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Keyword: neandertal

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  • DNA of 'Thorin,' one of the last Neanderthals, finally sequenced, revealing inbreeding and 50,000 years of genetic isolation

    09/12/2024 2:59:21 AM PDT · by SunkenCiv · 35 replies
    Live Science ^ | September 11, 2024 | Kristina Killgrove
    Discovered in 2015 at the entrance to the Grotte Mandrin rock shelter in the Rhône River valley of southern France, Thorin — nicknamed after a dwarf in J. R. R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit" — has sometimes been called the "last Neanderthal" because he may have lived as recently as 42,000 years ago, close to when our closest human relatives disappeared. Although only his teeth and portions of the skull have been recovered so far, Thorin's genome was analyzed to better understand when and how Neanderthals disappeared.In a study published Wednesday (Sept. 11) in the journal Cell Genomics, a team of...
  • Redhead Days Festival This August; Celebrating the Redheads and Their Unique Traits

    08/16/2024 3:05:18 PM PDT · by nickcarraway · 59 replies
    EuroWeekly News ^ | 16 Aug 2024 | Anna Akopyan
    Treated with hostility in the past and considered witches or vampires in the Middle Ages, redheads in the modern world are thriving and celebrating their unique traits; the Redhead Days Festival marks one of the occasions to embrace the distinctive nature of gingers. Redhead Days Festival; celebrating the unique traits Held annually on the last full weekend of August, this year the Redhead Days Festival will take place on August 23-25 in the city centre of Tilburg, the Netherlands. Growing in size every year, the festival anticipates tens of thousands of redheads from more than 80 countries to unite in...
  • Bones reveal first evidence of Down syndrome in Neanderthals

    More than 146,000 years ago, Neanderthals hunted birds and other game during short stays at a Spanish cave called Cova Negra. Anthropologists studying the bones they left behind came across one that stood out: a part of the skull that contains the inner ear bones just a few centimeters long, from a child who lived to about age 6.The bone displays a handful of tiny anomalies most commonly found in people with Down syndrome today. The child likely had this condition and had hearing loss, scientists report today in Science Advances—the oldest known example of the condition. If confirmed, the...
  • New dating technique reveals time differences between Paleolithic hearth fires

    06/11/2024 10:29:36 AM PDT · by SunkenCiv · 27 replies
    Archaeology mag ^ | June 10, 2024 | Dario Radley
    A team of archaeologists in Spain has applied a new dating technique to more precisely determine the intervals between hearth fires from the Paleolithic Age.This research, published in the journal Nature, reveals that the hearths at El Salt, a Paleolithic site, were used over 200 years with intervals of decades between uses. This suggests that Neanderthals returned to this site over multiple generations, challenging previous assumptions about their mobility and settlement patterns...a novel combination of archaeomagnetic and archaeostratigraphic analyses... leverages the magnetic properties of minerals in the fire pits to record the orientation of the Earth's magnetic field at the...
  • Scientists discover ancient HERPES in 50,000-year-old Neanderthal bones found in a Russian cave... and they want to bring virus back to life

    05/14/2024 9:24:55 AM PDT · by algore · 44 replies
    The oldest human viruses, including herpes, have been uncovered in 50,000-year-old Neanderthal bones - and experts could soon recreate them. Researchers at Brazil's Federal University of São Paulo identified remnants of the herpesviruses, which causes cold sores, the sexually transmitted papillomavirus and adenovirus, also known as the common cold, in two male Neanderthals' DNA found in a Russian cave. Previous theories suggested that Neanderthals may have gone extinct because of viruses and the latest study may be the first to provide evidence for this idea. Now, the team hopes to synthesize the viruses and infect human cells in a lab...
  • 75,000-Year-Old Neanderthal Woman's Facial Reconstruction Sheds New Light on Our Archaic Human Ancestors

    05/03/2024 11:17:40 AM PDT · by Red Badger · 128 replies
    The Debrief ^ | May 3, 2024 | CHRISSY NEWTON
    In 2018, a female Neanderthal was discovered in the Shanidar Cave in Iraqi Kurdistan. Now, archaeologists from The University of Cambridge have unveiled the reconstructed face of the 75,000-year-old woman, based on the assembly of hundreds of individual bone fragments recovered during excavations. “Neanderthals have had a bad press ever since the first ones were found over 150 years ago,” said Professor Graeme Barker from Cambridge’s McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, who led the excavation at the cave where the woman’s remains were discovered. Neanderthals are believed to have become extinct around 40,000 years ago, and discoveries of their remains...
  • Make yourself at home... 40,000 years ago

    04/13/2024 10:34:10 AM PDT · by SunkenCiv · 6 replies
    Universite de Montreal ^ | April 5, 2024 | curated news in English
    An UdeM study unveils fresh insights into how Neanderthals and Homo sapiens organized their living spaces at the Riparo Bombrini site in northern Italy.How did our Paleolithic ancestors go about organizing their living spaces?...far from being more primitive, Neanderthals did much the same as their Homo sapiens successors: made themselves at home.Analyzing artifacts and features of the Protoaurignacian and Mousterian levels of the Riparo Bombrini site in northwestern Italy, the scientists uncovered common patterns of settlement between the two populations.By mapping the distribution of stone tools, animal bones, ochre, and marine shells across the surface of the site, they were...
  • Neanderthals used glue to make stone tools 40,000 years ago, a new study suggests “Earliest evidence of a multi-component adhesive in Europe”

