>While about 2% of the genome of all people descended from those living outside Africa is derived from Neanderthals, there is very little evidence that this process went the other way.
>A new paper, published in the journal PaleoAnthropology, raises the prospect that interbreeding with our ancestors would have reduced the number of Neanderthals breeding with each other, leading to their eventual extinction.
>Though only 32 Neanderthal genomes have been sequenced to date, leaving it possible that the lack of Homo sapiens DNA in their genome is actually a quirk of sampling, the authors hope advances in DNA sequencing technology will be able to resolve this hypothesis by making more genomes available.
>
>Professor Chris Stringer, the Museum's Research Leader in Human Evolution, authored the new paper alongside colleague Dr Lucile Crété.
>Chris says, 'Our knowledge of the interaction between Homo sapiens and Neanderthals has got more complex in the last few years, but it's still rare to see scientific discussion of how the interbreeding between the groups actually happened.'
>'We propose that this behaviour could have led to the Neanderthals' extinction if they were regularly breeding with Homo sapiens, which could have eroded their population until they disappeared.'
>
>Neanderthals and Homo sapiens diverged from each other around 600,000 years ago and evolved in very different areas of the world.
>From genetic data, it looks like the two species first encountered each other when Homo sapiens began making occasional forays out of Africa about 250,000 years ago.
>However, the Neanderthal genes we have in us today are not the result of these early sporadic interactions Homo sapiens had when they first left Africa. Instead, they come from the much larger migrations that modern humans undertook around 60,000 years ago.
marketrent OP t1_iujzzjt wrote
Excerpt:
>While about 2% of the genome of all people descended from those living outside Africa is derived from Neanderthals, there is very little evidence that this process went the other way.
>A new paper, published in the journal PaleoAnthropology, raises the prospect that interbreeding with our ancestors would have reduced the number of Neanderthals breeding with each other, leading to their eventual extinction.
>Though only 32 Neanderthal genomes have been sequenced to date, leaving it possible that the lack of Homo sapiens DNA in their genome is actually a quirk of sampling, the authors hope advances in DNA sequencing technology will be able to resolve this hypothesis by making more genomes available.
>
>Professor Chris Stringer, the Museum's Research Leader in Human Evolution, authored the new paper alongside colleague Dr Lucile Crété.
>Chris says, 'Our knowledge of the interaction between Homo sapiens and Neanderthals has got more complex in the last few years, but it's still rare to see scientific discussion of how the interbreeding between the groups actually happened.'
>'We propose that this behaviour could have led to the Neanderthals' extinction if they were regularly breeding with Homo sapiens, which could have eroded their population until they disappeared.'
>
>Neanderthals and Homo sapiens diverged from each other around 600,000 years ago and evolved in very different areas of the world.
>From genetic data, it looks like the two species first encountered each other when Homo sapiens began making occasional forays out of Africa about 250,000 years ago.
>However, the Neanderthal genes we have in us today are not the result of these early sporadic interactions Homo sapiens had when they first left Africa. Instead, they come from the much larger migrations that modern humans undertook around 60,000 years ago.
PaleoAnthropology, 27 October 2022, DOI 10.48738/2022.iss2.130