q., An early modern human with a recent Neandertal ancestor, talk: meetings.cshl.edu/abstracts/genome2015_absstat.html
well!! we had better put a stop to that sort of procreation...
I cant believe this surprises anyone.
Honey men will *&(# just about anything, including sheep (muslims do it all the time)
She was a big boned girl. No, really!
The (presumably black-skinned) African humans inter-bred with Neanderthals (who were likely white skinned). This new hybrid race then eliminated BOTH their original ancestoral lineages from Europe.
Clear evidence that Neanderthals were not terribly intelligent.
Sigh. Neanderthals were as human as any of us posting on FR today.
Cro-Magnons killed all the Neanderthal men and stole their [ugly] women [Why? Why? Take my wife, Please!]
My, I never would have guessed that about beekeepers.
Actually, the areas with neandertal genes seem to spawn the most successful cultures.
Oog catch Ayla for boom boom. Like Ayla boom boom.
Ayla no like Oog boom boom. TS Ayla.
Exhibit B:
I think that as genetic investigation becomes more sophisticated, they are learning that Neandertals may not have originated in Africa.
The current theory is that Neandertal mingling with humans (or Other Humans, if you prefer) happened after the African exodus.
So, humans that remained in Africa lack Neandertal DNA, while the rest of the world has it.
That is... if I understand the theory correctly. I am happy to be educated and/or corrected by smarter Freepers.
I was kinda sidling up to that sentiment in my post #34, but you took the direct route.
That, seems to true. Less Neandertal DNA, they’d still be in the “stick age” if not for intervention by those with more...
Thanks afraidfortherepublic, a good weekly Digest ping as well.The Neandertal Enigma"Frayer's own reading of the record reveals a number of overlooked traits that clearly and specifically link the Neandertals to the Cro-Magnons. One such trait is the shape of the opening of the nerve canal in the lower jaw, a spot where dentists often give a pain-blocking injection. In many Neandertal, the upper portion of the opening is covered by a broad bony ridge, a curious feature also carried by a significant number of Cro-Magnons. But none of the alleged 'ancestors of us all' fossils from Africa have it, and it is extremely rare in modern people outside Europe." [pp 126-127]
by James Shreeve
in local libraries
KEYWORDS: neandertal; neandertals; neanderthal; neanderthals
You’ve giving a lot of us too much credit. ;’)
Liberals are proof neanderthal survived...
Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay!
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