    02/22/2024 3:10:28 AM PST · by Red Badger · 29 replies
    Arkeonews ^ | 22 February 2024 | By Leman Altuntaş
    Cover Photo: An artist’s reconstruction shows how a Neanderthal could hold a stone artifact with an adhesive handle. Daniela Greiner ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ More than 40,000 years ago, Neanderthals in what is now France used a multi-component adhesive to make handles for stone tools. They produced a sophisticated mixture of ochre and bitumen, two raw materials that had to be procured from the wider region. This is the earliest discovery of a multi-component adhesive in Europe to date. This complex adhesive found on Neanderthal stone tools has given researchers new insights into the intelligence of this extinct human species. The work, reported...
  • Homo Sapiens Arriving in Northern Europe Over 45,000 Years Ago Encountered This Enigmatic Human Species

    02/05/2024 4:42:43 PM PST · by SunkenCiv · 34 replies
    The Debrief ^ | February 1, 2024 | Christopher Plain
    "The Ranis cave site provides evidence for the first dispersal of Homo sapiens across the higher latitudes of Europe. It turns out that stone artifacts that were thought to be produced by Neanderthals were, in fact, part of the early Homo sapiens toolkit," said Jean-Jacque Hublin, a professor at the Collège de France in Paris and the former director of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology where Zavala first began this work. "This fundamentally changes our previous knowledge about the period: Homo sapiens reached northwestern Europe long before Neanderthal disappearance in southwestern Europe."
  • Straight-Tusked Elephant Exploitation Was Widespread among Neanderthals, Archaeologists Say

    01/01/2024 1:12:05 PM PST · by SunkenCiv · 25 replies
    Science News ^ | December 7, 2023 | News Staff
    Straight-tusked elephants were the largest land mammals of the Pleistocene epoch, present in Europe and western Asia between 800,000 and 100,000 years ago.These animals had a very wide head and extremely long tusks, and were roughly three times larger than that of living Asian elephants, twice that of African ones, and also much larger than woolly mammoths.Estimates of maximum shoulder height vary from 3 to 4.2 m (10-14 feet) and body mass from 4.5 to 13 tons for females and males, respectively."We have estimated that the meat and fat supplied by the body of an adult Palaeoloxodon antiquus bull would...
  • Are You a Morning Person? You Might Want to Thank Your Neanderthal Genes

    12/14/2023 9:00:51 AM PST · by billorites · 28 replies
    Wall Street Journal ^ | December 14. 2023 | Aylin Woodward
    Whether you’re a morning person has long been tied to personality, but new research suggests DNA inherited from our extinct Neanderthal cousins ups the chance we’re early risers. Our circadian rhythms—the biological clocks inside our cells that time when we sleep and wake—are linked to countless genes. Now researchers say they have found that bits of genetic code passed down to some of us from Neanderthals relate to our sleeping habits in the present day. The study was published Thursday in the journal Genome Biology and Evolution. “We’ve found many Neanderthal variants that consistently associate with a propensity for being...
  • Scientists finally solve mystery of why Europeans have less Neanderthal DNA than East Asians

    10/26/2023 11:05:47 AM PDT · by SunkenCiv · 30 replies
    Live Science ^ | October 18, 2023 | Stephanie Pappas
    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...
  • Neanderthal cuisine: Excavations reveal Neanderthals were as intelligent as Homo sapiens

    10/22/2023 10:17:10 AM PDT · by SunkenCiv · 35 replies
    Phys dot org ^ | October 13, 2023 | University of Trento
    The oldest layers of the Gruta de Oliveira, which includes a number of passages, date back to about 120,000 years ago, the most recent to about 40,000: It is believed that Neanderthals inhabited this place between 100,000 and 70,000 years ago...In this case however, what caught the attention of archaeologists were the traces of hearths intentionally built and used in the cave. The archaeologists found about a dozen hearths at various stratigraphic levels in an excavation area of about 30 square meters and six meters deep. The unmistakable basin-like, circular structures were filled with remains.Findings from inside and near the...
  • New path for early human migrations through a once-lush Arabia contradicts a single 'out of Africa' origin

    10/09/2023 6:17:42 AM PDT · by SunkenCiv · 22 replies
    The Conversation ^ | October 4, 2023 | Michael Petraglia, Mahmoud Abbas, Zhongping Lai
    ...we find the now inhospitable and hyper-arid zone of the southern Jordan Rift Valley was frequently lush and well-watered in the past.Our evidence suggests this valley had a riverine and wetland zone that would have provided ideal passage... out of Africa and deep into the Levant and Arabia...Our findings from sedimentary sections ranging 5 to 12 metres in thickness showed ecosystem fluctuations over time, including cycles of dry and humid environments. We also found evidence for the presence of ancient rivers and wetlands.Luminescence dating showed the sedimentary environments formed between 125,000 and 43,000 years ago, suggesting there had been multiple...
  • People with Neanderthal genes are TWICE as likely to develop a life-threatening form of Covid ... here's how you can check if you've got them

