Neanderthal and Human Matings Get a Date

Smithsonian 'blogs ^ | August 15, 2012 | Erin Wayman

[SunkenCiv]

Two years ago the analysis of the Neanderthal genome revealed modern humans carry Neanderthal DNA, implying our ancestors mated with Neanderthals at some point in the past. Scientists only found genetic traces of Neanderthals in non-African people, leading to the conclusion that Neanderthal-human matings must have occurred as modern humans left Africa and populated the rest of the world. A new paper (PDF) posted on arXiv.org puts a date on those matings: 47,000 to 65,000 years ago...

To determine what really happened, Sankararaman's team looked at rates of genetic change to estimate when Neanderthals and humans last exchanged genes. If the shared DNA was due to interbreeding, the team expected to find a date less than 100,000 years ago -- some time after humans left Africa. But if it was the result of sharing a common ancestor, they expected a date older than 230,000 years ago, approximately when Neanderthals and modern humans split from each other. The team's findings support the interbreeding scenario: 47,000 to 65,000 years ago.

Neanderthals aren't the only archaic species that may have contributed to the modern human gene pool. Denisovans, known from only a tooth and a finger bone, left a genetic mark in people living in Melanesia and Southeast Asia. And recent genetic evidence suggests that some ancient African populations mated with an unidentified, now-extinct hominid species that lived in Africa.

So far, our knowledge of Neanderthal and Denisovan genetics comes from only a few individuals, so our understanding of interspecies mating is likely to change as more Neanderthal and Denisovan DNA is analyzed.

[SunkenCiv]

[SunkenCiv]

The Neandertal Enigma
by James Shreeve
in local libraries

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]

KEYWORDS: neandertal; neandertals; neanderthal; neanderthals

[sauropod]

read

[SunkenCiv]

GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach	join list or digest view topics view or post blog bookmark post a topic subscribe
Thanks Renfield. To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list.

[colorado tanker]

"Cozy Cave Dating Service, we find 'em, you club 'em."

"Yes sir, will that be Neanderthal or not?"

[blam]

How long have I been saying:

"We Are Neanderthals."

[njslim]

As the old song goes

” I am the ape man....”

[njslim]

As the old song goes

” I am the ape man....”

[njslim]

“Cozy Cave Dating Service, we find ‘em, you club ‘em.”

Hey babe want to go back to my cave and see the paintings...

[dfwgator]

“What we’re gonna do right here is go back way back....back into time...”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgktcySf_aw

[mountainlion]

There are four major theories on the neanderthals. There is a maze of ancient critters that do not fit together to well so consensus is far in the future yet. The Leaky {sp}family has made another discovery of something older than Lucy and the DNA of a finger bone has brought us another unknown species. There is a lot of work to yet.

[colorado tanker]

Sure. Best offer I've had in a long time!

[Gator113]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLD_LTXRmDY

[patton]

Y’know, Neanderthal is just a German word for a guy from the next valley over.

[Tijeras_Slim]

I expected no less my FRiend. ;)

[blam]

"Y’know, Neanderthal is just a German word for a guy from the next valley over. "

Yup.

Neander Valley.

[BenLurkin]

Yes, unquestionably.

I have long suspected that about Mrs. Lurkin's family...

[Verginius Rufus]

It was named by one Joachim Neumann.

From The Neanderthals by Friedemann Schrenk and Stephanie Mueller (English translation, 2009, by Phyllis Jestice), p. 2:

"The Neander Valley near Mettmann, the discovery site of the first fossil evidence of primordial humans, was named after the Bremen theologian and hymnographer Joachim Neumann (composer of "Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of Creation"). As was fashionable in 1670, he used the Greek translation of his name, "Neander" (Newman), in compliment to antiquity."

[blam]

Hmmm.

Interesting.

Six degrees of seperation = Paul Newman?

[familyop]

DNA Reveals Neanderthal Redheads
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2018955/posts
Harvard Gazette ^ | 2007 | Steve Bradt
"With Neanderthals’ surviving bones providing few clues, scientists have long sought to flesh out the appearance of this hominid species found across Eurasia some 28,000 to 400,000 years ago. While anthropologists had predicted that Neanderthals might have had pale skin or red hair, the new work by Römpler and colleagues offers the first strong evidence to support this hunch."

Ancient DNA Reveals Neandertals With Red Hair, Fair Complexions
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1917675/posts
Science Magazine ^ | 2007-10-26 | Elizabeth Culotta
"The researchers conclude that at least some Neandertals had pale skin and red hair, similar to some of the Homo sapiens who today inhabit their European homeland."

Neanderthals Roamed As Far As Siberia
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1904573/posts
New Scientist ^ | 9-30-2007 | Roxanne Khamsi
"Researchers say the genetic sequence of an adolescent Neanderthal found in southern Siberia closely matches that of Neanderthals found in western Europe, suggesting that this close relative of modern humans migrated very long distances."

Siberian Graveyard's Secret (More Redheads)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1053986/posts
International Herald Tribune ^ | 1-8-2003
"In a medieval Siberian graveyard a few miles south of the Arctic Circle, Russian scientists have unearthed mummies roughly 1,000 years old, clad in copper masks, hoops and plates - burial rites that archaeologists say they have never seen before...In the remains of a metalworking shop, the researchers excavated a wooden sarcophagus with the best-preserved mummy of all, a red-haired man covered chest to foot in copper plate and laid out with an iron hatchet, well-preserved furs and a bronze bear's head buckle."