    09/18/2023 6:14:01 PM PDT · by Libloather · 32 replies
    Daily Mail ^ | 9/18/23 | Stacy Liberatore
    They used to live in caves, hunt their food and were generally tougher than modern-day humans. But a new study finds if you have Neanderthal genes, you are twice as likely to develop a life-threatening form of Covid. DNA from the species that went extinct around 40,000 years ago is associated with autoimmune diseases, type 2 diabetes and prostate cancer. A team of Italian researchers found people with three Neanderthal gene variations were twice as likely to have severe pneumonia and three times as likely to be hospitalized with a ventilator after contracting the virus. While the findings were part...
  • Back to the future: The advantage of studying key events in human evolution using a new high resolution radiocarbon method

    04/17/2023 3:56:33 PM PDT · by SunkenCiv · 14 replies
    PLOS One ^ | February 15, 2023 | Sahra Talamo, Bernd Kromer, Michael P. Richards, Lukas Wacker
    Radiocarbon dating is the most widely applied dating method in archaeology, especially in human evolution studies, where it is used to determine the chronology of key events, such as the replacement of Neanderthals by modern humans in Europe. However, the method does not always provide precise and accurate enough ages to understand the important processes of human evolution. Here we review the newest method developments in radiocarbon dating ('Radiocarbon 3.0'), which can lead us to much better chronologies and understanding of the major events in recent human evolution. As an example, we apply these new methods to discuss the dating...
  • See stunning likeness of Zlatý kůň, the oldest modern human to be genetically sequenced News

    08/01/2023 6:43:57 AM PDT · by SJackson · 33 replies
    Live Science ^ | 7-31-23 | Jennifer Nalewicki
    Researchers created a facial approximation of a 45,000-year-old individual who is believed to be the oldest anatomically modern human ever to be genetically sequenced. In 1950, archaeologists discovered a severed skull buried deep inside a cave system in Czechia (the Czech Republic). Because the skull was split in half, researchers concluded that the skeletal remains were of two separate individuals. However, through genome sequencing done decades later, scientists concluded that the skull actually belonged to a single person: a woman who lived 45,000 years ago. Researchers named her the Zlatý kůň woman, or "golden horse" in Czech, in a nod...
  • 300,000-year-old double-pointed stick among oldest record of human-made wooden tools

    07/23/2023 7:26:52 AM PDT · by SunkenCiv · 17 replies
    Cosmos magazine ^ | July 20, 2023 | Evrim Yazgin
    Archaeologists have unearthed the oldest large collection of wooden tools made by humans at a site in Schöningen, Germany. The artefacts date back to about 300,000 years ago.Included in what ancient people left behind are wooden spears and shorter throwing sticks that have been sharpened at both ends. It is unclear exactly which hominin is responsible for producing the tools, but their age suggests either Homo heidelbergensis or Homo neanderthalensis...The 300,000-year-old tools found at Schöningen were analysed using micro-CT scanning, 3D microscopy and infrared spectroscopy to better understand how they were made and their potential uses. The results are published...
  • New evidence of plant food processing in Italy during Neanderthal-to-Homo sapiens period

    07/07/2023 11:02:16 AM PDT · by SunkenCiv · 4 replies
    Phys dot org ^ | June 29, 2023 | University of Montreal
    Long before the invention of agriculture, humans already knew how to process cereals and other wild plants into a flour suitable for food—and now there's new evidence they did so long before scientists was previously thought.Published in Quaternary Science Reviews, an Italian-led study of five ancient grindstones from around 39,000 to 43,000 years ago shows that milling for food dates back to the transitional period between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens...The Neanderthal-to-Homo sapiens period was characterized by the coexistence of the Late Mousterian (Neanderthal), Uluzzian and Protoaurignacian (H. sapiens) techno-complexes in the northwest and southwest of present-day Italy.The grindstones come from...
  • Oldest Neanderthal cave engravings ever are discovered in France — and they date back 75,000 Years

    06/22/2023 10:16:45 AM PDT · by SunkenCiv · 24 replies
    Daily Mail ^ | Thursday, June 22, 2023 | Xantha Leatham
    A team from the University of Tours analyzed marks found on a wall in La Roche-Cotard cave in the French region of Centre-Val de Loire.Based on these engravings' shape, spacing and arrangement, the team concluded they were deliberate, organized and intentional shapes created by Neanderthal fingers drawing making indents on a soft surface.By analyzing sediment found at the site, they worked out that the cave had become closed off around 57,000 years ago as rocks and debris filled it up.Writing in the journal Plos One, the team said this dates the 'finger fluting' to well before Homo sapiens became established...